Planning for a Southwestern Regional Alliance to Broaden Participation

莱斯大学将领导一项西南主要研究型大学的倡议；赖斯大学、德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校、新墨西哥大学、亚利桑那大学、休斯顿大学和德克萨斯理工大学以及各州；与少数族裔服务机构合作；计划新一代联盟，其使命是增加攻读科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）博士学位并随后进入学术职位的少数族裔（URM）学生的数量。美国西南部集中了越来越多的西班牙裔美国人、印第安人，主要是在城市里，还有大量的非洲裔美国人。西南地区的学校必须提高参与度，以满足公民的需求。参与的大学可以发挥作用。他们代表了数千名URM STEM本科生。主要的参与教师和管理人员也提供经验和专业知识，将在整个联盟共享。例如，亚利桑那州、新墨西哥州和莱斯大学的教职员工都是前赖斯大学AGEP研究生。提议的项目领导从参与AGEP的11年中学到了很多，这些知识将为下一代联盟的工作提供指导，包括a)它需要更好地系统地激励和激励研究型大学的URM本科生攻读研究生课程，b)它需要更充分和系统地参与对项目成功至关重要的教职员工，如评估研究生入学，指导，榜样，学术研究生指导，选择研究顾问，倡导博士后和教师安置，仅举几例，c)它需要一种系统的方式来培养新的教师，对大多数人来说，通过博士后奖学金，d)它需要将扩大参与的努力更充分地融入主流研究，e)它需要一种更系统的方式来定义AGEP计划的参与，以便它确实增加了该国URM人口的参与，而不仅仅是增加了国际少数民族的参与。联盟计划将由莱斯大学牵头。赖斯大学将在这个为期一年的项目开始时，主持一次由所有大学参与者参加的面对面会议，以建立对共同愿景的理解，并组织委员会继续远程规划。随后，围绕战略主题组成的跨机构委员会将通过电话会议每周举行一次会议。委员会主席也将每周与项目总监会面。为了促进规划，每个委员会都将得到工作人员的支持，并获得支持远程协作的技术。除了制定新的联盟计划外，该项目还将通过一份报告分享从这一合作活动中学到的知识，并广泛传播。智力优势：该项目将汇集多元化领域的许多国家领导人，以开发下一代AGEP -一个专注于培养URM教师领导者的战略。它建立在经验的基础上，建立在新的理解和努力的基础上。更广泛的影响：没有哪个人口比西南地区的人口对国家的健康更重要了，西南地区集中了越来越多的西班牙裔人口、美洲原住民和大量的非洲裔美国人，由于这种增长，没有哪个人口能提供更大的潜力。

Rice University will lead an initiative of major southwestern research universities; Rice, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of New Mexico, The University of Arizona, the University of Houston, and Texas Tech University along with the states; partnering minority-serving institutions (MSI);to plan a next-generation alliance with the mission to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students who pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Ph.D.s and subsequently enter academic positions. Concentrated in the southwest is the nation's growing Hispanic population, Native Americans, and primarily in its cities, a significant number of African Americans. Schools in the southwest must increase participation to serve the needs of this citizenry. The participating universities can make a difference. They represent thousands of URM STEM undergraduates. Key participating faculty and administrators also provide experience and expertise that will be shared across the alliance. For instance, Arizona, New Mexico and Rice U have faculty members who are former Rice AGEP graduate students. The proposed project leadership has learned much from its eleven years of AGEP participation, and this knowledge will inform the work of this next-generation alliance, including a) it needs to do a better job of systematically motivating and inspiring URM undergraduates at research universities to pursue graduate studies, b) it needs to more fully and systematically engage faculty members, critical to the success of the program, for functions such as evaluating graduate admissions, mentoring, role models, academic graduate advising, selecting research advisors, advocating for post-doc and faculty placement, to name a few, c) it needs a systematic way to produce new faculty members, for most, through a post-doctoral fellowship, d) it needs to integrate the broadening participation effort more fully into the mainstream research, and e) it needs a more systematic way of defining participation in the AGEP program so that it is indeed increasing participation of the nation's URM population rather than merely increasing international minority participation. Alliance planning will be led by Rice University. Rice will begin this one year project by hosting an in-person meeting of participants from all universities to build understanding around a common vision and organize committees to continue planning from a distance. Subsequently, cross-institutional committees formed around strategic topics will meet weekly through teleconferences. Committee chairs will also meet weekly with the Project Director. To facilitate the planning, each committee will have staff support, and access to technologies that support distant collaboration. In addition to crafting a new alliance plan, the project will share through a report what is learned through this collaborative activity and disseminate it broadly. Intellectual Merit: This project will bring together many of the nation's leaders in the area of diversity to develop a next-generation AGEP --one that is focused strategically on producing URM faculty leaders. It builds on a base of experience and builds towards new understandings and efforts. Broader Impacts: No population is more critical to the health of the nation than that of the southwest, with its concentration of a growing Hispanic population, Native Americans, and concentrated in its cities, a significant number of African Americans, and because of this growth, none provides greater potential.