Graduate Division Dean’s Office

Mission Statement

To increase the diversity of our graduate student population.

Diversity Activities

Our diversity activities are in two areas: recruitment of a more diverse graduate student population and then retention of diversity students. The Academic Preparation and Outreach Office in the Graduate Division has responsibility for both of these areas. In the area of recruitment, our staff attend recruitment fairs, and regional and national conferences at which underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students present their research, including SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) and ABRCMS (Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students). In addition, we fund faculty recruitment trips to minority-serving institutions. In the area of retention, staff in our Academic Preparation and Outreach Office maintain a line of communication with diversity students, particularly the URM students. A major part of this communication is through a “Get Connected” program we run in the Graduate Division. The Get Connected program consists of monthly meetings with the students as a group. The purpose is to build as sense of community among the students, and to provide them with a forum at which they can discuss issues. These activities are largely supported by an AGEP (Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) grant from the National Science foundation. We also run through the Graduate Division a summer Mentoring Summer Research Internship Program (MSRIP) which brings juniors and seniors from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds to UCR for 8 weeks to do research in with a UCR faculty member. The goal is to encourage these students to come to UCR for their graduate study. In addition, the Graduate Division runs the UC LEADS (UC Leadership through Advanced Degrees) program. This program is for educationally and/or disadvantaged undergraduates in the STEM fields in their junior and senior years. They receive funding to allow them to participate in undergraduate research in their junior and senior year, and during two summers.Again, the goal is to encourage these students to pursue graduate education, hopefully a UCR.

Future Diversity Activities

Planned diversity activities include

  1. Increasing the number of faculty recruiting trips to minority-serving institutions, with funding provided by the Graduate Division,
  2. Expanding the Get Connected program to include URM students in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and
  3. Increasing our outreach efforts to colleges and universities in California, particularly Southern California.

Contacts

  • Maria Franco-Aguilar, Director of the Academic Preparation and Outreach Office, Graduate Division