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SPRING 2015 MCNAIR SCHOLARS

EVENTS ....................... 3

MCNAIR SCHOLAR GOING

FOR THE GOLD ............. 4

MCNAIR SCHOLARS

FACULTY MENTORS

............................... 3 McNair Scholars CH ANG ING T H E F AC E OF L EAD ER SH I P

T HROU GH G RAD U AT E ED UC AT IO N

The California State University, Sacramento McNair Scholars Program (PY 2014-2015, PR/Award #

P217A120289) is partially funded by a US Department of Education Grant for $219,996 and by In-Kind contri-

butions from Sacramento State.

Program Overview The McNair Scholars Program at Sacramento State encourages, assists, and prepares talent-

ed undergraduate students for admission and studies at the graduate level. For those stu-

dents aiming to successfully pursue a Ph.D. and careers in university teaching and research,

McNair provides access to the tools and resources necessary to become a competitive grad-

uate applicant.

McNair requires an approximately two-year commitment and is designed to develop the

knowledge and skill set necessary for success at the post baccalaureate level. The program

collaborates with Sacramento State full-time faculty members to provide every scholar with

the experience of conducting mentored research and completing an article for academic

publication.

McNair serves low-income/first generation or underrepresented students. The program

offers among several other benefits:

Learning research methodologies, presentation skills, and access to GRE preparation

Opportunity to present at research conferences in and out of state

Collegial relationships who can provide strong references

Financial assistance to visit potential graduate schools

For more information please stop by River Front Center 203, call us at (916) 278-5118

or email us at mcnair@csus.edu.

McNair Cohort 2015-16

Apply today! If you are interested in earning a Ph.D. and pursuing a career in University level

teaching or academic research, then the McNair Scholars Program at Sac State

may be the right fit for you!

The deadline to apply for the Fall 2015 Cohort is APRIL 24, 2015. For an

application, please go to www.csus.edu/mcnair.

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MCNAIR SCHOLARS Program Staff

DR. CHEVELLE NEWSOME

Program Director

CARLOTTA MOORE, M.S.

Program Coordinator

DR. MICHELE FOSS-SNOWDEN

Faculty Coordinator

DR. YVETTE FARMER

Faculty Coordinator

CYNTHIA THOMPSON

Administrative Coordinator

THEODORE HARRISON III

Web-Multimedia Developer

Graduate Assistant

RACHEL HUIZAR

Newsletter Editor

Student Assistant

2015 McNair Scholars Research Symposium The effort and creativity of our McNair scholars will be showcased in an afternoon of academic enrichment and scholarly exchange. The program will host its 4

th annual Research Symposium on

Monday, April 27th

, 2015 from 1:30-5:30pm in the University Un-ion, Hinde Auditorium. The scholars will introduce their individual research projects through poster and oral presentations and there will be an opportunity for questions and discussion. The campus community and the general public are invited to support our stu-dents and celebrate their scholastic achievements. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

Conference Travel to Kansas City Scholars from the 2013-14 cohort traveled to the 18

th

Annual MKN McNair Heartland Research Conference held September 19-21

st in Kansas City, MO. The con-

ference provided the opportunity for the scholars to present on research that was published in the Fall 2014 CSUS McNair Scholars Journal. In addition to presenting their research, the scholars attended grad-uate admissions and professional development work-shops.

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McNair Scholars Events We love sharing the experiences of our past and present scholars as

they pursue

Academic Excellence!

2014 McNair Alumni Gathering Current McNair scholars had the opportunity to meet with scholars from previous cohorts at the 2014 McNair Alumni Gathering. The event allowed McNair Alumni to discuss how their educational goals have progressed since being a McNair scholar, give advice on managing graduate school applications and studies. For more information on McNair events, please visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mcnair.scholarscsus.

2014 Provost’s Student Research Showcase Several McNair scholars participated in the inaugural Provost’s Student Research Showcase held on Octo-ber 28th and helped make the event a huge success. The showcase offered undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to present their research, scholarly and creative activities to the campus com-munity in poster format. The showcase also served as a test run for the Sacramento State Student Research Symposium held on March 6, 2015 where students competed for the Provost’s Awards for Research Ex-cellence and for cash prizes.

Campus Visit at UC Merced The Graduate Diversity Program recently sponsored a Visitation Day at UC Merced. Student participants had the opportunity to interact with graduate program staff and faculty within their intended graduate discipline. The day’s activities included words from the Dean of the Graduate Division and campus tours. Please be sure to look out for more campus visit opportunities in the future by visiting www.csus.edu/graddiv.

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MCNAIR GRADUATION AND HOLIDAY GATHERING

The McNair Scholars Program celebrated the holidays and honored graduating seniors and master’s students at the

2014 McNair Graduation and Holiday Gathering.

Congratulations to the Fall 2014 graduates!

MASTERS DEGREE

Maria Georgina Meza

Communication Studies

BACHELORS DEGREE

Booker Cook

Ethnic Studies

Nyree Hall

Ethnic Studies

Dorian Love

Communication Studies

Erika Salinas

Social Work

Eddie Triste

Sociology

Jeraniqua Martin

Communication Studies

Elizabeth Esparza

Sociology

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Our program prepares students to enter top graduate programs throughout

the country. We are proud to share some great news about our scholars and

their academic successes. Several scholars have applied to graduate pro-

grams, however, most are still waiting for their acceptance letters. The follow-

ing students have been accepted to one of the programs they applied to and

have received funding offers.

Newly Admitted Graduate Students

Katreena Alder, Ph.D. program in

Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital

Media at North Carolina State Univer-

sity

Nyree Hall, M.A. program in Sociolo-

gy at American University

Theodore Harrison III, Ph.D. pro-

gram in Media Studies at the Universi-

ty of Oregon

Rachel Huizar, M.A. / Ph.D. program

in English Literature at the University

of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (fully

funded)

Karina Hurtado, Ph.D. program in

Music at UC Santa Barbara (fully

funded)

Alberto Millan, Ph.D. program in Quan-

titative & Systems Biology at UC Merced

(fully funded)

Jazzmine Parker, Master of Social Work

program at the Brown School at Washing-

ton University in St. Louis (partially fund-

ed)

Rodolfo Rodriguez, Ph.D. program in

Sociology at UC Merced

Erika Salinas, Master of Social Work

program at the Brown School at Washing-

ton University in St. Louis (fully funded)

Jasmine Stewart-Oliver, Ph.D. program

in Sociology at Bowling Green University

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GOLD PH.D In Progress

Ph.D. In Progress

Jessica (Gordley) Fifield

Communication Studies

Maura Dykstra

History

Rick Gutierrez

Education Culture & Society

Nancy Huante-Tzintzun

Education Culture & Society

Lok Chi Chan

Philosophy

Chia Xiong

Sociology

Cheng Vang

Clinical Psychology

D’Andre Walker

Criminal Justice

Amber Bill

Native American Studies

Vanessa Esquivido

Native American Studies

Megan Mass

Human Development and Family

Ijeoma Ononuju

Education Culture & Society

Monique Bastidas

Chemistry

Ariel Mosley

Psychology

Veronica Zavala

Latin American Studies

Angelica Tellechea

Public Policy

Makena Hightower, (Cohort 2000-01)

Ph.D in Bioengineering from University of

California, San Diego.

Andro Rios, (Cohort 2002-03)

Ph.D in Chemistry at University of Califor-

nia San Diego.

Jason Ybarra, (Cohort 2002-03) Ph.D. in

Astronomy from University of Florida

Rebecca Romo, (Cohort 2003-04) Ph.D. in

Sociology from UC Santa Barbra.

Armando Ramirez, (Cohort 1999-2000)

Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Irvine.

Muneera Beach, (Cohort 2000-01) Ph.D.

in Biochemisty & Biophysics from UC San

Diego.

Ameer Thompson, (Cohort 2002-03) Ph.D.

in Physiology and Biophysics from Cornell

University.

We are proud to acknowledge and celebrate previ-

ous McNair Scholars from Sacramento State who

have successfully gone on to complete a Doctorate

Degree in their chosen field of study.

Martin Chamorro, (Cohort 2002-03)

Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of

Colorado Boulder.

Pang Moua, (Cohort 2005-06) Ph.D.

in Pharmacy from University of the

Pacific.

Sylvester Caraway, (Cohort 1999-

2000) Ph.D. in Philosophy from Grif-

fith University

Crystal Martinez, (Cohort 2004-05)

Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from

California State University, Sacramen-

to

Melissa Johnson, (Cohort 2002-03)

M.D. from Vanderbilt University

School of Medicine

Nicholas Anderson, (Cohort 2004-05)

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from

Kent State University

Ana Orozco, (Cohort 2000-01) M.D.

from UC Davis

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Graduate Research Interaction Day April 8th, 2015

To showcase the emerging excellence of graduate educa-tion at Sacramento State, as part of Graduate and Profes-sional Student Appreciation Week (April 6 – 10, 2015), on Wednesday, April 8th, the Office of Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs will be holding Graduate Research Inter-action Day, an opportunity for graduate students to pre-sent their work in oral or poster presentation format, to ob-tain feedback from a diverse audience (peers, faculty, community members, etc.).

Online registration is now open to current master’s and doctoral students (all disciplines are welcome). Register at http://www.csus.edu/gradstudies. The registration dead-line is Friday, March 20th at 5:00pm. Further details and event schedule will continue to be updated online as well. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend the various student presentations and reception at the Uni-versity Union. For questions, please contact the Office of Graduate Stud-ies at (916) 278-6470.

Northern California Diversity Forum Sonoma State University

April 18th, 2015

The California Forums for Diversity in Graduate Education, planned by a consortium of public and private col-leges and universities from through-out California, have been designed particularly to meet the needs of ad-vanced undergraduates and master's candidates who belong to groups that

are currently underrepresented in doctoral-level pro-grams. The groups include low-income and first-generation college students and especially African Americans, American Indians, Chicanos/Latinos, Filipi-nos, Pacific Islanders, Asian American women, and Asian American men in the arts, humanities, and social and behavioral sciences.

This event targets students with sophomore, junior, senior, or graduate standing. Participants will have nu-merous opportunities to:

Meet with representatives from over 100 of the na-tion’s graduate schools;

Meet with representatives from doctoral-granting in-stitutions;

Attend a variety of informative workshops; Receive a complimentary lunch.

For more information visit www.caldiversityforum.org/

Upcoming Events

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CONTACT MCNAIR:

PHONE (916) 278-5118 .. 7

MCNAIR WEBSITE:

WWW.CSUS.EDU/MCNAIR .. 4

MCNAIR SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook .......... SACSTATE MCNAIR SCHOLARS McNair

Scholars CH ANG ING T H E F AC E OF L EAD ER SH I P

T HROU GH G RAD U AT E ED UC AT IO N .

McNair Scholars Program River Front Center Room 203

6000 J Street

Sacramento, CA 95819-6114

Graduate Resources Online

General info

www.gradschools.com

GRE online

www.gre.org/ttindex.html

Peterson’s: The Graduate School Guide

www.petersons.com/gradchannel/

U.S. News Best Graduate Schools

www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/grhome.htm

SPRING 2015

Graduate Equity Fellowship Apply Now!

Applications are now being accepted for the

Graduate Equity Fellowship that is available

to graduate students enrolled in programs

at Sacramento State. Awards can range

from $800 to $2000 per semester.

Please contact the Graduate Diversity Pro-

gram at graddiv@csus.edu or

(916) 278-3834 for more information.