McNAIR SCHOLARS
HAVE DRIVE TO SUCCEED

McNair Scholar Janie Gatling meets with mentor Doug Herrmann, chair and professor of psychology at ISU.

By MARK EDWARDS

On January 28, 1986, J. R. Rouse was watching what he thought was just another routine launch of a United States spacecraft on television. He quickly realized that something was not quite right. A white plume of smoke swirled across the blue Florida skies.

"It was one of the strangest days of my life," Rouse remembers. "I said to myself, that thing’s blown up!  I knew Ronald McNair was on the Challenger, but I didn’t know much about him except that he was a black astronaut."

Since that fateful day 15 years ago, Rouse knows a great deal more about the deceased astronaut who has since become a personal inspiration and role model. Something called the McNair Project has also touched Rouse’s life in ways he could never have imagined. Like Ronald McNair, Rouse is busy clearing life’s obstacles on his way to his goals — a double degree, and eventually, law school.

The project named for Ronald McNair provides services to prepare participants for graduate study and to assist students in gaining admission to quality graduate programs of their choice. Promising students who have achieved sophomore standing with a strong GPA are targeted for the program designed to encourage the pursuit of higher degrees. The program targets first-generation and low-income students of any ethnic background, or those who are part of a minority group traditionally underrepresented in graduate studies.

"The McNair Project distinguishes students who may have some financial challenges to overcome in order to go to graduate school," said Tony Brewer, director of the program at Indiana State University. "Research tells us that one problem that keeps promising students from pursuing a terminal degree is often financial."

The McNair Project has only been on the ISU campus for less than two years, but already its impact is being felt by a number of first-generation students who may have never looked beyond a four-year degree.

"The goal is a doctoral degree," Brewer said. "We want to get students after their second year of school and start preparing them for graduate school. We want them to know what to expect in the graduate study programs."

This is accomplished in several ways. Workshops and seminars help the students prepare for the GRE and application processes; faculty mentors help them formulate their research interests and skills; and a summer research internship includes working with a mentor, a stipend, paid tuition and room and board.

Linda Maule of ISU’s political science department enthusiastically agreed to mentor Rouse during the summer session.

 "Since I am a teacher, an advisor, and interested in student retention, being a mentor just complements everything else I do," Maule said. "I kind of get the best of both worlds. I can work on my research, and the student earns an opportunity to do research as well.  I get a chance to interact with students, and that’s important to me."

Maule has involved Rouse in research that looks at — as more women judges come onto the state and federal bench — whether they influence a bench in predictable ways.

"Do they have a way of deciding which might be different than men?" Maule explains. "Do they consider different types of issues than men might consider? Are they more collaborative? That kind of thing."

The student has already spent a great deal of time interviewing the women on the Indiana Court of Appeals as part of the research project.  Rouse admits it has opened his eyes to how much he doesn’t know but wants to learn. He says he is an older non-traditional student who is becoming even more serious about capitalizing on his newly discovered opportunities. 

"I’m working on a double major in criminology and legal studies," Rouse said. "Now I have my eyes set on law school. I’ve expanded my dreams and I’ll keep on adding more to my dreams with everything I learn. McNair trains you for graduate school. It’s like being called up to the big leagues while you’re still in the minor leagues.  It helps define your goals."

Janie Gatling, a McNair scholar from Tennessee, works with Doug Herrmann in pursuit of a degree in psychology.  She actually found herself presenting research on memory studies to a group of scholars while still an undergraduate. The mother of two joined another McNair student, Arkisha Gathright, in the presentation following their summer internship. She admits she didn’t initially realize how important or prestigious this was until she mentioned it to some graduate students in the department.

"They just wanted to take their hats off to me and Arkisha. I came right back to Dr. Herrmann and said ‘thank you!’" Gatling said. "We presented our findings and it was very interesting. The fact that you can put that on your resume when applying to grad school really looks great. I can’t thank Dr. Herrmann enough. To actually get a chance to present is very rare for undergraduates."

"The McNair program explains to faculty mentors that the goal is to try to help these students get into graduate school," Herrmann adds with a smile of accomplishment. "So if you have that in the back of your mind, certain things follow like an opportunity to present research. It also gave me the opportunity to ride in the car with them for a couple of hours and scare the daylights out of them," he adds with a wink. The student and mentor laugh heartily at the memory of the event. They claim to share a similar sense of humor.

It’s obvious that a special bond grows between many McNair scholars and their mentors. Tony Brewer says the 19 students in the program are like an extended family who have a genuine interest in everyone’s drive to succeed. Maule and Herrmann echo each other’s sentiments when talking about the rewards of helping students who may have been overlooked in the past. Like Ronald McNair, these students often show the same determination and desire to persevere through all the obstacles and difficulties the astronaut encountered during his life. Congress created the McNair Project in 1989 to honor his legacy.

"I found his history long after he died," J. R. Rouse remembers. "He was very young and already had a Ph.D. in physics from MIT. I had never thought about his accomplishments before. But the more I heard, the more I saw what a perfect role model he is. He’s a model of ‘How I Can!’"

April 25, 2001