The Laney Graduate School of 2O36 is an inclusive, respectful, and intellectually challenging environment that embraces individual differences. Building a diverse, collaborative community is a priority for both Emory and Laney Graduate School because it creates opportunities for open dialogue, cooperation, and a sense of shared responsibility and mutual respect. It’s the driving force that encourages students to cross disciplinary boundaries and develop creative approaches to global challenges, strengthening research and scholarship.

Funding for the Laney Fellowship Fund for Student Excellence increases the financial support we can provide to underrepresented graduate students. By reducing barriers to graduate school and creating a more inclusive educational setting for underrepresented students, Laney can be the destination for all graduate students seeking accessible, yet deep expertise in their chosen fields.

Recruiting and retaining faculty is central to everything we do at Emory University, and Laney’s graduate education program is the cornerstone of our academic excellence. The Emory Society of Postdoctoral Fellows is a pipeline for recent PhDs to become full-time faculty in a supportive, rigorous intellectual community with guidance from senior leadership. It provides time at a pivotal stage, as they develop their dissertations into monographs or other foundational scholarly products.

2O36 will support this fellowship in attracting diverse, early-career PhDs at the leading edge of their fields. Members of the Emory Society of Fellows will be recruited through regular assistant professor searches, with deferred appointments that provide two years of support as they develop professionally. After completing the two-year fellowship, the scholars transition to the tenure track as assistant professors. In their fifth year of teaching at Emory (third as regular faculty), we begin to assess fellows’ readiness for the journey toward tenure.

Education, health care, STEM. Jobs in these high-demand fields often require at least a master’s degree. By launching a “4+1” dual-degree program in partnership with key institutions, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) which have historically empowered underrepresented communities, students can complete their foundational bachelor’s studies and spend their “+1” year at Laney Graduate School to receive a master’s degree.

2O36 support will make higher education more accessible so students from diverse backgrounds and provide opportunities to create meaningful change in their professions. Partnering with HBCU institutions to offer this 4+1 degree helps create equitable change in the Atlanta area and across Georgia, today. Graduate programs develop tomorrow’s faculty and prepare leaders for business and society, so addressing inequities in graduate education will have ripple effects for generations.