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Intellectual Entrepreneurship: A New Approach to Increasing Diversity

Following the June 23, 2003 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in admissions to graduate and professional programs, many institutions are contemplating how, if at all, to utilize race and ethnicity in making admissions decisions. The Court's ruling notwithstanding, a nagging question lingers: Can race-conscious admissions policies actually enhance diversity? Traditional approaches to recruitment have never produced a proportionately significant number of minority graduate students. Therefore, why should we assume that tweaking the admissions system and expanding financial aid will substantially increase the number of minority graduate students (Cherwitz 2003; Cherwitz forthcoming)? The reality is that many minority undergraduates may not be as likely as other students to think about opportunities made possible by graduate study; yet knowledge of opportunities precedes the impetus to take advantage of the application process.1 Unfortunately, the current institution-based recruitment model does little to ensure that spaces are created where minorities may acquire sufficient and relevant insight into graduate education. To achieve greater diversity, we must increase awareness of the value of graduate education and devise experiences allowing minority undergraduates to explore how advanced study can engage their hearts and minds-helping them fulfill their professional visions and ethical commitments. Recruiting a critical mass of outstanding Hispanic and African American students requires a change in mindset. Intellectual Entrepreneurship: A Vision of Education At the University of Texas-Austin (UT), Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) is a program and philosophy of graduate education promoting the virtues of discovery, ownership, and accountability. IE challenges students to be greater than the sum of their disciplinary parts-to be "citizen-scholars" contributing both to academe and the community (Cherwitz and Daniel 2003; Cherwitz, Darwin, and Grund 2001; Cherwitz, Rodriguez, and Sievers 2003; Cherwitz and Sullivan 2002; Cherwitz, Sullivan, and Stewart 2002; Chu and Evans 2002; Devine 2001; Weisbuch 2001). IE is not a professional development program: it asks students in all fields of study to consider what matters to them most, using those answers to shape their intellectual and academic development. It provides a mindset and impetus for acquiring and producing knowledge in academic disciplines. In so doing, IE explicitly underscores the enormous impact of scholarship in the arts, sciences, social sciences, and humanities to society. Yet the value of these time-honored areas of learning is something not always apparent to undergraduates who, as they weigh their options following graduation, frequently choose careers in business, law, and medicine where the perceived impact on society is transparent. By engaging students in community projects where they discover and put knowledge to work, as well as requiring them to identify and adapt to audiences for whom their research matters, IE confirms that traditional areas of scholarship are as vital as the so-called "applied" fields of study and provide important venues for contributing to society. For IE participants, graduate degrees become more than certificates designating completion of institutional requirements; they arc tools for creating intellectual and practical possibilities and for fulfilling one's passions. Intellectual Entrepreneurship and Diversity What does the IE program and philosophy of education have to do with increasing diversity? It demonstrates that attracting minority applicants necessitates more than targeting a population. Implementing changes in education that benefit all may have the unintended-but important-consequence of helping minorities. For example, IE was devised to increase the value of graduate education. Yet we discovered that 20 percent of students enrolled in IE classes are underrepresented minorities, while this same group comprises only 9 percent of UT's total graduate student population. …