Funding Spotlight

McNair Scholars Program

In October 2012, Loyola was the only university in Illinois to receive a five-year award from the federal Department of Education in the amount of $1.1 million to launch a new Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program.

Loyola’s Provost, Dr. John Pelissero, is the Principal Investigator on the award, with Dr. Samuel Attoh, Associate Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, as Co-P.I. The work to design the components of this highly com-petitive grant proposal was an intense three-month effort by a dedicated team of personnel from the Graduate School, the Office of Research Services, the Office of Academic Enrichment and Retention, and the School of Education.

The McNair program is named after the African-American astronaut Ronald E. McNair, PhD, a physicist, who died in the Challenger space shuttle disaster. The program provides academic support, research opportunities, and intense involvement in scholarly activities for underrepresented minority and/or low-income first-generation students who have the desire and potential to earn an advanced degree. As such, the program is closely aligned to goals articulated in the President’s Strategic Plan for Loyola, including delivering a high-quality professional education that is characterized by innovation, excellence, ethics, service, and leadership, and creating an institutional culture devoted to public service and research. Most of the inaugural group of 30 Scholars are shown above.

Dr. Eilleen Rollerson is Director of the program, with Marcela Gallegos serving as Assistant Director. For more information, please visit the program’s web site: http://www.luc.edu/gradschool/mcnairscholarsprogram/.