The University of Michigan has had a long-standing commitment to diversity in higher education and has focused much effort on the recruitment, retention and preparation of students for the professoriate. This coupled with uniformly highly ranked Ph.D. programs in the social, behavioral and economic sciences, makes us well suited for an effort such as implementing an AGEP grant for the SBE fields. In Ph.D. production for minority students, U-M ranks second nationally, eclipsed only by Howard University, a traditionally minority serving institution. Our programs offer students excellent academics, state of the art research opportunities, world renowned faculty and an environment designed to develop students who will become our country's leaders and innovators.

U-M was an original NSF MGE/AGEP school and has been active in AGEP efforts for students in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) since 1998. Our efforts in the STEM area have been very successful as shown and we are confident that we will be able to achieve the same level of success in the SBE fields. Last year we became lead school for the Michigan AGEP Alliance, partnering with the State of Michigan's other major Ph.D. producers: Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and Western Michigan University. This partnership has enabled us to build upon our collective wisdom, share best practices, and jointly share and study the outcomes of our AGEP programming. We are excited about the idea of expanding our relationship by allying with CUNY.

The approach on U-M's campus will be three-pronged: recruitment, retention and preparation for the professoriate.

Recruitment
Since our STEM AGEP grant's inception, we have seen increases in under-represented minority student participation as illustrated in the chart below:

Our out-reach efforts have included:

• Participation in graduate school fairs and national/regional student conventions
• Targeted recruiting at minority serving institutions
• Campus visitation programs
• Direct email contact with students

Our IMPACT recruiting event brings admitted students to the campus to meet faculty and current students and receive a taste of campus life. For the second year in a row it appears that over 60% of the students who attended will enroll. We are also pleased that this event was named "Student Event of the Year" by the Michigan Leadership Awards. All admitted under-represented SBE students will be invited to participate in next Winter Term's IMPACT program.

We will also expand our Fall PREVIEW campus visit event to include potential SBE applicants. 1/2 of the students who have previously attended this program applied for admission to our graduate programs. PREVIEW provides an opportunity to tour campus, learn about graduate research, meet faculty and current students, get a taste of campus life and prepare students for the graduate school application process.

We have a strong summer research program to help undergraduates become familiar with research, and we will use part of the SBE AGEP funding to increase the number of SBE students who attend and benefit from this program.

Retention
Retention has been a major focus for us. We are now participating in the Council of Graduate Schools Ph.D. Completion Project and hope that the efforts which we are piloting under this program will enhance our AGEP activities.

We invite under-represented students to attend the Rackham Summer Institute, which provides incoming graduate students with a head-start of graduate classes and research along with programming to help them acclimate to the U-M campus. SBE students will be part of this program.

The Rackham Engineering Award Fellowship program, which was an early focus of our STEM AGEP program and is now institutionalized, has shown very good results as we worked to improve the retention rate of students in this program for under-represented Ph.D. students.

We have already studied and identified improvements needed in fellowship programs for SBE and will work to achieve and repeat our STEM success in those areas. A summer research program for currently enrolled under-represented students will be piloted to support students while giving them a strong start on their Ph.D. research.

Students who are better informed and better prepared for the challenges of graduate school are more likely to succeed in their studies. We will provide a wide variety of workshops to enhance the information provided our students. We will also encourage students to participate in a variety of professional conferences . Social climate is very important to student retention and we will increase social activities and support to graduate student groups. The Society of Minority Engineers and Scientist- Graduate (SMES-G) has been very active in supporting outreach efforts and campus visits. They have also provided a range of social activities and mentoring support for current students. We are pleased to note they received the 2004/05 Michigan Leadership Award for Student Group of the Year. This group will work with graduate students in SBE programs to expand activities in those areas.

Preparing for the Professoriate
In addition to our AGEP grant, the University of Michigan has played a central role in the majority of the national initiatives dedicated to reforming higher education. We have not only participated in the Council of Graduate School's Preparing Future Faculty program but have created one of our own that attracts 50 doctoral students a year and that connects them to regional schools such as Kalamazoo College, Albion College, and Oakland University. Earl Lewis, the recently departed Dean of the Graduate School, served as the national chair for the Woodrow Wilson Responsive PhD project. Five departments from Michigan currently participate in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate. Michigan has enjoyed a consistent record of success in obtaining grants from NSF's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program (IGERT) and the Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE).

SBE students will be given the opportunity to participate in workshops and conferences designed to both encourage students to consider academic careers and enhance teaching ability. Our Center for Research on Learning and Teaching will provide students with a mentored teaching experience. We will also provide students with information and preparation for postdoctoral experiences. We are exploring possible partnerships with postdoctoral programs at other institutions to provide our students with a greater range of opportunity. Career guidance will be provided to our SBE graduates.