CSMGEP Suggestions on How to Improve Recruitment of Minority PhD Applicants
Below are some efforts that the members of the AEA’s Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession (CSMGEP) suggest departments can take to increase the diversity of their graduate student community.
Use the AEA Summer Training Program to your advantage.
- Encourage faculty to teach or present a seminar. This would allow your colleagues to meet the talented students who participate.
- Visit the Summer Training Program to interview prospective applicants.
- If/when you receive an application from a past Summer Training Program participant, consider the experience as a signal of quality. Learn more about the applicant by contacting the Summer Training Program director.
- We have established relationships with Historically-Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other minority-serving institutions through our recruitment visits for the Summer Training Program. Ask the Summer Training Program director to facilitate a meeting between departmental chairs at these institutions and yourself. Have a representative of your department accompany the Summer Training Program director during recruitment trips that are close to your institution.
- There are likely other ways to support it (including contributing to funding to allow for its expansion).
- Email Summer Training Program participants directly. You can obtain a list from the Summer Training Program director.
Recruit directly from minority-rich undergraduate institutions, HBCUs, HSIs, and other minority-serving institutions. For example, develop relationships with economics, math, and engineering faculty at institutions and offer to present seminars. Also consider institutions that have large numbers of minority students majoring in economics, math, and engineering. Some examples include UCLA, the University of Texas, and Berkeley. There are also good students in economics departments in Puerto Rico. Write math, economics, and engineering majors (either directly or via departments) at HBCUs, HSIs, and other minority-serving institutions.
Develop ongoing relationships with particular minority-rich undergraduate institutions, HBCUs, HSIs, and other minority-serving institutions. This might include student exchange programs, joint courses, or an institutional arrangement that encourages faculty from a doctoral institution to teach an upper level seminar or other course at the partner school.
Appoint a minority recruitment coordinator from among the faculty. This person could be a “point person” for the department for minority applicants and could participate in the final stages of graduate student selection. Having such a “point person” also serves as a great signal to qualified and interested applicants about the priorities of the department.
Post links and perhaps an encouraging statement on the CSMGEP, National Economic Association (NEA), and American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE) websites.
Consider a “year zero” option. This program would allow those without a master's degree to complete a year of intensive undergraduate math, statistics, and economics first. Better yet, provide a high level of financial support for this year.
Mentor minority students after they arrive. Match students with a faculty member in your department or encourage the student to apply to the AEA’s mentoring program (formerly known as the “Pipeline Project).
Useful links:
CSMGEP website:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA/CSMGEP/
AEA Summer Training Program website:
http://www.econ.duke.edu/aeasp/
National Economic Association (NEA)’s website:
http://www.ncat.edu/~neconasc/
Contacts:
Professor Ngina Chiteji
Interim Chair, Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession
Department of Economics
Harder Hall
Skidmore College
815 N. Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
phone: (518) 580-5093
Email: nchiteji@skidmore.edu or csmgep@aeaweb.org
Professor Douglas G. Steigerwald
Director, AEA Summer Training Program and AEA Minority Fellowships UCSB, Department of Economics
2127 North Hall
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9210
email: aeastp@econ.ucsb.edu
phone: (805) 893-7309
http://econ.ucsb.edu/aeastp/
Professor and Chief Economist William M. Rodgers III
Director, Pipeline Director
Heldrich Center for Workforce Development
Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
33 Livingston Avenue, 5th floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: (732) 932-4100, x783
Email: wrodgers@rci.rutgers.edu