West Virginia University

McNair Scholars Program

Newsletter

Volume 6~Issue 2                                                                                                       August 2005


 

 

Welcome back to School!

 

Hope you had a relaxing and yet productive summer!  We at the West Virginia University McNair Scholars Program had an exciting and fun six-week summer internship during May 23 – June 30.  Twelve new WVU McNair Scholars diligently worked in class each morning as they: practiced for GRE testing, prepared resumes, readied graduate school applications, and visited the college campuses of American University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Pittsburgh.  The WVU McNair Program staff thanks doctoral student mentors Ras Acolatse, Christine Lokko and Cyprien Lokko for assisting in the Summer Research Internship. 

 

2005 West Virginia University McNair Scholars

From L to R, back row: Chris Hertel, Ryan Scott, Jason Wilkinson, Kristin Williams, Ehren Cruz, and Josh Austin.

From L to R, front row: Leilani Browning, Heather Washington, Ryan Ursal, Rebecca Scoville, and Renee Stasko.

            Not pictured: Rachel Hildebrand

 

Here are some student comments regarding the summer internship:

 

     “I am able to think more analytically and critically when I am unsure of an answer…thank you for this   

     helpful and memorable experience,” Ryan Scott.

     Renee Stasko said the summer internship was a “great experience” where she met “wonderful people”

     and appreciated the “great diversity of fellow scholars.”

     “This has been an awesome experience!” Heather Washington.

 

The overall student consensus is that the McNair Scholars Program at WVU is a program that

definitely puts students a step ahead of those planning to attend graduate schools.

 

 

  

 

        Director’s Corner

         Anita G. Mayer  

         Director, McNair Scholars Program

  

 

In higher education, inquisitiveness is the norm and discovery a part of every mission.  Improving public health, transportation, information systems, welfare, education, and the environment depends (almost exclusively in some instances) on the research conducted each year on college campuses where new information questions the status quo and data is analyzed to the Nth degree.  As humans, we have innate expectations about life and believe that with new knowledge, skill and ability, life can always be made “better”.   We instinctively and deliberately demand to know more, do more, feel more and invent more; always just satisfied enough to feel confident and always just curious enough to question what we think we know.

We will never become ambivalent about funding researchers intent on curing cancer, eliminating poverty and developing clean renewable energy. We will always care about social injustices, the implications of global warming and the need for peace and prosperity. Essentially, we may never fully be satisfied, but thankfully, we will never give up.  

                                                                                                                      

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that in 2004-2005, public and private sources contributed $40,077,399,000.00 to university-based research and development (2005-6 Almanac Issue, August 26, 2005). 

 

 

More Highlights from the Summer Internship:

2005 WVU McNair Scholars visiting The George Washington University in June; pictured in front of the Pittsburgh city skyline; and working on their research during class.

  

Faculty Mentors and Scholars at the Induction Dinner

 

After completion of the six-week Summer Research Internship, Scholars attended the Inductive Dinner with families, friends and their faculty mentors.  Pictures from the Induction banquet (from L to R): Dr. Christian Stehlik and Chris Hertel, Dr. Larry Banta and Ryan Ursal, Jason Wilkinson and Dr. William Arnett, Becky Scoville and Dr. Todd West.

 

The SAEOPP/UTK McNair Research Conference

 

After visiting the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh and touring our nation’s capitol this summer, the McNair Scholars traveled to the national McNair conference at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  After intense competition, two WVU scholars took home presentation trophies.  Natalie Wesley received first place in the field of Economics and Finance and Katrina McCoy placed 4th place in the Psychology field. For the past four years the WVU McNair Scholars have received recognition for their superior efforts at the SAEOPP/University of Tennessee McNair Conference.  The WVU McNair Scholars make the Mountain State proud as they professionally present their research at this national conference. 

   

                         

Natalie Wesley proudly shows her winning trophy to faculty mentor, Dr. Richard Riley, Associate Professor of Accounting.

 

“Natalie worked very hard on this project. I am proud of her for her work, especially in presenting and defending the research in Tennessee.  The issues of mortgages and retirement savings are individually important and potentially create conflicting issues for retirees.  Thus, the research findings have immediate applicable human resources and personal financial planning applications,” said Dr. Richard Riley, Natalie’s faculty mentor and Associate Professor of the Department of Accounting.

 

“Presenting and winning at the SAEOPP/UTK McNair conference was one of the highlights of my life.  Many people do not realize the amount of work and time students put into these research projects.  I want to thank my faculty mentor, Dr. Riley, because I know that I would not have been able to come up with or complete the project without him.  I look forward to working with him on a future project,” Natalie Wesley.

 

              

     Katrina McCoy shares her joy with faculty mentor, Dr. William   

     Fremouw, professor of Psychology.

 

 

“Katrina is one of the most dedicated, motivated and independent undergraduates I have had the pleasure to advise.  Her award at the McNair conference demonstrates the great promise she has as a future psychologist.  She is a wonderful representative for the McNair program and WVU,” said Dr. William J. Fremouw, Katrina’s faculty mentor and Professor of the Department of Psychology.

 

“After a year of diligently working to complete my first research endeavor, being recognized at a national McNair conference was extraordinarily encouraging. It served as a powerful motivator for me to continue to pursue academic and professional excellence,” Katrina McCoy.

 

Congratulations Natalie and Katrina!!!

       

A WVU McNair Scholar commented after the conference, “After hearing Dr. Ronald McNair’s brother, Carl McNair, speak at the conference luncheon, I had looked around the crowded room that day and felt so special to be there sharing those moments with other scholars because of the legacy that this man (Dr. McNair) had left behind.”

                      

Another student wrote, “His (Carl McNair’s) speech was very inspirational and empowering…I knew that being a McNair Scholar was quite an accomplishment but I did not realize that it was such a prestigious honor.  Mr. McNair helped me to realize that no matter what situations or struggles may arise, I am going to make it; I will succeed at earning my doctorate degree.”

 

WVU McNair Scholars Program                                                                                                     600013100006

 Student Services Center

 PO Box 6212

 Morgantown, WV 26506

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Anita Mayer, Program Director                                          Dr. Betty Mei, Assistant Director

 Anita.Mayer@mail.wvu.edu                                              Betty.Mei@mail.wvu.edu

 

 Patricia Daniel, Administrative Associate                          Joseph Wiles, Sr. Administrative Assistant

 Patricia.Daniel@mail.wvu.edu                                           Joseph.Wiles@mail.wvu.edu

 

 Angela Derk, Graduate Assistant                                       Jerry Wong, Technical Assistant

 Angela.Derk@mail.wvu.edu                                              jwcs1@mix.wvu.edu                                                                   

                                                              

 

 TEL: (304) 293-4316              FAX: (304) 293-4365

www.wvu.edu/~mcnair

 

 

Alumni News  

 

 

**Jackie Bass has recently returned to the Mountain state from Argentina where she studied at La Universidad del Salvador for her 

    3rd Master’s degree in International Relations via the Rotary World Peace Scholarship.

**Jon Michael Bosley is busy at Oregon StateUniversity where he recently received the Founder Fellowship awarded by the

    Department of Geography and was elected the chairperson of the graduate student senate representing the College of Science.

**Brie Frey will be leaving for Cameroon, Africa in September as a Peace Corp volunteer.

**Teresa Jones is working in the Peace Corps and has recently been relocated to Quito, Ecuador.

**Eunice Rohrer returned from one year of teaching English in Taiwan and has begun working on her PhD in Higher Education at

    Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.

**Gabrielle St. Leger has bid farewell to WVU to accept the position of Program Coordinator at the Ohio State University

    Multicultural Center.  Congratulations Gabby~ you will be greatly missed!

**Jennis Taylor is busy publishing papers at George Mason, with her mentor/professor Dr. Charles Rowley.  Their latest work was

    presented at The Conference on the Political Economy of Terrorism this past May and will be available in January of 2006 via the

   journal Public Choice. Congratulations to Jennis Taylor on her wedding engagement. 

 

We say a sad farewell to Treah Haggerty and wish her the best of luck in Medical school while we welcome Jerry Wong as our new Technical Assistant.  Good luck to all alumni and current Scholars on a new semester!