Bridge to the Doctorate: OK-LSAMP Cohort 9 - Building Sustained Communities to Diversify the Graduate STEM Workforce and Professoriate

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The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through the development of highly competitive students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The goal of the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity is to increase the quantity and quality of STEM graduate students from underrepresented populations, with emphasis on Ph.D. matriculation and completion. BD programs implemented in the nation's institutions of higher education contribute to addressing one of the objectives in NSF's 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, namely to "integrate education and research to support development of a diverse STEM workforce with cutting-edge capabilities." The University of Oklahoma, a member institution of the Oklahoma LSAMP alliance (OK-AMP), proposes an integrated model of social supports and community networks to support the graduate education for 12 graduate students from underrepresented groups as Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Fellows for two years.Bridge to the Doctorate: OK-LSAMP will integrate Social Cognitive Career Theory and Social Capital Theory into a research-based mentoring program for optimizing academic, personal, and professional development of 12 BD Fellows. The mentoring program focuses on helping Fellows develop multi-layered communities of support. The project seeks to institutionalize a culture that enhances the personal and professional development and improve retention to PhD for all STEM graduate students.