Instructional Leadership, emphasis: K-12 School Leadership (MEd)
View of N A U campus at sunset.

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.

Two students working on testing samples in the laboratory.

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

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Family on move in day kissing their student on the cheek.

Family engagement

A faculty member working on her computer outside with a student.

STEM faculty academy

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

Faculty contact information