More than $200,000 in awards will be added to funding at Wayne State University 's Graduate School thanks to the National Science Foundation (NSF). The aim of this award from the NSF Division of Social and Economic Sciences is to increase significantly the number of African-American, Hispanic and Native American/Alaskan Native students receiving doctoral degrees in the social sciences. "The AGEP program is intended to support initiatives that will lead to diversifying the faculty by providing better training for minority doctoral students and by promoting higher degree completion," says Hilary H. Ratner, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School in a statement. "The award also will allow Wayne State to provide an educational experience, adoptable by other graduate programs, which will enable under-represented students to become part of the next generation of leaders and innovators," says Ratner.