Patsy Mink

Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new part:

Patsy T. Mink Fellowship

771.

Findings; Purpose; Designation

(a)

Findings

The Congress finds the following (1)While minority college enrollment continues to grow, rising to 28 percent in 1999–2000, the employment of women and minorities as faculty in higher education continues to lag behind, especially among American Indian and Alaskan Natives, and women of color in the professoriate. (2)In the fall of 1999, total employment of faculty in all sectors in instruction and research was 1,027,830, only 14 percent of whom were minorities, including 5 percent African American; 5 percent Asia/Pacific Islanders; 3 percent Hispanic American; and 0.5 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native; with one-half of all collegiate faculty being white males and 35 percent white females. (3)In the fall of 1999, African American faculty totaled 53,401, Hispanic American faculty totaled 30,961, Asian/Pacific Islander faculty totaled 48,892, and American Indian/Alaskan Native faculty were just 4,429 of the 1,027,830 faculty employed in all degree-granting institutions of higher education. (4)In the Fall of 1999, women made up over one-third of full-time instructional faculty, ranging from 49 percent of faculty at public two-year institutions to less than 30 percent of faculty at research universities; with men outnumbering women in all faculty rank categories except the two less-senior positions of Instructor and Lecturer. (5)The maldistribution and absence of minority faculty frequently places minority students in institutional and educational environments in which they encounter no teachers, counselors, or advisors, mentor and professional or personal role models to ensure student progress and academic success. (6)The presence of minority and women faculty at all levels in the higher education professoriate will help facilitate student access, increase student retention and persistence, and strengthen the academic environment for all students. (b)

Purpose

It is the purpose of this part to provide a program of fellowship awards to assist highly qualified minorities and women to acquire the terminal masters degree or the doctorate degree in academic areas in which such individuals are underrepresented for the purpose of entering the higher education professoriate. (c)

Eligible Institutions

For purposes of this part, the term eligible institution means an institution of higher education, or a consortium of such institutions, that offers a program of post-baccalaureate study leading to a graduate degree. (d)

Designation

Each recipient of a fellowship award from an institution receiving a grant under this subpart shall be known as a Patsy T. Mink Graduate Fellow.

772.

Program authorized

(a)

Grants By Secretary

(1)

In general

The Secretary shall make grants to eligible institutions of higher education to enable such institutions to make fellowship awards to qualified students in accordance with the provisions of this part. (2)

Priority consideration

In making grant awards under this part, the Secretary shall consider the applicant institution’s prior experience in producing doctorates and terminal masters degree holders who are minorities and females, and shall give priority consideration in making grants under this part to those institutions with a demonstrated record of producing minorities and women who have earned such degrees. (b)

Distribution and amounts of grants

(1)

Equitable distribution

In making such grants the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent feasible, ensure an equitable geographic distribution of awards and an equitable distribution among eligible public and private institutions of higher education that apply for grants under this part and that demonstrate the institution’s ability to achieve the purpose of this part. (2)

Special Rule

To the maximum extent practical, the Secretary shall award at least 50 percent of the amount appropriated pursuant under this part to institutions of higher education eligible for assistance under titles III and V, or to consortia composed of otherwise eligible institutions of higher education and such minority-serving institutions. (3)

Allocation

In making such grants the Secretary shall, consistent with paragraphs (1) and (2), allocate appropriated funds to those institutions whose applications indicate their ability to significantly increase the numbers of minorities and women entering the higher education professoriate and that commit institutional resources to the attainment of the purpose of this part. No grant made under this part shall support fewer than fifteen degree candidates consistent with section 774(b). (4)

Reallotment

Whenever the Secretary determines that an institution of higher education is unable to utilize all of the amounts made available to it under this part, the Secretary shall, on such dates during the fiscal year as the Secretary may determine, reallocate such unused amounts to institutions which demonstrate that they can use any reallocated grant funds to make fellowship awards to qualified individuals under this part.

773.

Applications

(a)

Applications required

Any eligible institution of higher education offering a program of post-baccalaureate study leading to a graduate degree that meets the purpose of this part may apply for a grant. Each such institution, or consortium of eligible institutions (including those institutions specified in section 772(b)(2)), may make an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing or accompanied by such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. (b)

Selection of applications

In selecting applications for the making grants to institutions of higher education, the Secretary shall— (1)take into account the number and distribution of minority and female faculty nationally, as well as the current and projected need for highly-trained individuals in all areas of the higher education professoriate; (2)take into account the number and distribution of minority and female faculty nationally, as well as the present and projected need for highly trained individuals in academic career fields in which minorities and women are underrepresented in the higher education professoriate; and (3)consider the need to prepare a larger number of minorities and women generally in academic career fields of high national priority, especially in areas in which such individuals are traditionally underrepresented in college and university faculties.

774.

Fellowship terms and conditions

(a)

Selection of fellows

(1)

Eligible applicants

The Secretary shall assure that, in awarding fellowships from funds made available under this part, grantee institutions make fellowship awards to individuals who plan to pursue a career in instruction at any institution of higher education that is eligible to participate in title IV programs. (2)

Academic progress

Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no otherwise eligible student selected for support, shall receive a fellowship award— (A)during periods in which such student is enrolled, unless such student is maintaining satisfactory academic progress in, and devoting essentially full-time to, study or research in the pursuit of the degree for which the fellowship support was awarded; or (B)if the student is engaged in gainful employment other than part-time employment involved in teaching, research, or similar activity determined by the institution to be consistent with and supportive of the student’s progress toward the appropriate degree. (b)

Service requirement

(1)

Teaching required

Each Patsy T. Mink Graduate Fellow who earns the doctoral or terminal masters degree with assistance provided under this part shall teach at an eligible institution for one year for each year of fellowship assistance received under this part. (2)

Institutional obligation

Each institution which receives an award from the Secretary under this part, shall provide an assurance that it has inquired of and determined the fellowship recipient’s decision to, within 3 years of receiving the doctorate or terminal masters degree, begin employment at an eligible institution of higher education as required by this part. (3)

Agreement required

Prior to receiving the initial fellowship award, and upon the annual renewal or the fellowship award, a fellow shall sign an agreement with the Secretary memorializing this commitment to enter the professoriate. (4)

Consequences of failure

If a fellowship recipient fails to honor the service requirement of this subsection, the Secretary shall— (A)require the individual to repay all or the applicable portion of the total fellowship amount awarded to the individual by converting the balance due to a loan at the interest rate applicable to loans made under part B of title IV; or (B)require the individual to pay an amount determined by the Secretary to be appropriate, except as provided in paragraph (5). (5)

Modified service requirement

The Secretary may waive or modify the service requirement of this subsection based on regulations, promulgated pursuant to and consistent with criteria which, determine that compliance with the service obligation by the fellowship recipient would be inequitable and represent a substantial hardship. The Secretary may waive the service requirement if— (A)compliance by the fellowship recipient would be deemed impossible because the individual is permanently and totally disabled at the time of the waiver request; or (B)compliance by the fellowship recipient is based on documentation presented to the Secretary of substantial economic or personal hardship, as determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary. (c)

Amount of fellowship awards

(1)

In general

From the grants made pursuant to this part, eligible institutions shall award stipends to individuals who are awarded fellowships under this part. Such stipends shall reflect the purpose of the program authorized by this part to encourage highly qualified minorities and women to pursue graduate study for the purpose of entering the higher education professoriate. (2)

Awards based on need

Stipends shall be in an amount equal to the level of support provided by the National Science Foundation graduate fellowships, except that such stipend shall be adjusted as necessary so as not to exceed the fellow’s demonstrated need as determined by the institution of higher education where the graduate student is enrolled. (d)

Institutional payments

(1)

In General

The Secretary shall, in addition to the amounts made available to institutions for stipends to individuals under this part, pay to grantee institutions of higher education, for each individual awarded a fellowship under this part at such institution, an institutional allowance. Except as provided for in paragraph (3), such allowance shall be, for academic year 2008–2009 and succeeding academic years, the same as the institutional payment made for that year under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program in subpart 2 of part A, and shall be adjusted annually thereafter in accordance with inflation as determined by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for the previous calendar year. (2)

Use of funds

Institutional payments may be expended in the discretion of the institution, except that such funds shall be used to provide academic support and career transition services for participating fellows. (3)

Reduction

The institutional allowance paid under paragraph (1) shall be reduced by the amount the institution charges and collects from a fellowship recipient for tuition and other expenses as part of the institution’s instructional program. (4)

Use for overhead prohibited

Funds made available pursuant to this part may not be used for general operational overhead of the academic department or institution receiving funds under this part.

775.

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.