Wanted: faculty mentors

This fall, the University of Washington will debut an academic enrichment program aimed at helping low-income, first-generation undergraduates and underrepresented minorities pursue graduate studies and obtain advanced degrees. The UW recently joined 155 other colleges and universities selected to receive federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education for McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Grants. The four-year grant of $760,000 will provide scholarships to 20 students per year.

NASA Astronaut Ronald E. McNair

Named for NASA Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, who was killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded in Jan. 1986, the program is designed to offer more than just financial support. Through UW’s Office of Minority Affairs, the program will provide research opportunities, faculty mentors, graduate student mentors, seminars and workshops, summer internships, tutoring, academic counseling, preparation for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and other assistance with graduate admission. Also, travel stipends will be available to grant recipients to allow them to present research at conferences or to visit schools they are considering for their graduate education.

“We are extremely excited to have this program come to campus,” says Gabriel Gallardo, director of the Early Identification Program in the Office of Minority Affairs. “The students who will be participating will be very special and talented. We plan to involve them in meaningful research projects, pair them up with faculty and graduate student mentors who share their interests and provide them the support they need to gain admission to the graduate program of their choice. We also hope to provide emotional support and help these students believe graduate school is an achievable goal.”

To receive funding for a McNair grant program, the UW Office of Minority Affairs submitted an application, which was co-written by Gallardo; Bill Baker, associate vice president for minority affairs; and Tom Colonnese, assistant vice president for minority affairs and the principal writer of the application. It was a monthlong process filled with after-hours work and anxiety. The UW was competing against hundreds of other schools and had been unsuccessful in two previous attempts to win one of the coveted grants.

Gallardo and Baker now are in the process of hiring additional staff to run the program, identifying the first group of 20 grant recipients and recruiting faculty and graduate students to serve as mentors. The grant recipients will include not only students from low-income backgrounds who are the first in their families to attend college, but also African American, Hispanic and Native American students because those ethnic groups are less likely to obtain advanced degrees.

“One of the great hopes is that this program will begin to address the shortage of minorities who go into teaching at the college level,” says Baker.

Faculty members who are interested in finding out more about the program and its mentoring opportunities should contact Gallardo at 221-2834 or gabegms@u.washington.edu. ¶

Elise Perachio Daniel