UA News

Students have until Feb. 1 to apply to the McNair Achievement Program, which is one of several programs attempting to increase the number of students who are low-income, first-generation and students of color in master's level programs.

Rebecca Covarrubias got involved in research early on during her days of study at The University of Arizona.

Soon after arriving, the Honors College graduate was named a Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program scholar and eventually earned a Ford Foundation grant and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship that came with $30,000 over a three-year period.

Covarrubias recently recounted her story to a room of current undergraduate McNair scholars who -- just like Covarrubias - are highly involved and motivated.

"My experience has been good," Covarrubias, a doctoral degree candidate in the UA's social psychology program, told a group of McNair scholars during a recent classroom session.

"I am really grateful to the McNair program for helping me," said Covarrubias, who will be honored for her University and community contributions during the Winter Commencement Ceremony.

The McNair program was created to boost the number of low-income, first generation and students of color entering doctoral degree programs - and not just in the area of science. The program is currently taking applications for its next group of scholars.

The application for students to apply to the program is Feb. 1.

"You feel like you can really come to them (at the McNair program) and talk to them about what you're going through," said Chandra Jennings-Jackson, a master's student in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

"I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into with the master's degree," Jennings-Jackson said. "But it's not like you are a face in a class of 300. The professors really do want to see you succeed."

Other programs at the UA -- including Minority Access to Research Careers, the Summer Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Research Internship Program -- have a like-minded purpose.

It is students like Covarrubias who give others "someone to look up to -- a role model," Nura Dualeh, the McNair program's assistant director. "That is one key part of the program", she said.

The program acclimates students to the University community and teaches them how to navigate resources so they can be more engaged and experience a higher level of academic achievement.

The McNair team helps McNair Scholars find research internships and fellowships, provides funding for research, graduate school visits and travel to conferences, information about academic conferences and, offers workshops on presentation skills, graduate school admissions strategies, personal statements and mock interview.

McNair scholars also have free access to workshops that help them prepare for the Graduate Record Examination, tutoring services, leadership development and counseling.

As a consequence, the students are highly prepared for graduate school, said Andrew Huerta, the program's coordinator and a graduate student in the UA's higher education program.

"Essentially, it has opened up a whole bunch of opportunities," said Guleed Ali, UA senior studying geosciences.

Ali began research earlier in the year studying geological anomalies in California. He now works in the laboratory headed by Julia Cole, a UA associate professor of geosciences and atmospheric sciences.

"The program has given me the confidence to talk to people in different departments and it's driven me," said Ali, who recently presented his work at the American Geophysical Union meeting, which was held in San Francisco. He has also presented at the National Association of Black Geologists and Geophysicists conference in Atlanta.

Scholars like Ali experience a sharp juxtaposition between their busy research-driven lives and the informal and conversational classroom discussions meant to channel them from their undergraduate years into master's level programs.

"I feel like the program is keeping me on track," said Jennifer Vega, a UA psychology major.

Vega is working in the neurobiology laboratory headed by UA Regents' Professor of psychology Carol A. Barnes, who also holds the Evelyn F. McKnight Endowed Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging. There, Vega is studying the role of the anterior cingulated cortex, a part of the brain.

To date, Vega has attended four conferences, some of which were hosted by national organizations, and has presented her research as well.

"I'm assuming a lot of the students are taking a lot of credits and it's easy to get lost," said Vega, who plans to graduate from the UA during the fall of 2009.

"But talking to Nura and Andrew really helps take the stress out of applying to graduate school," she said. "And it's nice to meet people like you, so you don't feel that you are alone. You feel like you can take on the world."