Minority Program Initiatives
The Graduate School has a long-standing commitment to increasing the diversity and quality of its graduate student body. Our primary goals are to increase minority enrollment; to provide minority students with sufficient funding to complete their graduate studies in a timely manner; and to promote an academic and social environment where minority scholars can flourish. Aggressive, targeted recruiting strategies (including undergraduate and post-baccalaureate research opportunities like SROP and PREP that give potential students a taste of the graduate student experience) are vital to these efforts, and the involvement of Duke's graduate faculty is central to these strategies.
Recruitment
A key mission of the Office of Graduate Student Affairs is to coordinate, supplement, and expand the recruiting efforts of graduate departments and programs. Each year GSA participates in recruitment fairs across the country that enable us to meet potential graduate students and to answer any questions they might have about Duke's graduate programs.
Through a Pre-Application Graduate Visitation Day, talented undergraduates from across the country are brought to Duke in the fall for a focused weekend of activities and interviews. Activities typically include seminars on graduate admissions and financial aid, panel discussions with faculty and graduate students, departmental visitations, and informal gatherings.
Other mechanisms the Graduate School employs in the recruitment of minority students include participation in national consortia designed to promote minority graduate education; targeted faculty recruitment visits to selected historically black colleges and universities; and the development of external and institutional funding to support summer research opportunities for undergraduates.
Outreach
GSA provides general counseling for minority students, develops programs to enhance minority participation in graduate student life, and helps minority students to identify external sources of funding. The office also provides recruitment, retention, and completion data; assists in efforts to secure extramural and research funding; and helps to initiate various summer research opportunities that identify potential graduate students early in their college careers.