Eleven West Virginia University students have been named as the Universitys newest Ronald E. McNair Scholars.
The Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, federally funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, assists first generation college students and minority college students in preparing for graduate education. The program bears the name of Ronald E. McNair, who died along with six of his astronaut colleagues aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.
WVU s first group of 19 McNair Scholars was inducted last summer. Once accepted, students remain in the McNair Scholars program until they earn their undergraduate degrees. Betty Mei, WVU s McNair Scholar program coordinator, said this group of 11 students was selected to fill slots vacated by graduating seniors. WVU receives funding for up to 20 McNair Scholars.
“The mission of the McNair Scholars program is to help those who have ambition to get more education achieve their goal,”said Mei.”The program is going very well considering we are only in our second year. This is an exceptionally good group of students.”
Benefits of being a McNair Scholar include a paid six-week research program, research writing and skills training, standardized test preparation, graduate schools campus visits, graduate placement assistance and professional development opportunities.
The McNair Scholars Program is open to full-time WVU students who have completed their sophomore year of study, have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and are considering graduate school. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and/or permanent legal U.S. residents and be first generation college students with demonstrated need or a member of the numerically under-represented, such as African-Americans, Latino-Americans and Native Americans.
For more information, contact WVU s McNair Scholars Office at 304-293-4316.
WVU s newest group of McNair Scholars includes Freddie Mikalik, an English major from Morgantown; Eunice Rohrer, a news editorial major from Morgantown; Jennis Taylor, a business and economics major from Westover; Angela Derk, a secondary education major from Middletown, Pa.; Jamison Campbell, a biology major from Rosedale, N.Y.; Nicole Johnson, a computer science major from Clarksville, Pa.; Serena Gibson, a psychology major from Looneyville, W.Va.; Brie Frey, an environmental geoscience major from Morgantown; Anna Lynn Stasick, a Regents Bachelor of Arts student from Morgantown; Gino Degregori, a business and economics major from Alexandria, Va.; and Jonathan Glover, a history major from Cleveland, Ohio.