Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson and Provost Keith Whitfield have announced the creation of the Office of Scientific Training, Workforce Development and Diversity (STWD) in order to develop a strong and diverse scientific research workforce.
The STWD will be housed in the Office of the Provost and will work in collaboration and partnership with deans from each school and college. Ambika Mathur, dean of the Graduate School, will lead the office as associate provost for scientific training, workforce development and diversity. In addition, all aspects of the provost's office will be involved, including the offices of diversity and inclusion, student success, and academic personnel.
"Ambika is the ideal person to lead this new position," Wilson said. "She deeply cares about the success of students and has been extremely successful in securing federal funding to support training, having brought in about $23 million from the National Institutes of Health [NIH] BEST and BUILD grants in the last three years."
The STWD will coordinate and lead efforts to secure external funding and establish and administer programs to enhance research training, student development and career development activities that will span research training at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels through early-stage faculty levels for transition to independence.
"Ambika will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to this important position," Whitfield said. "Her energy and passion for developing the next generation of scholars will drive Wayne State to be successful in supporting and promoting the development of scientists."
During her career, Mathur has been committed to the advancement of training for high school, undergraduate, medical, master's, doctoral and postdoctoral trainees. She is nationally recognized for establishing an ambitious project that resulted in the collection of career outcomes for 90 percent of Wayne State's 3,000 doctoral alumni who graduated in the last 15 years. In partnership with all deans, the provost and president, Mathur also established a series of innovative strategies that resulted in a more than 25 percent increase in graduate enrollment at Wayne State.
"I am honored and humbled with the confidence placed in me by the president and provost," Mathur said. "The overall goal is to make sure Wayne State becomes the hub for training programs, especially to enhance broadening participation in the workforce. The idea is to have a training continuum model. That is how we can drive the pipeline from the undergraduate through - and to - faculty or other careers."