The collection contains material pertaining to the program's operations and activities at Duke University as well as at the historically black colleges and universities that participated. Present are reports, correspondence, printed material, clippings, and financial records documenting the various facets of the five year effort to educate minority undergraduate students in preparation for careers in college teaching and research. Throughout the records attention is paid to the impact of the program, primarily measured by the students' post-graduate activities. Correspondence and proposals originating from Duke and the Dana Foundation, as well as press releases and clippings provide summary information on the creation and activities of the program.
Student identifiable information is present throughout the majority of the collection and is restricted under FERPA. However, researchers may access the material for use in research as long they agree not to release personally identifiable student information without the prior written consent of the student, and to destroy all student-identifying information at the completion of their research.
The Program on Preparing Minorities for Academic Careers (PMAC) was launched in 1989 with a grant from the Charles A. Dana Foundation to Duke University and five historically black colleges and universities: Spelman College, Xavier University, Morehouse College, Hampton University, and Tuskegee University. The program's purpose was to increase the number of minority undergraduate students preparing for careers as college and university professors. The primary components of the program included student participation in teaching and research, which was supervised by faculty mentors at each college, and summer research terms as well as conferences held at Duke University.
Through an additional grant from the Hearst Foundation, Dillard University joined the program in 1991. The program also received funding from the Commonwealth Fund.
Robert Wright was the first director of the program and he was succeeded by Scotty Elliott in 1991. Both directors were located at Duke University. Funding for the program ended in 1994.