An AGEP participant at a poster session featuring faculty and students from the Michigan Alliance
Debby Mitchell sits at her desk and reads aloud an e-mail from a student.
“Wow! I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to serve as an AGEP delegate at the institute on teaching and mentoring. It was a wonderful experience. I shared my frustration with you about the outcome of my dissertation defense. Participating in the institute got me recharged and refocused. The entire weekend was truly a blessing.”
Mitchell is Rackham’s program manager for the Michigan Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), one of 30 such alliances nationwide that are funded by the National Science Foundation. Their goal is to advance underrepresented minority graduate students as they pursue their degrees, and to enhance their preparation for faculty positions in academia. The Michigan AGEP also includes the graduate schools at Michigan State University, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.
The institute the student mentioned is but one of a diverse menu of activities AGEP supports, including monthly seminars where students can “test drive” their upcoming presentations for an audience of their peers, a dissertation-writing retreat, social gatherings, workshops on what it’s like to be a college professor, financial assistance for professional development activities, and a post-doctoral fellowship program.
“I know many examples where we probably would have lost students had we not had AGEP,” says Alec Gallimore, associate dean for academic programs and initiatives, and a co-principal investigator on Michigan’s AGEP grant. “I do believe that we’ve helped make things better than they would have been if we hadn’t been here.”
The NSF grant is officially aimed at STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students, but even though funding has expired for a similar alliance for SBE (social, behavioral and economic sciences) students, Rackham has continued to welcome their participation in all AGEP programs.
“We have a big-tent approach,” says Gallimore. “That’s not true across all NSF alliances, but we really think it’s important. First, it increases the richness and diversity of the students by adding that dimension. Second, we really believe that social scientists who are somewhat steeped in the cultural differences of the natural science and engineering fields, and STEM students who have an appreciation for the social sciences, will be much better equipped to tackle the technical challenges that they’ll face as future researchers and scholars.”
He uses the energy crisis as an example. “To design only a technical solution makes no sense because people have to implement those solutions,” Gallimore says. “Likewise, to come up with a social response is not enough because there needs to be a technical approach as well. I think our AGEP students are among the very best prepared because of the lack of barriers we have between these two groups.”
The potential of AGEP programs for more general adoption underscores a point that Gallimore makes regularly. “One of the things we tell them is don’t feel that, as an AGEP student, you’re the only one facing these challenges,” he says. “It’s a tough time for everybody, and the vast majority of Ph.D. students are going through the same things you are. This is the price of admission.”
But what benefits AGEP students will eventually benefit society, in his view.
“I strongly believe not only in the importance of the cross-pollination of different fields, but in the importance of diversifying both the STEM and SBE fields,” Gallimore says. “It’s a national imperative that we increase the representation of people who are currently underrepresented, because in the not too distant future they will become the majority of the U.S. population. Their numbers are increasing at a time when their representation in higher education is staying flat.”
Debby Mitchell says her greatest concern regarding AGEP, is how to enhance faculty involvement.
“The faculty member- student relationship is central to a student’s success,” she says. “We are ramping up programming that brings faculty and students together in a variety of interactions. We believe that faculty involvement encourages student participation and enhances the program’s value to students.”
And her greatest satisfaction? “I know that our program is making a distinct difference for students from underrepresented groups. AGEP alliances across the nation are contributing to a more diverse scientific workforce. Our students are highly skilled, innovative, and prepared to handle the challenges of the present age.”
Published in: Alumni Updates