Summary Literature Materials Presentations
inclusive and equitable holistic graduate admissions

The AMIGA Project

The Alliance for Multi-campus Inclusive Graduate Admissions

New Resource!

Holistic Review Toolkit

Our Mission

To support the development of holistic review methods among participating humanities and humanistic social science graduate programs at UC Davis and UCLA. 

Faculty participants collaborate to pilot equitable and inclusive holistic admissions processes in participating graduate programs, drawing upon current scholarship, promising practices and leadership of key faculty.

“The AMIGA training constitutes both an education and a form of mobilization for a better-informed, more effective, self-reflective, collaborative and dialogic admissions process.”

— AMIGA faculty participant

 

The AMIGA project establishes holistic review methods in participating graduate programs at two UC campuses and in collaboration with Dr. Julie Posselt at the University of Southern California. By employing equitable and inclusive admission practices the result is that more talented, competitive applicants are admitted, who have historically been underrepresented in graduate education. The AMIGA project also embodies UC’s commitment to Inclusive Excellence. Funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the AMIGA project illuminates the significant role that graduate admission plays in shaping our present and future intellectual communities to include a full spectrum of cultures and viewpoints that bring a diversity of talents and skills.

Timeline & Highlights

Transforming Graduate Admissions

2016

The seed grant, Transforming Graduate Admissions (TGA) to Increase Graduate Student Diversity: Crafting a Model to Effect Change, launched with cross-disciplinary faculty committees at UC Davis, UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Riverside. The committees explored and queried the graduate admission process and related scholarship for over a year resulting in key findings.

Launch of AMIGA Project

2018

The Alliance for Multi-campus Inclusive Graduate Admissions (AMIGA) project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation beginning in January 2018, with lead campus, UC Davis and collaborators UCLA and Dr. Julie Posselt at USC.

AMIGA Committees Get Started

2018

AMIGA leadership at each UC campus established faculty and graduate professional staff committees with faculty representation from three to four humanities and humanistic social sciences departments. Participants undertook the roles of faculty advisers and faculty development leads.

Building a Community of Practice

2018

UCLA Graduate Division hosted the inaugural AMIGA Forum that focused on equity, diversity and inclusion; holistic review methods; professional development; and UC’s Inclusive Excellence.

AMIGA First Admission Cycle

2018

Participating departments began to learn about and explore equitable and inclusive graduate admissions processes with support from their campus AMIGA committees.

Faculty-to-Faculty Development

2019

Faculty development leads and associate deans craft graduate admissions workshops for participating departments, supporting a community of practice among AMIGA participants.

AMIGA’s Campus Influence

2019

Graduate divisions reinforce the value of holistic review offering campus holistic review workshops broadly at both UCLA and UC Davis.

First Assessments Completed

2019

The report of two baseline assessments conducted by Dr. Julie Posselt is completed and recommendations considered for adoption in 2020.

Additional AMIGA Participants

2020/2021

Campuses prepare to invite additional graduate programs to participate in AMIGA project.