Dr. José Perales, a DFI program board member and the assistant dean of the University of Illinois-Chicago Graduate College, says there are currently 31 DFI fellows at UIC scattered in a number of disciplines. He notes that since the 1980s when the forerunners of the DFI were in place, a total of 22 former minority graduate fellows have been hired at UIC.

“These programs were actually successful at graduating students, getting them through the graduate pipeline; they were very successful at that. The challenges now are in helping students diversify the academy, especially in Illinois,” Perales says.

One of the challenges has been the practice by higher education institutions to not hire their own Ph.D. graduates right out of graduate school, according to officials. Nunn says it’s critical to develop greater awareness among faculty members and deans at all Illinois institutions — from the community colleges to the research universities — to ensure DFI graduates are made aware of the opportunities in Illinois higher education.

Penny Warren, the assistant dean of student life and multicultural affairs at the Graduate School at Northwestern University and a DFI program board member, says there’s healthy demand for Northwestern Ph.D. recipients from Illinois institutions, but notes the challenge for her institution is that the graduate student population draws mostly from a national and international pool of students. Out of a population of roughly 200 minority graduate students, 20 are DFI fellows this academic year, Warren explains.

“A number of students from other parts of the country who’ve lived in Illinois for a few years actually end up making the commitment to establish their careers here,” Warren says.

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