Laurich-McIntyre Works To Enhance the Graduate Student Experience
By Bruce Gerson
More than 2,500 new graduate students from 56 countries will arrive at Carnegie Mellon University this week, and leading the welcoming committee will be Suzie Laurich-McIntyre, assistant vice provost for Graduate Education.
Laurich-McIntyre and her team of two — Desirée Chronick and Julia Wittkamper — organize Graduate Student Orientation, a three-day, content-rich event that introduces the new students to university services, programs and resources, and helps them get acclimated to Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh. Sessions include a “Resource Fair,” “Standards for Academic Life,” “Maintaining Health, Wellness and Balance,” “Get Involved in the CMU Community” and “Living in Pittsburgh.”
“I have an amazing team and partners,” Laurich-McIntyre said. “We partner with Kaycee Palko in the SLICE Office, who is managing our resource fair this year. We also partner with the Eberly Center, the Graduate Student Assembly, University Health Services, University Police, Computing Services, the Hub and Athletics. We have a broad reach across the university.”
Laurich-McIntyre, who came to CMU in 2003, has seen the tremendous growth of the graduate student population at CMU first-hand.
“When I first started, graduate orientation was one day and we held it in McConomy Auditorium for about 200 to 300 students. Next week we will have about 2,000 students in the tent,” she said.
One of her biggest orientation challenges is presenting information to students in an informative and entertaining way that is not overwhelming, particularly for international students, which make up 66% of this year’s class.
“We have such a large international student population for whom English is not their first language, so it can be very challenging for them when you have someone presenting at a fast pace,” Laurich-McIntyre said. “We always try to provide the slides online after the presentation for reference, and I would love to get to a point when we record the sessions so students can go back and listen again.”
Laurich-McIntyre said her office provides follow-up sessions for students in the fall on issues related to health insurance, health services and counseling and psychological services.
“I have the privilege to work with amazing faculty and staff and I have the honor to work with a lot of fabulous students."
Beyond orientation, Laurich-McIntyre and her team support the graduate education experience for students. The Graduate Education Office hosts professional development programs and seminars, and manages GSA/Provost funding for research grants and attendance at academic conferences. The office also assists students applying for fellowships and manages some of the national and international fellowships that graduate students receive.
“We do a lot of work and advising around policy and process as it relates to graduate education,” she said. “We support the development and review of handbooks for each graduate department by providing information on new university policies and procedures. We have just over 200 graduate programs,” she said.
During the summer months, Laurich-McIntyre’s team supports several hundred rising university juniors and seniors from around the world participating in Go Research!, an umbrella program for undergraduate researchers from other campuses.
“We support their housing environment, along with Conference and Events Services and Residential Education, in Webster Hall and provide extra programming to help them get acquainted with Pittsburgh. We also hold a series of seminars around the research experience all the way up to applying for graduate school and National Science Foundation research fellowships, as well as a seminar on presentation skills. We have great partners around campus for all of this,” she said.
Laurich-McIntyre said among her biggest joys at CMU is building relationships with students and watching their progression and development.
“I have the privilege to work with amazing faculty and staff and I have the honor to work with a lot of fabulous students,” she said. “I get to see students from when they walk in the door to when they graduate, whether it’s for two years, four years or even 10 when they complete their Ph.Ds. Some of my best days are when I find out a student has received a National Science Foundation fellowship.”
Born in Chile, Laurich-McIntyre and her family moved to New Jersey when she was in middle school before eventually landing in Seattle. She earned her bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering and her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Washington, where she became director of its Center for Women in Science and Engineering.
Pittsburgh has grown on her over the past 18 years, she said, except for the weather.
“Everyone says it rains more in Seattle, but I don’t think so,” she said.
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