The Office of Graduate Studies recently awarded more than $14,000 in Recruitment Assistance Grants to 21 academic units.

The awards, ranging from $400 to $600, aid master's and doctoral degree programs in student recruitment. The program is funded by an annual allocation from the graduate application fees paid by out-of-state and international applicants.

Dr. William A. Person, interim director of graduate studies, said the office initiated the program in 1991 to actively involve graduate faculty in recruiting students.

"The program has worked extremely well for us in that the graduate student enrollment has moderately increased during this period of time," said Person. "The funds provided allow for travel or the development of paper or computer literature for graduate student recruitment."

He cited, as an example, one of this year's more unusual recruitment initiatives-the Department of Chemical Engineering's exchange program with an historically black university. The program consists of reciprocal visits between faculty and administrators at MSU and Howard University in Washington, D.C.

"As a result, potential graduate students will be identified for advanced graduate study in the Swalm School of Chemical Engineering at MSU," Person explained.

Grant recipients for 2001-02 include:

Drs. Jack Blendinger and Elizabeth Burns, educational leadership; Dr. Gene Boggess, computer science; Dr. Sylvia Byrd, human sciences; Anna Chupa, art; Dr. Stephen Foster, chemistry; Dr. James Haug, history; Dr. Glen Hendren, counselor education; Dr. David Huddleston, civil engineering; Dr. Pamela Kirk, health, physical education, recreation and sport; Dr. Frank Matta, plant and soil sciences; Susan Mulley, landscape architecture; Dr. Mark Novotny, physics and astronomy; Dr. Janet Rafferty, anthropology; Drs. Carl Sheperis and Mary Herman, counselor education; Drs. Ratnashingham Shivaji and Bruce Ebanks, mathematics and statistics; Dr. Barbara Spencer, accountancy, finance and economics, management and information systems, and marketing; Dr. Rebecca Toghiani, chemical engineering; Martha Wilson, forest products; Dr. Mfanya Tryman, political science; and Dr. Nicolas Younan, electrical and computer engineering.