Robert Hummer Darlene Grant University of Texas at Austin
SES-0549026 Jean Morrison University of Southern California
SES- 0548993 Karen Cook Stanford University
SES-0549007 Rogelio Saenz Texas A & M Research Foundation
The under-representation of African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students in U.S. Universities continues to be an important impediment to the goal of a more equitable society across racial and ethnic lines. At the graduate level, under-representation among minority groups is even more striking than at the undergraduate level; for example, African Americans comprised just 8.5 percent of graduate school enrollments and Hispanics comprised just 5.2 percent of graduate school enrollments in 2000. The issue of under-representation may even be more important in California and Texas, which are the two largest states in the country in terms of population and two of the most racially and ethnically diverse states. The goal of this collaboration - which includes the University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Southern California -is to help address the under-representation of Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans in graduate programs in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) at the four institutions. Specific focus will be to increase the enrollment, retention, and successful completion of under-represented minority students in the SBE sciences at the participating institutions, with the long-term intent to increase representation among under-represented minority groups on university faculties in the SBE sciences. Two principles guide efforts. Alliance partners will: 1) share ideas, best practices, and resources, and create a network to recruit and retain students for alliance universities; and 2) build on successful initiatives that have already been developed on each of the campuses so that efforts can be as cost-effective and successful as possible.
Highly collaborative and innovative methods will be used to improve efforts in recruiting and retaining minority graduate students at the institutions. Support NSF will be used to increase efforts in recruiting, retaining, and developing the careers of under-represented minority students. The Alliance plans to recruit cohorts of under-represented minority students on each campus, thus increasing minority graduate student enrollment in the SBE Sciences at each of our institutions, and to build on current efforts already ongoing at our universities and to build on the best practices that are already ongoing in the collaborative NSF-sponsored effort being undertaken by the three University of California schools
Broader Impact
The program has the potential to influence the future of higher education in both California and Texas. The future of education in these two critical states in part depends on the ability of universities in these states (and elsewhere) to diversify the race/ethnic mix of faculty. This collaborative effort is meant as one way to try and do so within the SBE Sciences.
