Modern graduate schools have grown out of two nineteenth-century developments:  the emergence of German research universities, which prized advanced knowledge, and the development of American land-grant universities, which sought serviceable knowledge.  Graduate schools constitute the community where the most lively and rigorous minds of several generations work on the central problems of the time and of the disciplines.   That community has common interests, even if the problems differ greatly from one field to another, and those common interests revolve around research itself and research embodied in teaching.  The laboratories, libraries, databases, and classrooms depend on the success of research-oriented education. 

The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Georgetown grows out of those dual nineteenth-century developments in that much of our research work is both advanced and serviceable.  For example, much of our work in the social sciences links with our work on policy matters, much of our work in the natural sciences links to work on biomedical concerns and seeks better therapies. 

Georgetown is a Carnegie Research I university, and the Graduate School is committed to fostering an intellectual environment conducive to the discovery and communication of knowledge and specifically of new research.  We effectively serve as the Main Campus office for research.  The School offers a number of programs and services in support of faculty and graduate student research.

We administer seven different internal faculty research support programs, all but one of which are competitive.  Research support decisions are made by a broad based committee of tenured members of the faculty. 

The Graduate School is responsible for approving all extramural grant applications emanating from the Main Campus.  We cooperate closely with the Office of Sponsored Programs to provide information and support for faculty and graduate students seeking external grants. 

The School also provides proposal and administrative assistance to faculty in the humanities, social and behavioral sciences and basic sciences seeking external support.