AGEP PROJECT PROFILE INFORMATION: 
Puerto Rico Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate
|
PI:
Dr. Manuel Gómez PO Box 23334, University Station San Juan, Puerto
Rico, 00931-3334 Tel: 787-764-8369 787 -763-6108 Fax: 787-756-7717 |
Program
Director: Dr. Manuel Gómez – Director; PO Box 23334, University Station San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00931-3334 Tel: 787-764-8369, 787
-763-6108 Fax: 787-756-7717 Program Coordinator: Ms. Blanca R. García – Coordinator – Río
Piedras Campus; PO Box 23334, University Station San Juan, Puerto
Rico, 00931-3334 Tel: 787-764-8369, 787
-763-6108 Fax: 787-756-7717 Program
Coordinator: Ms. Virginia
Figueroa – Coordinator – Mayagüez Campus PO Box 9027 Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
00681-9027 Tel: 787-831-1022 Fax: 787-832-4680 |
|
Preferred
day-to-day contact person: Ms. Blanca R. García |
Primary
Partners: Mayagüez Campus |
Disciplines
/ departments:
PR-AGEP includes the PhD programs of:
·
Biology,
·
Chemistry,
·
Chemical
Physics,
·
Marine
Science,
·
Civil
Engineering,
·
Chemical
Engineering,
·
Mathematics
·
Computational
Sciences
Website
address: http://web.uprr.pr/agep
Impact nugget:
The Puerto Rico Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professorate
(PR-AGEP) includes graduate programs in Biology, Chemistry, Chemical
Engineering, Chemical Physics, Civil Engineering, Computer Information Science
and Engineering, Mathematics, and Marine Science. PR-AGEP met its primary objective, increasing the number of
Ph.D.s conferred from 13 in 1997-1998 to 37
in 2002, with 19 of those graduates having received UPR-AGEP fellowships.
The increase in graduation rate is attributable not only to AGEP fellowships
but also to the Peer Mentoring Program in which 266 graduate students
participated. Twenty-five (25)
graduates chose academic careers, exceeding the objective of 15, and 337 new
graduate students participated in TA Training and Bridging Seminars. New enrollments in STEM Ph.D. programs
increased from 75 to 160 from 1997-2002. The decrease in drop rates was
dramatic, from 8% to 2.5%, and holds promise for the future because the more
students retained, the greater the number of students completing degrees. Women represented one-third to one-half of
Ph.D. enrollment and degrees. The
number of student/faculty publications increased from an average of 1.25 per
faculty per year to 2.5, reflecting an increased number of publications from
dissertations, an essential element in finding academic positions.
The Puerto Rico-AGEP (PR-AGEP) program exceeded its goals by becoming a part of The University of Puerto Rico Resource Center for Science and Engineering (UPR-RCSE) K-Ph.D. pipeline strategy. Integration of the UPR-AGEP project into the pipeline strategy has had a significant impact on increasing enrollment, retention, and graduation of Ph.D. students. The PR-AGEP strategy focuses on tightening and improving the connections between critical points in the transition from undergraduate to graduate levels, providing students a coherent continuum of support by increasing the number and kind of recruitment activities, providing Fellowships, Bridging Seminars and a Peer Mentor Program, offering continuing training to TA’s, and providing workshops to enhance scholarly productivity.