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Programs Graduate Education
Strategies and plan for recruiting from traditionally under-represented groups
- Undergraduate Summer Research Experience
The undergraduate research experience will involve key departments. Selected highly talented college junior/seniors (from the School of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, and Minority Colleges/Universities) will be invited each year to work on carefully defined projects and graduate education transition activities.
- Graduate Research Experience
To increase the pool of PhD students, each year promising first year minority masters graduate students or recent engineering graduates from selected non-PhD minority universities will be selected to participate in an intensive 8-10 weeks of faculty-guided advanced research projects and graduate education stimulating activities. The objective is to increase advanced research training for under-represented groups, create more opportunities for a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving and expose students to research presentation techniques.
- Research Internships and Industrial Alliances
The Engineering Office of Diversity will develop a research internship program for prospective engineering seniors and first-year masters graduate students with national laboratories and corporate research departments like the Army Research Office, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Naval Office of Scientific Research, PPG, Mobile, IBM, and Microsoft. The alliance will provide both some orientation to large engineering operations and the research and development involved in such operations.
- Partnership with Student Organizations
Organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network (WEPAN), and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) will be developed for effective dissemination of information and mailing of fellowship packages.
- Marketing School Identity
To make the University and the City of Pittsburgh more attractive to underrepresented groups, a special effort will be made to develop an effective marketing instrument that will create and communicate the positive image and diverse culture of the School and the University in general.
Strategies and plan for retaining traditionally under-represented groups
- Graduate Engineering Center (GEC)
The Graduate Engineering Center will be established as a learning center that allows students to gather together and work in multi-cultural groups to provide group discussions, reduce the isolation of any group, develop peer mentors and encourage academic activities.
- Effective Academic Support
We will develop effective academic support staff and programs at departmental levels. Each department will designate a staff person to be responsible for all diversity issues in the department.
- On-campus Recruitment by Academic Mentoring
The Minority Engineering Mentoring Program has been implemented to build a bridge between undergraduate and graduate educational experiences. In this program, each high achieving undergraduate is assigned a faculty mentor who motivates and guides the student through a transition to graduate education.
- Improved Faculty and Staff Diversity
The School of Engineering is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty that will improve the academic culture for the recruitment and retention of a diverse graduate student body that reflects our national multicultural diversity and individual differences by developing and using the full potential of the workforce.
- Support for Graduate Family
The School will help spouses of graduate students in the program in finding local employment or may offer other assistance programs as needed.
Plan for identifying eligible students for graduate fellowships
- Developing Inter-scholastic Competition for Academic Incentives
The strategy is to improve skills through competition, collaboration/cooperation, peer mentoring, and motivational activities. A number of promising graduating seniors will be selected each year to receive special awards for exceptional performance in research and general scholastic activities.
- Performance in Undergraduate Summer Research
Through the mentoring program, participating faculty mentors will identify and recommend students who show the greatest promise as Ph.D. students and who are most likely to succeed in the School's graduate program.
- Campus Visits and Peer Mentoring
The Assistant Dean for Diversity will visit selected minority campuses and meetings of professional societies or minority organizations to disseminate information about the program, interview students, and identify promising students. Exceptionally gifted juniors and seniors who have shown some interest in Pitt graduate education will be invited in the summer to participate in three-day campus tour with a prospective major research advisor and graduate peer mentor.
- Direct Advertisement and Announcements
The Assistant Dean of Diversity will place announcements in publications and national magazines such as National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network (WEPAN), and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). Personal letters of invitation and flyers will be mailed directly to a short list of prospective students. The School will solicit input from program chairs and department heads to identify quality students that could take advantage of the program.
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