Midwest AGEP/SBE

Northwestern University

University of Chicago

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

Ohio State University

Penn State University

Temple University

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Characteristics of Alliance Members

• Mix of public and private.

• Medium to large.

• All R1 universities.

Activities - general

• Develop new approaches to diversity– New programs in general– New alliance-level programs

• Share best practices

NOTE: Many specific activities help in more than one of our four major activities (recruitment, transition, retention, and professional development).

RECRUITMENT - general• Planning/Funding of recruiting visits

– Applicant visits/weekends– Faculty recruiting trips– New sources for applicants

• Person-to-person contacts at universities and colleges.– Administrators– Faculty (still needs to be done)

• Special programs:– E.g., tuition scholarship for Fattah attendees

with 1200 GRE who matriculate at Temple

RECRUITMENT - Alliance

• Alliance - brochure with blank area for tailoring.

• Alliance - shared recruiting contacts:– E.g., Temple presence at Fattah Conference

SROP - general

• Support increased numbers of students.

• Piggyback with related programs like McNair.

• New opportunities for SROP students:– E.g., OSU seeking connections with national

institute held nearby– E.g. special presentations describing graduate school

(what it is, why go, how to prepare)

SROP - Alliance

• Encourage to apply within Alliance:– Know each other’s research areas

• Idea for future – share SROP students across Alliance for multiple summers (borrowed from STEM Alliance)

TRANSITION

• Pre-freshers/Pre-doctoral institutes– Math, statistics, writing, academic strategies– Emphasis on preparation, not remediation– Open to all

• Alliance benefit: We have shared these among ourselves and have adapted or will adapt to the needs of each campus.

RETENTION - general

• AGEP/SBE Professors and Scholars– Faculty and senior graduate students dedicated

to helping younger graduate students– Available as mentors, tutors, safety net, etc.

• Intensive first-year monitoring.

• Help as needed:– AGEP/SBE Professors and Scholars– Tutors

RETENTION - continued

• e-portfolios– Concept from Penn State – shared with Alliance– Used for mentoring, monitoring, career planning

• Student group activities– General meetings – monthly, each term– Range of topics:

• Orientation – academic, social, locale

• Diversity issues – general discussion, book club

• Career planning and survival

• Professional and social networking

RETENTION - continued

• Financial:– Pre-fresher programs– Summer research with faculty– Conference travel (when no other source)– Direct aid to student

Alliance shares best practices at regular meetings of PIs/Directors.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT• e-portfolios• Professional skills training

– Teaching– General presentation skills– Writing

• Video-conferences and workshops– Some live, some canned but available– Topics coordinated within Alliance

• Diversity in public health – Temple• Job opportunities – Wisconsin• Crime and Justice (in planning stage) - OSU

PLACEMENT

• Visits by URM alumni– Advise students on job search– Advise faculty and administrators on needs of

graduate students of color

• Resources for job search

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Directors/Coordinators on each campus

• Shared planning and support of video conferences and workshops

• Shared e-portfolio concept

• Shared evaluation tools– student surveys– e-portfolio concept– coordinated alliance evaluation

PLANNED – but not started yet

• Summer conference

• Web site

• Building connections to bridge institutions– common research– invite faculty from bridge schools– Phi Beta Kappa style speaker program

• Alliance recruitment database