SUNY Empire Takes the Global Stage to Discuss PRODiG Scholars Program

(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - June 22, 2023) Roxana Toma, chair of the Graduate Studies Liberal Arts and Sciences Programs and associate professor and coordinator of the Master of Arts in Social & Public Policy program, and Matt Berge ’21 ‘23, former president of the Student Government Association and a former PRODiG scholar, attended the Higher Education Reform conference at University of Glasgow on June 21-23 to present on SUNY Empire’s PRODiG Scholars program. Quran Bell ’21 ’22, Student Success Coordinator and a former PRODiG scholar, also contributed to this research; she collected most of the data for this project.

Their presentation, “Inclusive Mentoring as a Sustainable Development Tool for Higher Education: Student Perspectives of a DEI Mentoring Program at a Public College,” intended to add a layer to the understanding of mentoring relationships by focusing on the PRODiG Scholars Program at SUNY Empire, designed specifically to increase and support the success of diverse undergraduate and graduate students and students from historically underrepresented and underserved populations. Launched three years ago, this program aligns with the larger SUNY PRODiG initiative, focused on supporting the growth of faculty diversity and a more robust pipeline for graduate students interested in a career in academia.

The Higher Education Reform initiative was inaugurated in 2003 by the Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education at the University of British Columbia, with a focus on research that investigates aspects of policy reforms and other major changes in higher education. Every year, this series of international workshops chooses a theme which reflects a current trend of higher education research and gives opportunities for internationally active researchers to present their up to date work. A key aim of the series is to facilitate engagement and intensive dialogue on the topic at hand; for this reason, while attendance is open to all interested parties, the target number of participants is usually relatively small.