As universities around the country strive to diversify their graduate and faculty ranks, one University of California effort is proving highly successful.

A UC initiative that strengthens research ties and collaborations with the nation’s historically black colleges and universities has helped more than 400 students to participate in a UC summer internship. The result: More than 10 percent of participants have gone on to a UC Ph.D. program.

In addition to getting a taste of campus life, participating students work alongside faculty and graduate students to design and conduct research. They live on campus, make connections with prominent researchers in their field, and take workshops on preparing for and applying to graduate school and competing for national fellowships.

“You can’t underestimate the importance of having students see and experience for themselves what graduate school might be like,” said Pamela Jennings, executive director of Graduate Studies at UC Office of the President, which developed the program. “And they find faculty and graduate student mentors who are invested in their success.”

UC has hosted over 400 HBCU summer interns since the program’s first summer in 2012. Some 44 of them are now enrolled in UC graduate programs, and five have successfully completed graduate degrees.

These students are making contributions in a wide array of fields that are most acutely lacking in diversity across the nation, such as electrical engineering and evolutionary ecology.

Many wouldn’t have come to California — much less enrolled in graduate school — without the tools and experiences they gained through the UC-HBCU Initiative.

Here are a few of the talented scientists and scholars who have enrolled at UC as a result of the partnership:

Jeremy Prim, sociology, UC Davis

Now in his second year of a UC Davis Ph.D. program in sociology, Jeremy Prim wasn’t always the model student. In elementary and middle school in Los Angeles, he was regularly kicked out of class and was even suspended a few times.

“I remember looking inside the window when I was sent out of class, and seeing other kids learning and wanting that,” he said. “But that opportunity was pretty much being ripped away from me continuously and I didn’t understand why.”

Now Prim is doing research that he hopes can inform more constructive approaches to disruptive student behavior. 

The Morehouse College graduate looks at the academic and social costs of disciplinary measures that remove kids from class, and their disproportionate use with impoverished male minority students. He also looks at the benefits and best practices of an approach known as restorative justice, in which students and teachers work collaboratively to resolve problems and repair harm. The approach has been shown to reduce discipline problems and increase student engagement in the classroom.

“I asked myself, ‘where can I have the largest impact?’” he said. “If this research can be used to change and inform educational practice, it could make a difference in the lives of thousands of kids.”

Read more at the University of California website.

About UC Davis Graduate Studies

Graduate Studies at UC Davis includes 99 dynamic degree programs and a diverse and interactive student body from around the world. Known for our state-of-the-art research facilities, productive laboratories and progressive spirit – UC Davis offers collaborative and interdisciplinary curricula through graduate groups and designated emphasis options, bringing students and faculty of different academic disciplines together to address real-world challenges.

UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars become leaders in their fields: researchers, teachers, politicians, mentors and entrepreneurs. They go on to guide, define and impact change within our global community.

For information on Graduate Studies’ current strategic initiatives, visit the Graduate Studies strategic plan page.