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McNair program 'demystifies' grad school for selected students By Lynn Mena Last year, Augsburg received a four-year grant of $760,000 from the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program of the U.S. Department of Education. One of three institutions in Minnesota to receive the grant, it funds Augsburg's new McNair Scholars Program, which was officially launched in October. The purpose of the national program, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education, is to "prepare participants for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities." Its goal is to "increase graduate degree attainment of students from underrepresented segments of society." A further purpose of the program is to encourage these students to become college professors. "I'm excited about the program," says Victoria M. Littlefield, program director and Augsburg assistant professor of psychology. "It's really a chance to level the playing field for people who just didn't have graduate school within their world view - a chance to change their world view. It's the kind of program I wish had been around when I was an undergrad. For people from non-traditional groups - groups that don't typically go on to graduate school - they get there sort of accidentally. You know, a professor will stop them in the hallway and say 'Oh, have you thought about grad school?' One of the things we want to help assure is that this stuff happens systematically." Chad Uran, interim assistant director of the program, agrees with Littlefield. "To most students, and nearly all people, graduate school is a mystery," says Uran. "They don't know what it is, what goes on or what it takes. The McNair Scholars Program is about getting these students to seriously consider graduate school and to enter graduate school fully conscious of the challenges and expectations in front of them. "I would say that in the past, students went to graduate school more by accident than design, or were ushered in by professors, family members or some other outside force," continues Uran. "Such a system of recruitment is by its very nature exclusive. It is this type of system the McNair Scholars Program subverts." Eligible students are current Augsburg sophomores, juniors or seniors who demonstrate strong academic potential, and who are 1) low income and first-generation college students, or 2) members of groups underrepresented in graduate education (e.g., African American, Chicano/ Latino or American Indian/ Alaskan Native). "The program immediately enhances the prestige of the College," says Littlefield. "There are only about 154 in the country, and it's a very competitive program." The other two Minnesota recipients are the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota. "It's a way of attracting high-ability students to the College, and a way of rewarding a subset of them once they get here," continues Littlefield. "Students have to meet the eligibility criteria in order to even be invited to apply. We had about 135 Augsburg students who were eligible to participate; out of those we have chosen 18. So it's very competitive for the students to get into the program - and just by virtue of the fact that they're in the program, that already says a lot about them." 
McNair Scholars have already demonstrated success at Augsburg College. The program prepares them to continue that success at the graduate level. This includes preparation for the Graduate Records Examination or an equivalent entrance exam for their field, and academic and career counseling with assistance in identifying and applying to Ph.D. programs and seeking financial aid. Scholars also participate in an intensive student-faculty research project (which pays a $2,800 stipend) with opportunities for conference travel and professional presentation of students' original research. Seniors take part in a student-faculty teaching collaboration to prepare them for graduate teaching assistantships. All Scholars attend social and cultural activities to enrich their academic perspectives. "We've got a really good group of students, and they're all so different," says Uran. "But they all have the same interest and drive. We're here to help demystify the whole graduate school process, and to help them make an informed decision about how to succeed and best reach their goals. "So many people look at graduate school and only see the expense, but I see it in terms of self-worth, identity and self-respect," continues Uran, who received a B.A. in anthropology and American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota and was recently accepted into the Ph.D. program in anthropology at the University of Iowa. "Education is about your relationship with the world, how you understand that world and what you do with that knowledge to improve the world for yourself, your family and your community." The U.S. Congress provided funding for the McNair program in memory of Dr. Ronald E. McNair, a nationally-recognized expert in laser physics who died in the USS Challenger Space Shuttle accident in January 1986. |
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