Professional Development

Academic Coaching

Academic coaching at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) will be an adapted form of the business management practice of executive coaching to create more inclusive environments. This program was pioneered at CWRU during the university’s ADVANCE IT project and successfully employed in the ADVANCE PAID project, IDEAL. Each participant will attend an initial group coaching session for the institution’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Scholar cohort, followed by individualized guidance, support and empowerment.

  1. First year: Two one-hour sessions with an academic coach to strategize about Academic Life Skills;
  2. Second year: A collective coaching session and a one-hour individual coaching on next steps.

Mentoring Circles

Mentoring circles provide new and deeper networks for underrepresented minority (URM) students to increase retention and impact intention to persist in academia. These circles are developed as a pipeline for and retention of URM students at CWRU. Based in mentoring research, each mentoring circle will consist of:

  • Current and former AGEP Scholars;
  • Senior graduate students;
  • Faculty/staff/administrators;
  • Business and/or professional members of the community; and
  • University alumni.

AGEP Scholar Bridge Program

The AGEP Scholar Bridge Program is a one-weekend, cohort-based, bridge program for new Northern Ohio AGEP Alliance (NOA-AGEP) scholars. The focus of the program is providing strong peer and institutional support through professional, academic and social activities—including small group discussions and guest speakers from in and outside NOA-AGEP to present their individual experiences. Participants will be introduced to support services available via NOA-AGEP. This program is based on Bowling Green State University’s successful undergraduate AIMS (Academic Investment in Math and Science) program.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers HRD 1432053, 1432864, 1432868, 1432878, 1432891, 1432921, and 1432950. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.