Brown chosen to be part of national Ph.D. project

PROVIDENCE – Brown University has been chosen to participate in a national initiative to increase completion rates in doctoral programs.
The Ph.D. Completion Project, which is administered by the Council of Graduate Schools with funding from Pfizer Inc. and the Ford Foundation, provides 22 universities with awards up to $80,000 to collect and submit data on doctoral completion and attrition; implement interventions in areas such as selection, mentoring and financial support; and develop rigorous assessment strategies to measure the impact of such interventions.
Beginning this fall at Brown, interventions will attempt to support students during their early and middle years in academic programs. This will be done by monitoring milestones of academic progress, carefully selecting advisers specifically for female and minority students, assisting students with grant-writing and finding funding sources, and creating a group of faculty members to serve as dissertation research coaches and counselors. The project will continue for at least six years, Brown said.