Increasing Diversity
Enhancing the Graduate Educational Experience for Students from Diverse Backgrounds
Sara Dolan, Associate Dean for Professional Development; Bill Hockaday, Associate Dean for Research
Increasing Diversity
As we grow in acclaim, Baylor is admitting, training, and graduating more students from diverse backgrounds who work with our increasingly diverse faculty. Being an R1 university demands that we attend to the needs of these students and faculty. The Graduate School is committed to increasing structural, practical, and social support for our students from underrepresented groups, including international students.
The Women in the Academy (WITA) mentoring program is one way the Graduate School has operationalized increasing support for women students and faculty. Eight women faculty members have volunteered to mentor groups of women graduate students, and the mentoring groups meet monthly to discuss issues such as professionalization, publishing, the academic job search, and work-life balance. Though the program has existed for a number of years, we have returned to in-person activities this year, following the pandemic. This year we expanded to offer a mentoring group for students in online and professional programs, which will continue to be an area of growth. The program kicked off in August with a training for our mentors, led by internationally renowned mentoring researcher Dr. Laura Lunsford. Dr. Lunsford presented evidence-based factors that impact the quality and outcomes of mentoring relationships, she led a discussion of ethical principles in mentoring relationships, and she emphasized mutuality in these relationships. We will evaluate the program at the end of the academic year and use those data to inform program improvements in future years. Our goal is to expand this program so that more women students and faculty can participate in this popular program.
We plan to enhance the graduate educational experience, especially for students from diverse backgrounds. Baylor’s McNair Fellows program recruits and supports students who were McNair Scholars as undergraduates. These are students who are first generation and/or from underrepresented backgrounds and who have ambitions to attend graduate school. They receive intensive training in research as undergraduates, making them ideal matches for graduate programs at Baylor. This year, there are 11 McNair Fellows who were McNair Scholars as undergraduates at schools across the nation. The Fellows receive a stipend that allows them to spend their first year in graduate school getting acclimated without a teaching or research assistant position. Moving forward, the graduate Fellows will serve as mentors and seminar speakers for our undergraduate Scholars, serving as role models for these future graduate students whom we also hope to recruit to stay at Baylor for their graduate education.
The Graduate Student Association’s Diversity Committee has been especially active this year, with plans for providing more opportunities for community for students of color and international students and paying special attention to increasing diversity among the leadership of GSA.
In addition, as the university’s strategic plan emphasizes the importance of increasing diversity among students, faculty, and staff, the Graduate School is responding by paying attention to diversity in our entering student population and then providing informed support for both students and mentors, enhancing the educational experiences of Baylor graduate students.
Supporting International Students
Teaching in English for International Graduate Teaching Assistants: As our reputation among R1 universities grows, Baylor will become increasingly visible internationally, attracting more scholars from around the world. Welcoming international scholars brings both opportunities and challenges. Diverse perspective, experience, and skills can enrich the university’s core functions of teaching, research, and outreach. On the other hand, teaching in English for the first time in an American classroom presents real challenges for international teaching assistants and their pupils, many of whom are taking their first courses in new subject areas. Preparing the next generation of Baylor PhDs for worldwide leadership and service (Baylor’s mission) in the global workforce includes intentional training in communication skills and cultural competencies for disseminating research to lay audiences. To this end, the graduate school collaborates with Tanya Vernon in the Center for Global Engagement by offering afternoon and evening sections of the graduate course Teaching in English for International Teaching Assistants (GBL 5201). Enrollment in 2022-2023 comprises seventeen first-semester doctoral students from across the arts, sciences, and engineering. The course extends beyond English pronunciation to coaching on classroom discussion, practice, and feedback on classroom presentation, classroom management, and teaching and learning strategy (pedagogy). The course also offers an opportunity for social support and community building for international graduate students.
Additional resources for international students are provided by the Center for Global Engagement (CGE). CGE offers assistance with the transition to Waco and to Baylor such as providing community-building events and assisting with transition to Waco with information such as how to find and lease an apartment to how to set up an account with an electricity provider. The Graduate School and the Office for the Vice Provost for Research also financially support transportation from campus to the BRIC for international students who work in research labs located at the remote research facility who do not have other transportation options. We are working to ensure our international students have what they need to be successful at Baylor. Our Graduate Student Association has developed a working group to identify both areas of need and existing campus resources with a goal of connecting international students to one another and to services. As our population of international students increases, we will continue to find ways to enhance the success of these scholars.