Professors from Purdue University’s College of Agriculture announced enhancements to their Mentoring@Purdue (M@P) program. M@P includes a mentoring program that pairs students with faculty or staff members. There is also a summer scholars program which brings undergraduate students from historically Black colleges and universities to Purdue’s campus for a week-long program that teaches them how to start applying to graduate schools.
“Historically, the College of Agriculture has not done well in recruiting students of color into graduate programs,” said Levon Esters, professor of agricultural sciences education and communication. “The idea with M@P is to create a pipeline to Purdue, especially from HBCUs.”
Recently, M@P Published, “M@P-ing Out Your Future,” a resourceful guide for aspiring graduate students, which has information and advice on taking the Graduate Record Examination and establishing relationships with faculty. The Purdue program has partnered with 11 other universities where the guide will be distributed. Program representatives will travel to these partner institutions to make presentations. The next stage of the M@P program will be to expand to other institutions across the country.
