Funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation enables Posselt and team at the Pullias Center for Higher Education to build tools and grow its network to support systemic change in STEM graduate education.

Pullias Center’s Dr. Julie Posselt and her team at the Equity in Graduate Education Consortium (EGE Consortium) have received a $1.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This grant will provide continuation funding for the EGE Consortium into 2026, and will provide targeted support for equity-focused changes in 10 universities that are seed grantees from the Sloan Center for Systemic Change (SCSC).

Over the next three years, leaders from the EGE Consortium will provide professional development, coaching, planning and other resources to in three different curriculum tracks: Mentoring and Wellbeing, Admissions and Recruitment, and Equitable Selection Systems. These resources will enable the 10 SCSC universities to enact a systemic approach to identifying biases and removing entrenched and barriers at the institutional, college and departmental levels to dramatically increase diversity, foster inclusion and close equity gaps.

“The energy, commitment and creativity of our campus partners are inspiring, particularly as many of them face significant pressures,” stated Posselt, a Professor at the USC Rossier School of Education and Associate Dean of the USC Graduate School. “We are honored that the Sloan Foundation continues to entrust us to the work of organizing faculty and universities for equity, and are excited to welcome 12 new campus members and 96 new graduate programs, departments, and colleges.”

The EGE Consortium began as a pilot effort, the California Consortium for Inclusive Doctoral Education (C-CIDE), in 2018 with six participating universities, and funding from a National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education grant. The success of C-CIDE in changing admissions practices and outcomes was followed in 2022 by a national expansion, a new track on mentoring and wellbeing, and a new name, the Equity in Graduate Education Consortium. Presently funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and institutional membership fees, the consortium has also been replicated by a group of six universities in England.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s additional funding will enable the Consortium to expand from its current 12 participating universities to 24 in 2024.

The EGE Consortium is a learning community brings together change-ready universities, graduate programs, and leaders to align policies and practices with commitments to equity and inclusion. It aims to make the social science of racial equity in graduate education accessible, and build supportive, sustainable infrastructure for change.

To learn more about the Equity in Graduate Education Consortium, please visit https://equitygraded.org