Graduate Studies

Molly Heck Selected for 2021-22 Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program

Molly Heck

Molly Heck (MSW 2007 and current Chico State faculty) was selected a 2021-22 Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program (CDIP) recipient.

Heck is pursuing her doctorate at UC, Davis and is interested in the effects of inclusive teaching practices. In particular, research questions of interest include the following:

1) How does taking one or more courses in Multicultural & Gender Studies in the first two semesters of college effect the graduation rate for students who are underserved minorities?

2) What are student’s perceptions about the impact of inclusive teaching strategies in relation to their persistence to degree? 3) What do faculty (who have not made significant pedagogical changes related to equity) identify as organizational/institutional factors that would motivate them to increase their use of inclusive teaching strategies?

As part of the CDIP, Chico State professor Susan Roll will provide mentoring and support throughout heck's program.

Established in 1987, the Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program offers loans and mentorships by CSU faculty in an effort to increase the number of doctoral students applying for future CSU instructional faculty positions. These loans may be offered per year over a five-year period, and are repayable over a fifteen-year period beginning one year after the completion or withdrawal from full-time doctoral studies. The loans are also forgivable at the rate of twenty percent for each year of full-time postdoctoral teaching employment within the CSU system or at the rate of ten percent for each year of part-time postdoctoral teaching employment within the CSU system. As of October 2020, over 2,000 doctoral students participated in this program with over 1,300 participants successfully earning their doctoral degrees; over eight hundred of these students have gone on to obtain employment in a California State University instructional faculty position.