Professor Suzanne E. Barbour, Dean of the Graduate School,
University of Georgia
George P. Williams, Jr. Lecture Hall, (Olin 101)
Wednesday, November 7, 2018, at 4:00 PM
There will be a reception with refreshments at 3:30 PM in the lounge. All interested persons are cordially invited to attend.
ABSTRACT
Despite years of support and interventions, the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM disciplines continues to lag behind their representation in the general population. For example, only 14,354 African American male graduate students were training in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in 2016 (according to the 2016 Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering). This represents only ~2% of all STEM graduate students, while African American males make up ~6% of the U.S. population. Although early efforts were primarily focused on recruiting, the impact of retention programs has become evident in more recent attempts to address this disparity. In this talk, we will focus on a variety of strategies to increase and stabilize the pipeline of URM STEM students. Topics addressed will include the value of holistic admissions strategies, value and limitations of undergraduate summer research programs, importance of building a community, impact of “gateway” programs, significance of supportive mentoring relationships, and power of retention programming.