CAHE encourages undergrads to go to grad school at NIU

The Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education (CAHE) has just launched a new program – “There’s a Place for You at NIU” – designed to encourage students from underrepresented groups to return to graduate school at NIU after earning their undergraduate degrees here.

Spearheaded by CAHE Chair Suzanne Degges-White, Professor LaVerne Gyant, and the department’s academic counselor, Danae Miesbauer, the program offers a $200 scholarship to eligible students who participate in seven workshops that will be held throughout the semester.

Twenty-six students attended the first “There’s a Place for You at NIU” event on Jan. 26, which included a Q&A session with a panel of graduate students, information about NIU graduate application deadlines, and test preparation options.

Future workshops will focus on topics such as mentoring, networking, applying to scholarships and tips on how to land graduate assistantships, according to Miesbauer.

Miesbauer emphasized that although CAHE faculty and advisors developed the initiative, its primary goal is to increase the number of undergraduate students who are accepted into any NIU graduate program, not just those within the College of Education. “It is a university-wide effort,” she said.

CAHE is well positioned to lead the effort, having long been committed to serving a highly diverse student population. Currently one-third of master’s students in counseling and nearly half of doctoral students are from underrepresented groups, according to Miesbauer. Additionally, 47 percent of adult and higher education master’s students and 53 percent of doctoral students are from underrepresented populations.

Backing for the project came from the NIU Foundation, which last fall  invited the Colleges of Education, Health and Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences and certain administrative groups to submit proposals for competitive grants to support recruitment and retention efforts. “There’s a Place for You at NIU” was one of the five proposals to receive funding. “We deeply appreciate the support the Foundation has given our project,” Miesbauer said.