1 / 16

Changing Graduate Education: Lessons from the UC-AGEP

Changing Graduate Education: Lessons from the UC-AGEP. John Mohr Chair, UC-AGEP Steering Committee Associate Dean, Graduate Division Associate Professor, Sociology University of California, Santa Barbara. I. AGEP (Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate). NSF Sponsored program

gypsy
Download Presentation

Changing Graduate Education: Lessons from the UC-AGEP

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Changing Graduate Education:Lessons from the UC-AGEP John Mohr Chair, UC-AGEP Steering Committee Associate Dean, Graduate Division Associate Professor, Sociology University of California, Santa Barbara

  2. I. AGEP (Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) • NSF Sponsored program • Goal = “To increase the number of minority students pursuing advanced study, obtaining doctoral degrees, and entering the professoriate in STEM disciplines. Alliances participating in this program are expected to engage in comprehensive institutional cultural changes that will lead to sustained increases in the conferral of STEM doctoral degrees, significantly exceeding historic levels of performance.”

  3. II. UC-AGEP • 1999—3 Individual Awards $500,000 x 5 years (Berkeley, Irvine, San Diego) • 2000 — Expanded to include 6 other campuses $66,000 each (Davis, UCLA, Riverside, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz) • No “Lead” Campus

  4. III. The “Alliance” • A Natural Experiment (Different Programs, Goals, Structures) • Uniquely Visible because of Steering Committee. • Pre-existing infrastructure • Share Best Practices, Discuss Dilemmas, Problem Solve, Reflect, Plan, Coordinate and Create

  5. IV. Program Successes (1) UC-Leads (San Francisco): • Undergraduate Research Experience Program • Enter as Sophomore • Stipend, research expenses, professional development, test prep, etc. • 1st Summer Research on home campus • 2d Summer Research on alternate UC campus

  6. IV. Program Successes (2) Diversity Officers (Berkeley): • High Level Staff • Located in Colleges (Report to Divisional Dean) • Work closely with faculty (admissions, grants, program implementation). • Work closely with Students

  7. IV. Program Successes (3) Graduate Retention Program (Irvine): • Pre-Enrollment Summer Program • Professional Development Activities • Cohort continues throughout graduate career

  8. IV. Program Successes (4) Pre-Application Conference (Berkeley): • UG Students Pre-identified and invited November conference • Meet with Faculty, attend classes • Conference Application = Grad Application

  9. IV. Program Successes (5) Summer Graduate Internship (Santa Barbara): • From Working with HBCUs • Summer visitation to promote UC campus as post-doc destination • Builds communities and connections • Two-way Programs, satisfying mutual interests

  10. V. Virtues of Alliance Model • Alliance = Alternative to “hiring” as mode of acquiring professional knowledge & expertise. • Promotes Reflexivity (sharing and discussing) • Promotes Creativity (common problem solving arena) • Facilitates Economies of Scale • Enables Synergistic Opportunities

  11. VI. Lessons on Organizational Change from UC-AGEP (1) Changes in Student Diversity require transformative (not incremental) changes. Quantitative and Qualitative Change. (2) Organizations are extremely resistant to such changes. So, think big.

  12. VI. Lessons on Organizational Change from UC-AGEP (3) Changes in Organizational Structure are an especially effective mechanism for bringing about radical Organizational changes. (4) Organizational Crises are an especially effective moment for bringing about radical Organizational changes.

  13. VI. Lessons on Organizational Change from UC-AGEP (5) Faculty, Staff and Senior Administration are all necessary but not sufficient elements. (6) Faculty are critical to graduate education. They are also natural born change agents. But they must be used sparingly and effectively. (7) Staff are critical because the work is very labor intensive (but training & experience are critical). (8) Senior Administrators can provide legitimacy, critical resources and faculty buy-in. They also can kill a good program fast.

  14. VI. Lessons on Organizational Change from UC-AGEP (9) Data, data analysis and the effective dissemination of these analyses are the most effective means of persuasion in academic organizations. (10) Don’t reinvent the wheel. Rely on existing professional knowledge bases whenever possible. (Hiring, Alliance, Professional community, etc.).

  15. VI. Lessons on Organizational Change from UC-AGEP (11) Research Driven Diversity Development (RD3) = means spend resources on infrastructure (not students). (12) Inter-organizational partnerships are critical but they must be carefully constructed, one by one, on a basis of shared respect and mutual pursuit of common interests.

More Related