Psychology Research, Inclusion, and Mentoring to Excel
Supporting the next generation of diverse scholars in research and academic pursuits
The PRIME Research Scholar award is designed to recruit and retain talented students from underrepresented groups and to support the next generation of diverse scholars in research and academic pursuits. Scholarship recipients will be given the opportunity to create a mentoring team of faculty (including their primary advisor) to help establish research goals and support them during their time at UNCG. Additionally, scholars will be encouraged to form a peer mentoring team of other graduate students in Psychology and outside the department to support them in transitioning to graduate school and building a professional and personal network. Scholars will also take part in professional development workshops that are open to all members of the department.
FINANCIAL PROGRAM:
PRIME Scholars will receive a small add-on to their regular stipend in their first year of the program and, in the second year, they will receive a $24,000 stipend that will be paid as a research assistantship rather than a teaching assistantship.
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM:
Professional Development events open to the entire department (one per semester). Examples include:
- Grant workshop and early career funding
- Professional societies, networking, leadership
- Engaging in open and reproducible science
- Becoming a productive writer
- Social Justice & Community engaged scholarship
- Preparing for the job market (including how to postdoc)
Mentorship teams
- Faculty mentorship team (advisor + 1–2 other faculty) that meets once a semester to set annual research goals across the first two years; other faculty mentors can be from outside department
- Peer mentoring team – paired with other students from diverse and underrepresented groups to help support transition to graduate school
Special topic mentorship meetings (one per year), organized by mentorship teams and the PRIME implementation committee. Examples include:
- Navigating academia as underrepresented scholar
- Collaborative science as an underrepresented scholar
Mentor training
Mentors of the scholars will also engage in training about mentoring students from diverse and underrepresented groups (via publications, or virtual in-person workshops)
SELECTION FOR THE PROGRAM:
The program will use a broad definition of diversity, representation, and inclusion. Consideration may include, for example, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identification, disability, neurodiversity, military service, charitable service, religious traditions, country of origin, living with poverty or homelessness (in rural or urban contexts), languages spoken, living abroad, caregiving responsibilities, first-generation college graduate status, and personal or familial adversities overcome.
Students must be accepted into the Psychology program (as an MA-PhD or PhD student) to be considered for the PRIME Research Scholar Program. The clinical and experimental areas will each select one scholar per year. The foundation for selection will be each applicant’s Diversity and Inclusion Statement, a mandatory component of the graduate application, evaluated by a faculty committee within each area. The faculty committees will also take additional, holistic consideration of the following application components: research statement and accomplishments, honors/awards received, demonstrated leadership, academic potential as indicated by course grades, grade point average, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and the student’s interest and commitment to an academic career.
