AGEP PROFILE INFORMATION: COLORADO PEAKS ALLIANCE CSU

PI: Philip DiStefano Provost, The Graduate School University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0026 Tel: 303 492 5537 Email: philp.distefano@colorado.edu	Project Manager: Barbara Kraus Colorado Diversity Initiative Campus Box 347 Boulder, CO 80309-0347 Tel: 303 492 5779 Email: Barbara.Kraus@Colorado.edu
Project Director: Mark Hernandez Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Campus Box 428 University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0428 Tel: 303 492 5991 Email: Mark.Hernandez@Colorado.edu	Primary Partner: University of Colorado at Boulder Secondary Partner: Colorado State University

Disciplines:

• All Science, Math, Engineering and Technology (STEM) Departments

Website Addresses: CU: http://www.colorado.edu/graduateschool/diversity.html

CSU: http://lamar.colostate.edu/~agep

Impact Nugget:

Since its 2000 inception, the Colorado AGEP project has witnessed more than a 75% increase in underrepresented students enrolled in STEM PhD programs on its alliance campuses. Just prior to the AGEP project initiation, total doctoral STEM enrollments at the University of Colorado and Colorado State were 61; as of 2004 that number has climbed to 107, and application demographics suggest this growth rate will continue for the foreseeable future.

The project has grown in scope at the campus and regional levels, and is receiving increased national recognition. During 2003, the Colorado AGEP project merged with a large NIH training program to form the new office of the Colorado Diversity Initiative (CDI). The merger leverages resources of two previously independent diversity projects with that of national research centers to increase critical operational mass, consolidate recruiting and reporting efforts, and provide grant-writing support for those faculty promoting parity in graduate schools and the

professorate. During this AGEP project period, the University of Colorado was invited to join the prestigious Leadership Alliance; a consortium of elite institutions, which sends outstanding, underrepresented students to our graduate schools and undergraduate research programs. The CDI interfaces with the US Dept. of Education (GAANN and McNair), numerous NSF REU and Louis Stokes programs, and the Meyerhoff program.

Under the CDI, the Colorado AGEP project continues to build relationships with minority serving institutions for the express purpose of promoting undergraduate and graduate research opportunities to students from these campuses (Univ. of Mississippi, Univ. of Texas, and Dillard). The CDI is aggressively pursing grants and alliances to support post-doctoral opportunities for underrepresented PhDs as part of their competitive preparation for the professorate. Most recently, the Colorado AGEP project was invited to apply for Sloan Foundation support.