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Over the past several decades, researchers have highlighted the fact that there is a general underrepresentation of minority students—particularly African American, American Indian, and Hispanic students—in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at the graduate level. The problem of underrepresentation in doctoral education and the academic workforce is exacerbated by the fact that attrition rates from doctoral programs tend to be very high.
The National Science Foundation’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program aims to address this problem by providing supports that can help underrepresented minorities complete their doctoral studies and find employment as faculty at American institutions of higher education. Evaluations of the AGEP program indicate that the numbers of underrepresented minority students enrolling in STEM doctoral programs have increased over time, but the research conducted to date has not tied the activities and initiatives of the AGEP institutions to student success, particularly completion rates.
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF grant #1138814) to examine patterns of completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs across a diverse set of AGEP and non-AGEP institutions. The outcome will include data on completion and attrition rates, as well as a better understanding of factors that promote successful completion and the policies and practices that hold promise in this regard.
Through a competitive selection process, the following 21 institutions were selected to participate in this project as research partners:
| Brown University | University of California, Irvine |
| Drexel University | University of California, San Diego |
| Florida International University | University of Central Florida |
| Florida State University | University of Georgia |
| Loyola University Chicago | University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign |
| New Mexico State University | University of Iowa |
| North Carolina State University | University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
| Northwestern University | University of Mississippi / Mississippi State University (joint proposal) |
| Princeton University | University of Missouri-Columbia |
| Texas A & M University | University of South Florida |
These 21 institutions will collaborate with CGS to:
- Collect and report completion and attrition data for all underrepresented minority students entering STEM doctoral programs in academic years 1992-93 through 2011-12.
- Describe program characteristics and policies, practices, and interventions that might impact completion and attrition for all STEM doctoral programs offered by the institution.
- Field a web-based student survey, developed by CGS, covering a set of topics addressing completion and attrition in STEM doctoral programs.
- Host a two-day site visit for CGS project staff to conduct focus groups with students and interviews with graduate deans, faculty, and other university personnel.
- Highlight the institution's participation in this effort by taking part in national discussions on the topic of doctoral completion (e.g., at CGS Annual Meetings and/or Summer Workshop sessions.
For more information, please contact:
As the national advocate for graduate education, CGS serves as a resource for policymakers and others on issues concerning graduate education, research, and scholarship. Based in Washington, DC, the organization provides its members with regular updates and analyses of legislative and regulatory proposals and policies that affect graduate education.
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