When Francisco Ramos was an undergraduate student at University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, he knew he wanted to get a doctorate. Ramos, a Latino man, also knew that few people from his race achieved that level of academic success.

“I knew of only one,” he says.

With the help of mentors, he was admitted into a doctoral program at Indiana University–Bloomington to pursue education policy studies, but was unsure about what the environment would be like.

“The biggest concern I had was more about culture,” the 31-year-old says. “Do people sort of understand where I’m coming from or what I’m talking about or what are my interests?”

[Learn why graduate education programs lead in attracting Latinos.]

The Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education is launching a new program — Pathways to the Professoriate — to help people similar to Ramos get into Ph.D. programs and thrive.

With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a five-year grant, the center will work with five research universities and three Hispanic-serving colleges to boost the number of Latinos who get a Ph.D. and become faculty in the humanities departments at colleges and universities. Sociology, musicology and religion are some of the subjects under the humanities.

Participating universities in the program include the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University and Florida International University.

Each Hispanic-serving school will select 10 undergrads to participate in the program and their mentors. As members of Pathways to the Professoriate, students will also receive help preparing for the GRE and writing personal statements, as well as stipends and other social and academic support, says Marybeth Gasman, a professor at University of Pennsylvania and director of the Center for Minority Serving Institutions.

Over the course of the grant, 90 students will go through the program. The first cohort of students will be selected next fall.

There’s value in developing the next generation of academics who focus on the humanities, experts say.

[Consider attending a Hispanic-serving institution for an academic and cultural experience.]

“You’re seeing a lot of of emphasis on STEM, but you don’t see as much emphasis on the humanities. And the thing about the humanities is that they’re what teaches us to think critically. They’re what pushes us to see the humanity in the world,” says Gasman.

The best students for the program are those who have an in interest in teaching and research, are committed to working in the humanities and want to work as a faculty members at a college or university, Gasman says.

The students must also be hard workers.

“We want students who are going to commit to doing whatever it takes to getting into graduate school and commit to that mentoring relationship,” she says.

Experts on Latinos in higher education say programs such as Pathways to the Professoriate are important for continuing the pipeline of Hispanic students who matriculate to graduate school.

“Less than 5 percent of faculty today are Latino. And that’s a critical issue,” says Deborah Santiago, the COO and vice president for policy for Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit organization that researches how Latinos perform in higher education.

[Find out which colleges enroll the most Hispanic students.]

Among Latino college-goers, 40 percent are the first in their family to attend, she says. “They don’t see a lot of Latino faculty, and don’t have them as professors when they go to college. So they don’t see it as a viable option. They don’t have role models to show them it’s possible.”

For Latino students who want to make sure they get their Ph.D. from a school that supports minorities, it’s important to do some research, experts say.

Applicants should make sure that institutions they’re considering provide “some minimal level of social, cultural support with mentors and a network that will help you,” says Antonio Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

Ramos, who now has his Ph.D. and works as the manager of program assessment and evaluation for the graduate school at Duke University, says prospective students must be vocal about their concerns.

“Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions,” he says. “Is there enough funding? Do they have people I can identify with that are already there, like tenured faculty members for example?”

If there isn’t a ready-made community for students to socialize, Ramos says students can create their own by reaching out to student groups and faculty members, even if they aren’t in your department or program.

“You have to carve it out for yourself,” he says.

Latino undergrads who get a doctorate and decide to teach may find the experience to be rewarding on a personal level. Lorenzo Candelaria, a professor of musicology and an associate provost at University of Texas–El Paso, says his experience teaching Hispanic undergrads while working at University of Texas–Austin left an impression on them.

“They were first generation college students, and one of the things I learned from that experience is that understanding and knowing that their professor — that I was also Hispanic, that I was also a first generation college student — that made them feel very welcomed,” he says. University of Texas–El Paso is also participating in Pathways to the Professoriate.

The UT–Austin students felt good knowing someone can come from a modest background and “be a first generation student and achieve their dreams, whatever they may be,” he says.

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New Partnership Aims to Increase the Number of Latino Ph.D.s originally appeared on usnews.com