Recruitment of Diverse Graduate Students
For information about student recruitment strategies and Rackham’s full range of resources to support your recruiting efforts, contact Rackham’s office of Graduate Student Success at (734) 647-9404 or gradstudentsuccess@umich.edu. For advice and assistance, contact the Rackham Associate Dean for your program at (734) 764-4400.
Promising Practices
Rackham deans and staff provide advice about how to improve recruitment, and resources to support your efforts. For example, staff in Graduate Student Success help faculty and staff use data from national organizations such as the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, the National Name Exchange and GEM. There are Quick Tips guides for promising practices in recruitment strategies and other resources that can help to identify and reach out to potential applicants. The Graduate School provides funding to support recruitment efforts.
Identify and Recruit Students
The Graduate School partners in activities to identify and recruit highly qualified students. Our subscription to GRE Search Service provides access to information about all who have taken the GRE. Rackham’s Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) offers outstanding undergraduates underrepresented in their field of study the opportunity to conduct research on our campus during the summer, and we also work with a number of similar summer research programs at U-M. The Graduate School provides fee waivers to participants in a range of national organizations and fellowships that encourage a diverse student population.
Transitioning to Graduate School
The Graduate School provides support and information to students and programs to help ensure a successful transition to graduate school, and success along the way to degree completion. Participation in the Summer Institute (SI) is open to all incoming students who received Rackham Merit Fellowships. They are invited to begin in the summer term and take advantage of the opportunity to build networks throughout the University of Michigan community by participating in courses as well as a variety of formal and informal events during the eight-week period.
The NSF-funded Michigan Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) programs support efforts to increase the diversity of the applicant pool in the sciences and engineering, and in the social behavioral and economic sciences. Once enrolled at U-M, eligible students can take part in many activities sponsored by AGEP.
Students of Color of Rackham (SCOR) network for Rackham graduate and professional students at the University of Michigan. SCOR is dedicated to the social, cultural, and academic well-being of students of color of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent, and also welcomes students of other cultures, ethnicities, and international origins.
The Graduate School shares data with faculty on student performance to help programs identify and analyze areas for improvement and to address obstacles that may impede student success.