When Candice Riley was finishing her master’s program at West Virginia University, the reality of pursuing a doctorate got a lot closer.
“I had always just wanted to get a doctoral degree, and then I got advice from different professors and people I grew up with that said you should just keep going once you got your master’s degree,” Riley said.
She went to WVU’s minority doctorate colloquium where prospective students hear from current doctoral students and learn about campus support services and academic programs.
Riley, who is from Northfork in McDowell County, said her family and friends were supportive of her, but it wasn’t the same as hearing what being a minority student in a doctoral program is really like from people who’ve been there.
Now, as a doctoral candidate in the Forest Resource Sciences program, she is returning the favor.
Riley will be one member of a student panel at this year’s Colloquium XI for Aspiring Minority Doctoral Candidates to be held Oct. 2-4 at the Waterfront Place Hotel and Mountainlair Student Union.
The colloquium is a chance for prospective doctoral students to meet WVU President Jim Clements, Provost Michele Wheatly and college deans as well as representatives from the Office of Graduate Education and Life and the President’s Office for Social Justice.
“It is with pride that our office is involved in this event,” said Jennifer McIntosh, executive officer in the President’s Office for Social Justice. “The impact of the colloquium on both potential students and our University community is of sustained value and continues a tradition of promoting opportunity for those groups too long under-represented in higher education.”
This year’s colloquium, which is the 11th held at WVU, is expected to host more than 60 students from across the country, many of whom are pursuing degrees in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. The program targets underrepresented, high-achieving minority students who are completing a bachelor’s degree or are currently enrolled in a master’s program.
Adrian Ferrera, a doctoral student in the sport and exercise psychology program from Fontana, Calif., said it was the quality of the academic program he’s in now that made him decide to attend WVU.
Here he has the support of faculty, the Office of Graduate Education and Life, and the President’s Office for Social Justice.
“You have people that can help you if you need it,” Ferrera said. “And you’re going to need it.”
The colloquium shows prospective students that there are people here who look like them and can relate to their experience, he said. It also gives students a good look at WVU and shows them that there are people at the University willing to help them.
“I think the colloquium is a great program because it allows students to make those initial connections with people in their department or in their field,” he said. “It breaks down some of those initial barriers before they come to school.”
The colloquium is sponsored by the President’s Office for Social Justice, the Office of Graduate Education & Life, and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission as a part of their commitment to diversity and enrichment.
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CONTACT: Sharon Mallow, President’s Office for Social Justice
304-293-5496, Sharon.Mallow@mail.wvu.edu
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