The University of North Carolina at Greensboro received a five-year $1.15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The grant was awarded to help first-generation and underrepresented students prepare for success in graduate education.
The program, The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, selected UNCG as one out of five universities in North Carolina.
UNCG provost Dana Dunn said she was delighted that they were selected because it’s a “perfect fit” for the school. Twenty-five students will be selected this fall to participate. Dunn said the chosen scholars will have a lot to gain from the program.
“It inspires the confidence that is so essential and sometimes lacking in first-generation and underrepresented students,” she said.
Students who are selected will receive: up to a $5,000 stipend, faculty mentoring, GRE test preparation, a summer course on research and writing, and participate in the McNair Summer Research Institute. They will also have several opportunities to present their research at conferences across the country.
The program is named in honor of Dr. Ronald Ervin McNair, an American physicist and astronaut, and the second African American to go to space. McNair was one of seven crew members who died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. said the grant delivers on UNCG’s promise to provide the opportunity to succeed and walk down a path of excellence.
"Supporting these students in their preparation for and pursuit of graduate degrees will not only transform them as individuals, but will impact research and the generation of new knowledge,” he said. “A more diverse research community leads to new ideas and perspectives, and that will fuel meaningful and exciting innovation and achievement."
