CAREER: Recruitment, Retention, and Graduation: Increasing Representation among Psychology Ph.D. Recipients

Institutions of higher education are taking steps to ameliorate practices that reinforce inequity in educational programs. This project will investigate how these changes impact enrollment and degree completion among Black and Latinx Ph.D. students and will provide valuable insights into whether these changes are effectively reducing racial/ethnic gaps in Ph.D. attainment. This research will contribute new knowledge about the practices that enhance recruitment, retention, and graduation in non-clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs. This longitudinal project includes two phases. Phase 1 triangulates data from multiple sources, including document analysis, quantitative surveys, and qualitative interviews to (1) identify and describe the mechanisms through which R1 institutions are recruiting and retaining Black and Latinx Ph.D. students in Psychology Ph.D. programs; and (2) longitudinally evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment and retention mechanisms for Black and Latinx students by determining their correlational impact on Ph.D. attainment. Phase 2 builds on Phase 1 by developing and testing a graduate school preparatory curriculum that attends to issues commonly experienced by Black and Latinx graduate students in Psychology Ph.D. programs. The project will provide evidence that links modern practices to actual outcomes, as well as continue to implement and test ways to increase Black and Latinx representation in non-clinical psychological sciences. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.