Welcome to the Alumni Page of the Graduate School at the Health Sciences Center of UCD! Although the Graduate School formally began in 1978 with the half-time appointment of Dr. M. Lawrence Morse as associate dean for graduate programs in the School of Medicine and , a small number of Ph.D. and M.S. degrees had been granted by the basic science (and at least one clinical) departments prior to World War II. While there was steady growth in the numbers of graduate students over the years, the bulk of the increase occurred in the last decade. Graduate enrollment is now approximately 1,000; currently 55 Ph.D. and 200 M.S. students graduate each year. There has also been growth in the number and diversity of degree-granting programs, which now number 24 (18 Ph.D. and 6 M.S.) and are housed in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Perhaps more significant, however, is the change in the nature of the programs themselves: over one-third of the Ph.D. programs are interdepartmental and interdisciplinary.

As impressive as this growth and diversification have been, the rate of change will increase as the Health Science Center moves to the new campus at Fitzsimons. (You may remember Fitzsimons as the former Army hospital on Colfax Avenue at Peoria in Aurora.) With this move the Health Sciences Center will double its research space and this will lead to an increase in the graduate student population. The Ph.D. students in the basic science programs were among the first students to move to Fitzsimons when they, along with their faculty mentors, occupied Research Complex-1 in 2004. With the ground-breaking of the Research Complex-2 and the entire educational quadrangle in late 2005, the new campus is well on its way to achieving its full capacity.  By 2008 the old campus at Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard will be closed.

While much is new in the Graduate School at the HSC, much remains the same. The Masters programs continue to be characterized by excellence in teaching (e.g., the MSPH (Public Health) and MS in nursing programs are consistently ranked among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report). The basic science Ph.D. programs are still characterized by small laboratories and by close interactions between graduate students and their mentors.  Several of these programs rank among the top programs nationally, as well.

If you have time, drop me an email letting me know how you are doing and telling me about your career since you graduated from the HSC. If I get a sufficient number of responses, I will initiate an "Alumni News" page here. The Graduate School also will serve as a clearinghouse for alumni who wish to contact fellow "classmates." Send Milinda Walker an e-mail giving your request and, if the alumnus/a you seek is in our database, we will forward your e-mail to that individual. You will find additional alumni information on the campus alumni web page.  Finally, if you are in Denver (or just visiting), please drop by the Graduate School office. We are still at Ninth and Colorado on the mezzanine of Denison Auditorium. I would enjoy meeting you.

Sincerely yours,

John H. Freed, Ph.D.
Dean