Housed in the Graduate College Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Sloan UCEM at Illinois provides participating students, known as Sloan scholars or Illinois Sloan scholars, with mentorship, professional development, and inclusive financial support to bolster the representation and academic persistence of underrepresented students—specifically African American, Latino, and American Indian or Alaska Native students—across 23 academic programs in the university’s College of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The program utilizes a three-pronged mentorship approach, matching scholars with a peer mentor from their respective academic department, a Sloan program or an academic advising mentor, and a research faculty mentor to help students acclimate to institutional and departmental culture and develop an individual development plan (IDP). Scholars also participate in a program-specific orientation, skill-building and networking events, and the university’s Community of Scholars campus visit program and symposium. Scholars are also invited to participate in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s annual Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, an exclusive conference for underrepresented minority PhD students focused on preparing future faculty and professionals in related industries.
