The Phillips Academy Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) addresses the lack of diversity in the nation’s teaching faculties by recruiting outstanding students of color and other scholars committed to diversity, counseling them through the graduate school application process, and advocating for sufficient funding for advanced study.
The IRT operates two programs:
- The Associate Program—for rising and graduating seniors, graduates, and working professionals—provides extensive graduate school counseling from September through mid-November, including: individualized support in evaluating and selecting suitable higher degree programs at consortium universities, application fee waivers for ten to twelve graduate schools, advice in fine-tuning application essays and resumes, and participation in IRT’s Graduate School Kickoff Weekend, attended by dozens of consortium school deans and admissions officers.
- The Summer Workshop Intern Program—for rising and graduating seniors—offers the same benefits as the Associate Program, with the addition of a paid four-week residential program at Phillips Academy in July, where interns engage in a graduate-level curriculum on critical, cultural, and educational theory with IRT summer faculty.
For either program, undergraduate applicants (and graduates not currently enrolled in a graduate program) must have a 3.0 GPA on a four-point scale, and graduate student applicants (and alumni/ae) must have a GPA of 3.5 on a four-point scale. All applicants must be pursuing or have pursued a degree in computer science, education, the humanities, mathematics, or the social sciences; they must also demonstrate a commitment to eliminating racial disparities in education and to serving as a role model for young people.