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Cultivating More Diversity in Graduate School Ranks

CWRU offers awards for alumni from historically Black universities and other minority-serving institutions

Photo: Matt Lester

Provost Ben Vinson III leads the Think Big strategic planning initiative, which includes the North Star Award program. This photo was taken before the pandemic.

Case Western Reserve has forged partnerships with 10 colleges and universities to increase the number of students of color in its graduate and professional schools.

Alumni and graduating students from the partner Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) can apply to earn CWRU advanced degrees—and if accepted will be considered for a North Star Award that reduces tuition.

"We know that we’re better when we include voices from all over the nation and all over the world," said Provost Ben Vinson III, PhD, who leads the Think Big strategic planning initiative, which includes the North Star Award program.

Selected scholars, Vinson added, "will join a community of peers and colleagues who will support one another, who will grow together in understanding and in journeying toward creating a more just and thriving world."

The program also will create connections between CWRU and its partners that Vinson expects will strengthen and elevate the institutions’ research and educational impact.

"Additional partnerships are in the works, and we are very much looking forward to expanding the program in the future," he said.

Case Western Reserve’s college and schools are participating, with each choosing to include particular programs leading to a master’s or doctoral degree.

"Xavier University of Louisiana, like other HBCUs, was founded on a commitment to excellence and as an act of what we would now call 'antiracism,''" said Anne McCall, PhD, Xavier’s provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. "Our relationship [with CWRU] is a significant commitment to increasing graduate and professional school opportunities for our students and helping our nation fulfill its promise."

Several of Case Western Reserve’s graduate and professional schools are pursuing similar initiatives.

The School of Law, for example, has concluded agreements with four colleges and universities—an initiative involving not only HBCUs, but also schools predominantly populated with under-represented minorities, including Native American and Hispanic students.

In the North Star consortium, "we have found like-minded partners in these efforts, and in our shared, unwavering commitment to excellence," Vinson said.