An Environmental Approach to Enhamced Retention and Recruitment of Women and Minorities in Chemistry--A Pilot Study

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This award in the Chemistry Division supports a curriculum development project in the Chemistry Department at the University of Minnesota. A team of department members will participate: Dr. W. Ronald Gentry, Department Chair; Dr. Marian T. Stankovich; Ms. Susan Damme; Dr. Paul Barbara; and Dr. Gary Gray. The department will develop a program for retaining women students in graduate study. Their plans include assessment of student needs, developmental programs, and local outreach programs. A significant portion of the project involves development of "modules" for classroom use, which will be destributed to departments interested in adapting the program to their campuses. The needs assessment component will continue research on the extent and complexity of cultural issues affecting women and minorities during graduate study. Surveys and interviews of first-year students and members of research groups will be carried out in order to identify problems areas and determine the role of various means of student support, family responsibilities, and length of graduate study on student success rates. Developmental programs include career counseling, development of career modules for classroom use, orientation and mentoring for new gradaute students, faculty development, interaction with professional organizations, travel grants for women and minority graduate students, and acquisition of libarary materials on careers and opportunities for women and minorities. Graduate students will be involved in outreach activities in elementary and secondary schools. This is a multifaceted approach to retaining women and minorities in graduate study in chemistry. Because of the interactive nature of graduate education, emphasis is placed on the educational environment.