Parental-leave policy allows graduate students to maintain status

Parental-leave policy allows graduate students to maintain status

BY DAWN DORSEY
Special to the Rice News

As a new mom, fourth-year graduate student Sara Middlemist worried about sleep deprivation (hers), feeding schedules (the baby’s) and sniffles (both of theirs). But because of Rice’s graduate parental-leave policy, she didn’t have to worry about retaining full-time enrollment status while she bonded with her son for two months.

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Rice graduate students can take advantage of Rice’s parental-leave policy, which allows a mother or father to take parental leave for six weeks following the birth or adoption of a child.

After the birth of Middlemist’s son last year, she took advantage of the policy, which allows a mother or father to take parental leave for six weeks following the birth or adoption of a child. Middlemist, whose research focus is evolutionary biology, was granted an extra two weeks for medical reasons.

“I’m really happy Rice has this policy,” Middlemist said. “My stipend continued during my leave, and that was really helpful.”

Graduate students, who do not accrue vacation or sick-time benefits, can utilize the policy to maintain eligibility for financial support, visas and other purposes, such as deferral of payment on undergraduate loans.

“This policy is valuable to graduate students because it provides them the time to attend to the needs of parenthood in a way that is least disruptive to their graduate studies,” said Jordan Konisky, vice provost of research and graduate studies and professor of biochemistry and cell biology.

Rice is among a select few universities to have such a plan in place, but more schools are beginning to realize the concept is of value to the student and the university.

“Rice is definitely in the vanguard of schools with parental-leave policies for graduate students, and it is one of the first schools to institute such a policy,” said Susan Lurie, associate dean of graduate students and associate professor of English, who was instrumental in developing the plan. “We recognized many students are pursuing graduate studies at a time that intersects with birth or adoption, and we wanted to make an effort to help them retain their status. We didn’t want a birth or adoption to derail their studies.”

And, Lurie said, it is seen as a win-win situation by both sides.

“Faculty and departments appreciate it because the situation is clarified so they know what to do when a student is in this situation,” Lurie said. “And both faculty and students are happy because students can stay enrolled.”

Increasingly, allowance of parental leave is a recruiting issue as well.

“I know from speaking to students who come to visit the campus that this makes a difference to them,” Lurie said. “It’s quite an important factor for students to know they’re protected.”

Lurie reported that one or two students per semester utilize the policy. She said it is working well, and students — like Middlemist — appreciate it.

For new mom Middlemist’s part, she and her husband have crafted an arrangement that allows tag-team parenting so their son is in day care only one day a week.

“I think we’ve finally figured out the whole working and parenting thing,” she said.