The Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has announced that it has established an Office of Inclusion and Engagement that will develop a wide array of initiatives designed to help students amplify the impact of their research, prepare for leadership positions in their fields and broaden their career options. The office will also serve as the university’s first campus-wide resource specifically created to augment the recruitment, retention and success of outstanding graduate students from historically underrepresented populations.
Barbara Krauthamer, dean of the Graduate School, said that the Office of Inclusion and Engagement “will play a crucial role in achieving one of the Graduate School’s main objectives — expanding the university’s community of excellent minority graduate students who will enrich the UMass intellectual and cultural landscape. And it will extend the Graduate School’s recent efforts to facilitate the success of all graduate students by providing them with the skills, opportunities and resources necessary to compete successfully for a broader range of desirable careers within and outside academia.”
In partnership with the Graduate School’s Office of Professional Development, the Office of Inclusion and Engagement will offer students regular training opportunities — such as skill-building workshops and leadership seminars — that should enhance their communication and networking proficiency. The Office of Inclusion and Engagement will also award grants to underwrite pilot projects that enable students to communicate the significance of their research and connect with non-academic communities. In addition, it will implement a campus-wide student recruitment strategy by organizing major recruiting events.
Dr. Krauthamer was appointed dean of the Graduate School in 2017. She is a professor of history at the university and had been serving as associate dean for student inclusion and engagement for the Graduate School. Dr. Krauthamer joined the university’s faculty in 2008.
Dr. Krauthamer is the author of Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South (University of North Carolina Press, 2015). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in New Jersey.
