Welcome, Graduate Students!
On behalf of the Graduate Council, graduate faculty, and Graduate College staff, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Hampton University.
We are pleased that you have chosen Hampton as the institution for your advanced study. This Handbook, prepared by the Graduate College, outlines your responsibilities as a Hampton University graduate student. It also outlines the organizational chart and governing bylaws of the Graduate College. The Academic Catalog, the Student Handbook, and the Graduate College’s website and Canvas site, are additional resources, containing important information about university policies and procedures.
At Hampton, we take our founding motto, “an Education for Life,” seriously. Pursuing graduate education is not about a credential or excellence for excellence’s sake: it’s about inquiry, resiliency, and paying it forward. You are joining a supportive intellectual community committed to leadership, service, and research excellence. We have a low faculty to student ratio, which ensures that students receive individualized attention, mentorship, and experience they need to build knowledge and advance their careers. You will also receive support from our award-winning staff, including our partners at the Student Counseling Center and Career Center, who we work with to offer services and programs designed with your wellness and career outcomes in mind.
We are one of only 13 R2 “High Spending Research and Doctorate Production” Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the country and one of only nine Opportunity Colleges and Universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and we are the only HBCU that runs a Proton Cancer Institute and a National Science Foundation Antarctic Research Program. We are also the first and only HBCU to have had 100% control of a NASA mission.
In the Graduate College, we know that master’s and doctoral level education are life-changing and world-changing. We cannot begin to address the problems we face, from climate change, public health crises, energy demands and needs, and high-performance computing and technological needs, that affect all of us without advanced study and the creation of new knowledge. That said, the transformative work you will do as graduate students is demanding, challenging work. No one in the academy succeeds alone. Please know that we are here for you. Our doors are open: all Graduate Council members, graduate faculty, and staff, are here to respond to your questions and concerns and support you throughout your matriculation at our “Home by the Sea.”
With every best wish,
Scott Challener
Associate Professor of English and Dean of the Graduate College