Sloan MITSI
Sloan Multi-Institutional Transformation and Graduate Student Support Initiative (MITSI)
Northern Arizona University’s MITSI program, developed in collaboration with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, aims to develop a model for systemic change in STEM graduate education through a coordinated effort across three institutions of higher learning in the Southwest: NAU’s Flagstaff campus, NAU–Yuma, and Diné College.
Supporting graduate STEM education for Indigenous and Latine students
The MITSI program supports undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups as they move into STEM master’s degrees at NAU and beyond, and will build networks of faculty mentors who are trained and responsive to the needs of students from historically excluded populations. This exciting program is funded through The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Northern Arizona University, and Genentech. Together, the shared vision of these contributors will lead to systemic change in the capacity to recruit, train, and place students from historically excluded groups into graduate STEM pathways.
Building bridges and transforming lives
MITSI provides opportunities for current undergraduates, graduate students pursuing a STEM master’s degree, and faculty at NAU and across the Southwest. The program is a shared effort among four faculty members at NAU’s Flagstaff campus: Drs. Catherine Propper, Anita Antoninka, Angelina Castagno, and Monica Brown, in collaboration with Dr. Don Robinson from Diné College and Dr. Francisco Villa from NAU–Yuma. The overarching goal is to create long-term, equity-oriented systemic change through a partnership across the three institutions by reducing racial disparities in STEM graduate pathways.
Undergraduate and graduate opportunities
Program features
Prior scholars and program participants
Ivory Bacy – MS Biology – Advisor: Javier Ceja-Navarro
Amber Born – MS Forestry – Advisor: Anita Antoninka
Kirby Morris – MS Biology – Advisor: Kitty Gehring
Darren Olney – MS Environmental Sciences – Advisor: Helen Rowe
Salix Scoresby – MS Forestry – Co-advisors: Seafha Ramos and Faith Walker
Tracey Begaye – MS Forestry – Advisor: Pete Fulé
Haley Farwell – MS Forestry – Advisor: Salli Dymond
Bianca Gonzalez – MS Forestry – Advisor: Jim Allen
Keven Griffen – PhD Forestry – Co-advisors: Matthew Bowker and Anita Antoninka
Madison Litzenberger – MS Forestry – Advisor: Andrew Sanchez-Meador
Allison Harmon – MS Biology – Advisor Salli Dymond