Universities must continue to make a concerted effort to integrate students from freshmen to postdoctoral scholars into a coherent learning community, according to the dean of graduate studies at UC Davis. In an opinion article to be published Friday in Science, Cristina Gonzalez says the historical separation between graduate and undergraduate education has obscured the connections among the research university's levels of learning as well as the university's mission. "Research can be performed in many places: there are national labs, private labs and research institutes," writes Gonzalez, who is chair of the UC Council of Graduate Deans and a member of the board of directors of the Council of Graduate Schools. "The distinct mission of the research university, however, is to introduce students to research, to inspire in them a passion for discovery," she adds. "This applies to both graduate and to undergraduate students." Gonzalez identifies a continuum of five levels of learning at the research university -- lower division, upper division, masters, doctoral and postdoctoral -- that takes students from high school to the workforce. The view that graduate and undergraduate students have very different goals and needs is derived from history rather than current realities, she says. Established in the 19th century, the American research university embraced the German scientific model, with its graduate students training in the library and the lab, and the English residential model, with undergraduates learning in the classroom and the dormitory. As the institution has matured, however, Gonzalez says, a more integrated structure is emerging with research penetrating the undergraduate college, and teaching and mentoring finding appreciation among graduate students. In the knowledge-based, global economy, the ability of undergraduates to continue learning -- and their research skills -- are as important as how much they know when they graduate, Gonzalez says. And since graduate students also face the same complex economy, she adds, they are seeking mentors for help with career and other decisions.