McNair Programs & Opportunities

McNair Summer Academy

Newly admitted McNair students must participate in the Summer Academy, an intensive six-week program held during July and August. The academy engages students in a range of scholarly activities as they train to become future scholars in their respective fields. The McNair program covers the costs associated with tuition, room and board, and course materials.

Research Experience

Summer Academy students take a credit-bearing research methodology seminar, which engages new and experienced researchers with the fundamental elements of research. Scholars are expected to “become conversant” in their areas of interest and demonstrate this skill during the Summer Research Symposium, a culminating event of the summer experience, where they present their emerging ideas.

Graduate School Series

McNair provides activities and services to support the scholars’ admission to and success in competitive graduate programs. We engage continuing McNair scholars as well as recent graduates, graduate students, faculty and staff to serve as panelists, as it is imperative that the profile of the panelists reflect the profile our scholars so that they may serve as role models and mentors in the quest to become successful scholars in their respective fields.

Summer Workshops

The McNair Scholars Program collaborates with campus representatives to share their expertise on subjects that support personal, academic and research goals. Workshops include self-assessment, resume building, IRB, presentational skills.

Academic Year Program

The academic year experience engages students in a multitude of activities to strengthen their undergraduate portfolio while preparing them for entry into graduate programs and success at that level.

Research Experience

Participants of the McNair Scholars Program must engage in high quality research under the mentorship of research-active faculty. High quality research is:

  • More rigorous than is typically available to undergraduate in a classroom setting
  • Definitive in its start and end dates
  • Given appropriate benchmarks for completion of various components
  • Conducted under the guidance of an appropriate faculty member with experience in the relevant discipline

Scholars must also engage in a range of other research-related scholarly activities including oral and poster presentations as well as attend local and national conferences. An annual stipend of $2100 for research engagement is provided.

Academic Support Services

In an effort to strengthen and enhance the undergraduate portfolio, our community of scholars engages in comprehensive services that will support their admission to and success in competitive graduate programs. The services include, but are not limited to:

  • Academic counseling and coaching
  • Tutorial support
  • Supplemental instruction
  • Weekly community meetings
  • Monthly individual meetings

The program also provides an equipment loan program (i.e. laptop/iPad rentals, recorders, books, GRE materials, and graduate school materials).

Graduate School Preparation

We encourage our scholars’ entry graduate/doctoral programs by providing preparation for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), waivers for the GRE registration fee, application fee waivers to several national institutions, and funding for graduate school visits. The program also offers seminars workshops funding for graduate school, writing a personal statement, and graduate admissions process. Scholars are also encouraged to engage with graduate students and faculty to discuss their graduate school experiences. McNair scholars are also eligible for graduate fellowships at several institutions.

Scholarly & Community Activities

Both summer and academic year programs provide scholars the opportunity to live, learn and grow as a community of scholars, inside and outside of the classroom. These scholarly activities and experiences (i.e., educational, cultural, and social) nurture and enrich the academic, professional, and personal lives of our scholars. These experiences narrow the gaps of equity and access, and ease the burdens that keep our scholars from realizing their full potential.

Wellness and Empowerment Initiative 

This is a program that promotes wellness as an important marker of each student’s personal success based on five dimensions of wellness: social, physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual.
Community building programming has elements that incorporate at least one dimension, and students share with each other their wellness routines and reflect on how to successfully sustain their practice.

McNair Satellite Program

The Satellite Program provides scholars the opportunity to fulfill their obligations to the program from off-campus sites (i.e., Study Abroad) and other on-campus programs (i.e., REU). This program is available to scholars who cannot engage in research and scholarly activities at the usual time and place. Scholars have the opportunity to engage in other high quality academic, research or professional experiences in their field. These scholars will maintain a commitment to the McNair program by completing assigned tasks (including monthly communications with staff) by established deadlines.