Commentary: Graduate Diversity Officers Play Key Role in Helping STEM Departments Diversify: I’m honored to have contributed to a piece recently published in the 2012 summer edition of The Review of Higher Education. The article focuses on efforts to diversify graduate education at research-intensive universities across the country. While underrepresented minority students comprise about a quarter (and growing) of the nation’s undergraduate population, just 11 percent of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) doctoral degrees were granted to minorities in 2009.
Most readers know that building a diverse student body doesn’t happen by accident. And though there is much effort invested in and discussion about undergraduate recruitment and admissions, there is a lesser known group of individuals working to build a diverse student body of entering graduate students: Graduate Diversity Officers.
