Case Western Reserve University is partnering with Jackson State University and seven other Minority Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to offer scholarships that cover at least 30% of tuition for dozens of the university’s leading graduate programs. The partnership will also establish long-lasting, collaborative research and teaching relationships between these universities.
“At Case Western Reserve, we are striving to build a more diverse and inclusive community, where humanity, science and technology meet to create a just and thriving world,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Ben Vinson III. “With our new North Star Award program, we’re seeking graduate and professional students from such high-quality partnering institutions who uphold those same guiding principles. The award will also create meaningful connections between our institutions that we can use to strengthen and elevate the impact of our educational missions.”
“The North Star program aligns with our strategic plan, ELEVATE, in the area of student success,” said Provost and Senior Vice President Alisa Mosley, Ph.D. “We commit to providing our outstanding graduates with connections into premier universities like Case Western Reserve University. Our college deans met with their counterparts at Case Western, and there are natural pipelines for our students into their graduate and professional programs. Our engaging academic programs prepare our students for these postgraduate opportunities. We appreciate the opportunity to connect with CWRU on this initiative and future partnerships.”
In addition to Jackson State University, partnering institutions include: Xavier University of Louisiana, Dillard University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Howard University, North Carolina Central University, Tougaloo College and Tuskegee University.
As part of the ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, several of the professional and graduate schools are pursuing detailed agreements with select HBCUs designed to encourage more underrepresented minority students to attend Case Western Reserve.
For example, the School of Law has concluded agreements with Hampton University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Tuskegee University, University of Alaska Anchorage and Xavier University of Louisiana, offering graduating students from those schools special incentives to apply to and enroll at the law school. Those incentives include, among other things, substantial scholarships and alumni mentorship opportunities. Additional strategic partnerships between the law school and other North Star institutions are being finalized.
The law school’s initiative will not only support HBCUs, but also schools predominantly enrolling historically underrepresented minorities, including Native American and Latinx students.
“Additional partnerships are in the works,” Vinson said, “and we are very much looking forward to expanding the program in the future.”
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Media Contact: Alonda Thomas, alonda.thomas@jsums.edu