Recruiting and Retaining URM Students

描述（由申请人提供）：肩负着教育未来卫生专业人员和科学家的责任，圣安东尼奥德克萨斯大学健康科学中心（UTHSCSA）热情地接受了这一使命，培养了全国第二高比例的西班牙裔医生，并为南德克萨斯州和全国提供了源源不断的科学家和卫生专业人员。然而，从历史上看，生物医学科学研究生院（GSBS）不到15%的博士生来自代表性不足的少数民族（URM）群体。在最近对研究生院成就的回顾中，领导层认识到，学院在教育多元化学生群体的机构使命中所扮演的角色与其可衡量的成果之间存在差距。很明显，如果GSBS希望实现其培养下一代有才华和多样化的科学创新者的愿景，并完成其作为西班牙裔服务机构的使命，就有必要进行重大改革。为了实现这一承诺，GSBS对其项目进行了广泛的评估，然后设计了本提案中阐述的一系列项目和活动，以积极解决招录和留住URM学生的问题。项目评估发现了三个明显的问题：1)进入GSBS的URM学生数量与UTHSCSA作为西班牙裔服务机构的机构指定不一致；进入该项目的URM学生中有25%在第一年内离开（被解雇或退学），而对于那些在第一年幸存下来的学生，URM学生的毕业速度比非URM同事慢得多。即将实施的项目改革包括为URM第一年的学生提供丰富的课程，个性化的指导计划，让学生保持专注，以及为学生独立研究做准备的专业发展研讨会。通过这些举措，IMSD学生将以与非urm学生的主要机构规范一致的方式完成他们的学位。IMSD的学生将以杰出的出版和研究记录毕业，因此将被T32支持的知名机构高度招募。这些倡议将服务于共同的目标，即增加URM学生进入教授职位的数量，并开始解决URM在STEM领域的显著差异。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Charged with the responsibility of educating future health professionals and scientists, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) has enthusiastically embraced this mission, training the second highest percentage of Hispanic physicians in the country and providing a steady stream of scientists and health professionals to South Texas and the nation. Historically however, less than 15% of doctoral students in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) are from underrepresented minority (URM) groups. In a recent review of the Graduate School's achievements, the leadership recognized a disparity between the school's role in the institutional mission of educating a diverse student body and its measurable outcomes. It became evident that if the GSBS hoped to realize its vision of training the next generation of talented and diverse scientific innovators and accomplish its mission coincident with being a Hispanic serving institution, significant changes were warranted. To pursue this commitment, the GSBS conducted an extensive evaluation of its programs and then designed the series of programs and activities articulated in this proposal to proactively address the problems of recruiting and retaining URM students. Programmatic evaluations uncovered three glaring problems: 1.) the numbers of URM students entering the GSBS was inconsistent with UTHSCSA's institutional designation as a Hispanic serving Institution, 2.) 25% of URM students entering the program leave (dismissed or withdraw) within the first year, and 3.) for those that survive the first year, URM students graduate at a much slower rate than their non URM colleagues. The programmatic changes to be implemented include enrichment courses for first year URM students, individualized mentoring plans to keep students focused, and professional development workshops to prepare students for independent research. Through these initiatives, IMSD students will complete their degrees in a manner consistent within predominant institutional norms for non-URM students. IMSD students will graduate with outstanding publication and research records and as such will be highly recruited by prestigious institutions with T32 support. These initiates will serve the common goal of increasing the number of URM students who enter the professorate and begin to address the significant disparity of URM in the STEM.