Krannert Doctoral Student Association (KDSA) Update

Bart Sharp

The spring semester has brought numerous opportunities for the KDSA and PhD students to get involved with important service activities at Purdue and the Krannert School.

In support of the recertification that Krannert is required to complete every five years, KDSA officers Amanda Thompson, Roman Sheremeta, Sirsha Chatterjee, and I joined nine other doctoral students in a roundtable meeting with a representative from AACSB. The effort is well-designed to ensure the continuing quality and high reputation enjoyed by all programs across the school.

Through the advocacy of the KDSA and the support of Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Diane Denis, we have increased the budget for PhD student conference travel by more than 30 percent. This will allow an even greater number of students to present papers at professional conferences, providing them with feedback on their research as well as a more extensive professional network. It will also increase the visibility of the Krannert School.

Wherever possible, we are taking steps to offer PhD students the support necessary to their success as both teachers and researchers. For example, KDSA is currently developing a contact list of students who are subject matter experts in particular software packages or databases and are willing to help when less experienced students have questions. Just as the peer instructor feedback program has tapped into the expertise of especially qualified graduate student teachers, we hope this new program will generate similar benefits on the research front.

In addition, KDSA Webmaster Hongfei Tang will serve on the committee responsible for choosing the winners of the G. A. Ross and Flora Roberts Awards, the most prestigious honors given to graduating seniors.

We also continue to offer students a chance to give back to the community through our sponsorship of blood drives through the Indiana Blood Center. As this will be my last semester at Purdue, it has come time to hand off the duties of coordinating these drives to someone new. Jason Stanfield, a first-year PhD student in accounting, has graciously volunteered to take over this worthy cause.

In another show of philanthropy, KDSA assistant vice president Subhasish Modak-Chowdhury and Krannert PhD student Tasneem Mirza helped the people of Bangladesh affected by Cyclone Sidr by collecting donations for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies cyclone relief fund. Supporters were treated to a free screening of the award-winning Bangladeshi documentary Deshantori in Rawls Hall in November.

As always, we appreciate the support of Krannert’s administration, faculty, staff, and alumni in these initiatives and welcome their suggestions for additional enhancements to the doctoral program.

For more information on the Krannert Doctoral Student Association, visit www.krannert.purdue.edu/clubs/kdsa or contact Bart Sharp at sharpb@purdue.edu.