UC Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Phase II

University Of California, Office Of The President, Oakland, Oakland CA

Investigators

Abstract

The UC Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (UC AGEP) is uniquely poised to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students who enter the professoriate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In Phase II of UC AGEP, the broader impact of this program will be to increase the number of URM STEM students earning PhDs and becoming optimally prepared for the professoriate. Its intellectual merit lies in its production of new model programs for recruiting, retaining, and graduating URM STEM PhDs and assisting with postdoctoral placements. The UC system currently produces approximately 10% of the nation.s URM PhDs in the Life Sciences, Engineering and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Mathematics. In Phase I of its AGEP program, UC AGEP increased URM new STEM enrollment both in real numbers and as a percent of total enrollment. To sustain this gain and increase representation of URMs in the professoriate, UC AGEP Phase II will expand its recruitment and admission efforts while addressing key later components from retention through postdoctoral placements. Specifically, UC AGEP II will implement a six-step program designed to: 1. Increase the number of URM STEM students aware of and prepared for graduate study through dissemination of information about UC AGEP activities and summer enrichment opportunities for undergraduates. 2. Increase the number of URM students who apply to UC campuses and who are considered for admission to the University through pre-application events, partnerships with minority serving institutions (MSIs) such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), partnerships with California State Universities and summer programs for masters students. 3. Increase both the number of URM students who are admitted, and the number who choose to accept offers through: 1) targeting interactions and assistance to admission committees; 2) increasing opportunities for campus visits; 3) increasing communication with admitted students; and 4) providing summer enrichment opportunities for newly admitted students. 4. Impact the early academic experience of URM graduate students and improve their retention by creating community networks, improving faculty mentoring, and enhancing students. skills for coping with academic hurdles such as the qualifying exam. 5. Support continuing URM graduate students through programs that improve their professional and academic skills, and prepare them for postdoctoral positions and the academic job market. 6. Create new models for increasing URM access to and participation in postdoctoral scholar positions, thereby ensuring their competitiveness for academic positions. UC AGEP Phase II expects project outcomes to include increased URM awareness of UC STEM fields, better preparation of applicants, increased URM numbers (and percentages) for application and matriculation, increased retention, a decreased time to degree, and better access to postdoctoral positions. Thus, over the next five years, UC AGEP II should result in a significant increase in URM PhDs who graduate from UC programs and enter the professoriate. Also, by comparison of best practices, the UC AGEP infrastructure will foster the building of networks and models for diversity interventions that will persist after the grant period ends.