EDGE Program Helps Women Complete Graduate Math Programs - Higher Education

EDGE Program Helps Women Complete Graduate Math Programs - Higher Education: Women have made major advancements in post-secondary education the past few years, yet there are disciplines where they are still severely underrepresented. According to the National Center for Education, in 2010, although women represented about 52 percent of all Ph.D.s, they earned fewer than 30 percent of math and statistics Ph.D.s. Average drop-out rates for all graduate students are between 40 and 50 percent, and women are even more likely to drop out than men.

To address these discouraging issues, Sylvia Bozeman of Spelman College and Rhonda Hughes of Bryn Mawr College teamed up in 1998 to launch the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education program, which aims to help women flourish in and complete their graduate math programs.

Each year, EDGE, a four-week-long summer session, accepts a handful of female students who have completed undergraduate courses in analysis and abstract algebra and have been accepted to graduate programs in math. EDGE partners with eight schools, including Bryn Mawr College, Florida A&M University, Morehouse College, New College of Florida, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State, Pomona College and Spelman College.