The enrollment of underrepresented minority students in Cornell's Graduate School has increased dramatically this fall to 277 -- up 6 percent from fall 1999 and 20 percent from fall 1997, Walter I. Cohen, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, announced last week.
At the same time, enrollment of all minority students in the Graduate School increased to 530, up 2.5 percent from 1999 and 7.5 percent from 1997. Underrepresented minority students include African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics.
Cohen said the enrollment of underrepresented minority students increased 25.3 percent from 1991, when overall graduate enrollment reached an all-time high of 4,522. Enrollment of all minority students increased 30.5 percent from 1991, he added.
"This is the third straight year in which we've had our highest underrepresented minority enrollment ever, and this year the jump was a big one," Cohen said. "It's the seventh straight year in which the percentage of underrepresented minorities has reached a new all-time high. Further, this year, like most years, the percentage of women in the graduate population is also at a record high. Though we are still not where we want to be, the consistent progress is an extremely encouraging sign of an ongoing, effective universitywide commitment."
The enrollment this fall of 542 new female graduate students -- 40 percent of the entering class -- is also a record, up from 38.5 percent last fall, Cohen said. So, too, is the female percentage of total enrollment. Women, at 1,689, represent 41.2 percent of all graduate students this fall, up from 38 percent in 1991, 40 percent in 1997 and 40.8 percent in 1999.
President Hunter Rawlings praised Cornell's efforts. "This is excellent progress," Rawlings said. "This enrollment success in the representation of minority and female students in the Graduate School will have a very positive impact on the intellectual vitality of the entire Cornell community, including the quality of education for our undergraduate students."
Cohen said enrollment in the Graduate School declined sharply from 1991 to 1997, followed by a strong recovery. Total graduate student enrollment this fall, at 4,097, declined 0.5 percent from 1999, but increased 4 percent from 1997, he said. In 1997, at 3,938, overall enrollment dipped to its lowest point since 1983.
"I expect overall enrollment to continue to rise in the coming years," Cohen added. At the same time, he said, the caliber of students recruited remains excellent.
"The General Committee of the Graduate School -- the elected faculty legislative body responsible for graduate education -- has reviewed the dossiers of all new doctoral students holding Cornell fellowships and is pleased with the high quality of the young scholars we are attracting to the campus."
He attributed the school's success in minority recruitment to a number of factors. "We've allocated more endowment money in recent years to underrepresented minority students, and this seems to have helped on the statutory side," Cohen said. "We've also encouraged -- both rhetorically and financially -- more aggressive minority recruitment in professional master's programs on the endowed side, and here, too, we've seen progress. These are two areas that we've recently brought into line with the already existing policy for endowed-side Ph.D. programs. Finally, I also think that the faculty is taking an increasingly active role in the recruitment of minority students. This, ultimately, has a very significant impact."
Other significant trends in overall graduate enrollment include:
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