Mentoring
With close connections to numerous faculty leaders in diversity, the NCID is uniquely positioned to promote diversity in faculty pipeline development. The NCID Faculty-Centered Mentoring Initiative capitalizes on these professional ties, with a mission of building exemplary mentoring efforts for talented postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates with strong interests in diversity issues. In addition to forming a Dissertation Support Group Network and encouraging its Faculty Fellows to develop multi-tiered research teams, the NCID has launched an NCID Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and a partnership with the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).
NCID-UROP Partnership
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program provides a hands-on learning experience for first and second year students through research partnerships with faculty in all academic fields and disciplines, with a particular interest in improving the retention and academic achievement of underrepresented students and supporting women in science and engineering.
During the 2006–2007 academic year, UROP student Rhana N. Natour was mentored by Angela Locks, Doctoral Candidate in Higher Education and Assistant to the NCID Director. Their work together resulted in a proposal titled “Minority Student College Choice Process in a New Era of Affirmative Action: A Conceptual Framework,” which they presented at the 20th Annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE). As a result of Ms. Natour’s leadership on this project and ongoing scholarly excellence, she received a College Board NCORE Student Scholarship—the only student from the University of Michigan to earn this honor in 2007.