SUNY AGEP: Best Practices for Institutionalization

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

The State University of New York Alliance for the Graduate Education and the Professoriate (SUNY AGEP) started in 1999 as a minority graduate education program that included four major SUNY institutions: Stony Brook University as lead institution and its strategic partners University at Albany, Binghamton University, and University at Buffalo. Since the program?s inception, these institutions have supported the career and professional development of 116 Ph.D. graduates and have provided direct support to over 500 students and 80 graduate programs. The broader goal of the AGEP Alliance is to catalyze institutional change to increase the number of underrepresented minority faculty at American universities and colleges. Working towards this goal, each Alliance partner has developed an individualized program for its campus population. The diversified activities at each institution cover financial, academic, social, and professional development aspects of the graduate student experience; areas that are critical for the successful degree completion of underrepresented minority doctoral students and their future advancement into the professoriate. The goal of this evaluation project is to analyze the conditions required for the institutionalization of the most effective policies and practices that emerged through the project. In pursuit of this goal the PI will conduct an in-depth analysis of the project's measurable outcomes through a summative evaluation that will provide evidence of project impact in key areas of recruitment, retention and career advancement. The findings will reveal best practices for institutionalization and opportunities for future exploration and programming. Intellectual Merit: Most of the studies of academic support focus on the K-12 and undergraduate levels, thus there is a critical need for more data and analysis from the perspective of graduate school and career advancement. The findings of the evaluation component of this project will contribute to the knowledge base on effective strategies for STEM graduate persistence and graduation. Broader Impacts: The NSF AGEP project is a pioneer program that has introduced effective models for engaging and supporting underrepresented minority graduate students towards success. The findings of the Alliance?s ten year history will reveal useful procedures and strategies for recruitment, retention and career advancement that will be transferable to other graduate programs within the SUNY AGEP Alliance and beyond. Ultimately, this research will support efforts to increase race/ethnicity representation in the science and engineering workforce as well as in the Academy. The evaluation will conclude with a report for publication.