CUNY-MAA/SBES
AGEP ALLIANCE
Broadening Participation in SBES:
Strategies for Implementation Through a CUNY
& Michigan AGEP Alliance (CUNY/MAA)
AAAS SBES-AGEP Symposium, San Francisco, California
February 16, 2007
Gail Smith, PhD
CUNY & Michigan
AGEP Alliance
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The CUNY-MAA is an alliance among:
• The Graduate Center -City University of New York
(CUNY), Lead Institution
• The University of Michigan (U-M)
• Michigan State University (MSU)
• Wayne State University (WSU)
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Who are these
institutions?
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The CUNY Graduate Center, University of Michigan,
Michigan State University and Wayne State University are
among the Top 25 institutions awarding baccalaureate &
doctoral degrees in the social, behavioral and economic
(SBE) sciences to underrepresented minorities. These
institutions share effective practices across the Alliance.
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Goal
Develop and implement, jointly,
sustainable initiatives in order to
increase the number of
underrepresented minority students
receiving the doctorate in SBES
fields and to prepare them to enter
the professoriate.
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Organizing Principles
Inclusion of SBES in existing
AGEP/STEM infrastructure at each
institution where possible
 Sharing of resources to construct an
infrastructure appropriate to SBES
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Disciplines
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Anthropology
Communications
Communication Arts &
Sciences
Criminal Justice
Economics
Educational Psychology
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Political Science
Psychology
Sociology
Urban Design
Urban Education
Urban Regional Planning
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CUNY-MAA Activities
Recruitment
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Summer Research and
other Feeder Programs
Campus Visitation Days
Professional Association
Conferences
AGEP Alliances
Recruitment Fairs
Local Recruitment Fairs
NSF, NIH Sponsored
Events
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Retention
 Academic Support
Advisors, Mentors and Tutors
Summer Research Internships
Interactive Listserv
Conferences in Michigan & New York
 Financial Support
Multi-Year Financial Packages
Travel Grants
 Social Support
Monthly Social Gatherings and Weekly Focus Groups
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Progression to the PhD & Career
Development
 Doctoral
Monitoring Student Progress at each Benchmark
Mentoring Activities
 Postdoctoral
Explore postdoctoral opportunities across the alliance
Forming linkages to Professional Associations
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Professorial
 Develop Preparing Future Faculty workshops for SBES
 Early Career Training
 Tap into NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER)
Program
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Challenges
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For the most part creating partnerships
as we are doing with AGEP Alliances is a
new way of doing business, in that
historically institutions have acted alone.
Convince additional departments, faculty
and administrators to adopt our
philosophy of sharing ideas and resources
across institutions, not only will
institutional change result, but higher
education as a whole will be transformed
and strengthened.
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Evaluation &
Assessment
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Both CUNY and the Michigan AGEP
Alliance currently have evaluators
assessing our programs.
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For the CUNY/MAA Alliance these
evaluators are currently working together
to create an instrument, including a
longitudinal study, to assess our SBES
Alliance program activities.
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Networking at the
National Level
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SBES online newsletter with postings on recruitment
fairs, professional workshops, and grants similar to
the Minority Scientists Network Newsletter.
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SBES Annual Conference providing opportunities for
recruitment, oral and poster presentations, panels,
noteworthy speakers and professional workshops on,
e.g. Conflict Resolution, Negotiating Departmental
Politics, Road to Tenure, Selecting an Advisor,
Writing Proposals for Competitive Grants.
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Nuggets
CUNY Graduate Center:
The Social-Personality Psychology subprogram was
awarded the 2006 Suinn Minority Achievement Award
from the American Psychological Association. This national
award is given to programs that have demonstrated
excellence in the recruitment, retention and graduation of
ethnic minority students. The nomination was made by a
group of current doctoral students and alumni and led by
4th year student Danielle Beatty, a CUNY/MAA SBES AGEP
scholar. She was present to accept the award at a
ceremony at the Annual Meeting of the American
Psychological Association in August 2006.
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NUGGETS
Wayne State University:
WSU hosted a Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA) workshop on
“Diversity in the Classroom” which was attended by over
40 participants from our four campuses. The morning
panel discussion centered around the topic of “Teaching on
a Majority Campus: How Faculty Member’s Race, Ethnicity,
and Gender Influence Learning Environments” Student
participation was enthusiastic. The lunch keynote speaker
was Lorraine Gutierrez, who spoke on “Effective Crosscultural Mentoring” The Afternoon session was centered
around a series of live skits of classroom scenarios, with
the theme of” Creating Inclusive Learning Environments”.
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CUNY-MAA Alliance
PI’s - Coordinators
 PI: Gail Smith, Ph.D. –The Graduate Center-CUNY
 SBE Coordinator –M. Chantale Damas, PhD.
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PI: Toni Antonucci, Ph.D. -University of MichiganRackhman Graduate School
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MAA-AGEP Coordinator -Robin Rennie
 PI: Karen L. Klomparens, Ph.D. – Michigan State University
 MAA-AGEP Coordinator -Shobha Ramanand, PhD
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PI: Steven Salley, Ph.D. –Wayne State University
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MAA-AGEP Coordinator - Crystal Turner
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Acknowledgements
 The CUNY-MAA Alliance would like to
thank:

Wanda E. Ward, Ph.D.
Deputy Assistant Director
Directorate for Social, Behavioral
and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation

Roosevelt Johnson, Ph.D.
Program Officer, AGEP
Directorate for Education and
Human Resources
National Science Foundation
 Patricia White, Ph.D.
Program Officer, Sociology Program
Directorate for Social, Behavioral
and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation
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