U.S. Dept. of Education McNair Grant Will Fund Faculty-Student Research

OBERLIN, OH--The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Oberlin College a second four-year grant to fund a four-year Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program effective now. The College will receive an award of $207,599 each of the next four years beginning this fall. The initial grant of $775,529 was awarded in 1995, making the total amount of the awards from the Department of Education for this program $1,605,875. The first in his family to receive a Ph.D. degree, Ronald E. McNair was killed with six other astronauts in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion January 28, 1986. The grant is used to support the academic aspirations and achievements of 20 undergraduates who are low-income first-generation college students and minorities underrepresented in doctoral programs. The program aims to ensure that the students will later enroll in Ph.D. programs and then enter research, teaching, or other careers in academia that require the doctorate. "We are very fortunate that the Department of Education has seen fit to award the College its second McNair grant," says President Nancy Dye. "The McNair program and Oberlin's mission will enable Oberlin to continue to offer more students opportunities to work closely with faculty on collaborative research projects and better provide financial assistance." Oberlin's plan of operation for the McNair Program is informed and guided by five years' of experience conducting McNair Programs (1990-1992 and 1995-1998), historically with special programs for minority students, and specifically with Student Support Services (since 1972-73) and the Upward Bound Program (since 1976). The McNair program, along with other programs that offer research assistantships for students, will be supervised by the Office of Undergraduate Research, whose director, Clovis White, associate professor of sociology and Nord faculty fellow, will direct the project. "The grant is a wonderful opportunity for Oberlin College students and faculty," says White, "because it combines faculty research and mentoring with student interest and skill development." From students eligible for McNair support, Oberlin will recruit 10 juniors and 10 seniors who are the most academically promising and have the strongest desire to pursue graduate study. The process of identifying students will begin with faculty members who are McNair mentors. They will outline their research plans and explain how a student assistant might become involved in their work and learn from it. The first interns will be selected by March 2000. Besides eight-week summer-research experiences, for which McNair interns earn stipends of $2,400 and room and board allowances of $1,600. the students participate in special activities during the academic year. They attend graduate-school and financial-aid workshops, career seminars, Graduate Record Exam-preparation workshops, lectures by local and visiting faculty members, professional conferences (accompanied by faculty mentors), graduate-school visits, and conferences with other undergraduate researchers. McNair interns also participate in special Winter Term projects designed by Oberlin faculty members to enhance research and technical-writing skills.

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