AGEP-TDAE 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Transition to the Doctorate by Adaptable Engagement: Understanding the Academic and Faculty Cultures for the Success of URM Doctoral Students1 Wosu, S. N., Abramowitch, S., Besterfield-Sacre, M., and Mena, I. University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, Pittsburgh PA Abstract The University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering Transition to the Doctorate by Adaptable Engagement (TDAE) program was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate-Knowledge Adoption and Translation (AGEP-KAT). With the dearth of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in research universities, URM students face the barrier of not having enough faculty who share their background and to whom they can relate as role model and a faculty culture that appreciate differences and promote their success and transition to the doctorate. The primary purpose of this grant is to create such a culture by Adopting Evidence-Based Strategies to Improve Academic Climate and the Success of Underrepresented Doctoral Students in Engineering. The first year of the project was focused on collecting baseline and formative data from survey responses on a series of workshops, seminars, and interviews to better understand the academic and faculty cultures for the success of URM doctoral students. The goal was to understand, based on the data, how to improve faculty culture and engagement with students, advance their awareness of the barriers and problems the students experience, and understand studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perspectives of what the dominant departmental culture is currently. The preliminary results reported in this paper show that greater awareness about the support systems available for URM students was achieved. More majority faculty members than before are now aware of the importance of community learning activities whereby shared visions are created for the community regarding the success of URM students. During the various workshops, faculty members were exposed to different strategies and techniques in creating the shared vision for the success of the program. Introduction Black/African Americans (5.3%), Hispanic/Latinos (3.5%), Asian Americans (9.1%), and American Indians (1.4%) and other NSF recognized minority groups (<1%) are significantly underrepresented in the professoriate compared to the university/college student populations. Data from the National Center of Education Statistics show that representation of full-time URM faculty still remains a challenge at universities nationally (NCES, 2011). A recent comprehensive review of this subject showed that the overall fraction of engineering doctoral degrees awarded to URM ACKNOWLEDGEMENT : This project is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1434012. DISCLAIMER: Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation
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