The IU AGEP Program
The Midwest Crossroads Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP)
In 2004, Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern Universities received a National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate (NSF AGEP) grant to broaden participation in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines. The alliance formed by these three institutions is known as the Midwest Crossroads AGEP. The NSF funds the endeavors of AGEPs nationwide to recruit and retain underrepresented minority (URM) PhD students and advance them to the professoriate after graduation. At IU, AGEP supports a wide range of activities that have resulted in a noticeable increase in the number of URM students applying to and enrolling in our STEM doctoral programs.
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Breaking Grounds Initiatives, 2004 - 2009
The NSF Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate grant supports "Breaking Grounds Initiatives" on an annual basis. These faculty-initiated projects aim to recruit and retain underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in the STEM (science, technology and mathematics) disciplines. The following initiatives have been supported:
- "Bring IT On!" - a three-day workshop held by the School of Informatics for Historically Black College and University (HBCU) computer science students on developing K-12 outreach programs for their schools. The workshop was repeated during the second year of funding for undergraduate students from IU's regional campuses
- The establishment of a chapter of NOBCChE, the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, in the IUB Department of Chemistry
- "Training for Research and Academic Careers in Communication Sciences" (TRACCS), a Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences summer research training program for underrepresented minority undergraduate students studying communication sciences and disorders
- A graduate student recruiting effort of the Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior (CISAB)
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences efforts to generate community within its underrepresented minority graduate students through one-on-one mentoring sessions
- Enhancement of URM graduate student recruitment within the Department of Geography by funding conference travel, print material production and networking with Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and McNair Scholars Program affiliates
- A collaboration of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences with IU's Northwest campus to enhance the pipeline from Northwest's predominantly minority undergraduate student body to IUB's doctoral programs in Psychology & Brain Sciences, Cognitive Science and Neuroscience
- Development of a one-week astronomy immersion program at the Kitt Peak National Observatory for Native American undergraduate students facilitated by the IU Department of Astronomy graduate program
Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity
Eight doctoral students from a variety of disciplines currently serve as the Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity, an AGEP recruiting initiative. The Emissaries, featured on The University Graduate School Web Site, are avaiable to correspond by email with prospective graduate student who wants to get an "insider" view on life at IUB. Visiting prospective graduate students may request a personalized tour of the Bloomington campus with an Emissary. The Emissaries also maintain a team blog documenting various aspects of graduate student life for prospective students. AGEP funds have supported the Emissaries' work with small research awards.
graduate.indiana.edu/agep/emissaries
Not a Retreat But a Forward Grant Writing Workshop
Not a Retreat but a Forward is an annual grant proposal writing workshop for graduate students in the STEM disciplines instituted by Bloomington and Indianapolis and funded by the NSF AGEP. This event brings graduate students from both campuses together with faculty and administrators for a day-long workshop on finding funding sources, proposing research projects, writing grant applications and related topics. Typical sessions offered include Funding: types and tools, Basics of grant writing and Creating my personalized funding alerts. Material is presented by IU faculty and administrators, with the event rotating between the two campuses. In addition to developing students' proposal writing skills, this event strengthens student-to-student and student-to-faculty connections within the IU scientific community.
Getting You Into IU Recruitment Visits
Getting You Into IU brings select underrepresented minority (URM) prospective graduate students to IU to introduce them to graduate programs of their interest. This recruitment event was established by the NSF AGEP Midwest Crossroads grant in order to increase the number of URM students into IU's doctoral programs in the STEM (science, technology and mathematics) disciplines at both IUB and IUPUI. For the first two years of the program, AGEP funded the prospective students' travel, lodging, meals and activities. The President's Diversity Initiative has committed funding for Getting You Into IU 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. The next campus visit will be October 8-10, 2009.
Graduate programs choose from prospective students applying to participate in Getting You Into IU and work with The University Graduate School and the Graduate Office at IUPUI to develop personalized itineraries for visiting invitees. Graduate programs arrange for invitees to meet with faculty members and current graduate students, tour labs and other campus facilities, and attend courses. The University Graduate School coordinates informational sessions on developing a competitive application, finding funding and other useful topics in conjunction with departments.
In 2008-09, of the participating students, 36.8 percent submitted applications and 57 percent of those who applied to IU were admitted.
graduate.indiana.edu/campusvisit
Graduate School Programs
Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Program
Indiana University holds two McNair Scholars Programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education. One is within the University Graduate School in Bloomington, and the other is within the Center for Research & Learning at IUPUI.
These programs are designed to prepare low-income, first-generation college students, and individuals from other groups that are underrepresented in graduate education, for doctoral study by providing research and teaching experiences, as well as other scholarly activities.
The program at IUB assures that not less than two-thirds of the Program participants will be low-income individuals who are the first-generation of their families to attend college, and that the remaining persons will be drawn from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in graduate education. Each year, 25 IUB McNair Scholars are exposed to comprehensive academic, professional (research and teaching internships), and student support services.
During the spring semester, IUB McNair Scholars planning to conduct summer research prepare for the experience by participating in the McNair Scholars Pre-Research Seminar, conducted by IUB faculty. Students also present their research results in oral and poster format at a national McNair undergraduate research conference or the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).
Recognizing that teaching is a major component in the lives of college and university faculty, and in the graduate school experience as well, the IUB McNair Scholars Program offers its participants training in college pedagogy to prepare them for teaching assistantship duties that they most likely will assume while in graduate school. The teaching component of the Program includes sessions in an intensive workshop conducted by IUB faculty who are recognized for their effective teaching methods, and a semester-long teaching internship under the guidance of a faculty teaching mentor.
Senior McNair Scholars participate in a series of activities that will prepare them for the graduate school application process, as well as for graduate study. These activities include: (1) a five-day McNair Scholars Senior Summer Camp where students immerse themselves in the graduate school application process under the guidance of faculty and graduate students; (2) year-long conversations with doctoral student mentors from the same academic disciplines as the McNair Scholars; (3) an eight-week GRE preparation course, specifically designed for the IUB McNair Scholars Program; and (4) visitations to graduate schools where McNair Scholars have an opportunity to talk with faculty, graduate students and admission officer.
Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship Program (FFTF)
"I have truly benefited greatly from my FFTF experience. The opportunity to gain real teaching experience made me more competitive in the job market. In almost every job interview I had this year, I was asked about FFTF, and I believe it was a key factor in the offer of a tenure track position that I accepted for the fall. The pedagogical training and classroom experience gained through . . . FFTF are CV builders that recent graduates of other universities lack."
David Nelson, History, Fellow at IU Kokomo
The FFTF program provides doctoral and MFA candidates an immersive experience of faculty life at institutions outside of the Bloomington campus, and is intended to prepare students for careers in academia.
After a competitive application, interview, and selection process, fellows from a range of disciplines are placed at regional IU campuses or the Indianapolis campus for either a semester or, more commonly, an entire year. In preparation for the fellowship year, participants are required to complete a course in pedagogy and participate in a summer workshop designed and facilitated by members of the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (FACET).
Fellows have full responsibility for teaching two classes each semester; while these are typically assigned by the host campus, it is not unusual for fellows to be asked to teach a course of their own design. Host departments assign a faculty mentor to each fellow, who helps familiarize the fellow with colleagues, facilitates opportunities to participate in faculty meetings and service activities, and observes and provides feedback on the fellow's teaching. Host departments pay a monthly teaching salary; the University Graduate School also pays a stipend and provides health insurance.
The Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship program was highlighted as a best practice in the September 2005 edition of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation's The Responsive Ph.D.: Innovations in U.S. Doctoral Education.
graduate.indiana.edu/future-faculty-teaching-fellowships.php
Summer Undergraduate Research Programs
Many of these events and activities are in partnership with not only IUB Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and AGEP-sponsored summer research programs, but also with the McNair Scholars, Adam W. Herbert STEM Summer Scholars and IUPUI McNair, REU and UROP programs. In addition, IUPUI hosts the T35 Short Term Minority Training Program and the Simon Cancer Center Summer Student Research Program. The Indianapolis-based programs partner with the IUPUI Graduate Office for support, advising and programming.
Professional development activities include workshops on presenting research, a GRE-Prep Course, and attendance at the CIC SROP Conference at the end of the summer. These summer student activities are designed to encourage and prepare students for graduate school, and to foster community to build a stronger connection to IU.
IU Undergraduate Research Conference (IUURC)
The Indiana University Undergraduate Research Conference is currently in its 14th year. The IUURC is dedicated to the promotion of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity performed in partnership with faculty or other mentors as a vital component of undergraduate education on all campuses of Indiana University. This one-day conference is open to all disciplines including (but not limited to): visual and performing arts, humanities, natural and physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, business and economics, education, and nursing.
Each year nearly 150 undergraduate students from the eight IU campuses are brought together to give an oral or poster presentation, and to participate in a research roundtable. Roundtables are brief informal presentations of research results or research ideas by students for open discussion with faculty and other students in their discipline. They are particularly useful for newer researchers and students at the beginning stages of a project.
The most recent IUURC entitled Making Research Relevant was held at IU Kokomo on Friday, November 21, 2008. The keynoter was Dr. Christian Chauret, Chair of Natural, Information, and Mathematical Sciences at Indiana University Kokomo.
Bridges to the Doctorate Program
The Indiana University School of Medicine Bridges to the Doctorate Program (1R25 GM067592) addresses the national need to increase the numbers of well-trained minority biomedical researchers in the professoriate. The NIH-funded program, housed in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, is led by Principal Investigator Dr. Hal Broxmeyer, an internationally recognized researcher in blood cell formation who was a pioneer in establishing cord blood transplantation as a therapeutic regimen.
The Bridges Program is designed to move students seamlessly from a partnering master's program at Jackson State into PhD programs at IUPUI. Students take master's level courses at the partner institution and spend one or two summers in research laboratories at IUPUI, both to support the research needed for the master's degree and to acclimate the students to the graduate experience at IUPUI. Now in its sixth year, this program has had 18 students earning master's degrees and 10 of those have progressed into PhD programs; five students are in PhD programs at IUPUI. The Bridges Program this year has added an additional partner institution, California State University at Dominguez Hills, for future enrichment of diversity to include not only African-American but also Hispanic and Native American students.
Students in the Bridges Program interact with students in NIH-funded programs (T35 Short Term Minority Training Program, Simon Cancer Center Summer Student Research Program) and the IU-funded Herbert STEM Initiative, giving opportunities for multi-tiered mentoring and interactions with the larger minority community on campus. The IUPUI Graduate Office and the IUPUI Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, led by Dr. Ken Durgans, support Bridges students by assisting with advising, programming, and funding.
micro.medicine.iu.edu/body.cfm?id=32
Adam W. Herbert Graduate Fellowship
The Adam W. Herbert Graduate Fellowship was created to support graduate study at Indiana University (IU) for graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and is a part of the STEM Initiative (stem.indiana.edu). This endowment from the IU President's Fund reflects the strong commitment of Indiana University's 17th President, Adam W. Herbert, for enhancing opportunities for underrepresented students and increasing diversity of the graduate student body, especially in the fields of science, technology and mathematics (STEM).
The fellowship is awarded each year to students who demonstrate strong academic excellence, high potential for success, and a commitment to the graduate study in the sciences.
graduate.indiana.edu/herbert-graduate-fellowship.php
International Staff Exchange Program
For the last two years, The University Graduate School has sent its IUB Associate Deans to China to cultivate relationships with various Chinese higher education institutions as part of their travels to the annual International Graduate Scholarship Conferences in Shanghai, Wuhan and Beijing.
During their last visit in October 2008, Vice Dean Gao of the Peking University Graduate School proposed establishing a staff exchange program with IU similar to one already in place between Peking University and the University of Aukland in Australia.
The new staff exchange program will consist of at least one staff member visit per year, with each visit lasting anywhere from one to three months. The goal is to increase the understanding of each institution's administrative operations and to explore new avenues for research collaboration, student exchange and student recruitment. Currently a memorandum of understanding is in the process of being signed by IU officials and will be sent to Peking University in the near future. UGS is also working in collaboration with Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University on developing summer undergraduate research programs.
Howard University FFTF Program
In Fall 2008, the University Graduate School established an alliance with the Graduate School of Howard University to develop a Future Faculty Teaching Fellowship-Preparing Future Faculty (FFTF) Exchange Program.
In this program, doctoral students from each university will spend one year on the other university's campus working as a visiting faculty member. The primary goals of this program are (1) establishing links in undergraduate and graduate education between the two institutions in ways designed to enhance diversity in higher education, and fostering networking and; (2) collaboration opportunities for senior graduate students and faculty in order to enrich the quality of education at the two institutions. In providing participants from each institution the opportunity to experience teaching in a different cultural environment, the program also aims to enhance the professional and pedagogical development of the fellows.
Similar to the internal FFTF program, the application and interview process for this exchange program is highly competitive. Participants receive a stipend from their home institution, as well as some supplemental funding for relocation expenses. Fellows are assigned a faculty mentor and teach one class per semester at their host institution.
