To establish the Patsy T. Mink Graduate Fellow program.

Summary: Patsy T. Mink Fellowship Act of 2007 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish the Patsy T. Mink Fellowship program.

Directs the Secretary of Education to make grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) to award fellowships to minorities and women seeking terminal master's degrees or doctorate degrees in academic areas in which such individuals are underrepresented for the purpose of entering the higher education professoriate.

 Requires fellowship recipients to teach, for a period equivalent to their fellowship period, at IHEs with graduate programs.

Directs the Secretary, to the extent practical, to provide at least 50% of the grant funds to minority-serving IHEs or consortia that include such IHEs.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Patsy T. Mink Fellowship Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. PATSY MINK.

    Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1133 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new part:

                   ``PART E--PATSY T. MINK FELLOWSHIP

``SEC. 771. FINDINGS; PURPOSE; DESIGNATION.

    ``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following
            ``(1) While minority college enrollment continues to grow, 
        rising to 28 percent in 1999-2000, the employment of women and 
        minorities as faculty in higher education continues to lag 
        behind, especially among American Indian and Alaskan Natives, 
        and women of color in the professoriate.
            ``(2) In the fall of 1999, total employment of faculty in 
        all sectors in instruction and research was 1,027,830, only 14 
        percent of whom were minorities, including 5 percent African 
        American; 5 percent Asia/Pacific Islanders; 3 percent Hispanic 
        American; and 0.5 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native; with 
        one-half of all collegiate faculty being white males and 35 
        percent white females.
            ``(3) In the fall of 1999, African American faculty totaled 
        53,401, Hispanic American faculty totaled 30,961, Asian/Pacific 
        Islander faculty totaled 48,892, and American Indian/Alaskan 
        Native faculty were just 4,429 of the 1,027,830 faculty 
        employed in all degree-granting institutions of higher 
        education.
            ``(4) In the Fall of 1999, women made up over one-third of 
        full-time instructional faculty, ranging from 49 percent of 
        faculty at public two-year institutions to less than 30 percent 
        of faculty at research universities; with men outnumbering 
        women in all faculty rank categories except the two less-senior 
        positions of Instructor and Lecturer.
            ``(5) The maldistribution and absence of minority faculty 
        frequently places minority students in institutional and 
        educational environments in which they encounter no teachers, 
        counselors, or advisors, mentor and professional or personal 
        role models to ensure student progress and academic success.
            ``(6) The presence of minority and women faculty at all 
        levels in the higher education professoriate will help 
        facilitate student access, increase student retention and 
        persistence, and strengthen the academic environment for all 
        students.
    ``(b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this part to provide a program 
of fellowship awards to assist highly qualified minorities and women to 
acquire the terminal masters degree or the doctorate degree in academic 
areas in which such individuals are underrepresented for the purpose of 
entering the higher education professoriate.
    ``(c) Eligible Institutions.--For purposes of this part, the term 
`eligible institution' means an institution of higher education, or a 
consortium of such institutions, that offers a program of post-
baccalaureate study leading to a graduate degree.
    ``(d) Designation.--Each recipient of a fellowship award from an 
institution receiving a grant under this subpart shall be known as a 
`Patsy T. Mink Graduate Fellow'.

``SEC. 772. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    ``(a) Grants By Secretary.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall make grants to 
        eligible institutions of higher education to enable such 
        institutions to make fellowship awards to qualified students in 
        accordance with the provisions of this part.
            ``(2) Priority consideration.--In making grant awards under 
        this part, the Secretary shall consider the applicant 
        institution's prior experience in producing doctorates and 
        terminal masters degree holders who are minorities and females, 
        and shall give priority consideration in making grants under 
        this part to those institutions with a demonstrated record of 
        producing minorities and women who have earned such degrees.
    ``(b) Distribution and Amounts of Grants.--
            ``(1) Equitable distribution.--In making such grants the 
        Secretary shall, to the maximum extent feasible, ensure an 
        equitable geographic distribution of awards and an equitable 
        distribution among eligible public and private institutions of 
        higher education that apply for grants under this part and that 
        demonstrate the institution's ability to achieve the purpose of 
        this part.
            ``(2) Special rule.--To the maximum extent practical, the 
        Secretary shall award at least 50 percent of the amount 
        appropriated pursuant under this part to institutions of higher 
        education eligible for assistance under titles III and V, or to 
        consortia composed of otherwise eligible institutions of higher 
        education and such minority-serving institutions.
            ``(3) Allocation.--In making such grants the Secretary 
        shall, consistent with paragraphs (1) and (2), allocate 
        appropriated funds to those institutions whose applications 
        indicate their ability to significantly increase the numbers of 
        minorities and women entering the higher education 
        professoriate and that commit institutional resources to the 
        attainment of the purpose of this part. No grant made under 
        this part shall support fewer than fifteen degree candidates 
        consistent with section 774(b).
            ``(4) Reallotment.--Whenever the Secretary determines that 
        an institution of higher education is unable to utilize all of 
        the amounts made available to it under this part, the Secretary 
        shall, on such dates during the fiscal year as the Secretary 
        may determine, reallocate such unused amounts to institutions 
        which demonstrate that they can use any reallocated grant funds 
        to make fellowship awards to qualified individuals under this 
        part.

``SEC. 773. APPLICATIONS.

    ``(a) Applications Required.--Any eligible institution of higher 
education offering a program of post-baccalaureate study leading to a 
graduate degree that meets the purpose of this part may apply for a 
grant. Each such institution, or consortium of eligible institutions 
(including those institutions specified in section 772(b)(2)), may make 
an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 
containing or accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 
reasonably require.
    ``(b) Selection of Applications.--In selecting applications for the 
making grants to institutions of higher education, the Secretary 
shall--
            ``(1) take into account the number and distribution of 
        minority and female faculty nationally, as well as the current 
        and projected need for highly-trained individuals in all areas 
        of the higher education professoriate;
            ``(2) take into account the number and distribution of 
        minority and female faculty nationally, as well as the present 
        and projected need for highly trained individuals in academic 
        career fields in which minorities and women are 
        underrepresented in the higher education professoriate; and
            ``(3) consider the need to prepare a larger number of 
        minorities and women generally in academic career fields of 
        high national priority, especially in areas in which such 
        individuals are traditionally underrepresented in college and 
        university faculties.

``SEC. 774. FELLOWSHIP TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

    ``(a) Selection of Fellows.--
            ``(1) Eligible applicants.--The Secretary shall assure 
        that, in awarding fellowships from funds made available under 
        this part, grantee institutions make fellowship awards to 
        individuals who plan to pursue a career in instruction at any 
        institution of higher education that is eligible to participate 
        in title IV programs.
            ``(2) Academic progress.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no 
        otherwise eligible student selected for support, shall receive 
        a fellowship award--
                    ``(A) during periods in which such student is 
                enrolled, unless such student is maintaining 
                satisfactory academic progress in, and devoting 
                essentially full-time to, study or research in the 
                pursuit of the degree for which the fellowship support 
                was awarded; or
                    ``(B) if the student is engaged in gainful 
                employment other than part-time employment involved in 
                teaching, research, or similar activity determined by 
                the institution to be consistent with and supportive of 
                the student's progress toward the appropriate degree.
    ``(b) Service Requirement.--
            ``(1) Teaching required.--Each Patsy T. Mink Graduate 
        Fellow who earns the doctoral or terminal masters degree with 
        assistance provided under this part shall teach at an eligible 
        institution for one year for each year of fellowship assistance 
        received under this part.
            ``(2) Institutional obligation.--Each institution which 
        receives an award from the Secretary under this part, shall 
        provide an assurance that it has inquired of and determined the 
        fellowship recipient's decision to, within 3 years of receiving 
        the doctorate or terminal masters degree, begin employment at 
        an eligible institution of higher education as required by this 
        part.
            ``(3) Agreement required.--Prior to receiving the initial 
        fellowship award, and upon the annual renewal or the fellowship 
        award, a fellow shall sign an agreement with the Secretary 
        memorializing this commitment to enter the professoriate.
            ``(4) Consequences of failure.--If a fellowship recipient 
        fails to honor the service requirement of this subsection, the 
        Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) require the individual to repay all or the 
                applicable portion of the total fellowship amount 
                awarded to the individual by converting the balance due 
                to a loan at the interest rate applicable to loans made 
                under part B of title IV; or
                    ``(B) require the individual to pay an amount 
                determined by the Secretary to be appropriate, except 
                as provided in paragraph (5).
            ``(5) Modified service requirement.--The Secretary may 
        waive or modify the service requirement of this subsection 
        based on regulations, promulgated pursuant to and consistent 
        with criteria which, determine that compliance with the service 
        obligation by the fellowship recipient would be inequitable and 
        represent a substantial hardship. The Secretary may waive the 
        service requirement if--
                    ``(A) compliance by the fellowship recipient would 
                be deemed impossible because the individual is 
                permanently and totally disabled at the time of the 
                waiver request; or
                    ``(B) compliance by the fellowship recipient is 
                based on documentation presented to the Secretary of 
                substantial economic or personal hardship, as 
                determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by 
                the Secretary.
    ``(c) Amount of Fellowship Awards.--
            ``(1) In general.--From the grants made pursuant to this 
        part, eligible institutions shall award stipends to individuals 
        who are awarded fellowships under this part. Such stipends 
        shall reflect the purpose of the program authorized by this 
        part to encourage highly qualified minorities and women to 
        pursue graduate study for the purpose of entering the higher 
        education professoriate.
            ``(2) Awards based on need.--Stipends shall be in an amount 
        equal to the level of support provided by the National Science 
        Foundation graduate fellowships, except that such stipend shall 
        be adjusted as necessary so as not to exceed the fellow's 
        demonstrated need as determined by the institution of higher 
        education where the graduate student is enrolled.
    ``(d) Institutional Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall, in addition to the 
        amounts made available to institutions for stipends to 
        individuals under this part, pay to grantee institutions of 
        higher education, for each individual awarded a fellowship 
        under this part at such institution, an institutional 
        allowance. Except as provided for in paragraph (3), such 
        allowance shall be, for academic year 2008-2009 and succeeding 
        academic years, the same as the institutional payment made for 
        that year under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National 
        Need program in subpart 2 of part A, and shall be adjusted 
        annually thereafter in accordance with inflation as determined 
        by the Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index for the 
        previous calendar year.
            ``(2) Use of funds.--Institutional payments may be expended 
        in the discretion of the institution, except that such funds 
        shall be used to provide academic support and career transition 
        services for participating fellows.
            ``(3) Reduction.--The institutional allowance paid under 
        paragraph (1) shall be reduced by the amount the institution 
        charges and collects from a fellowship recipient for tuition 
        and other expenses as part of the institution's instructional 
        program.
            ``(4) Use for overhead prohibited.--Funds made available 
        pursuant to this part may not be used for general operational 
        overhead of the academic department or institution receiving 
        funds under this part.

``SEC. 775. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal year 
2008 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding 
fiscal years.''.