by Michael Strickland
"We must be impatient for change. Let us remember that our voice is a precious gift and we must use it." — Claudia Flores, Immigration campaign manager, Center for American Progress
Recent statistics show that nearly 2.5 million Latinos in the United States held advanced degrees such as master’s degrees or doctorates.
This represented a huge increase over 2000, when 710,000 Latinos held advanced degrees. The shift reflects Latinos’ broader increase in postsecondary enrollment and rising educational attainment.
Despite the large increase in the number of Latinos with advanced degrees, they accounted for just 8% of all advanced degree holders in the U.S. This was far below their 19% share of the overall U.S. population, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data.
That is why I was delighted to see that the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice is offering the LEADD program, Latinas Excelling at Doctoral Degrees. It will equip and empower undergraduate students to strengthen their confidence, validate their research interests, create community, and share resources to combat cultural and academic isolation of Latinas and women of color, prior to attending graduate school.
LEADD Scholars will benefit from a virtual peer support community that includes monthly sessions designed to address the dismal representation of Latinas in academia by equipping students with the strategy and tools to navigate through academia. The monthly workshops will further promote diversity among the professoriate, where there is a documented lack of women and people of color. LEADD cultivates students of color by strengthening pathways to the professoriate and includes discussions and workshops on topics such as cultural and academic isolation, cultural values and academic expectations, peer support and mentorship, as well as identity, advocacy, and research design.
LEADD will be hosted virtually by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice (Proctor Institute). In our effort to encourage attendance and minimize financial burden, scholars will be hosted without program fees and issued a stipend of $500 upon completion. Applications must be submitted no later than Sunday, June 9th, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET.
More information and FAQs can be found here.
“Although funding is frequently cited as one of the reasons why Latinas make up only 1% of students who pursue a doctoral degree, it only serves as a microcosm of a larger issue within higher education,” according to Michelle Zacarias in their article The real 1%: Latinas with doctoral degrees break barriers in higher education. “This is why universities have an obligation to advocate for Latine students and invest in the recruitment of “nontraditional” students with talent and potential.”
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The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice (Proctor Institute) is a national center that focuses on issues of leadership, equity, and justice within the context of higher education.
It brings together researchers, practitioners and community members to work toward the common goals of diversifying leadership, enhancing equity, and fostering justice for all. The Proctor Institute is located at Rutgers University—New Brunswick, in the Graduate School of Education and houses the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI). Learn more at https://proctor.gse.rutgers.edu.