The Donald R. Cole Excellence in Promoting Inclusiveness in Graduate Education Award Winners Announced

The Graduate School selects one individual or unit/program for the Donald R. Cole Excellence in Promoting Inclusiveness in Graduate Education Award each year. The award recognizes unique contributions that make the Graduate School a more inclusive environment for students of diverse backgrounds. Named after Dr. Donald Cole, whose contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion led to national recognition of UM’s Graduate School, the award is a distinct honor based on commitment to inclusive excellence. We congratulate the 2020 and 2021 winners!

Educational Leadership Graduate Program (2020)
Psychology Department (2021)

For 2021, the Psychology department received the Donald R. Cole Award. Graduate Program Coordinators Dr. Stephanie Miller and Dr. Todd Smitherman were thrilled to see the department receive the recognition. The team effort from faculty helped shift the department forward over the last few years. One unique aspect of the recent changes in the department is the establishment of a diversity committee. The faculty endorsed the committee in 2017 to show the department’s commitment to diversity. From hiring new faculty to increasing transparency about the doctoral programs’ admission processes, the changes attracted diverse applicants and helped ensure applicants presented their materials in a way that best communicated their fit with the program.

Smitherman commented on diversity events as well: “We hosted a Diversifying Psychology Visit Day which was originally going to be in the spring of 2020. This was something [for which] we got a very small grant from the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement on campus … to bring to campus diverse prospective graduate school applicants from across the country. So, these were students who were juniors or seniors in college, or a year or two out of college, they were thinking about going to grad school in psychology, and we were going to bring them to campus, spend a day with them, teaching them about our program, giving them a lot of tips, reviewing their resumes, giving them tips on how to make them better, and having one-on-one sessions about how to write personal statements, sharing some faculty research and so on.”

The department rescheduled the event due to Covid-19, but successfully hosted the visit day online in Fall 2020. It showed prospective applicants from across the country what the department was like for graduate students and how the department embodies their commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“We just finished, actually, a climate survey of our faculty and grad students to get a sense of how welcoming the department is both for faculty and students and how much they feel the diversity points are encouraged. And so, for me, the Award was really cool. Not only because it’s a really great honor and it’s only given to one program or department. It was really meaningful because it shows that what we’re doing is being recognized beyond just our department…. We’ve got a lot of strides to make, especially in faculty hiring still, but it’s nice to know that our efforts are being recognized,” said Smitherman when talking about receiving the award.

This year, the Psychology Department diversity committee started a peer mentoring program for all the first-year doctoral students with the goal of supporting retention. By supporting the students, the tough Spring 2021 semester was made better. Since the students were faced with socially-distanced meetings and online course options, the mentoring program helped cultivate connections between the students.

“I think that some of our work moving forward is wanting to keep this momentum going. We want to keep going with this Diversifying Psychology event. I think that one thing I want to do is broaden recruiting of students, encouraging all students to apply and consider the University of Mississippi for graduate school in psychology. Those are two big goals moving forward in the graduate program,” Miller shared.

The 2020 Award winner, the Educational Leadership Doctorate Program, is another fine example of a unit making great strides for diversity in higher education.

Dr. Douglas Davis, Director of Leadership Doctorate Programs in the School of Education, shared, referring to the Ed.D. doctoral degree: “We have a special program built around [the students’] models of applied research.” He explained, “A lot of their research work is designed to address problems with practice, problems in their own practice in [their] schools.” He continued, “Then we also have a Ph.D. and it’s more of a traditional research scholarship oriented academic program.” He also shared that for their doctoral programs, “We really do target Mississippi and serving school districts in Mississippi. We also have a vision of supporting change in education … of course, positive change.”

There are currently around 60 total doctoral students enrolled in the two doctoral programs. The curriculum in the Leadership Programs is updated frequently to help students prepare for the educational field after graduation.

Davis said, “We know that the leaders have a profound impact on schools and the performance of students in our schools. So, we really want to target those and focus on emphasizing what works to meet the needs of all schools, and what kinds of strategies are effective in producing results.” In particular, the programs seek to improve the experiences for school children, regardless of the circumstances they bring with them to their education environment, recognizing that different children bring unique experiences that can help or hinder their ability to succeed in school. Davis added, “We’re looking at holistic ways that we can support Mississippi’s efforts to improve our educational system.”

We are certainly proud of the great work being accomplished by our Donald R. Cole Award recipients. And, we look forward to the ways that the Pathways to Equity strategic plan will enhance inclusiveness in graduate education at UM.

The Donald R. Cole Excellence in Promoting Inclusiveness in Graduate Education Award Winners Announced

Newsletter Spring/Summer 2021 Articles