All graduate applications are reviewed by at least one faculty member.
This initiative helps to reduce potential barriers in the graduate application review process.
GREs are not required to apply to our graduate program.
GREs and other standardized tests are well known to be biased towards favoring students from privileged backgrounds.
We prioritize admissions fellowships for students from URM backgrounds.
All our fellowships in 2022 went to students from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds. We launched the graduate student-focused Sharon Stephens Brehm Fellowship program, providing three full year-long fellowships to meritorious graduate students (2020). With the generous support of Professor Emeritus Ken Heller, we also established an endowment to support URM graduate students (2020).
Our faculty are encouraged to state on their bio page whether they will be accepting students that upcoming year.
This reduces the chance of students applying to faculty who are not taking students, and therefore not having their applications reviewed.
We participate in recruitment conferences geared specifically at underrepresented minorities including ABRCMS and SACNAS.