NSF Grant Allows Summer Program for Minority Undergraduates to Continue
The institute, which moved to Duke in 2000, will continue through 2008
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $378,928 to Duke University for the continuation of the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, which seeks to get minority undergraduates interested in graduate school.
The NSF grant will allow the institute to be held during the summers of 2006, 2007 and 2008. Duke is the host for the RBSI.
"We are thrilled that NSF has such confidence in this program and its ability to prepare minority students for graduate school and beyond," said Duke political science professor Paula McClain, the institute's director. "This is also an indication of the respect NSF has for Duke's commitment to the RBSI and for the faculty and graduate students that give of their time and energy each summer. It is a very important and rewarding program."
The five-week summer program is designed to simulate the academically intensive graduate school experience as well as provide mentoring for African American, Hispanic and American Indian students. Sponsored by the American Political Science Association (APSA), the RBSI is funded by the National Science Foundation and Duke.
The students will take two transferable credit courses (one in quantitative analysis, one in racial and ethnic minorities in American politics) and, as a final project for both courses, prepare original empirical research papers. Top students are given the opportunity to present their research at APSA's annual meeting.
The institute, named in honor of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner and first black American to receive a doctorate in political science in 1934, moved to Duke in 2000 from the University of Virginia when McClain joined the Duke faculty.