“Sealing the Holes in the Middle of the Pipeline” Presented by Dr. Heather P. Tarleton, UCLA

1. “Sealing the Holes in the Middle of the Pipeline” Presented by Dr. Heather P. Tarleton, UCLA htarleton@gdnet.ucla.edu May 7, 2009 On behalf of: The UC DIGSSS Alliance UCLA Graduate Division Institutional Research & Information Services

2. The UC Diversity Initiative for Graduate Study in the Social Sciences (UC-DIGSSS) program is a three-campus alliance of UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, and UC Santa Barbara. Our goal is to work collaboratively to find new ways to improve and support ethnic diversity among doctoral students in the social sciences at each of the three campuses. The UC DIGSSS Team Dr. Beth Schneider, Associate Dean, Social Sciences, UC-Santa Barbara Dr. Carlos Grijalva, Associate Dean, Graduate Division, UC-Los Angeles Dr. Gloria Chun, Graduate Diversity Director, UC-Berkeley Dr. Heather Tarleton, Diversity Programs Director, UC-Los Angeles Ms. Mary York, Graduate Diversity Coordinator, UC-Santa Barbara

3. Institutional and Anecdotal Data Data provided courtesy of Kevin Fosnacht and Dhanalakshmi Thirumalai UCLA Graduate Division Institutional Research & Information Services

8. We need more quantitative data (surveys) from campus-to-campus on leading contributors to attrition. Common Financial support Marital status Unique Professional development Social/academic support Mentorship Mental health resources

9. Observation • Institutional data and anecdotal reports suggest that graduate students enrolled in doctoral degree programs experience a developmental crisis in their 3rd and 4th years of degree pursuit. • Characteristics • Feelings of academic limbo - in which students are dealing with the transition from student to colleague. • Lack of mentorship with regard to professional development and future direction. • Insecurity about ability to complete the final degree requirement of a dissertation and competitiveness in advancing to faculty positions. • Two-prong Approach • Intervene by providing support, in the form of mentorship and guidance • Empower through provision of skills needed to thrive in academia.

10. Added Benefit Simple participation in an event with a critical mass of students of color can, in itself, counter feelings of isolation and helplessness. Structure Our intervention brought 29 students from 3 different campuses together. This allowed students to network with one another, talk about academic cultures and styles, and see new faces that looked like their own. We also invited faculty from across the social science disciplines to participate as academic and professional mentors. We secured the participation of nine faculty members from across the disciplines of Sociology, Communications, Chicano Studies, Education, Political Science, Anthropology, Geography, and Psychology, which produced a roughly 3:1 ratio of students to faculty.

11. Faculty and Staff Attendees Dr. Beth Schneider (Sociology, UCSB) Dr. Walid Afifi (Communications, UCSB) Dr. Horacio N. Roque Ramirez (Chicano Studies, UCSB) Dr. Cynthia Hudley (Education, UCSB) Dr. Andrew Green (Political Science, UCB) Dr. Samuel Lucas (Sociology, UCB) Dr. Carole Browner (Anthropology, UCLA) Dr. Thomas Gillespie (Geography, UCLA) Sally Wilson Weinmer (Librarian, UCSB) Dr. Carlos Grijalva (Psychology, UCLA) Dr. Gloria Chun (Social Sciences, UCB) Mary York (Social Sciences, UCSB) Dr. Heather Tarleton (Graduate Division, UCLA)

12. Friday, November 14, 2008 • Breakfast and Introduction to the retreat/day • The Art of Academic Writing: Voice, Style, and Audience • * 10 minute yoga and stretch break* • Using Endnote, Endnote web and/or other software for the dissertation • Understanding the Dissertation Process in the Social Sciences - Faculty panel • Lunch - Mentorship • Research discussions and feedback on proposals (Groups to be assigned) • Saturday, November 15, 2008 • The CV as a Portfolio/The Importance of Fellowships and Grants • The Path of the Advanced Student… • Professional Development and Transition • Demystifying the PostDoc and the First Faculty Position

15. Pre-Intervention findings The professional and academic needs identified by students fell into four distinct categories and in the following order of necessity: Writing Support: a) understanding the dissertation process, b) feedback on dissertation proposal, c) publishing, d) research/writing tools Mentoring: a) collaborating with faculty, b) building peer relationships Employment: a) post doctoral fellowships, b) alternatives to research careers, and c) the curriculum vitae Self Management: a) staying focused, b) staying motivated, c) maintaining balance

16. Pre-Intervention findings continued… On a scale of 1 to 5 with one (1) being uninformed and five (5) being fully informed, students self-assessed their knowledge base on the following workshop topics. Prior to the symposium, students reported they felt: - “informed” (2.84) about academic writing - “somewhat informed” (2.2) about various research and writing tools - “informed” (2.96) about the dissertation process - “informed” (3.08) about CV organization and development - “somewhat informed” (2.0) about post doctoral fellowships - “uninformed” (1.68) about negotiating a faculty position

17. An Overview of Post-Intervention Findings Only one-third (33%) of the students reported that their department provides graduate students with discipline specific professional development training. Students enjoyed: a) the ability to receive specific feedback from faculty in their discipline (92%) b) the opportunity to network with other UC graduate students (4.38) c) learning something new about the academy(4.61) 96% indicated a desire to recommend the UC DIGSSS social science retreat to other students in their 3rd or 4th years of graduate study.

18. Findings in Detail Writing- On average, students reported being informed to very informed (3.21) about the use of voice when writing, informed (3.00) on how discipline influences writing, and very informed (3.75) about how audience influences writing. Overall, the symposium saw an increase in the knowledge base of students regarding academic writing with pre-survey averages at (2.84) and post survey averages at (3.32). Endnote - Students reported being somewhat informed (2.59) about how to use endnote as a writing tool, and somewhat informed (2.38) about other social science research databases to support dissertation writing. The symposium did not see a significant increase in the knowledge base of students regarding the use of writing tools and social science research databases with pre-survey averages at (2.2) and post-survey averages at (2.4). Faculty Panel - Students reported being informed to very informed (3.43) about faculty expectations, very informed (3.83) about meeting dissertation milestones; informed (2.96) about respondingpositively to redirection, informed (3.22) about facilitating negotiation among committee members and informed (2.91) about what it meant to be an advanced student. The symposium saw a slight increase in the knowledge base of students about the dissertation process with pre-survey averages at (2.96) and post- survey averages at (3.27). But look at the individual components that contribute to the average…

19. CV - Students reported being very informed to fully informed (4.42) about how an curriculum vitae is organized, very informed to fully informed(4.33) about critical components in a curriculum vitae, and informed (3.95) about the value of listing fellowships and grants. The symposium saw a significant increase in the knowledge base of students regarding the importance of a well organized and discipline specific curriculum vitae with pre-survey averages at (3.08) post-survey averages at (4.20). Postdoc - Students reported being informed to very informed (3.88) about why one should pursue post doctoral fellowships and informed (3.33) about the types and functions of postdoctoral fellowships. The symposium saw a dramatic and significant increase in the knowledge base of students about the purpose and types of doctoral fellowships with pre-survey averages at (2.0) and post-survey averages at (3.6). Job search - Students reported being informed to very informed (3.41) as it relates to items of negotiation and very informed (3.91) about when to begin the job search process. The symposium saw a significant increase in the knowledge base of students about the job search process with pre-survey averages (1.68) and post-survey averages at (3.66).

20. Some recommendations for future workshops and dissemination *Annual fall retreat (multi-day, on or off campus) with follow up (single day, on campus) in spring. *Include campus psychologists. *Provide an overview of “the academy” and the system of tenure rankings, different types of institutions, etc. and teach students to create “portfolios” tailored to those institutions. *Address the tension between moving forward and giving back. *Create a workshop that discusses self management, maintaining a healthy balance and staying motivated during the dissertation writing stage.