10 Awardees Announced for Project to Increase PhD Student Success

CGS Contact: Kelley Karnes
602-791-8278 / kkarnes@cgs.nche.edu
PDF version of press release

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is pleased to announce 10 grant awardees for a project designed to improve PhD student outcomes by examining doctoral program structures, Creating Learning Environments for Advancing Researchers, or CLEAR. This project is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Innovation in Graduate Education (IGE) program (NSF #2429880).

Previous research by the University of California, Berkeley, and others, has shown a strong correlation between student success and program environments where expectations and rules are clear and consistently applied. CGS will build on this work with the 10 awardees to collect the data needed to examine how structure in doctoral programs impacts student outcomes across a broader range of institutions and program types.

“CLEAR will provide the evidence needed for universities and the NSF to invest resources in the most high-impact program practices that support degree completion and STEM career readiness and success,” said Chevelle Newsome, CGS President. “I congratulate the awardees and look forward to seeing how we can scale these supportive practices across all graduate programs.”

The awardees are:

• City University of New York
• Colorado State University
• Stony Brook University
• Texas A&M University
• University of Arizona
• University of Denver
• University of Mississippi
• University of Missouri-Columbia
• University of Nevada-Reno
• University of New Hampshire

CLEAR was awarded by the NSF in October of 2024. CGS released the call for proposals in April of 2025. CGS also convened an advisory committee to review the proposals and made funding recommendations based on the criteria in the proposal. Learn more about the advisory committee and the project on CGS’s website.

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About CGS

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is an organization of approximately 460 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada engaged in graduate education, research, and the preparation of candidates for advanced degrees. The organization’s mission is to improve and advance graduate education, which it accomplishes through advocacy in the federal policy arena, research, and the development and dissemination of best practices.