title: Bridges to the Doctorate: mentored transition to successful completion of doctoral study for underrepresented minorities in nursing science.
abstract: Nursing has a shortage of doctorally-prepared underrepresented minority (URM) scientists/faculty. We describe a five-year University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Bridges program for URM master's students' transition to doctoral study and factors in retention/graduation from the PhD program. Four master' students from two partner schools were recruited/appointed per year and assigned UIC faculty advisors. They completed 10 UIC credits during master's study and were mentored by Bridges faculty. Administrative and financial support was provided during transition and doctoral study. Partner schools' faculty formed research dyads with UIC faculty. Seventeen Bridges students were appointed to the Bridges program: 12 were admitted to the UIC PhD program since 2004 and one graduated in 2007. Eight Bridges faculty research dyads published 5 articles and submitted 1 NIH R03 application. Mentored transition from master's through doctoral program completion and administrative/financial support for students were key factors in program success. Faculty research dyads enhanced the research climate in partner schools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biobehavioral Health Science, and Dean Emerita, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL 60612, USA. mjkuic@uic.edu
authors.forename: Mi Ja
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Karyn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gerard
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McElmurry
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foreman
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poslusny
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dallas
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002641:Chicago; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003479:Curriculum; D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005181:Faculty, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008611:Mentors / Q000523:psychology; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000193:education*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D011231:Preceptorship / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D012579:Schools, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D013332:Student Dropouts; D014146:Training Support