Inclusive Excellence in Quals Prep Program

In 2015, the National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NSF AGEP) California Alliance conducted a wide-ranging survey of graduate students across STEM. (Fisher et al., 2019) The goal was to pinpoint ways to improve the success of PhD students, and eventually increase diversity in STEM leadership positions. Survey results showed that minority students, who felt less prepared than their peers, were most likely to excell if they felt that they were prepared for their graduate courses, accepted by their colleagues, and enrolled in a structured PhD program. Furthermore, authors found that feeling accepted in STEM mitigates feelings of distress, and leads to higher perceived success and higher subjective well-being.

The IEQP Program will prepare students for success in graduate school and beyond by helping them prepare for their qualifying exam and building a community of support.

• To pair every student with a mentor that will support them as they prepare for the qualifying exam.
• To create a sense of community among the students.
• To help students cope with imposter syndrome and learn resilience building techniques that will help them through graduate school.
• To ensure every student is satisfied with their preparation at the time of taking their qualifying exam.
• To strengthen students’ time management, writing, editing, and presentation skills.
• To contribute to the retention of graduate students from groups minoritized in STEM.

This program provides community-building and training activities for a cohort of Ph.D. student mentees preparing for their qualifying exams in the spring of their second year.  In 2022-2023, students from the Molecular and Cell Biology, Plant and Microbial Biology, and Neuroscience doctoral programs will be eligible.  Each mentee will have a personal senior Ph.D. student mentor and will participate in a full semester of academic and social programming.

Academic meetings starting in January for mentees as a group will cover:

• The qualifying exam experience
• Assembling a qualifying exam committee
• Meeting with faculty committee members ahead of the exam
• Writing an abstract and specific aims page, and the full proposal
• Giving an elevator pitch
• Navigating questions from faculty committee members during the exam
• Wellness/mental health practices 

Each mentee will also do a full two-hour practice qualifying exam, in private but with senior graduate students role-playing as committee members. 

Meanwhile, social events with mentees and senior Ph.D. student mentors will include one-on-one coffee hours, group dinners, and a group culminating celebration at the end of the semester.

Faculty directors for the Inclusive Excellence in Quals Preparation are Diana Bautista (MCB) and Rachel Brem (PMB).