Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP)

The Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) is a National Science Foundation initiative created by Congress to diversify the Professoriate. AGEP joins together universities and colleges in the shared mission of increasing the number of underrepresented minority students (African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other PacificIslander) earning PhDs and positioning them to become leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. AGEP is vital to the development of new scientists and researchers. It serves as a gateway into STEM development through the production of more scholars in STEM disciplines.

The four State University of New York (SUNY) Centers – the University at Albany, Binghamton University, the University at Buffalo, and Stony Brook University (the lead institution) – make up the SUNY AGEP Program. Currently, there are 120 PhD granting institutions in the national AGEP network. Between 2002-2006, these AGEP institutions accounted for 56% of the STEM PhDs awarded to underrepresented minorities in the United States. Each AGEP program employs creative administrative strategies, develops infrastructure, and engages in substantive partnerships to enhance recruitment, retention, and advancement and change policies and practices where needed.