ERIC EJ743289: A Success Story: Recruiting & Retaining Underrepresented Minority Doctoral Students in Biomedical Engineering

2006·3.8 MB·English

by  ERIC

A Success Story
&
Recruiting Retaining
Underrepresented Minority Doctoral Students
in Biomedical Engineering
WILLIAM M. REICHERT
S
E INTHEEARLY1990S,there were only a handful Change at Duke
V of African American doctoral students in all In 1996, I took sabbatical leave at North
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T of the math, science, and engineering gradu- Carolina Central University, a historically
C ate programs at Duke University. Prior to black university in Durham, and immersed
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1995, the school of engineering had granted myself in the study of minority education in
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S only one PhD to an African American. My math, science, and engineering. I used this ex-
R own department of biomedical engineering perience to develop a game plan for venturing
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(BME), which has a nationally top-ranked outside of established recruitment norms.
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graduate program, had never granted a PhD to Upon my return to Duke, I was selected to
an African American direct a biotechnology training grant from the
in its thirty years of National Institutes of Health (NIH) that
existence. All African American students re- supports predoctoral fellows during their first
When building cruited into the BMEdoctoral program had years of graduate training. Soon thereafter,
either left with a Master’s degree or dropped I was appointed director of graduate studies
a URM student
out altogether. in BME. This combination gave me the man-
presence, nurturing
Now, fast-forward. In 2000, the Duke BME date, the authority, and the resources to make
a nucleus of program awarded its third PhD to a Hispanic; a difference.
strong students in 2004, it awarded its first PhD to an African The central resource was, of course, the
American. By 2005, the underrepresented mi- graduate school itself. Each graduate program
is critical
nority (URM) cohort of thirteen BMEdoc- at Duke, based on its size, receives a budget
toral students comprised the highest number from the graduate school to support student
of URMdoctoral students in all the math, sci- tuition, stipends, and fees, all of which are
ence, and engineering departments at Duke, supplemented by research funds, fellowships,
including the social sciences; more than a and training grants. Funds from the graduate
quarter of the total URMdoctoral students in school are both substantial and largely discre-
all of Duke’s thirty-two graduate programs in tionary because the BMEgraduate program is
math and natural, physical, biological, and one of the largest at Duke University, the
biomedical science; and nearly one-tenth of BMEfaculty is well funded, BMEgraduate stu-
the total URMstudents enrolled in all fifty dents are highly successful in garnering sub-
PhD-granting programs at Duke University. stantial external fellowships, and BMEhas two
What follows is the story of Duke BME’s NIH training grants to support graduate stu-
success in solving one of the most persistent dents. The graduate school also offers two-
(and touchy) problems in math, science, and year fellowships from the Duke endowment to
engineering graduate education: the recruit- the most highly qualified URMapplicants.
ment and retention of URMdoctoral students. Now, the hard part. Graduate students in
the sciences are prime vehicles by which fac-
WILLIAM M. REICHERT is a professor of biomedical ulty accomplish their research agendas. This
engineering and chemistry at Duke University, has led to a “risk-averse” dependence of fac-
where he also serves as director of the Center for ulty on student success that does not exist in
Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering. medicine, law, or business. Nor does it exist in
52 LIBERAL EDUCATION SUMMER 2006
Duke University
the humanities, summer research programs, was vital, this cultural transition could not
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E or undergraduate education. This unique have been accomplished by an administrator
V student–faculty relationship, when it works, or a staff person alone. It had instead to
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T can be a great strength of science education; be advocated at the departmental level by
C but, when it fails, it can be a great barrier to a faculty member with (1) successful and
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success. For URM, it can impose a highly per- productive URMstudents in his or her own lab,
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S sonal burden that is as much about attitude (2) a vigorous research profile, (3) the respect
R and culture as it is about talent and resources. of the other BMEfaculty, and (4) control over
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I realized that the faculty and departmental resources for supporting URMstudents. Pro-
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“comfort zone” had to be relaxed so that ceeding with anything less would have made
“URM” was no longer a defining characteristic the effort unsustainable in the long run.
but, rather, a nuance within a larger context. Through a combination of graduate school,
Duke University Although the support from the administration Duke endowment, and NIH training grant
funds, I was able to recruit a crucial nucleus
of two URMgraduate students in 1998 and
1999. I mentored one student directly in my
lab and the other indirectly through my train-
ing grant. Next, I broadened the effort by re-
cruiting a second wave of students and began
encouraging other BMEfaculty to take URM
into their research groups. By the end of my
term as director of graduate studies in 2003,
ten URMgraduate students were working in
the research groups of seven different BME
faculty members. By 2005, thirteen URM
graduate students were spread across the BME
department, working for ten different mentors.
Half of these students received NIH support
in the form of a predoctoral traineeship and/or
as minority research supplements to NIH
grants. The rest received graduate fellowships
from either the National Science Foundation
or the Duke endowment. Between 2000 and
2005, only one URMstudent left the BME
doctoral program.
Recruiting URM students
The Pratt School of Engineering at Duke has
an award-winning outreach program that
brings minority and disabled undergraduates to
campus for summer research experiences (see
www.pratt.duke.edu/about/outreach.php).
The majority of URMstudents come to the
program from minority-serving colleges and
universities, and roughly 80 percent of these
students go on to either graduate or medical
school. Yet, even an outstanding outreach
program like Pratt’s does not necessarily lead
to increased URMenrollment—although it
clearly has a positive effect on the campus
climate. While BMEfaculty participation in
this program is very high, no URMstudent
participant has matriculated into the Duke
BMEgraduate program.
54 LIBERAL EDUCATION SUMMER 2006
Majority faculty
All graduate training eventu- members need and minority students need to be
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ally boils down to individual to step forward and openly receptive to the mentor- E
faculty members committing to ship offered by majority faculty. V
enthusiastically I
individual students, and vice The more people see working T
versa. It is an absolute certainty mentor minority examples, the more likely it be- C
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that the faculty who recruit stu- students comes that URMrecruitment
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dents will make decisions that and retention will succeed. S
are in their own interests, and Two particularly corrosive R
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so too will the top students they attempt to re- barriers to program diversification are recruit-
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cruit. Consequently, a faculty member may ment by consensus and tapping into funds
decide that it is not worth the cost in time used to support the overall student pool.
and productivity to mentor a student who is Structurally, I had the dual advantage of being
seen as a “project.” The lack of URMrecruit- a BMEfaculty member—our tradition is to re-
ment success fostered by this attitude is often cruit students individually, without the over-
expressed as a self-fulfilling prophesy: “we can sight of an admissions committee—and being
find only a few minority students worth re- the director of graduate studies and the train-
cruiting,” or “we can recruit them but they ing grant director simultaneously, which al-
won’t come anyway.” In fact, the best and lowed me specifically to target funds to recruit
brightest minority students will enroll in top and support URMstudents.
programs where their presence is viewed as a
positive contribution. Addressing this inter- Recommendations
play honestly and directly within the re- If you are a faculty member who wants things
source-limited world of academic research is to change, then recruit a minority student
central to ameliorating stigmas attached to directly into your own group and give the
URMstudents. When building a URMstudent student a home from the day he or she walks
presence, nurturing a nucleus of strong stu- onto campus. Don’t expect an admissions
dents is critical. committee or someone else to solve the prob-
This, I suppose, is the point at which I may lem for you. If you are a graduate program
be expected to offer the “silver bullet.” But I director who wants to make a difference, then
don’t have one, and neither does anyone else. make personal and selective appeals for open-
The best I can do is to recommend focusing minded faculty members to recruit specific
your recruitment efforts on those things over URMstudents. Many people will step forward
which you have immediate influence. For if asked directly. If you are an administrator
me, this was my own graduate program and, who wants to help, then provide the willing
even more important, my own research group. with the resources and independence to
I chose not to divert my time and attention successfully recruit and retain URMstudents.
by going to minority conferences (although The availability of supplemental funding
I do send my students), meeting with student opportunities is particularly important.
groups (Duke has no minority engineering There are various ways to succeed in
program), or visiting minority campuses recruiting and retaining URMdoctoral students;
(although I did that sabbatical at North but key to them all is the creation of real
Carolina Central University). student–faculty relationships, which demon-
Each of the URMgraduate students cur- strate by example that diversity and excel-
rently enrolled in BMEapplied directly to the lence can and should coexist. This cannot be
doctoral program and was admitted in the delegated or done indirectly, and no amount
normal fashion—that is, on the basis of strong of outreach, campus visits, or diversity aware-
undergraduate records, test scores, and letters ness activities—however well-intentioned—
of recommendation. The critical factor was can achieve the effect of positive examples.
not convincing quality URMstudents to apply Ultimately, seeing is believing. ■■
for entrance into the program; rather, it was
convincing students and faculty alike that this To respond to this article, e-mail [email protected],
would work. Until things change significantly, with the author’s name on the subject line.
majority faculty members need to step forward
and enthusiastically mentor minority students,
SUMMER 2006 LIBERAL EDUCATION 55