By Dana Brown, Empire Opportunity Program Director and Nathan Gonyea, Dean, School of Graduate Studies

In honor of SUNY’s PRODiG initiative, SUNY Empire is starting its PRODiG Scholars Program to support underrepresented undergraduate and graduate student-scholars from historically underrepresented backgrounds, as well as those who have faced historic barriers to opportunity, including women in STEM disciplines, progression into doctoral programs, and eventually into faculty positions in the SUNY system.  The program will identify SUNY Empire undergraduate and graduate students who desire a teaching career in higher education to become PRODiG Scholars.

PRODiG, which stands for Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth, “aims to increase the representation of historically underrepresented faculty at SUNY including underrepresented minority ("URM") faculty in general, women faculty of all races in STEM fields (“WSTEM”).” The program will identify SUNY Empire undergraduate and graduate students who students, who desire a teaching career in higher education, to become PRODiG Scholars. 

PRODiG Scholars will be expected to thoughtfully evaluate their interest and potential for a career in academia, participate in monthly PRODiG Scholar meetings and programming, regularly engage with their PRODiG Scholar Coach, and take part in other PRODiG Scholar activities/programs, such as internships and job shadowing for at least one full academic year. 

Student eligibility: The SUNY Empire PRODiG Scholar’s program is open to undergraduate or graduate students who meet the following criteria: 

• have an interest in learning more about a career as a college faculty member; 
• matriculated in a SUNY Empire associates, bachelor’s, or master’s program;  
• has an expected graduation date of Spring 2021 or later; 
• has an overall GPA of 3.0 for undergraduate students or overall GPA of 3.5 for graduate students; 
• is in good academic standing; 
• is nominated by a SUNY Empire mentor/advisor; 
• is a member of a group identified by the SUNY PRODiG initiative as underrepresented in academia, including women in STEM.  

PRODiG Scholars will be paired with a PRODiG Scholar Coach who will assist in equipping Scholars with information about careers in academia, what to expect in graduate and doctoral programs, how to prepare for graduate/doctoral study, as well as coaching, shadowing/internship opportunities, and peer support.

 Any questions can be directed to prodigscholars@esc.edu.

SUNY Empire PRODiG Scholars Committee: Dana Brown, Alejandro Galindo, Dr. Nadine Wedderburn, & Dr. Nathan Gonyea