In this issue:

Multicontextuality: 
A New Perspective on Minority Underrepresentation in SEM Academic Fields

Multicontextuality Unpacked

An Interview with Dr. Sheila E. Brown

A Comparative study of the Impact of Differing Forms of Financial Aid on the Persistence of Minority and Majority Doctoral Students

A Profile of an MGE Institution: Georgia Tech

From the editors

About Our Icon

Managing Editor:Yolanda S. George
Editor: 
Virginia Van Horne
Art Director:
Ann Williams
 

Making Strides is a free, quarterly (April, July, October, and January) research newsletter published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Directorate for Education and Human Resources Program. Its purpose is to share information about minority graduate education (MGE) in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering. It is available in print and electronic format. Inquiries, information related to MGE, and all correspondence should be sent to the editor. 

Each issue of Making Strides features a profile on an institution that received an NSF Minority Graduate Education (MGE) award. This issue we are pleased to include an article written by Gary S. May, the Principal Investigator for FACES (Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science), the MGE program at Georgia Tech. 

Dr. Robert Ibarra, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, contributes a research piece on Multicontextuality: A New Perspective on Minority Underrepresentation in SEM Academic Fields.  To further elaborate on the issues covered in Dr. Ibarra’s paper, Dr. Shirley Malcom shares her comments and “unpacks”  these themes. Also included in this issue is the Executive Summary from an NSF-funded report, researched and written by Drs. Beatriz Clewell and Vincent Tinto.

You will also find data excerpted from ASBMB News (March-April 1999), a bimonthly publication of The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. ASBMB collected data on graduations from academic institutions granting biochemistry and/or molecular biology degrees (See Table A). The survey was sent to 438 schools; 256 schools responded. 
Table B (page 3) notes the institutions returning surveys listing the most graduates in different categories.

Lastly, we would like to take a moment to say thank you for the warm response we have received toward our newsletter. Please continue to send us your comments, feedback and inquiries. We also ask that you take a few moments to answer the hot topic question. Your answers assist us with our research. Visit http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/ehr/ hrd/mge.asp for additional information on the NSF Minority Graduate Education program.

MGE Alliances Being Established

At the National Science Foundation, the FY 1999 Program Announcement and Guidelines for the MGE program are currently being revised for FY 2000 to reflect a change from supporting individual institutions to supporting alliances of doctoral-degree granting institutions. As a result of this revised emphasis on the formation of alliances, the NSF Minority Graduate Education (MGE) program will undergo a name change which will be announced as soon as the new FY 2000 Program Announcement and Guidelines has been approved. This emphasis on "alliances" creates a better alignment with the primary goal of the MGE program, which is to increase the number of minority students pursuing advanced study, obtaining doctoral degrees, and entering the professoriate in SME disciplines. In a practical sense this means increasing the average graduation rate of minority Ph.D.s rate from a current rate of 600 per year to 2,000 per year in the next five years of the program.
New Awards: In keeping with the focus on the formation of graduate Alliances, NSF has made ten new university awards in FY 1999 that will result in the formations of 7 new MGE graduate alliances. These alliances, which may be either statewide or regional, with one institution serving as the "Lead Institution will work cooperatively to increase the number of underrepresented minority Ph.D. graduates in SEM.  These are shown below:

• Arizona State University will form an Alliance with 6 area universities. 
• State University of New York at Stony Brook will form an alliance with universities in the SUNY system. 
• University of Mass, Amherst will form an alliance with several New England area universities.
• U. C. Irvine, U. C. San Diego and U. C. Berkeley will form an alliance with the 9 campuses of the UC system.
• University of N.C. at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University at Raleigh will form a State of North Carolina Graduate Alliance.
• A state-wide Mississippi MGE Alliance has been formed with the University of Mississippi serving as the lead institution.
• City University of New York (CUNY) will form an Alliance with several area universities.