Graduate School Selected as Research Partner in $2.6 Million Ph.D. Completion Project

Howard University’s Graduate School is among 21 universities selected by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) to be a research partner in the $2.6 million Ph.D. Completion Project being supported by Pfizer Inc. and the Ford Foundation. Each school will receive an award of up to $100,000 to collect and submit data on doctoral completion; create and pilot intervention strategies; and evaluate the effect of those strategies on Ph.D. attrition patterns and completion rates. According to Debra W. Stewart, president of CGS, “The project will produce the most comprehensive and useful data available on attrition from doctoral study and completion of Ph.D. programs, permitting the graduate community to better address those critical issues, particularly as they affect underrepresented minorities and women.”

Doswell

Taylor

A highly competitive process, participating schools were selected by an external CGS-nominated advisory board, comprising leaders from academia, industry, funding agencies, and research programs on minority graduate education. Those chosen represented the demographic diversity of doctoral education within the U.S. and Canada, including private and public universities, and minority-serving institutions. Among the 21 are Arizona State, Cornell, Duke, Princeton, Purdue and Yale universities.

“The selection of Howard to participate in this important national study is yet another indication of the Graduate School’s continuing involvement in national issues pertaining to graduate education and our commitment to enhancing the fulfillment of the academic aspirations of our graduate students, up through their graduation,” said Orlando Taylor, Ph.D., dean, Graduate School and vice provost for research. He, along with Chontrese Doswell, Ph.D., assistant dean for retention, mentoring, and support services of the Graduate School, are the co-principal investigators.

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