DePaul University in Chicago has launched a new fellowship program to attract and graduate strongly motivated and high-ability students of color interested in academic and research careers. The Arnold L. Mitchem Fellowship Program is named after the founder and president of the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), who is one of the nation’s foremost advocates of educational opportunity.

The program, proposed by DePaul Provost Helmut Epp, will be managed by DePaul’s Center for Access and Attainment. The new program will be aligned with DePaul’s McNair Scholars Program, a federally-funded TRIO program designed to encourage low-income students and minority undergraduates to consider careers in college teaching and prepare for doctoral study.  There have been TRIO programs at the university since 1997.

“Arnold L. Mitchem was instrumental in expanding TRIO programs by 400 percent since they were established in 1964 as part of the Educational Opportunity Act,” said Epp. “The Mitchem Fellowship Program at DePaul will further honor Mitchem’s unbending support of educational access for students of color.”

The essential elements of the Mitchem Fellowship Program will reflect the philosophy and activities of the current McNair Scholars Program at DePaul. Michem Fellowships will be open to high-performing students from populations underrepresented in their fields in doctoral studies and the professoriate. The Mitchem Fellowship Program will extend McNair’s capacity primarily by serving two categories of students not eligible for McNair: those who do not meet TRIO’s stringent income and first-generation status eligibility criteria, and those who aspire to faculty careers in medicine and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields where the Ph.D. may not be the terminal degree.

The Mitchem Fellowship Program will more than double the university’s capacity to serve students of color and other students underrepresented in graduate school. Each year, the program will provide stipends to approximately 50 qualified undergraduates to engage in value-added educational activities that will improve their awareness of graduate school and academic careers, strengthen their preparation for graduate school admission, and extend the faculty networks at DePaul and other universities to facilitate students’ successful transition to graduate school and beyond.

Mitchem has spent his entire career working to advance the TRIO programs. He is a former trustee of the College Board, past president of the Committee for Education Funding and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Access Network. Mitchem currently serves on the board of trustees of Marquette University. He graduated from the University of Southern Colorado in 1965. Before receiving his doctorate at Marquette University, Mitchem studied European history as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from 10 universities, including St. Louis University; CUNY-Lehman College in New York, DePaul University and the University of Liverpool in England.

For more information about the new fellowships, contact Brian Spittle, assistant vice president for the Center for Access and Attainment, at (312) 362-5692 or bspittle@depaul.edu.

About the COE

The COE is the only national organization dedicated to furthering the expansion of postsecondary opportunities for low-income and first-generation students.  Established in 1981, COE serves the interests of college opportunity professionals at major U.S. higher education institutions. Through nearly 3,000 federal TRIO programs, these individuals help low-income and first-generation students overcome class, social, academic, and cultural barriers to enter college and graduate. COE provides  members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, educational resources, and networking opportunities as well as offers research and information through the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education and the Louis Stokes Institute for Opportunity in STEM Education.

About DePaul University

With more than 25,000 students, DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. The university offers approximately 275 graduate and undergraduate programs of study on three Chicago campuses and three suburban campuses. Founded in 1898, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds.