The top bullet point in the latest Ohio State University Graduate School summary report tells an important story.
“In one year, summer 2019 compared to summer 2018, there was a 37.7 percent increase in African-American graduate student acceptance,” the report states and goes on to describe a host of programs and initiatives that are contributing not only to higher numbers for African-Americans, but to increases among other underrepresented groups, as well.
“We really have made great strides in the last year to year-and-a-half on this front, and I’m really excited about the initiatives we have put forward that are making the difference,” says Dr. Alicia L. Bertone, vice provost for graduate studies and dean of the Graduate School.
According to the report, OSU Graduate School launched an “early offer” fellowship program that achieved an acceptance rate of 86 percent and a matriculation rate of 67 percent, while similar students in other fellowship programs matriculate at less than 10 percent.
Bertone, who was appointed graduate school dean in April 2018, is quick to point out that the recent successes have come on a foundation laid by her predecessors, whose work “resulted in a roadmap for the next 10 years of graduate education at Ohio State.”
One of the student populations the graduate school is seeking to increase is women in STEM fields, a category she personally represents, as a professor in the department of veterinary clinical sciences. She also has served as director of the Comparative Orthopedics Research Laboratories, an interdisciplinary molecular medicine and tissue-engineering laboratory.
