AGEP (Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) is a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation designed with a two-fold purpose:

1.  To increase the number of underrepresented minority students receiving doctorates in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

    and SBES (Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences) disciplines; and

2.  To increase the number of underrepresented minorities in faculty positions in STEM and SBES departments at colleges and universities.

The National Science Foundation believes that comprehensive, coordinated institutional partnerships is the best strategy for achieving AGEP goals. In October 2004, Purdue University led Indiana University and Northwestern University in a partnership to form the Midwest Crossroads AGEP Program for STEM fields focusing on recruitment, retention, and enrichment activities.  In August 2005, Northwestern became the lead partner in an AGEP SBES alliance known as GLASS (Great Lakes Alliance for the Social Sciences) with the same goals as the AGEP STEM program.  GLASS universities include: The University of Chicago, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, and Temple University.   

At Northwestern, advanced graduate students in engineering and the life sciences can apply to become AGEP Scholars, and currently, 34 Northwestern life sciences and engineering faculty members have been designated AGEP Professors.  Both Scholars and Professors complete a variety of activities and tasks designed to facilitate the recruitment, retention, and enrichment goals of the AGEP STEM program.  

Graduate students in SBES departments participate in a number of workshops developed to enhance their PhD completion as well.  

One of the best ways to learn more about AGEP national efforts is to vist the national AGEP website: http://www.agep.us/

View our new Spring 2008 newsletter.

For more information on Northwestern’s AGEP program, please contact:

           Cheryl Judice, PhD

           Director – AGEP  STEM/SBES   

           Office of Student Life and Multicultural Affairs

           The Graduate School

           633 Clark, Crown 1-502

           Evanston, IL  60208-1113

           e-mail:   c-judice@northwestern.edu

           phone:    (847)  491-8536  (office)