Francis M. Leslie, graduate dean at CGS-member University of California at Irvine, shares perspective on the disparities in graduate degree attainment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and why successful completion of underrepresented minority students in PhD programs must be a high priority for graduate institutions. 

Even as the number of U.S. workers who use science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) as part of their jobs has been steadily increasing, much more needs to be done in order to keep up with employer demands and to gain better participation of under-represented groups in STEM-related jobs. CGS's Julia Kent joined a panel of experts at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to discuss the financial barriers to attaining graduate degrees and the need for better career outcomes data on STEM graduates.

CGS's Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (DIMAC) project is highlighted in Science Careers, which noted that the findings are "crammed with interesting and revealing facts about how black/African American students and Hispanic/Latino students fare in doctoral programs in engineering, life sciences (including health sciences), physical and mathematical sciences, and social and behavioral sciences."

In a feature story profiling CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega as part of its annual 'Graduate School' issue, Hispanic Outlook magazine discusses current challenges facing graduate students and institutions. Diminishing federal research grants and the loss of loan subsidies for graduate students are undercutting the nation's workforce development efforts and our future capacity for innovation, Ortega explains.

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) examines the latest research report released by the Council of Graduate Schools: the Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (DIMAC). Among the findings called out by JBHE was the slight improvement (to 50 percent) in the completion rates of black/African American STEM PhD students over the period studied.

A recently released CGS publication is available online:

Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion

Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion synthesizes the findings from both quantitative and qualitative data collected from 21 participating institutions to better understand doctoral outcomes of underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The publication reports new benchmarks for completion rates, attrition rates, times-to-degree, and times-to-attrition for URM STEM doctoral students, and also sheds light on factors leading to the successful completion of a STEM doctorate. 72 pages. April 2015.

CGS provides free electronic access to all our publications at the Member Library. Any administrator, faculty, or staff member of a CGS member institution may view, download, or print copies of CGS titles in PDF format (login required).

Print copies of this publication are also available for purchase in the Online Store. CGS members receive discounted rates. To order, access the publication in the Member Library. For complete details on CGS publications, visit cgsnet.org/publications. 

Completion rates among underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) doctoral programs rose by five percent from 1996 to 2005, according to the Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (DIMAC) project, the most comprehensive study to date on times to degree, attrition, and completion rates of URM STEM doctoral students. Study authors and participating graduate deans share new strategies for improving retention and completion.

Considering applying for graduate school? Experts advise researching the costs, learning about financial aid and student loan options, and expected salaries in your field in order to make informed decisions. Prospective students can find many helpful resources at GradSense.org, a website developed by the Council of Graduate Schools in collaboration with financial services firm, TIAA-CREF, to enhance student financial knowledge and skills. 

Contact:
Julia Kent, CGS
(202) 223-3791
jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Findings Suggest New Strategies for Improving Retention and Completion

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today released findings from the Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (DIMAC), a 3-year study that examined patterns of degree completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF #1138814), the project collected data from doctoral students at twenty-one universities in the United States, including universities affiliated with NSF’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program.

The most recent project in a series of CGS research studies on doctoral completion trends, DIMAC has resulted in the most comprehensive account of STEM doctoral completion and attrition for underrepresented minorities (URM) in the U.S. In the context of the study, URM includes U.S. students and permanent residents who self-identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African-American, and Hispanic/Latino.

Completion Trends

The DIMAC report provides completion rates, attrition rates, times-to-degree and times-to-attrition of URM STEM doctoral students using data spanning academic years 1992/93 to 2011/12. There is some data to suggest that from the earliest cohort to the most recent, there have been slight improvements in completion outcomes.

A key finding of the data on student completion rates is that completion outcomes vary by student characteristics, with some of the most notable differences emerging in the analysis of race/ethnicity and field of study. Over a ten-year period, 54% of students completed a doctorate. Looking at ten-year completion data by student characteristics,

• doctoral students in the life sciences completed at 63%, while candidates in physical &mathematical sciences experienced a rate of 45%.
• Hispanic/Latinos completed at a rate of 58%, while Black/African Americans completed at a rate of50%.
• women completed at a rate of 56%, while the ten-year completion rate for men was 52%.
• ten-year completion was 57% for students with a prior master’s degree, and 52% for those withouta master’s.

More analysis of trend data by student characteristics can be found in Chapter 3 of the report.

Student Experiences

DIMAC also collected data on students’ experiences of their doctoral programs through a Doctoral Student Survey, conducted in fall 2012, and focus group interviews at 16 institutions conducted throughout 2013. While many respondents reported a positive sense of their peers, advisors, and their doctoral programs overall, a minority expressed uneasiness as they moved into the dissertation phase of study. Students in this advanced stage of study, for example, were more likely to report that faculty did not understand the challenges they were experiencing.

CGS President Suzanne Ortega remarked that the findings demonstrate the need to support underrepresented doctoral students at every stage of a doctoral program. “One of the striking lessons from this study is that the dissertation phase is a particularly critical time for students. Our country’s STEM workforce will lose a great deal of potential talent if we don’t help underrepresented doctoral students cross the finish line.”

Key Recommendations

The study also explored institutional practices that can help support underrepresented minorities working to complete STEM doctoral programs. Data sources shed light on the value of four particular elements: 1) conducting interventions throughout the entire doctoral process; 2) providing students with enhanced academic support; 3) monitoring and evaluating programs and interventions; and 4) cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Additional information about student experiences of program features and interventions (i.e., advising and mentoring, networking, research and professional development, and non-financial support) can be found in Chapter 4 of the report.

About the report

The DIMAC project collected and analyzed four main sources of data: student-level enrollment data provided by institutions; an inventory of institutional policies; responses to a student survey; and information obtained from focus group interviews with students and university personnel. Active participation from 21 institutions resulted in over 7,500 student records. Over 1,600 URM STEM doctoral students were surveyed and 320 URM STEM doctoral students (and as many or more faculty and administrators) participated in focus groups at 16 institutions.

Contact
Nate Thompson
nthompson@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, D.C. — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today announced it has been awarded grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance national and local understandings of the career pathways of PhD holders. Over the next nine months, with input from a range of stakeholders in the higher education community, CGS will develop a survey instrument and guidelines for data collection across a broad range of fields. These guidelines will be designed to help universities gather long-term career information from their PhD students and alumni with the goal of improving PhD programs.

A recently-completed CGS feasibility study also funded by the Sloan and Mellon Foundations found evidence that a lack of clear national standards for data collection is a major barrier to institutions seeking to understand the career pathways of their PhD alumni. In the project just announced, CGS will convene an advisory committee of graduate deans and other experts, which will advise CGS staff in developing a survey instrument and a framework document outlining methodological standards for data collection. This data collection instrument and framework document is intended to support universities’ collection and use of program-level PhD career information from matriculation through 15 years past graduation in STEM, social science, and humanities fields.

CGS will also convene two day-long workshops to develop partnerships and benefit from the expertise of stakeholder groups. One workshop will bring together higher education associations, disciplinary societies and federal agencies that use or collect career data on PhDs, while the other will convene graduate deans, provosts and other senior academic leaders. These workshops will provide occasions for these groups to share perspectives and expertise that will inform the work of the project.

CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega explained, “We have heard for many years, and from many sectors, that universities need a better understanding of the long-term career outcomes of their PhD graduates. This information is critical for helping graduate educators to develop curricula and professional development programs that better prepare students for the full range of careers they are likely to follow. We are delighted that the Alfred P. Sloan and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations are lending their support to CGS as we begin to address this important knowledge gap.”

Support for the CGS project is part of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s longstanding commitment to fostering improvement and innovation in STEM higher education. Past Sloan-supported efforts in this area include fostering college and university data collection on student entry and retention in STEM fields, the creation of the Professional Science Master’s degree, and the founding of eight University Centers of Exemplary Mentoring devoted to improving graduate education of underrepresented minorities in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering.

“Understanding the career pathways of doctoral recipients is absolutely essential to creating PhD programs that maximize value both to students and society as a whole, and CGS is very well-positioned to lead this initiative.” says Elizabeth S. Boylan, Program Director of the Sloan Foundation’s STEM Higher Education program.  “We are proud to be partnering with the Mellon Foundation in support of this vital effort to craft national data-collection standards and practices that have the potential to transform what we know about the careers of Ph.D. recipients and to improve the quality of programs for future students.”

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has long supported efforts to improve the intellectual and professional outcomes of doctoral education in the humanities. The Foundation assists universities and professional organizations in launching initiatives that broaden the preparation of PhD students for a variety of professional trajectories in as well as outside the academy. It also fosters collaborations within and among institutions that support disciplinary innovation.

“We are delighted to partner with the Sloan Foundation in supporting CGS in its initiative to make progress on this important issue,” stated Mariët Westermann, Vice President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  “We believe an approach that combines PhD career path tracking in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences is most likely to be successful across American universities.”

Results of the project will be shared with the higher education community in December 2015.