Synopses of Winning Proposals

2011:  Eastern Illinois University

“The Integrative Graduate Studies In statute”

The Integrative Graduate Studies Institute will offer over a two-year period five integrative graduate mentoring programs with related assessment to track the outcomes and guide effectiveness for promoting graduate education.  The institute will be staffed by a director and three graduate assistants who have experience working with underrepresented groups. The Integrative Graduate Mentoring staff will identify a graduate advocate in each undergraduate degree program and in selected partner offices.  Graduate advocates will be provided with on-line and face-to-face guidance on what to include in graduate preparation materials and websites. Students will be targeted in their sophomore year.

The IGM for Key Educational Institutions program will involve having IGM-KEI staff identify existing and desired undergraduate or graduate institutional partnerships.  Graduate recruitment will target key university partnerships using outreach, services and communication to build a strong and diverse graduate community.

First year graduate students will be provided with opportunities to connect with faculty, other students and the community at three key points (1^st, 6^th and 10^th week of study). An on-line network will allow first year students to post questions, raise issues and find guidance.  The IGM Goal program will integrate alumni who have entered or completed a doctoral degree as a resource for current students to consider doctoral degrees.

The IGM-Scholars program identifies 20 high-performing undergraduates from underrepresented groups nominated by thei departments. The junior year will be the focus.  The students will participate a summer program mentored by graduate faculty and conduct a research as the basis for future graduate study. Stipends for the students and faculty mentors and a summer tuition waiver will be provided.

2010: Michigan State University

“The Whole Student Experience: Admissions to Student Success”

The proposal will bring together 4 projects as a continuation of the most successful interventions from previous grant programs, focusing on 5-10 departments who participated in other grant programs, and follow 2 cohorts of their students (entering fall 2011 and 2012) from admission to completion. Focusing on interventions that emphasize the “whole student,” the topics will include:

1. Admitting students using holistic review
2. Setting expectations early
3. Developing career and professional development plans from the first year of doctoral experience through early years of first job placement
4. Providing development at key transition points at the doctoral program

These activities will draw upon the Setting Expectation and Conflict Resolution program, , the PREP program (career and professional development); an AGEP grant, an NSF Innovation through Institutional Integrant grant, and the CGS Ph.D. Completion Project.

1.  Admissions

Admissions and outcomes date from the PhD Completion Project will be shared with the admissions committees in participating depart as well as information on the new GRE. The committees will track additional “\predictors for success” used in admissions decisions. Student outcomes will be tracked.

2.  Setting Expectations and Conflict Resolution

A workshop will be designed for partner departments and offered for doctoral cohorts during their first semester.

3. Career and Professional Development

A workshop will be held for students, focusing on assessing skills, developing a professional plan and using the website to save it, finding professional development activities, and using resources on campus. The follow-up will include yearly focus groups.

4. Writing

Senior graduate students in participating departments will be trained and success will be assessed. A module on writing will be added to the Summer Resources Opportunities Program that encourages an inclusive community of undergraduate to explore research and graduate education.

2009: University of California, Davis

“Mentoring at Critical Transitions: Faculty Readiness from Admission to Completion”

This pilot project draws upon the best practices of national initiatives in graduate education to enhance faculty preparedness in areas affecting the academic socialization and success of a diverse doctoral student population during the transitions from applicant to student, coursework to research, and research to professional career. Brief proposals from doctoral programs will be solicited and five to eight will be selected representing broad disciplines, different levels of students diversity and varying strengths/weaknesses at key transition points in doctoral education.

The project will be launched with a retreat for graduate faculty in the programs with themes focusing on socialization, mentoring, and inclusiveness. During the year faculty will participate in a seminar to discuss and review personal contact and interviewing practices to enhance their ability to evaluate potential for persistence and retention of their students. They will also participate in seminars on early career mentoring and a new Iterative Writing and Research Project, which will entail quarterly meetings of faculty and advisees to introduce the new students to the process of research, writing, critique and revision.

Faculty in the MCT project will participate in Career and Professional development seminars to update or strengthen their knowledge of topics such as:

• Careers outside of academia
• Building an effective CV
• Interviewing skills
• Weighing job options and negotiating offers
• Networking strategies
• Academic writing and publishing

Two certified MCT faculty seminars will be offer per quarter and a year-end, da6y- long capstone seminar. Faculty with expertise will facilitate the seminars on topics such as:

• Learning and communication styles
• Diverse scholarship in curricula
• Critical concerns and best practices involving gender, ethnicity, disabilities and sexual orientation in mentoring an detaching
• Admissions, matriculation and retention
• Milestone models for coursework, qualifiers, and dissertation
• Graduate student parent needs
• Professional and academic development
• Retention accountability

The programs will use current and historic data to identify and target areas for improvement in faculty mentoring. At the conclusion of the year, participating programs will receive an updated data report.

The Office of Graduate Studies will work with the pilot programs to identify the best practices and interventions most likely to have impacted changes observed in the data. The data reports will also serve as a model for graduate program reviews.