In an effort to advance diversity in higher education, William Paterson University has launched a new pre-doctoral fellowship program supporting terminal degree candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, it announced this week.
The Wayne-based college said the program aims to help doctoral candidates as they launch their academic careers and complete dissertations or other degree requirements. The fellowship will launch in August 2021 in the fields of management, marketing and sales, educational leadership, psychology, communication disorders, and music. Doctoral candidates nationwide are eligible to apply.
“As a public university serving a highly diverse student population, we are launching this unique fellowship program to support the development of emerging faculty from underrepresented groups who desire a career at an institution that emphasizes teaching quality and encourages multiple forms of scholarship,” Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joshua Powers said in a prepared statement. “Our goal is to assure long-term faculty growth that reflects the diversity of the students we serve on our campus and throughout higher education.”
Departments on campus that host fellows will mentor them and provide tenure-track levels of research support. Fellows will teach in the department and participate in a cohort experience that would position them for tenure-track appointments, the college said.
“At William Paterson University, we are proud to be federally recognized as both a Hispanic Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution with a firm commitment to creating and sustaining a campus culture of inclusion,” Chief Diversity Officer and Director of Talent Management David Jones said in a statement. “This fellowship program demonstrates our university’s shared goal to build a more diverse teaching faculty by supporting the growth of diverse doctoral students.”
