Thinking of a Ph.D.? Try McNair

Collin Fellows knows what it means to be persistent. Starting his college career in 1987, Fellows attended four universities in Oregon and Ohio, each time finding a new reason to stop going to school.

In 2005, Fellows was encouraged to apply for the McNair Scholars Program at the advice of Portland State associate professor of sociology Pete Collier. Fellows studied student populations like himself–first generation college students having trouble getting started with school, and what factors into their success.

About his own early college career, Fellows said he has since realized that he just didn’t know what he was doing.

“It was more an issue of not understanding how the university system worked,” Fellows said.

This summer, 26 undergraduate students like Fellows will become McNair scholars.

The students are paid a $2,800 monthly stipend to complete an eight-week research project. Each scholar chooses a faculty member as a mentor, and the two navigate the unfamiliar demands of upper level academia.

Collier said the road to advancing past a bachelor’s degree starts far before graduation, and the McNair program helps first generation students’ progress.

“Establishing that mentoring relationship early is so important,” Collier, 60, said. Professors share their own histories, trying to de-mystify a foreign and intimidating process, he said.

For example, it took 20 years for Collier to complete his own bachelor’s degree and he received his Ph.D. when he was 50, details he shared with Fellows during the program.

Jolina Kwong, the program’s coordinator, said that the relationship between the faculty member and the student is the most important part of the program.

“What really drives and inspires our students is hearing the faculty’s personal experiences,” Kwong said. Kwong wrote the grant proposal to renew the program, together with Toeutu Faaleava, the program’s director.

“Often these students don’t know the steps to get college paid for,” Collier said. Sharing his own experience with Fellows helped the student feel more at ease, he said.

The program also provides seminars and support for students to prepare for graduate and doctoral studies.

“This support gives students a safe environment where no one knows more than anyone else,” Collier said.

The McNair Scholars Program has recently been granted another four years of funding by the United States Department of Education, totaling $924,000, and Portland State will kick in an additional $528,968 to complete the $1.45 million budget. This is the first time the program has been renewed after its start in 2004.

PSU was one of 318 applicants to the U.S. Department of Education for program funding. Just 181 of those applicants were approved, including University of Oregon and Southern Oregon University.

Kwong said that the group of students and faculty meet regularly throughout the year and form a community focused on helping students succeed.

Fellows and Collier continue to work together on a project spawned from Fellows’ McNair research. Together they organize and run a program for PSU students called Students First, focusing on improving the number of freshman that stay at PSU through mentoring.

Fellows said he feels a responsibility to help other students progress because of all the help he received.

“I can see other students succeeding where I failed 23 years ago,” Fellows said.

Collier feels a similar need to give back and wants to ensure that future generations of students have the same opportunities he did. “If we don’t have programs like this, we’re pretending that this difference doesn’t exist,” he said.

The McNair Scholars Program began in 1986, and is named after Ronald McNair, an African-American astronaut who died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion. McNair was the second African-American to fly in space, and he received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Low-income students whose parents did not graduate from college and traditionally under-represented minority students may apply for the research grant. The program is currently recruiting for 2008.

McNair Program Q&A sessions:

Friday, Nov. 9 at 11 a.m.Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m.Thursday, Nov. 15 at 9 a.m.Wednesday, Nov. 28 at noon.Thursday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m.

All sessions will be held in room M302, Smith Memorial Student Union.