In order to design effective interventions for working with graduate and professional students, educators must first assess students' needs and experiences. This chapter highlights the importance of assessment in graduate and professional education and offers insights gained from three studies.

Student development theories offer frameworks for better understanding and enhancing the experiences of graduate and professional students.

Examines challenges in retaining students of color and the urge by some reformers to "fix the student" rather than focusing on institutional change. Argues that institutional commitment to retention entails a willingness to revise policies, power relationships, curriculum, support services, campus climate, and environment. Offers recommendations…

Describes three retention programs for regularly admitted students of color. Outlines each program's history and inception; its funding, staffing, and facilities; how the program has become institutionalized and marketed. The key components of the program and assessment of program effectiveness are presented, as well as the crises encountered and…

Uses autobiographical narratives by authors and student collaborators to construct a criticism of retention programs and these programs' promotion of institutional racism. Examines historical deculturization, the objectification of students of color, and the power-knowledge nexus. Concludes with suggestions for establishing the credibility of…

Describes the benefits of mentoring for African-American male students. Profiles six successful mentoring programs, highlighting the success of the Faculty Mentor Program at the University of Louisville. Presents eight recommendations for viable, effective mentoring programs to promote the retention, academic achievement, and leadership…

Focuses on the special challenges and benefits college athletes encounter. This in-depth study of 31 male athletes (part of an ongoing survey of 2,395 African-American students) points to the need for supported and structured programs. Offers three effective models for organizing initiatives to retain African-American male student athletes. (EMK)

Examines the unique challenges faced by the gifted and talented Black man. Reviews issues of identifying gifted African-American male college students and factors affecting retention. Profiles the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland. Outlines seven recommendations that address campuswide attitudes and practices impeding the…

Community colleges serve as the point of entry for the majority of Latinos in higher education, offering low-cost, smaller-scale educational opportunities in the communities where students live and providing the preparation for four-year colleges and universities that may have been lacking in their K-12 education. The challenges to community…

Student engagement represents a critical benchmark of educational effectiveness for graduate as well as undergraduate students. This chapter presents seven principles for good practice in engaging and connecting graduate and professional students to the larger campus community and provides examples of exemplary programs.