Evaluation of Current Graduate Student Preparation in First Year After Completing the GradTrack Scholars Virtual Mentoring Program as an Undergraduate Student
- Conference
- Location
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Portland, Oregon
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2024
- Start Date
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June 23, 2024
- End Date
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July 12, 2024
- Conference Session
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Diverse Pathways: Exploring Inclusive Practices and Outreach in Engineering Education
- Tagged Division
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Minorities in Engineering Division(MIND)
- Tagged Topic
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Diversity
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/47358
Paper Authors
Lexy Chiwete Arinze Purdue University at West Lafayette
Lexy Arinze is a graduate student in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University, where he is pursuing his Ph.D. degree. Lexy is passionate about impacting others using his Engineering knowledge, mentoring, and helping students grow. He has a masters in Civil Engineering. Before Purdue, he received an Erasmus scholarship for an exchange program at the University of Jaen, Spain. He had his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Jacqueline E McDermott
Purdue University at West Lafayette
orcid.org/0000-0003-3435-4416
Dr. Jackie McDermott joined the College of Engineering at Purdue University in August 2018 and is the Associate Director of Graduate Diversity and Inclusion. Jackie completed her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Brandeis University and has over 5 years of recruitment and higher education administration experience. At Purdue, Jackie is passionate about preparing future graduate students and supporting current graduate students, especially those from historically underrepresented backgrounds in Engineering. She also has a specific focus on increasing the diversity of future engineering faculty and developing a more diverse, equitable and inclusive Purdue Engineering.
Janet M Beagle
Dr. Janet Beagle is the Director of Graduate Programs for Purdue University’s College of Engineering. Formerly the Director of Graduate Admissions over five campuses and more than 100 graduate programs, she has worked with graduate recruitment and admis
Abstract
Mentorship programs play a pivotal role in nurturing personal and professional development of students. Initiatives such as the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars [1], Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) [2], McNair Scholars [3], and GradTrack Scholars [4], [5], programs exist to prepare undergraduate students for graduate school. The GradTrack Scholars program is a comparatively new initiative, and it has evolved over the past 3 years to establish itself as a strong virtual mentoring program committed to the preparation of undergraduate students for graduate school [4]. While GradTrack has demonstrated positive impacts on participants’ preparation for the graduate application process, the question remains: what impact does GradTrack have on participants’ success once they matriculate into graduate school?
The GradTrack Virtual mentoring program pairs 2 graduate student mentors with 4-7 underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students in mentoring circles [4]. In the 3 years of GradTrack’s existence, at least 6 seniors have been awarded the NSF GRFP and 65% of sen ior-level participants have matriculated into graduate programs. A previous assessment of the program showed that GradTrack prepares participating undergraduate students for the graduate application process while helping them build community [5]. An outstanding question is whether this increased community from GradTrack helps students transition to graduate school and succeed in their first semester and/or year. While graduate school transition and support programs exist at institutions across the country [6]–[8], this study explores whether GradTrack stretches between the silos of a) undergraduate preparation for graduate admissions and b) graduate school support and success, due to its unique structure of engaging both undergraduate student mentees and graduate student mentors.
The purpose of this study is to understand how undergraduate focused programs, like GradTrack, help set students up for success in graduate school. This study’s longitudinal approach follows participants into their graduate studies, providing much needed insight into the longer-term impacts of this program. Through focus groups and survey data, this study assesses the impact of GradTrack program completion on the success of students during their first semester to year in graduate school. We will discuss what topics and structures within the program were helpful for minority undergraduate students during their matriculation into graduate school. We will also discuss what additional needs students experienced that were not addressed. Results of this study will inform the continued enhancements of the GradTrack program and could lend additional insights and suggestions of best practices into other transition and first-year graduate success programs.
Arinze, L. C., & McDermott, J. E., & Beagle, J. M. (2024, June), Evaluation of Current Graduate Student Preparation in First Year After Completing the GradTrack Scholars Virtual Mentoring Program as an Undergraduate Student Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47358
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