Poster Abstracts

University of Missouri

From Undergraduate Scholar to New Faculty Member: Developing a Comprehehnsive Diversity Agenda

The University of Missouri - Columbia (MU) was among the first recipients of U.S. Department of Education Ronald E. McNair, National Science Foundation MGE and Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation programs. To complement these initiatives and others designed to expand the pipeline and enhance the recruitment of a diverse graduate student body, in recent years MU has turned attention towards the creation of programs designed to create a more inclusive teaching and learning environment and a more diverse faculty. Through a CGS/Peterson's Innovations in Promoting an Inclusive Graduate Community award-winning professional development program for Directors of Graduate Studies, a Multicultural Teaching Scholars program designed to enhance the recruitment of a diverse faculty, a seminar series focused on multicultural teaching and learning styles, a CGS/Pfizer/Ford Foundation-funded Ph.D. Completion project, and efforts to develop a regional network for the recruitment and placement of a diverse pool of graduate students, the university is making progress towards developing a fully integrated, comprehensive approach to diversity. The result has been a steady increase in the proportion of students matriculating and receiving advanced degrees across the range of STEM and other disciplines.