LINGUIST List 17.1003
Tue Apr 04 2006
Time: For a Challenge
Editor for this issue: Megan Zdrojkowski
<meganlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1.
linguist,
The Grad School Challenge
Message 1: The Grad School Challenge
Date: 04-Apr-2006
From: linguist <linguistlinguistlist.org>
Subject: The Grad School Challenge
Who's leading in the Fund Drive Grad School Challenge?
As I write, the top ten schools, in order, are:
1. Stanford University2. University of Arizona3. University of Massachusetts at Amherst4. University of Washington at Seattle5. University of Wisconsin-Madison6. University of California, Berkeley7. Wayne State University8. Cornell University9. School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London10. University of Pennsylvania
Stanford has been at the top for many days now. But in the GradSchool Challenge, things can change rapidly. Last year, Stanford andU. of Arizona battled it out, with at least 4 upsets in the last weekof Fund Drive. Then U. of Arizona challenged MIT (West Coast againstEast Coast, you understand); and all at once there was another schoolin the running for first place. Stanford won, I believe, thanks ingreat part to the efforts of several faculty members to awaken schoolloyalty--and muster support for LINGUIST.
The year before, U. of Indiana won the challenge, thanks to theorganizational efforts of a graduate student and to the generosity ofthe faculty, who vowed to match whatever the students collected.
The year before that, the challenge was won by U. of Massachusetts.This was our first Grad School Challenge, and U Mass was the firstschool to secure the fruits of victory: a feature on our homepage andprominent mention on all our Fund Drive pages. This year, thanks togenerous subscribers and supporting publishers, there will be a prizefor every one of the top five schools. And this year, U Mass is againa top contender, since two generous faculty members have agreed tomatch the amount that the graduate students donate.
The Grad School Challenge is always fun for the LINGUIST crew, andmost of us check the standings page daily to see which universitiesare ahead. But, from our point of view, there is a serious side tothe challenge as well. In terms of generating donations to supportour student crew, the Grad School Challenge is one of our mosteffective Fund Drive activities. It appears that many universitieshave students, faculty, and friends who are as loyal as they aregenerous. They can display both traits by making a donation to theLINGUIST Fund Drive and crediting it to their university in the GradSchool Challenge.
In so doing, of course, donors also contribute to the field oflinguistics: not only do they help to secure the future of LINGUISTList, and with it the electronic infrastructure LL provides withoutcost to the discipline, but also they fund the education of theexcellent graduate students who staff the LL operation. Through theyears, subscriber donations have funded almost 60 students throughtheir M.A. degrees. And most of these students have gone on to enterPh.D. programs in linguistics. You'll be hearing from some of these"LL alums" in the Fund Drive letters, and we'll be featuring others onour (Young) Linguist of the Day page. Please take this opportunity tosupport the current crew by accessing:
http://linguistlist.org/donation/index.html
Be sure to credit your school in the Grad School Challenge!
And thanks again to all of you who help LINGUIST List continue.
-Helen
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