Emerging Faces

Bridgette Peteet, field service assistant professor of psychology, remembers what it was like as an undergraduate applying to graduate school. And if it weren’t for a seminar offered by a faculty member, she said, she probably wouldn’t have gone.

As the diversity committee chair of McMicken College’s psychology department, she made her past experience known to the committee in a discussion about implementing diversity initiatives into the college.

“I was in the same position as a lot of undergraduates,” she said. “I had good grades but didn’t know what options were out there. Even if you have the academic part down, there’s still a lot that goes into applying to graduate school.”

Thus the department created the

Ethnic Minority Enrichment in Research and Graduate Education

(EMERGE) program. Funded by University of Cincinnati’s

Diversity Council

with matching funds from the A&S dean’s office, it is geared to psychology students nationwide who plan to continue their education after receiving their undergraduate degrees.

“It’s a graduate school application program for undergraduate ethnic minorities,” Peteet said. “It teaches them how to apply to graduate school and increase research components.”

The last week of June, a dozen students convened at UC’s campus to spruce up graduate applications, network with psychology faculty and get a glimpse at what a graduate education at UC might look like.

The agenda for the week-long program included GRE preparation, mock interviews with faculty, a tour of the psychology department’s ongoing research labs, and advising about personal statements and how to pick the right college. The participants even conducted small-scale research projects, utilizing UC lab equipment to collect data and discussing their results in a small poster session.

“I was looking for an opportunity to make my application stronger because it’s so competitive to get into graduate school,” Morehouse College graduate Adrian Gale said. “EMERGE has helped me do that.”

The participants even took a trip to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and had dinner at Newport on the Levee, giving the students a sense of the life of a graduate student at UC. Transportation, housing and meal costs were covered with admission to the program, alongside a fee waiver should they decide to apply to UC’s psychology department for graduate school.

“We saw a big jump in their competitiveness from how they started at the beginning of the week,” Peteet said. “They really seemed to process the information and apply it. It was really great to see.”

“This was a great opportunity,” said Diana Wile, a recent psychology graduate from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., at the culminating poster session. “It has given me great confidence about applying to graduate school.”