# Presentation: 530381

## Abstract

- With the aim of developing new minority recruiting strategies and involving faculty members more directly in those activities, a life sciences faculty committee was established in the summer of 1999 at the initiative of the dean of The Graduate School.  The committee includes representatives from the biological sciences graduate programs–departmental and interdepartmental– and from NIH training grants and operates closely with the  Minority Affairs Office in The Graduate School.  In its first year, it expanded the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), with committee members participating in placing minority undergraduates in university laboratories.  This program functions to establish connections with the targeted undergraduate institutions and to alert their students to the opportunities for life science research at Northwestern and research intensive universities more generally.   It also helps establish faculty-to-faculty linkages between Northwestern faculty members and students’ mentors at their home institutions. The SROP activities are continuing during the second year, along with a plan for expanded visits by faculty members to targeted undergraduate institutions.  The format of these visits is flexible and tailored to fit the school, but invariably involves a presentation aimed at students on the programs in life science at NU, meetings with faculty and administrators, and conversations with individual or groups of students.

## Direct Involvement of Faculty Members in Recruiting and Retaining Minority Graduate Students in the Life Sciences 

- Holly Falk-Krzesinski, PhD
- Robert MacDonald, PhD
- Penelope Warren
- Northwestern University
- Evanston, IL

## Introduction: Life Sciences Minority Recruitment Committee

- Composition: Training program directors or representatives; Representatives of the interdepartmental life sciences graduate programs; Minority graduate students; Administrators from The Graduate School Minority Affairs Office; Graduate School Administrators (Dean, Assoc. Dean, Asst. Dean).  Total membership  ~24 of which 3/4 are faculty members.
- Provides a forum for minority graduate student recruitment and retention strategic planning in the life sciences
- Meets quarterly
- Minority Affairs Office in The Graduate School provides extensive, necessary administrative support; Dean provides financial support for committee activities
- Key component:  The committee orchestrates a coordinated effort of committed University personnel to identify and pursue effective activities and eliminate any duplications in effort.

## Activity #1: Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)

- Exposes minority students to research and life sciences graduate programs.
- Increased support of program by 10 life sciences students in 1999, a doubling from previous years.
- The program is expected to support 13 students this summer, most will be from minority institutions with which NU has established close ties
- Selection process: Applications received and pre-screened by Minority Affairs; One member of the committee identifies interested research faculty then matches those faculty with applicants’ interests and background; research faculty receive multiple applications to review and rank; Committee member collects rankings and assigns matches; Offers made to students.
- Key components: Genuine interest on the part of the faculty advisors to train and recruit minority students and provide support through their NIH and NSF grants; Strong auxiliary activities coordinated by Minority Affairs.

## SROP Financial Support

- Institutional support:  The Graduate School
- Federal support: Minority research supplements to NIH grants and REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) supplements to NSF grants. Advisors apply immediately after accepting a student to his/her lab. Administrative assistance provided to facilitate supplement preparation and submission.
- Last year four applications were submitted, two were funded; this year we expect that eleven applications and anticipate most of the students will be supported by this mechanism
- Corporate support: $12,500 was solicited last year (Abbott Laboratories, Omron Corp., and Nycomed Amersham) by the Chair of the committee for the support of two students.
- Key component: Additional support allows for program expansion and indicates to the funding agencies the level of involvement by individual researchers and of the Committee.  Additionally, it is prestigious for a student to be supported through NIH or NSF.

## SROP Functions

- The entire group is brought together for several group sessions.
- Laboratory and animal handling safety
- Graduate School panel discussion
- GRE test preparation
- Science writing workshop
- CIC research conference
- Research forum and dinner- faculty mentors from home institutions invited to attend as well
- New activity: Mini-symposium and Ice Cream Social- to facilitate SROP student networking
- Current minority life sciences graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty will be invited to participate
- Current minority students in the life sciences will present their research projects, background, and career aspirations
- Graduate school overview presented by a program faculty member
- Ice cream social to follow scholarly presentation
- Key component: Activities introduce students to research and graduate education in the life sciences and help them establish important networks with more senior scientists at Northwestern.

## Activity #2: Minority Conference Attendance

- Committee members and training grant directors attend national minority conferences such as the NMRC, AISES, and SACNAS meetings.
- Attend breakfasts and other common meals
- Visit poster sessions to talk about research opportunities directly with students and their advisors
- Provide general information on Northwestern’s life sciences graduate programs and multiple undergraduate summer research programs
- Key components: Annual attendance by the same people whenever possible allowing us to promote our life sciences graduate programs and enabling us to develop long-term relationships with conference organizers and faculty and administrators at minority-serving institutions.

## Activity #3: Targeted School Visits

- Committee members visit schools that produce a high number of minority biology graduates as well as area universities with a large number of minority life sciences students.
- Alcorn State University, Howard University, University of Texas at San Antonio,  Xavier University in Louisiana, Morehouse College, Chicago State University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Visit formats vary from school-to-school but usually consist of a formal graduate school  and research presentation, informal conversations with life sciences students, and meetings with faculty and administrators.
- Started developing arrangements whereby Northwestern life sciences graduate students and postdoctoral fellows present their research to undergraduate life sciences organizations at the aforementioned schools to give prospective students a clearer understanding of what graduate students actually do
- Key components: Through these visits, the Committee works to establish connections with the undergraduate institutions, to alert their students to opportunities for life sciences research at Northwestern, and to establish faculty-to-faculty linkages between Northwestern faculty members and students' mentors at their home institutions.

## Activity #4: Local Retention Efforts

- Individual programs have developed effective strategies to mentor minority students once they have matriculated.  The Committee then provides an efficient conduit to relay effective efforts. The Evanston-campus Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Graduate Program:
- Assistant Director serves on Committee and as program’s minority affairs coordinator
- Synergistic relationship with Minority Affairs in The Graduate School
- Individualized assistance provided to students, especially before they join their dissertation lab, depending on their needs.  Past assistance has included providing tutoring for students and guidance on how to best take exams.
- Last year initiated a program which involves current minority students and prospective minority students during formal recruiting weekends
- Key components: Dedication on the part of individual programs to their students’ long-term success; Designating at least one individual specifically responsible for minority student issues.

## Overall Best Practice

- The Life Sciences Minority Recruitment Committee has led to the development and implementation of effective recruitment and retention strategies, most notably:
- Expansion of the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)
- Minority conference attendance
- Targeted School Visits
- Establishing long-term, synergistic relationships with minority-serving institutions
- Local retention efforts
- _Important:_ Direct involvement of a super-critical mass of faculty members with common goals.