Volume 1, Issue 1

December 1st, 2010

BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE

McNair Scholars Program

Our goal is to increase the attainment of Ph.D. degrees by students from underrepresented segments of society

Enthusiasm for discovery Interest in research Aspirations to go to graduate school

Fall 2010: McNair Scholars spring into success.

Meet Former McNair Scholar Ms. Victoria Theodille (Class of 2010)
Inside this issue:
Victoria Theodille: McNair Program Alum UMBC Conference University Visit Journalism Conference Graduate School Fairs
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Victoria notes that graduate school is difficult and rewarding work. She indicated that receiving a full assistantship helped a lot. I credit the McNair Scholars Program for introducing the idea of graduate school to me, she says. And showing me that it is attainable. She is enjoying life in Auburn, Alabama - citing Auburns big campus and friendly faculty as benefits to her new life. She also encourages current Scholars and all Bloomfield College students with these words of advice: Work very hard and dont be afraid to ask for help especially in approaching faculty and administrators for guidance.

UDEL Conference SREB Institute

Victoria Theodille at Auburn University

Scholarship Kudos to Scholars Applying to Graduate School Tips Dr. McNairs Birthday Celebration Noteworthy events McNair Program Staff
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McNair Alumna Victoria Theodille is one busy graduate student. Victoria was a member of the first class of McNair Scholar to graduate from Bloomfield College. She is currently taking courses and conducting research as part of her Masters Program in Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University. She is working with Dr. Jackie Mize to better understand how biopsychosocial factors influence the adjustment of economically disadvantaged preschool children.

"Preparing for Global Careers and Citizenship: The World is Your Stage" :
McNair Students attend 18th Annual McNair Scholars Research Conference at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
On September 17 - 18, 2010, Jacqueline Rojas (Political Science), Tavainya Smith (Game Programming and Creative Writing), Gayatri Nehrusingh (English Literature), and Rubens Dort (Mathematics and Education) attended and presented their research at the McNair Conference at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. One highlight of the Conference was a presentation by Dr. Hrabowski, III, President of the UMBC, who challenged students to think big and get a Ph.D. Scholars also visited a graduate school recruitment fair.

Jacqueline Rojas poster presentation at UMBC

Graduate School Visit: Atlanta, Georgia

Tavainya Smith and Gayatri Nehrusingh visited Emory University and Georgia Tech in Atlanta On September 23, Gayatri Nehrusingh (English Literature) and Tavainya Smith
(Game Programming and Creative Writing), set out to Georgia to visit various graduate programs. They visited Emory University and Georgia Tech in Atlanta where they met with faculty and discussed graduate school options and research. I was able to speak to Melanie Tipnis, the Academic Degree Program Coordinator of the English Ph.D. program. Ms. Tipnis reinforced the importance of the personal statement, recommendation letters, and GRE scores along with a good GPA, says Gayatri. Tavainya met with a Georgia Tech research faculty member, Dr. Magerko, who shared valuable information about his research. They also visited the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Program and met with the Director, Dr. Ansley Abraham. During the university visits, the Scholars explored the cultural heritage of the area and visited Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs birthplace.

Gayatri Nehrusingh and Tavainya Smith in Atlanta in front of Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs house

Tavainya Smith and Gayatri Nehrusingh in Atlanta with Dr. Ansley Abraham, the Director of SREB Doctoral Scholars Program
McNair Scholars Program Newsletter Page 2

Tavainya Smith meets Dr. Magerko, faculty member at Georgia Tech

Tavainya Smith in front of the Crypt of Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King

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Journalists come together to share best practices:

The 2010 Society of Professional Journalists 3-day Convention
Rosa Salamea (Broadcast Journalism) and Amira Onibudo (Broadcast Journalism) attended the 2010 Society of Professional Journalists Conference in Las Vegas, where they met professionals and students from the field of journalism. They learned about new technologies and concepts. They had the opportunity to explore a newsroom on a tour of a KLAS TV Channel 8, where they received tips for success from professional journalists. I discovered that news gathering and proper delivery are great qualities to acquire but these are only secondary to editing, shooting, and mastering digital audio. In addition, I realized that it is important to use data as a reporter so that objectivity can be maintained and provide some context to a story. - says Rosa Salamea who describes the Conference as an opportunity of a lifetime. At the Journalism Expo, our McNair Scholars were able to speak with recruiters from various graduate schools. Amira met a professor from Ball State University who referred her to two professors from Penn State University. From making this connection at the conference, Amira is currently set to conduct summer research with Professor Shyam Sundars Media Lab at Penn State. Rosa and Amira were also inspired upon their return to campus and started a news blog. Check them out at www.ibloomnews.weebly.com.

Amira and Rosa with SPJ Pres. Kevin Smith

Rosa at the KLAS news desk

Graduate School Fairs: Peek Into Your Future!

McNair Scholars understand the importance of attending Graduate School Fairs. They can directly meet recruiters and faculty from schools of their interest as well as discover new schools they had not considered before. Meeting recruiters in person has many advantages. For instance, questions can be answered on the spot, advice can be provided easily, and important contacts can be made. Recruiters and faculty often take the names of students and follow-up about important dates, deadlines, and fellowship opportunities. Students give out business cards provided by the McNair Program.

Elyse Smith meets with faculty from Smith College at the Idealist.org Graduate Fair in New York City
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Rosa Salamea and Amira Onibudo speak with Graduate School recruiters at SPJ

Fabienne Saturne, Satima Normil and Laquisha Coley at a Graduate School fair in Delaware

Where did McNair Scholars present their research?!

University of Delaware: 8th Annual National McNair Scholars Research Conference and Graduate School Fair
McNair Scholars Satima Normil, Laquisha Coley and Fabienne Saturne attended the 8th annual National McNair Scholars Research Conference and Graduate School Fair on October 8th and 9th, 2010 at University of Delaware. The dynamic 2-day event started off on Friday with oral sessions in which McNair Scholars from across the country presented their research. They had fifteen minutes to present and discuss their findings with a small selected groups of students, faculty, and staff. Satima presented research entitled, The relationship between reading and behavioral problems of students from first to fifth Grade. Also, Laquisha presented her research entitled To what degree do Black-owned businesses mission statements reflect the principles of corporate social responsibility?

Satima Normil receives a Certificate for excellence in scholarship and research

Laquisha Coleys oral presentation at University of Delaware

During the first general session, University of Delaware (UDEL) professors addressed important issues and instructed Scholars on keys to a competitive graduate school application. They offered valuable tips on writing a personal statement, gathering letters of recommendation, boosting GRE scores, and the importance of your major GPA. They urged scholars to continue to be engaged in research and disseminate their findings at conferences and in journals. McNair Scholars dined with UDEL faculty from their research fields, asked questions, and networked with fellow Scholars from other universities. The Graduate School Fair had more than 30 graduate programs that provided a wealth of information. The Conference Banquet featured Dr. Gabrielle Foreman, Professor of English, who encouraged excellence in scholarship and research.

Day two began with a general session on preservation of global cultural heritage and continued with the poster session - in which McNair Scholars had the opportunity to present their research posters. Fabienne Saturne displayed her poster presentation, Temperature and nutrient-dependent regulation of fatty acids in Candida albicans during this session. After the research portion of the program, all the participants went to the UDEL arts museum where they were introduced to various collections. The museum visits were hosted by the curator of African American Art and the Director of UDEL University Museum. The closing ceremony featured Laurin Parker, doctoral candidate at UDEL, who recounted her transition from being an undergraduate student to admission in graduate school.

Fabienne Saturne discussing her research poster at University of Delaware

McNair Scholars Program Newsletter Page 4

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The Southern Regional Education Board:

17th Compact for Faculty Diversity: Institute on Teaching and Mentoring Meeting, Tampa, FL

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) held its 17th Compact for Faculty Diversity: Institute on Teaching and Mentoring meeting in Tampa on October 28th 31st 2010 The Institute is the largest gathering of minority doctoral scholars in the country. Dr. Salandy, Director of the McNair Program, has been involved with the Institute since its inception. He attended with two Bloomfield College McNair Scholars Ms. Jacqueline Rojas and Ms. Gayatri Nehrusingh.

The purpose of the Institute is to provide scholars with the skills necessary to succeed in graduate school and to prepare them for success as faculty members at colleges and universities.

The Institute provided McNair scholars with the opportunity to meet ethnic minority doctoral scholars from across the country. They also had an opportunity to attend seminars that prepared then for graduate school. Opportunities like the Institute are In addition, the Institute provides imperative for the success of our scholars and their faculty mentors students, Dr. Salandy explained. with opportunities to share knowledge about research and academe, to meet Dr. Salandy was the keynote other scholars and faculty from speaker at a session attended by over throughout the country, and to link to 150 McNair Scholars and Directors a larger community of scholars and from across the country. He talked faculty in various academic fields. about the value of pursuing a Ph.D. and offered valuable tips on succeeding in graduate school.

Jacqueline with a fellow McNair Scholar at the SREB Institute

Jacqueline and Gayatri with Dr. Ansley Abraham, Director of the SREB Doctoral Scholars Program

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Hard work pays off:

Laquisha Coley, recipient of a MassMutual Multi-Cultural Scholarship
Laquisha Coley (Business Administration) received the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Award administered by Mass Mutual Financial Group in September. She was awarded $5000 which will enable her to finish her studies at Bloomfield College and continue her preparation for applying to graduate school Laquisha says that apart from her high GPA, the three essays she submitted were extremely important components that determined her winning proposal. She wrote about heritage, community service and her future endeavors for advancing her academic career. Participation in the McNair Scholars Program helped her immensely. She would like to thank McNair Program Staff for identifying the right scholarship for her and advising her throughout the process. More about the Hispanic Scholarship Fund opportunities can be found at www.hsf.net.

Laquisha Coley McNair Scholar

"Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them and how badly you want them. You're eagles! Stretch your wings and fly to the sky!" -Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Kudos to McNair Scholars!

Jacqueline Rojas for being the first Bloomfield College applicant for a Fulbright Scholarship. Kenneth Wilson for being accepted at MIT Converge, a competitive graduate preview program at MIT. Taslima Ishmael and Kenneth Wilson for presenting their research at the Metropolitan Association of College and University Biologists at Molloy College. Danielle Patterson and Kyra Ross for their participation at the Fourth Annual Health Disparities Conference in Philadelphia.

Dr. Salandy heads up STEM initiative between the Sloan Fellowship and McNair Scholars Programs
Dr. Salandy was asked by the Southern Regional Education Board to head up a collaborative effort between Directors of the Sloan Fellowship coordinated by the National Action Council for Minority Engineers (NACME) and funded by the Sloan Foundation and the McNair Scholars Program Directors. The purpose of the collabo rati on is to strengthen the STEM student pipeline between undergraduate and doctoral programs. Communication between stakeholders in the STEM education pipeline is key to increasing the number of underrepresented persons with Ph.D.s in STEM disciplines. Thus, McNair Directors and Sloan Faculty and Directors must work closely together. says Dr. Salandy.

Rubens Dort McNair Scholar

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Applying to Graduate School:

Importance of an effective personal statement
On September 30th, Nkemdilim Ukwu, Program Associate, gathered McNair Scholars for a presentation on how to write a personal statement. A personal statement describes the candidate in terms of their research experience, educational and career objectives and relevant experience to Graduate Program selection committees. Ms. Ukwu spoke of preparation, importance of an early start, outline, draft, and shared invaluable grammar tips. Finally, she referred to Donald Ashers book Graduate Admissions Essays, to provide examples of a winning personal statement.

Nkemdilim Ukwu presenting How To Write a Personal Statement

Happy Birthday Dr. McNair!

On October 21st, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of Dr. McNairs birthday at the McNair/LSAMP Lounge. Dr. Salandy took this opportunity to speak about Dr. Ronald E. McNair and the McNair Program with several guest and Scholars. "The true courage of space flight is not sitting aboard 6 million lbs of fire and thunder as one rockets away from this planet. True courage comes in enduring . . . persevering, the preparation and believing in oneself."
Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Noteworthy Events:

NY Women in Communications Conference, November 6th, 2010, New York, NY The 4th Annual National Conference on Health Disparities, November 10th-13th, 2010, Philadelphia, PA Council on Graduate Schools 50th Annual Conference, December 1st-4th, Washington DC McNair Holiday Party, December 13th, 2010, 6:00 PM-8:00 PM Tea with the Dean, Tuesday, December 14th, 2:30 PM-4:00 PM, McNair/LSAMP Lounge Final Exams December 14 -16 , 2010
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2010,

Taslima Ishmael McNair Scholar

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McNair Scholars Program Staff

Anthony Salandy, Ph.D. Director, McNair Scholars Program Bloomfield College (973) 748-9000 Ext.662 Anthony_Salandy@Bloomfield.edu Work-Study Students 2010-2011: Kaba Tandjigora Biochemistry major Research Assistant Nia McQueen English Literature major Program Assistant Livia Lazzaro English Literature major Communications Specialist

Nkemdilim Ukwu, M.A. Program Associate McNair Scholars Program Bloomfield College (973) 748-9000 Ext.663 Nkemdilim_Ukwu@Bloomfield.edu

Words from the Director

Dear Bloomfield Students, Faculty and Staff, Graduate education can be both personally and professionally rewarding. Our objective in the McNair Scholars Program is to prepare and encourage first-generation, low-income and underrepresented undergraduate students for doctoral study. It is a delight to work with students who h av e th e d es ir e, d riv e an d determination to succeed in graduate school. We look forward to sharing the accomplishments and achievements of our McNair Scholars in the coming months. Please take a moment to view our website to learn more about our program: (www.bloomfield.edu/academics/ mcnair). We are now accepting applications from rising juniors and seniors. Please view our website to ensure eligibility for applying. Regards, Anthony Salandy, PhD.

PROGRAM DATA:
Number of Scholars by disciplines: (some Scholars are double majors) PSYCHOLOGY 7 ENGLISH 1 EDUCATION 3 BIOLOGY 2 HISTORY 2 SOCIOLOGY 2 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 2 BIOCHEMISTRY 2 BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE 1 CHEMISTRY 1 POLITICAL SCIENCE 1 GAME PROGRAMMING 1 JOURNALISM 2 Number of Scholars served 2009-2010.....25 2010-2011.21 (as of 12/1/10) Number of research projects completed.....17 Our graduated Scholars are enrolled at: Auburn University College of Saint Elizabeth NYU Rutgers University William Paterson University

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Bloomfield College is funded by a TRIO federal grant provided by the U.S. Department of Education.