Janet Weiss University of Michigan Ann Arbor
SES-0753628 Steven Salley Wayne State University
SES-0753641 Karen Klomparens Michigan State University
The City University of New York (CUNY), the University of Michigan (U-M), Michigan State University (MSU), and Wayne State University (WSU) are among the Top 25 Institutions awarding baccalaureate and doctoral degrees in the social, behavioral and economic (SBE) sciences to underrepresented minorities. In addition, these institutions have documented success in meeting AGEP goals in the STEM (science, technology engineering and mathematics) fields. CUNY is currently part of a MAGNET/STEM AGEP alliance partnered with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Polytechnic University and Stevens Institute of Technology. U-M, MSU and WSU partner with Western Michigan University to form the Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA). CUNY and the Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA), consisting of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University combined efforts and formed a new regional alliance to advance the production of underrepresented minorities (i.e., African American, Hispanics, American Indians, Asian/Pacific Islanders) in the social, behavioral and economic sciences (SBE) at the B.S. through Ph.D. and early career levels. Alliance institutions are both sharing resources and best practices across the alliance and including SBE fields in existing AGEP programs. The CUNY/MAA Alliance for the SBE sciences has increased participation in summer research programs, expanded recruitment and research opportunities for social sciences students, further developed targeted relationships with minority-serving institutions, provided across the alliance student mentoring and mentoring training for faculty, coordinated skill building workshops to help ensure graduate study success and enhanced fellowship support. It has also expanded student support groups, teaching opportunities, teacher training workshops, students' attendance at professional workshops, and postdoctoral and early career education. This grant funds a continuation of these efforts.
Broader Impact
Project broader impacts will be through the institutionalization of a larger pool of individuals studying and conducting research in the SEE disciplines through the utilization of effective strategies that will attract, motivate, and train domestic talent, especially among underrepresented minorities, women and persons with disabilities. The result of these activities will be to advance understanding of the role of the social and behavioral sciences in the nation, as well as to strengthen the national workforce.
for Project Title: Collaborative Proposal: CUNY Michigan Alliance PI: Gail Smith Awardee: City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center Award Number: 0753623 Award Expires: 09/30/2013 Program Officer Name: Patricia White Program Officer Email Address: pwhite@nsf.gov Program Officer Phone Number: (703)292-8762 The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center was the Lead Institution in an Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant awarded by the National Science Foundation in collaboration with the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. All doctoral students in Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBES) fields in CUNY/ MAA (CUNY/Michigan AGEP Alliance) were eligible to participate in all program activities. Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) disciplines also participated. The major goals of the (SBES) Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program grant awarded to the CUNY Graduate Center were 1) to increase the applicant pool of students from historically under-represented groups in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and, importantly, 2) to increase the number of doctoral degrees conferred in this demographic and to prepare them for professional careers, especially in the academy. Through proactive recruitment that targeted underrepresented groups in SBES, CUNY was able to increase minority applications and to lift enrollments in this demographic in absolute numbers from an average per year of 196 in the pre-grant period to an average of 245 in the final grant period--- up by 25%. The percentage of the total SBES pool rose from an average of 16 percent to 18 percent over the course of the grant. As a result of sustained support services for these enrollees, during the grant period an average of 18 degrees were awarded to minority students each year, or about 17% of total SBES degrees awarded annually by CUNY, up from 10 per year or 12% of the total during the pre-grant period. Program support services aiding retention and degree conferral upticks included mentoring, monthly interdisciplinary colloquia allowing participants to discuss their research and share experiences in their progress toward the degree; annual conference workshops on professional development/postdoctoral study; travel awards to attend and present at national/international conferences; supplemental financial support for entering and continuing students; summer awards for young scholars to devote full-time to research without adjunct teaching responsibilities. The majority of these support services have been institutionalized. Students from all SBES fields who participated in these activities, but especially those from the funded disciplines, which included anthropology, criminal justice, economics, educational psychology, political science, psychology, sociology,and urban education, benefited academically and socially, as well as financially. Intellectual merit: Participating students met regularly in monthly colloquia not only with doctoral students from their own discipline, but with those from other SBES disciplines, as well as from their peers in STEM fields. In discussing their research, students learned how disciplines other than their own advance knowledge and benefit society. Additional interdisciplinary perspectives for broader impact were afforded through the annual conferences held at the CUNY Graduate Center at which undergraduates, graduates, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, administrators, and policy makers from around the country presented their research, shared views and engaged intellectually on panels and in workshops. In the interest of continued and sustained reference, abstracts of SBES research, program agenda, and presentations given at some of the more recent annual conferences, along with photos documenting these events, have been posted on the program website, at www.cunyagep.org, under Past Events containing conferences and a photo gallery. Research (Selected) in the social, behavioral and economic sciences generated under CUNY/MAA that, in addition to the intellectual merit, is expected to benefit society and provide broader impact include: • the civic engagement of undocumented youth in the United States, • young children with cognitive and linguistic disabilities, • community-school relations ethnographic study of the relationship between communities and their schools, • education-focused solutions to urban poverty, • the effects of physical activity on cognitive recall and comprehension, • prisoner reentry and how it is conceptualized and actualized within the Department of Corrections. By attending receptions held to honor graduates and their mentors, interns and undergraduates and graduate students gained inspiration from these models of success. Some of the graduates have moved into postdoctoral posts and others into faculty positions.
