DIVERSITY WHITE PAPER – DRAFT #1
What is diversity? Literally defined (site dictionary), it is “the fact or quality of being diverse;
difference” or “a point or respect in which things differ” or “variety or multiformity”. The University of
Oregon very aptly describes their definition of diversity as, “the concept of diversity encompasses
acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our
individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,
socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is
the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about
understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich
dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.” Being that a definition of diversity can be
highly subjective, it is important to consider the many aspects of interpersonal subjectivity and
subconscious bias in interpreting various situations involving ‘diversity’. University employees have a
moral and professional obligation to be cognizant of the impacts of their perspectives and actions on
surrounding individuals. The position of a Graduate Student Affairs Officer at the University of
California, Riverside (UCR) is a key position at higher learning institutions that can affect a large number
of people both on and off campus. One of the most important functions of a Graduate Student Affairs
Officer (GSAO) is student recruiting and retention, and they must be diligent in being open-minded,
objective, creative and able to relate to graduate students on multiple levels. The dynamics of GSAO
relationships to students, faculty, staff and the Graduate Division are significant to the success of a
particular program or center in diversity recruiting and retention. Comparing and contrasting the best
practices of different efforts in the southern California UC Campuses for recruiting and retaining
underrepresented graduate groups in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
fields provides tremendous insight to highly successful and unsuccessful initiatives at the campus and
departmental levels. HAVE TO RELATE MY DEPT AND DAWN’S CENTER APPROACH AS A
CROSS-SECTIONAL SAMPLE ANALYSIS TO THIS STATEMENT.
A department, center and overall campus must first establish what their own definition of diversity
is, and what underrepresented demographics should be specifically targeted for recruitment. In the Bourns
College of Engineering (BCOE) at UCR, the current underrepresented groups have traditionally been
determined by ethnicity, as it is has been the most reportable variable. From a limited perspective, this
was the main indicator of student body diversification. Any Graduate Division can readily provide
statistics for a specific entity on campus, as illustrated for BCOE below (CITE UCR GRAD DIV).
Race/Ethnicity
African American
Hispanic
Native American
URM
Asian
Caucasian
Other
UCR
All
3.4%
14.4%
1.0%
18.8%
16.8%
57.2%
7.3%
UCR
BCOE
5.6%
17.6%
0.0%
23.2%
28.7%
44.4%
3.7%
UCB
COE
2.9%
5.5%
1.3%
9.7%
25.1%
52.6%
12.7%
UCD
COE
1.3%
5.3%
0.7%
7.3%
21.8%
51.9%
19.1%
UCLA
SOE
1.7%
5.7%
0.2%
7.6%
38.9%
35.5%
7.9%
UCSD
SOE
1.2%
3.9%
0.6%
5.7%
30.9%
55.7%
7.7%
DISCUSS STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND INFERENCES
ENTER STATS FROM DAWN FOR HER CENTER
To further establish a statistical baseline for recruiting efforts to profile a specific department,
center or college, other statistics are available from the Council of Graduate Schools,
http://ww.cgsnet.org/portal/0/pdf/DataSources_2008_01.pdf and the National Center for Educational
Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov. Once the desired variables are determined, then appropriate internal research
must be done to determine an admission trend. If resources are available, it can also be useful to examine
employment and other trends in the community, to increase knowledge and understanding of a targeted
group. At the National Association for Admissions Professionals (NAGAP) Conference in 2008, Ohio
State University reported that, “by 2015, approximately 2/3 of the U.S. workforce will be minority
groups. Minority graduate school enrollment increased to 28% in 2007 and is expected to be even higher
in 2008-2009”. Personalized surveys must be utilized in order to establish a baseline of admissions
information to research, and the best tool for this approach is to utilize the free service
www.surveymonkey.com. In the interest of saving valuable resources (to include time), no more than two
surveys may be generated to appropriately determine adequate ground for analyzing a particular group:
one survey is directed towards applicants that have declined an admission offer, and the other is directed
towards applicants that have accepted an admission offer and will be attending UCR. A third very
valuable survey (if there are time and resources available) is directed towards exiting graduate students
that will become alumni. POST RESULTS OF DECLINED & ADMITTED APPS HERE.
The independent firm Mind and Hand Associates was contracted by MIT Sloan to troubleshoot a
low graduate female population problem, and presented a seminar on using research to increase the yield
of female applicants at the NAGAP conference in 2008. They discovered that different marketing
approaches are necessary when directing attentions toward female applicants, as they tend to be more “intune” with smaller details and nuances of promotional materials, presentations and communication. At
MIT Sloan, their graduate enrollment was 58% male and 42% female in 2008. Female enrollment was
56.7% in Biological Life Sciences, 26% in Math/Computer Science/Engineering, and 29% in Physical
Sciences. At UCR, the statistics were very close to MIT Sloane’s profile in 2008.
UCR Fall 2008 Graduate Enrollment (SITE UCR GRAD. DIV.)
The company focused their research on trying to determine why female enrollment was lower than males
through targeted surveys, and discovered the following:
1) Women will be less likely to leave their current job than men. The men viewed graduate school as
an investment, whereas the women viewed it as an added cost.
2) 45% of the women surveyed demonstrated a lack of confidence in their math abilities.
3) 56% had few role models.
4) 47% viewed post-graduate degree careers as being incompatible with their balance of work and
life.
5) 42% felt less encouraged to go back to school after they obtained their bachelor’s degree.
6) 79% of the women use websites as their primary source of information.
In an effort to utilize this research to preemptively handle potential issues of a similar nature in the
Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), the following steps were taken to proactively
counteract the MIT Sloane issues:
1) Fellowship opportunities are now promoted more on the department website, department
marketing materials, and direct correspondence with female applicants by the GSAO. Fellowships
are presented as being highly obtainable (to the desired applicant) and a regular part of domestic
Ph.D. admission. Other fellowship ‘add-ons’ from the UCR Graduate Division, such as the
Chancellor’s Fellowship and Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship are also highly promoted.
2) CSE avidly promotes remedial support for all graduate students by offering up to two
undergraduate courses (from a specified list found in the catalog) that will be counted towards
graduate course requirements. This is particularly useful in encouraging both potential and current
students to receive a ‘refresher course’ while staying on track for graduation. Current graduate
students that are proficient in one particular area are also utilized to assist other graduate students
with deficits in that area, as informal tutors.
3) The department brochure has been updated to reflect a profile picture of the campus Society for
Women Engineers (SWE), in an effort to readily provide female applicants with an easily
identifiable and visible demographic. Females were also incorporated into department student life
pictures. The department GSAO also avidly promotes the “Lecture Series for Women Students in
STEM” and “Women of Success Series” Women’s Center seminars, which profile inspirational
success stories of female scientists and businesswomen.
4) The department GSAO sends correspondence to potential graduate students with helpful survey
results of current female graduate student feedback on the CSE graduate program, in an effort of
to allow them to relate easier to current females on campus, and hopefully answer questions they
might have. Information regarding becoming a formal UCR student (pre-matriculation) to include
housing and childcare information is also sent in personalized e-mails to each relevant applicant,
so that they can readily view information on how to secure childcare while attending school. The
department also promotes part-time Ph.D. status for people completely unable to attend full-time,
to demonstrate the program flexibility.
5) The GSAO tries to enlist the services of a current female graduate student with a similar
background (or current life circumstance) to share common experiences in returning to higher
education, and providing the applicant with an idea of an attainable goal. Personal correspondence
to both potential and actual female applicants also lightly illustrates that neither the post-graduate
degree job nor the research and pursuit of higher education will interfere with their family
involvement.
6) The department website was recently renovated to be compliant with university standards. Since
then, the website has been less colorful and vibrant, but continues to be worked on and will most
likely be completed before fall 2009. Special considerations are being made to focus on its
navigability, and in being fully comprehensive. All marketing materials currently direct traffic to
the website.
This brief summary of results from GMAC (Graduate Management Admissions Council:
www.gmac.com) research in 2002, illustrates what men and women find most important in graduate
programs (with the top item being the most important).
Their statistics also supported that effects from any recruitment efforts for targeting female applicants will
take 3-6 years to appear, since female applicants stay in the pipeline for approximately 2-3 years. This is
particularly important for GSAOs, in that each individual must keep a recruitment record of female
applicants for longer than one admissions season, to be most effective.
DISCUSS FINDINGS OF CURRENT SURVEYS & INCLUDE CHARTS – For items to improve on for
fall 2010 in both admitted and declined offer individuals.
With campus financial resources being very limited, employees must rely on a multitude of
connections with campus personnel, community and faculty resources to be most effective. At a micro
level, utilizing campus resources may prove to be the most valuable use of a GSAO’s time and energy.
Working collaboratively with other departments on campus in the STEM fields will ensure that the
department is communicating effectively to their graduate student body and providing a supported avenue
for their involvement. Many other departments and centers on campus sponsor diversity recruitment and
retention related events, that many graduate students do not concern themselves with if the event is not
promoted overtly by the department. For instance, promoting seminars from the women’s center (as
mentioned previously) increases their activities visibility and would ideally help involve more students
from a specific department or center. Also, participating in another area’s events will assist some graduate
students in creating new networks to give a student from an underrepresented group the opportunity to
convene with other students from a similar background that may not necessarily be in their home
department. Many colleges on campus at UCR host summer programs, specifically for underrepresented
groups and community members, and serve as an avenue for generating interest to graduate school for
many people that would otherwise typically not consider it. For instance, BCOE hosts an annual
TALK ABOUT SUNRISE, ENGINEERING DAY, etc. FIND OUT FROM DAWN WHAT HERS ARE.
BCOE also hosted their first annual ‘Why Choose Graduate School” afternoon information seminar for
undergraduates from UCR and other institutions. All five departments within the college invited their
Graduate Advisers and/or Chairs to speak approximately 15 minutes about their department and research
to a group of students, to familiarize them with each area. The CSE GSAO concluded with a brief
presentation on assisting the students in deciding if graduate school was a viable choice for them. After a
one-question quiz given by each department at the end (with a prize to the first person with the correct
answer), the larger group dispersed into smaller groups at the department level. Each department had a
smaller conference room near the original larger meeting space, where they gave a more in-depth view
into their own specific research, expectations and recruitment. Undergraduates were given the opportunity
to view an overall picture of the college, and then decide which department they would most likely be
interested in, and then only hear more information regarding their specific interest. The session was very
well received and it will become an annual tradition. TALK ABOUT JOINING WITH MARIA. It may
also prove to be beneficial for a department or center to get involved with the transportation system on
campus to rent a vehicle and coordinate bringing a large underrepresented group to a specific recruiting
event on campus.
At the community level, collaboration is a bit more general, and involves the GSAO being
familiar with what the surrounding area has to offer, be it sports programs, volunteer programs, hiking
trails, city promotional brochures, etc. “The efforts to bridge the gaps between campus and community
are actually very timely, because my latest responsibility (in addition to development, green economic
policy, international affairs) is the oversight of the City’s Human Relations Commission. The HRC is
very interested in the issue of diversity; perhaps there is some room for collaboration and cooperation”,
noted Dr. Lalit Archaya, the International Affairs Officer at the Riverside Office of the Mayor. Dr.
Archaya was responsible for producing the latest City promotional brochure, which has proven to be very
well received by prospective and current graduate students alike. It has a certain organization and quality
about it that truly promotes the diversity, technological and ‘green’ development, agriculture, arts,
education, community and recreation that Riverside has to offer. He has agreed to work with campus
leaders in Graduate Division to promote this brochure (and therefore, Riverside) for recruitment
initiatives, and possibly arrange a shared-cost for its production to create a large output for UCR. This
information has been presented to Dr. Leah Haimo and Maria Franco-Aguilar in the UCR Graduate
Division. Hopefully this will lead to the shared involvement of both parties in marketing and community
activities. Upon familiarizing themselves with what the community has to offer, GSAO correspondence
to targeted groups should be highly personalized and attempt to incorporate something of interest from
the community (to include the campus community as well) to their background. For instance, the CSE
GSAO will frequently look at the entire transcript of an applicant to determine if they took courses
relevant to a specific extracurricular activity, such as soccer. At this point (and using the soccer example),
as mentioned previously, a personalized welcome e-mail can be generated with included links to the
campus recreation center and/or community soccer team. On a less-personal level, a department or center
may place a link to community activities on their website and reference them in their marketing materials,
presentations, and other recruitment ideas.
The most general resource for graduate professionals to take advantage of are faculty and offcampus events. Aside from recruiting at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (commonly referred
to as HBCUs) BCOE has begun a process of creating ‘feeder schools’ within the California State
University (CSU) system. After targeting institutions that did not have a Ph.D. program relevant to
engineering, connections were made and efforts increased to host students from CSU on campus at UCR,
and for the GSAOs to visit and conduct seminars on their campuses. In fall 2009, the CSE GSAO will
contact the Computer Science related (and minority) student organizations and host a “Why Choose
Graduate School” seminar on their campuses. All departments and centers should incorporate the
participation of faculty for indirect, or sometimes direct, recruiting. A simple way to involve faculty in
indirect recruiting, is to provide them with one admissions-related slide to place at the end of their powerpoint presentation. After discussing their research and generating interest on another campus, it is simple
to have them end with general information on who to contact for admissions information at UCR. If they
are recruitment-friendly enough, they may be willing to bring along some departmental brochures or
other recruitment items to their seminars. A personal phone call to an applicant (especially from faculty)
goes a long way as well. TALK ABOUT RESEARCH CONNECTIONS AND STUDENT EXCHANGE.
TALK ABOUT USING RELATIONSHIPS FROM CONFERENCES AND EVENTS:- conferences can
provide student lists, - National & Western Name Exchange, - MacNair Database - Califronia Forum for
Diversity
MARKETING
Effective use of images
- carefully review your marketing materials for biased representation
- communicate what students and alumni valus (post-surveys)
Marketing toward ‘Millennials’
Next generation of incoming graduate students. Generation ‘Y’- born between 1980 – 2000
They are the most diverse, academically motivated and largest cohort. Want to feel recruited and
important; personalization is key. REFERENCE NAGAP 2007 FROM OHIO.
Brochure



Utilize your graduate student talents
Showcase your subgroups
Subtle strategies



Why choose?
‘Free’ application for domestics
Post fellowships and diversity ‘add-ons’, MS/PhD timeline, along with active
student and alumni information.
Cost of living (affordable)
Website

PULL E-MAIL EXAMPLES FROM POWER POINT SLIDES.
Open House
•
•
•
Travel stipend for domestics only.
Register open house and orientation online.
Advertise events using staff and faculty e-mail signatures.
•
•
Invite alumni (keep them involved)
Typical day
– Combine department efforts
– Graduate student participation
– Prizes; make it fun!
– Campus tours
– Faculty recruitment candidate seminar
– Personal department touch at the end of the day
RETENTION
Avoid the second year slump: recent trend in research shows a higher level of retention and progression
to PhD by focusing on second year students. End of year ‘appreciation lunch’/pizza.
Orientation
• Group welcome/breakfast
– Utilize dean’s office
– Utilize department chairs
• Information/resource fair
• Group lunch with faculty
• Afternoon with the departments
– TA orientation
– Graduate student connections
– Faculty presentations
• Faculty with $$ that want to hire GSRs in the next 1-2 years
– Prizes; make it fun!
– Systems overview (CSE: Linux System)
– Abbreviated Tour
Additional Guidance
• Pair current grad student with new one
(start from open house if possible)
• Register first semester/quarter students for first time: have to meet with you in person.
– Advising “day” (about 1 month into first quarter, each quarter/semester for first two years)
• First colloquium meeting = reorientation
KEEP THEM MOTIVATED AND ENGAGED
•
•
•
•
Identifying with others on campus
– Organizations
• Importance of a departmental GSA
• Make sure it is active!
Joint events with neighboring/
related departments
Keep it fun!
– T-shirt contests
– Winter Luau
– Fundraisers
Guest speakers from targeted backgrounds
– same campus = no fees
Recognize students
• Outstanding TA or GSR awards
• Quarterly appreciation information and networking lunch
• Graduation Party from dept; invite current students (slide show)
• Interactive website featuring students
– Photo gallery
– Emails and profiles of students
– Recognize accomplishments
Let them know where they stand
• Department handbook
•
Progress Tracking:
– Process of formally tracking the progress of PhD students; the objective is to give
feedback to the students on their progress, to identify the strongest and the weakest
students, and to build and maintain a shared sense of standards among the faculty. The
process should involve faculty meetings to discuss the progress of each student.
Additionally, the department should send each student a letter about their progress after
each progress-tracking meeting.
•
Forward planning:
– Make course schedule offerings available to students online as far in advance as possible.
Make connections with appropriate businesses

Utilize your alumni to facilitate contacts
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Host joint recruitment and information events for all students, or focus on your subgroups.

Google and Microsoft
– Example:
2009 Google Workshop for Women Engineers. As part of Google's ongoing
commitment to encouraging women to excel in computing and technology,
UCR BCOE hosts a Google Workshop for Women Engineers to recognize
and reward deserving female graduate students in computer science, and
inspire them to become active participants and leaders in creating
technology. Up to 75 female computer scientists are selected to attend a 3
day all-expenses paid workshop at Google's headquarters in Mountain
View, California January 22-25, 2009. This special workshop will include
technical talks and career workshops, and a unique occasion to build and
strengthen networks of women in technology. Students will also enjoy tours
of the Googleplex, have the opportunity to meet with Google engineers in
their fields, and have fun exploring the San Francisco bay area.
OTHER CONFERENCE INFORMATION FROM ME THAT I CAN PULL FROM …
Closing:
Overall, this campus has the potential to have top graduate programs in the country, with the right
motivation, organization, teamwork and energy. Presenting a united front by combining
department recruitment efforts will strongly support a sense of community for both current and
incoming students. Establishing strong relationships with other local colleges and universities will
provide a ‘feeder school’ advantage in domestic student recruitment. Active participation with
student organizations and other campus and community diversity events (with faculty and current
graduate student involvement) will promote a sense of belonging and also increase student
retention and satisfaction. Research is key: graduate programs should focus on continually
changing with the times and keep abreast of what current and incoming student needs are, to stay
one step ahead of the game wherever possible. Each department and center can brand themselves
with a sense of individuality yet strongly identify with the college. If we all work together, there is
no reason why ….