GradThriving: A Review of challenges faced by URM graduate students & website development

Presented by Jacqueline McDermott, PhD, Purdue University Reported by Amanda Selby, EdD, A.T. Still University

In this session, Dr. McDermott shared the inspiration for developing the website GradThriving which provides accessible and organized resources to support students pursuing graduate programs, particularly in STEM fields. Through research and focus groups, Dr. McDermott and her team identified common challenges faced by underrepresented minority (URM) students pursuing graduate programs as well as identifying helpful resources to combat those challenges.

The conversation then shifted to actionable plans that audience members can use to support change in their institutions. The following suggestions were presented:

• Identify challenges – what specific challenges do your applicants and students face? Use surveys, town halls, focus groups, and open conversations to ask your students about their challenges. Provide a safe place for them to share these challenges. Build trust with them by spending time with them.

• Break down silos – connect with people outside of your organization. Attend conferences, connect with colleagues in similar roles, look for faculty and research partners, and broaden your connections.

• Identify resources – don’t forget about the resources that might be available on your campus. Find those people and team up with them to build new options. In closing, Dr. McDermott provided three questions that should be used to evaluate your current strategy for recruiting, retaining, and supporting URM students.

• What challenges does your program or institution face when supporting URM students?

• What retention resources are in place and working well, and what is lacking?

• What would be helpful resources for developing options to support your URM students better?

Final advice: Don’t become so focused on your challenges that you forget about the things you are doing well. This was a fitting end and an important reminder to give ourselves some grace and to celebrate our successes as we recover from difficult times and move forward. n