PULLMAN, Wash. — A successful program to recruit faculty of color to Washington State University, begun by the WSU College of Education in 1993, has now expanded university-wide.
The Doctoral Fellows Summer Program brings minority students and students from other under-represented groups who are nearing completion of their doctoral studies at universities across the country to WSU for a six-week residential program of teaching and research, said Karen DePauw, interim dean of the WSU Graduate School and program coordinator. The ten students in the program this summer are now on the Pullman campus through July 31.
The goal of the program is to provide a valuable educational experience for the students and to recruit those students to tenure-track faculty positions, DePauw said.
The program has proven its worth with the recruitment of Sylvia Celedon, who will receive her doctorate from the University of Texas this summer, to a tenure-track faculty position as director of the bilingual education program at the College of Education, DePauw continued. Celedon was a member of the College of Education’s fellows program during the summer of 1997, and will begin at WSU in August.
“The College of Education started a program that really provides the foundation for a university-wide effort to help fulfill our commitment to recruit more faculty of color,” DePauw said. “This program of bringing talented young doctoral students to campus is a model that worked for the College of Education and will work for WSU.”
The cost of the program this year is supported by the Graduate School, the Office of the Provost and the colleges involved. Of the ten students on campus this summer, four are in the College of Education, two at the College of Business and Economics, and three at the College of Liberal Arts. At the colleges, the students are paired with established faculty who share a similar research focus and who serve as mentors. The students continue their research agendas and help teach selected courses.
In addition, the students are able to interact with each other during a series of university-wide activities, including roundtable discussions, presentations and seminars.
The program at the colleges and university-wide is designed to provide an introduction to the professoriate and to WSU.
Celedon explained that she decided to join the faculty at WSU because of the fellows program.
“Without the fellows program, I would not have known of WSU. Period,” Celedon said. “My experience on campus during the fellows program was a major factor in choosing WSU. I felt welcomed at WSU. All the people I met were positive. When I got the announcement of the new fellows program, I tried to help recruit new fellows. I distributed flyers and talked to people. I told them I liked it, and that they should try it.”
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