McNair Provost Report

January 1 – February 29, 2012

• January  - Guest speaker for the weekly Winter Friday Seminar 

Veronica Bielat, WSU Purdy Library: Searching and using Endnote, January 20, 2012. The McNair Scholars learned about how to use the library as a vital research tool and how to create a bibliography in Endnote.

• January – Joseph Baynesan met with McNair Scholars who needed help in securing a mentor for their research project.  Meetings held on January 24, 2012 and January 27, 2012.

• February – Guest speakers  for the weekly Winter Friday Seminar

Dr. Khari Brown, Dept. of Sociology,

Dr. Jorge Chinea, Dept. of Latino/a and Latin American Studies, 

Dr. Ann Stacks, Dept. of Psychology & the Merrill-Palmer Institute

These faculty members shared their experiences of what it was like to be a doctoral student.

This faculty panel discussion was held on February 3, 2012.

• February – Guest speaker for the weekly Winter Friday Seminar

Dr. David Merolla, Dept of Sociology: Ethics in Academia, February 10, 2012. The McNair Scholars learned about personal and professional ethics in academia at the graduate level.

• February – Joseph Baynesan and 12 students attended the MI-CAPP Student Leadership Summit in Kalamazoo, MI from February 17-19, 2012.  The students participated on a panel discussion and visited the graduate school at Western Michigan University.

December 1 – December 31, 2011

• December - Guest speaker for the weekly Fall seminar in December
  

  Dr.  Gail Fahoome, Assistant Professor - Clinical, Theoretical & Behavior Foundations –WSU College of Education: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH AND ITS APPLICATIONS

• December  - Program Director Joseph Baynesan and 12 students attended the University of Michigan Graduate School Visitation Day, December 9, 2011. The students learned about admissions, funding and other opportunities for graduate students at the University of Michigan.
   
• December  - The McNair Scholars Program will hold its Semester Wrap-up at the McGregor Conference Center on December 16, 2011. 
   
• December  – Joseph Baynesan completed and submitted the 2011 Annual Performance Report for the U.S. Department of Education.

October 1 – November 30, 2011

• October - New Student Orientation was held on October 6th, 2011 in 1347 F/AB.
   
• October – Seven new students were admitted to the program:
  Salika Chowdhury, major--Political Science & Near Eastern Studies
  Mixie Clerard, major -- Honors Psychology
  Andre Gilford, major – Secondary Education/Social Studies;
  Dina Haque, major – Nutrition and Food Science
  Gregory Harton, major – Africana Studies
  Paula Mead, major – Anthropology/International Studies
  Alexandra Padilla, major – Psychology
   
• October - Program Director Joseph Baynesan and 8 students, Winona Bynum, Jewelita, Gant, Courtney-Sophia Henry, Brittany Jefferson, Cherry Lynn Meyer, Samantha Rager, Stewart Richardson, and Matthew Vallevand attended the AGEP/KCP Fall Conference in East Lansing at Michigan State University on October 7, 2011 – October 8, 2011.  Some of the students presented their research while others used the experience to observe and learn.
   
• October  - Program Director Joseph Baynesan and  8 students, -Mixie Clerard, Andre Gilford, Catherine Glover, Courtney-Sophia Henry, Joy Hunt, Cherry Lynn Meyer, Samantha Rager, Stewart Richardson attended the Michigan State Graduate School Visitation Day October 28, 2011. The students learned about admissions, funding and other opportunities for graduate students at Michigan State University.
   
• October – Dr. Mary K. Clark, Assistant Dean, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, spoke to the students on October 21, 2011 about Personal Statements and Statement of Purpose at the weekly Friday seminar held in 1339 F/AB.
   
• October – Dr. Mary K. Clark, Assistant Dean, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, spoke to the students on October 28, 2011 about Preparing for success: The Graduate School Process at the weekly Friday seminar held in 1339 F/AB.
   
• November – Dr. Mary K. Clark, Assistant Dean, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, spoke to the students on November 4, 2011 about Ethics in Academia at the weekly Friday seminar held in 1339 F/AB.
   
• November  – Guest speaker for the weekly Fall seminar November 18, 2011:
  
  Dr. Anne Duggan, Associate Professor, Romance Languages and Literatures –WSU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences: DOCTORIAL RESEARCH TO ARTICLE
   
• November - Program Director Joseph Baynesan and several students attended the Wayne State University Undergraduate Research Conference, November 11, 2011 at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center. Several Scholars presented their research.

June 23 – July 27, 2011

• June/July – During the Spring/Summer semester, McNair scholars are participating in the Graduate Record Exam(GRE) Preparatory Sessions and the Summer Research Institute.  They meet Fridays, 12:00 – 5:00pm, at the College of Education and Faculty/Administration Building. Will Abram, Erin Bell and Dr. Queen Loundmon, are the instructors. Guest speakers for the weekly summer seminars in June and July:

Sandy Pensoneau-Conway, Department of Communications, Interim Chair – Effective Communication Skills

Dr. Angela Kennedy, Adjunct Faculty WSU and Madonna University, School of Social Work – Effective Grant Writing

• June/July - The McNair staff is monitoring the progression of the scholars’ research through the submission of the research proposal and literature review, and the mentor progress reports. Joseph Baynesan, Program Director, is meeting with scholars and/or mentors when necessary to discuss and work through any concerns or issues.

• June 23 - The McNair program will hold another Mentor Orientation session.

• July 18 - Former McNair Scholar Milli Lynn Johnson will be joining the McNair staff on a part time basis as a Temporary Technician.

Apr - June 2011

• April 22 – The McNair program held its Semester Wrap-up buffet luncheon at the McGregor Conference Center. At this event we acknowledged a number of great accomplishments by McNair Scholars. We welcomed our newest students and presented six scholars with the newest edition of the WSU McNair Scholars Research Journal. The journal represents the dedication and hard work of these scholars along with their faculty mentors in completing their research project.

Pierre Brown- The Living Arrangements of Young Mothers Receiving WIC Support in Detroit

Cornetta Lane- Controversy at Ground Zero: Freedom of Religion versus Integrity of Memorial Ground

Karyn Rogers- An Analysis of 7^th Grade Achievement in Reading

Fiona Dixon- Understanding the Universal Playboy Cross Cultural Don Juanism

Derrick Miller- Vote Secrecy and Clientelism in Mexico

Matthew Vallevand- Age and White Matter: Effects on Cognitive and Motor Performance

Jennifer Fugaban -Potential Effects of Emerald Ash Borer-Leaf Litter Decomposition in Ephemeral Ponds

Cassandra Loacano- Semantic Memory Processes in Healthy Aging

The McNair program also celebrated those scholars that graduated in May 2011 from Wayne State University.

                  Pierre Brown

                  Jennifer Fugaban

                  Derrick Miller

                  Karyn Rogers

The McNair program also celebrated those scholars that have been accepted to graduate school.

Cassandra Loacano- Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago.

Fiona Dixon- University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Also in attendance was faculty mentor: Christopher Trentacosta, Ph.D –Psychology

• April 30 – The McNair Scholars program admissions deadline. We received 10 applications.

• May 3 – The McNair Scholars Program will be admitting 10-12 new students.         

• May 10 - The McNair staff will provide an orientation for the new students accepted into the program. The students were presented a welcome letter, the program contract for signature, the McNair Scholars Handbook, and a research needs assessment.The new scholars and their disciplines are:
  
  Joy K. Hunt-Secondary Education/Social Studies

Sharon Rondeau- Psychology

William Workman-Social Work

Daniel Clason- Social Studies Education

Brittany Jefferson- Public Relations

Inaam Abdul Karim-Nutrition & Food Science

Stewart Richardson- Geology

Srinawati-Anthropology

• May 12 – The McNair program staff provided an orientation to the faculty members who offered to mentor a student during our 2010 Summer Research Institute that begins May 14^th. They provide our scholars with regular, one-on-one mentoring through dialogue and interaction, direction on the undergraduate research project, encouragement for Ph.D. studies, and suggestions for programs of graduate study.

• May 13 – 2011 Summer Research institute and the GRE Prep classes officially begin

• May 19-21 – Program Director, Joseph Baynesan and 5 Students, Catherine Glover, Robert Orr, Jr., Samantha Rager, Courtney-Sophia Henry and Winona Bynum, will be attending the University of Washington 19^th Annual McNair/EIP Research Conference in Seattle Washington. This will allow the students to gain valuable experience in Research presentation and expectations.

• May/June - During the Spring/Summer semester, McNair scholars are participating in the Graduate Record Exam(GRE) Preparatory Sessions and the Summer Research Institute.  They meet Fridays, 12:00 – 5:00pm, at the College of Education and Faculty/Administration Building. Erin Bell, William Abrams, and Dr. Queen Loundmon are the instructors.

The McNair staff is monitoring the progression of the scholars’ research through the submission of the research proposal and literature review, and the mentor progress reports. Joseph Baynesan, Program Director, is meeting with scholars and/or mentors when necessary to discuss and work through any concerns or issues.

• June New Scholars will be assisted by McNair staff to help them get the information they need to be successful in the program. There are 2 conferences that are being looked at for student travel in June.

• June 16-18 – Program Director Joseph Baynesan will be attending the Upward Bound/McNair 2011 Proposal Writing Workshop in Washington, DC. This will help the program prepare for upcoming grant submission in the Fall of 2011.

March 2011

• March 6-10 – McNair Scholars Program Director,Joseph Baynesan attended the COE 31^st Annual Policy Seminar and the USDOE seminar. This seminar gave TRIO and GEAR UP programs the opportunity to educate Members of Congress about the programs as well as to advance the interest of low-income and first-generation students, adult learners, veterans and students with disabilities.

• March 21-25 – Director Baynesan is meeting with potential McNair scholars and has made a final decision on new Scholars to the program.  The new Scholars will start May 1, 2011.

• March 27 – Director Baynesan will attend the 2010 Equity within the Classroom Conference in Houghton Michigan. The Equity Conference provides an annual forum for faculty, administration, staff, and postsecondary education supporters to review current research findings; annual retention outcome data; best practice strategies; and, specific King-Chavez-Parks developed retention strategies positively impacting equality of opportunity and degree achievement of KCP targeted students.

• March 30 – McNair Scholars, Fiona Dixon, Pierre Brown, Cornetta Lane, Danae Ross, Courtney-Sophia Henry, Jennifer Fugaban, and Mary Smith will be attending the Ithaca College National Conference on Undergraduate Research in New York from March 30 to April 2, 2011. The students will be presenting their abstracts and gaining important research experience.

• March – McNair staff begun planning about the McNair 2^nd annual National Research Conference to be held July 27-29, 2011.

• March – Director Baynesan continues to meet with students on a one on one basis to discuss their status, how the program could support them and to counsel them on any issues they are having.

February 2011

• Director Baynesan and two students, Samantha Rager and Matthew Vallevand attended the University of Florida Graduate School Spring Campus Visitation Program from February 10 through February 12, 2011.

• After two successful Information Sessions in January, new applicants have been accepted for the Spring term and applications are being reviewed. Decisions will be made the first week of March.

• Two new information sessions have been set up for April 14 and 15, 2011.

• McNair Program Director, Joseph Baynesan, continues to write letters of recommendation to scholars who are applying to graduate schools for PhD Programs.

• During the North Carolina A&T Twenty-Fifth Annual RONALD E. MCNAIR COMMEMORATIVE CELEBRATION/SYMPOSIUM January 26-28, 2011l, Cornetta Lane won the Outstanding Oral Presentation Award  for her paper titled "Controversy at Ground Zero: Freedom of Religion versus Preservation of Honor."

• Scholars continue to meet on a weekly basis on Fridays for seminars with Dr. Queen Loundmon.

• Joseph Baynesan started meeting s with McNair Scholars to get their feedback on the program and to counsel them with any issues or questions they may have with anything from finding a mentor to searching and preparing for graduate school.