For the third time since 1999, St. John’s University has been
selected by the U.S. Department of Education to participate in the
McNair Scholars Program,
preparing a new generation of undergraduates for doctoral study and
research careers.
The University will receive a grant of nearly $1.1 million over
five years to help prepare first-generation, low-income and
traditionally underrepresented students for graduate school. “We
are so happy to have the McNair Program renewed,” said
Andre McKenzie, Ed.D., Project Investigator with the program
and Vice President for the Division of
Academic Support Services at St. John’s. “This year, a
reduction in funding made obtaining the grant particularly
competitive. So we are blessed, fortunate and happy to continue the
program.”
Dr. McKenzie helped secure the University’s first grant in 1999.
The program is named for
Ronald E. McNair, a NASA astronaut who died aboard the space
shuttle Challenger in 1986. Approximately 200 grants usually are
awarded during a competition year. In 2012, though 306 institutions
applied for the McNair grant, only 134 grants were awarded.
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