STEM PROGRAM LEADERS' STRATEGIES TO DIVERSIFY THE DOCTORAL STUDENT POPULATION: INCONGRUENCE WITH STUDENT PRIORITIES

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to uncover strategies commonly utilized by STEM doctoral program leaders to recruit students from historically marginalized backgrounds and to contrast these findings with the factors that program leaders and students say should and do drive decisions. To do so, we interviewed program leaders (n = 90), surveyed staff members (n = 63), and interviewed (n = 23) and surveyed (n = 431) doctoral students. We critically examined the doctoral enrollment strategies as well as program leadersэ stated values and priorities related to diversity through the theoretical underpinning of theories of action. In the competitive environment of doctoral STEM recruitment, program leaders were influenced by other institutions and relied predominantly on financial recruitment strategies (i.e., the theory-in-use). Program leaders felt finances were readily available to recruit minoritized students, especially racially minoritized students; however, since peer institutions seemed to rely on similar, but narrow, admissions criteria, program leaders felt they were competing with their peers for the same small pool of students. Although we also found evidence that program leaders employed other student-facing and system-facing recruitment strategies, they often failed to consider the myriad of factors considered by students from historically marginalized backgrounds in making their doctoral program choices (i.e., the espoused theories). This incongruence between theory-in-use and espoused theories may lead to the reproduction of inequities in STEM doctoral attainment.