ITTA BENA, Miss.—Mississippi Valley State University senior Janice Citchens of Tutwiler, Miss. has been utilizing the summer to learn all she can about post-baccalaureate studies through the Ronald E. McNair Program at the University of Mississippi.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the McNair Scholars Program is designed to prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities.
During the rigorous, six-week program, students conduct and present research under mentors in their desired field of study, giving them a first-hand encounter of the demands and requirements of graduate school.
Citchens, a sociology major, researched migration patterns in Mississippi with guidance from Dr. John Green.
“I was privileged to attend the University of Mississippi’s McNair Program, and the experience was outstanding,” said Citchens.
“As an African-American woman from the Mississippi Delta, I’m very much aware of the opportunity deficit. The McNair program allowed me space to foster long-term relationships with mentors and peers while also allowing the opportunity to sharpen specific skills and discover ones I did not know I possessed.” Citchens added.
Citchens said while attending the program opened her eyes to the rigor of graduate studies, it also showed her that she’s capable of tackling the challenge.
“More than anything being a McNair Scholar has reminded me that our disadvantages do not dictate our trajectory and as students from the Mississippi Delta we are just as competent and capable,” she explained. “However, since opportunities are not as readily available to us, we have to seek them.”
During her time at MVSU, Citchens has served as a University Ambassador as well as a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Council of Negro Women.
Named for physicist and astronaut Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair who passed away in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion, the McNair Scholars Program is a federal TRIO program funded at 151 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Education.
McNair participants are either first-generation college students with financial need or members of a group that is traditionally underrepresented in graduate education who have demonstrated strong academic potential.
The goal of the McNair Scholars Program is to increase the attainment of Ph.D. degrees by students from underrepresented segments of society.
To learn more about the McNair Scholars Program, visit www.mcnairscholars.com.