A Discipline-Based Diversity Model
George C. Johnson
University of California, Berkeley
Numbers
Infrastructure
Diversity Officers
AGEP in Relation to Infrastructure
Evaluation
The Berkeley Diversity Goal
Numbers
Total
Apps.
Total URM
URM % of
Apps Total
Total
Admits
URM
URM
Admits % of
Total
Total
Total
URM
New
URM % of
Enroll. Enroll. Total
9,230
326
1,786
116
802
3.5%
6.5%
56
7.0%
Source: Graduate Division, UC Berkeley
These are 5-year averages from 2001-2005 for applicants, admitted
students and newly enrolled doctoral students across all STEM fields at
Berkeley.
Numbers (continued)
 Admission of URMs is at higher rate than non-URMs.
URMs represent 3.5% of applicants and 6.5% of admits
 Yield rate of URMs is comparable to admissions rate,
representing 7% of newly enrolled STEM Ph.D. students
 About half of both URMs and non-URMs who are admitted
to Berkeley accept our offer of admission and enroll
 About 17% of all URM applicants enroll in our doctoral
programs; compared to 8% of non-URM applicants
A Key Element of the Berkeley Program:
Discipline-Based Diversity Directors
The Berkeley Diversity Model: a
discipline-based diversity infrastructure
UCOP, Assistant VP for Academic
Advancement
Physical
Sciences
Biological
Sciences
College of
Engineering
Graduate
Division
Dean
Campus PI
Dean
co-PI
Assoc Dean
co-PI
Dean
co-PI
Diversity Director
(AGEP Director)
Diversity Director
Diversity Director
Diversity Director
Departments
Departments
Departments
Departments
AGEP Staff:
Additional Management Team Members:
• Associate Director
Diversity Director, Electrical Engineering
• Admin. Assistant
Director of Graduate Fellowships
The Role of Diversity Officers:
responsibilities and areas of authority
 Report to the academic dean, involving the dean as needed
 Are high-level professionals, with PhDs or MAs and years of
graduate diversity experience
 Have responsibility for the departments under the dean’s
purview (Engineering 7; Phys. Sci.: 5; Bio. Sci.: 2)
 Advise the dean and departments on strategies to increase
URM applicants, admissions, enrollments and degrees
 Serve as the “institutional memory” on diversity matters,
student progress, experience with unusual applicants, etc.
 Work with departments, divisions and colleges in monitoring
progress toward increasing diversity
Diversity Officers: work in the
departments on admissions
 Do outreach. Organize faculty, students, student services
staff in the departments to conduct outreach
 Are members of admissions committees in some
departments; in others serve as advisers. Review
applications, contact applicants, advise admissions
committees regarding particular applicants, suggest retention
strategies for applicants when needed, help put together
funding packages
 Work closely with the faculty affirmative action officers (each
department is required to have one), the admissions chairs,
the department chairs, and other faculty
Diversity Officers: work on student
retention and advancement
 Consult individually with all diversity students (particularly
URMs and women) from outreach and recruitment through
graduate training to degree completion
 Have the authority to intercede on behalf of students
 Raise funds and help faculty raise funds to improve diversity
in the departments. This includes assisting departments in
generating fellowship funds for URM students.
 Generally maintain contact with and continue to advise URM
alumni after they graduate
AGEP in Relation to Berkeley’s Diversity
Infrastructure
 AGEP is integrated into our STEM and Graduate Division
infrastructure (Deans are Co-PIs; diversity officers are
Management Team)
 AGEP resources are distributed to students and departments
through the diversity officers
 The AGEP-supported Berkeley Edge Conference contributes
10% of our new URM enrollments (and most BEC attendees
enroll in STEM graduate programs somewhere, if not UCB)
AGEP in Relation to Berkeley’s Diversity
Infrastructure (continued)
 All new URM students are eligible for summer research
funding through the LPFI- Berkeley Edge (AGEP) Summer
Fellows Program.
 The AGEP team advocates for campus-wide change. For
example, before AGEP, we had 3. 75 FTE diversity officers.
The AGEP team aggressively promoted the diversity officer
model on the campus. AGEP provided the proof of concept for
other disciplines. There are now 7.0 FTE diversity officers.
Evaluation
 Evaluation is embedded in the diversity officers’ work:
 They have access to their departments’ student records
and Graduate Division-generated data on applications,
admissions, enrollments, degrees
 They analyze these data, monitor progress for each of their
departments, and advise department chairs and deans on
changes
Evaluation (continued)
 The diversity officers, Graduate Division deans, and faculty
affirmative action officers meet twice each semester to
review overall campus progress on diversity
 Our AGEP team meets periodically and communicates
frequently to consider campus-wide STEM data, STEM
policy issues related to diversity, UC AGEP matters.
 Our AGEP program stimulates innovation by focusing
these key players on generating better approaches and
models
The Berkeley Diversity Goal: relentless,
monotonic improvement
 We have a stable, intensive diversity infrastructure that is a
solid vehicle for constant improvement
 In admissions, we are doing well. Improvement is needed to:
 Increase applications of eligible students
 Increase yield of admitted URM applicants
 Increase long-term retention and advancement of URM
students (in some fields).
 Build community and improve the graduate school
experience for URM students. We aim to have our Ph.D.s
be the best ambassadors for science nationally. This will
make STEM doctorates more attractive as an option for
undergraduates and prospective graduate students