Recruiting and Retaining URM Students

描述(由申请人提供)：德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校健康科学中心(UTHSCSA)肩负着培养未来健康专业人员和科学家的责任，热情地接受了这一使命，培养了全国第二高比例的拉美裔医生，并为南得克萨斯州和全国提供了源源不断的科学家和健康专业人员。然而，从历史上看，生物医学科学研究生院(GSBS)只有不到15%的博士生来自代表性不足的少数民族(URM)群体。在最近一次对研究生院成就的回顾中，领导层认识到学校在培养多样化学生群体这一机构使命中的作用与其可衡量的结果之间存在差距。显然，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，并完成其使命，同时成为一家拉美裔服务机构，那么就有必要做出重大改变。为了实现这一承诺，GSBS对其计划进行了广泛的评估，然后设计了本提案中阐明的一系列计划和活动，以积极解决招收和留住URM学生的问题。方案评价发现了三个突出问题：1.)进入GSBS的URM学生的数量与UTHSCSA作为西班牙裔服务机构的机构名称不一致，2)25%的URM学生在第一年内离开(解雇或退学)，以及3.)对于那些第一年毕业的人来说，URM学生的毕业速度比他们的非URM同事慢得多。将实施的计划变化包括为一年级的URM学生提供丰富课程，让学生专注于个性化的指导计划，以及为学生进行独立研究做准备的专业发展工作坊。通过这些举措，IMSD学生将以符合非URM学生的主要院校规范的方式完成他们的学位。IMSD的学生毕业后将拥有出色的出版和研究记录，因此将被T32支持的知名院校大力录取。这些同修将服务于共同的目标，即增加进入大学的URM学生的数量，并开始解决STEM中URM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.