Mentor Coordinator
The Graduate College at Western Michigan University established a Mentor Coordinator position as part of its effort toward fulfilling AGEP’s objectives.
Feb 14
Fellowship Writing for Doctoral Students
An important aspect of career development for doctoral students is learning to compete successfully for extramural grant funding. A track record of obtaining fellowship support from peer-reviewed national funding agencies places students at an advantage in obtaining better postdoctoral positions and future employment opportunities in academia. It not only demonstrates their ability to obtain funds, but also to present their research effectively. This ability to win national grants is especially important as the competition to receive funding from the federal government and other granting agencies to support research activities continues to worsen, even as promotion and tenure in academic positions remain largely linked to and dependent upon receipt of external funding.
Faculty Allies for Diversity in Graduate Education
Although the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan encourages diversity from “the center,” students’ experiences are grounded in their particular program, making it important for each program to address its own diversity issues. The precise nature of the diversity challenges varies by program, as does the nature of the best solutions. For that reason, the Graduate School sought to identify Faculty Allies within the programs. Our hope was that in this way we could support and encourage “local” efforts to recruit and retain diverse students.
MSU/AGEP Learning Community
For the last three years, the Michigan State AGEP Learning Community has gathered on the first Thursday evening of each month. This tradition began when three faculty members and three graduate students started meeting informally to discuss a wide range of topics related to graduate education, inclusiveness, and the preparation of future faculty in the STEM and SBES disciplines. Now these monthly community meetings regularly attract more than 40 graduate students and faculty members from several departments on campus. A student steering committee keeps the content of the meetings relevant and the structure flexible to serve the needs of the participants. The meetings are open to all members of our institution who share the goals of the AGEP initiative, namely the development of a professoriate that reflects the demographic profile of our nation.
