Mellon Fellows
F or three years, Rice has been one of 22 other universities working to increase the number of minority doctorates in academic teaching positions through the Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship Program.
While the demand for minority professors is great, few are avaliable, according to Edward Cox, the coordinator of MMUFP at Rice and associate professor of History. "Institutions constantly bemoan the shortage of candidates and actively seek to attract available individuals from others," Cox said.
Funded by the Mellon Foundation based in New York City, MMUFP tries to increase the pool of minority doctorates one student at a time. The program funds students who work with faculty mentors and allows them to experience being a member of the academic community. By providing this connection, the program hopes to encourage its participants to pursue graduate studies, hopefully leading them to a Ph.D. and a professorship.
The academic areas targeted by the Mellon Foundation in MMUFP are those in which minorities are most poorly represented -- humanities, anthropology, mathematics, mathematical sciences, statistics, physics, geology, ecology and earth sciences. Fellows must be studying in these "eligible areas" to participate in the program and must be of an underrepresented minority group: black, Hispanic or Native American.
The program addresses several factors that account for the lack of minority professors. The first is that, due to a low doctorate pool, many bright minority students have few role models in academia. According to Karen Kossie, assistant coordinator of MMUFP and a graduate student in the History Department, many minority high school students don't even think about higher education, much less a Ph.D., simply because there are no examples to show that it can be done.
Another factor is that many parents aren't sold on college teaching as a profession. "They'd much rather have their children go into medical school, law school and the like, so many times, there are tensions," Cox said.
Third, students face the problem of money when deciding whether to go into graduate school. More and more, they are deciding to work immediately after graduating in order to start paying their debts rather than going on to graduate school, where they may incur even more debt.
Helping students overcome these problems to increase the pool of minority professors is essential, according to Kossie. "We live in a diverse country and world, and it is important that universities mirror the `united' communities that we serve at home," she said.
Cox stressed that "if diversity in the academy is to be maintained into the next century, there should be a redoubled effort to attract more minorities into the potential pool of candidates for Ph.D.s."
One Student at a Time
MMUFP's way of alleviating the problem is through providing academic and financial aid to its participants. Fellows receive two years of mentoring from a faculty member in their area of interest. The work students do with their mentors varies greatly: helping plan a professional conference, doing research for a book or article that the mentor is preparing or simply reading and discussing selected texts of mutual interest. Whatever the work, its purpose is to foster a close relationship between mentor and fellow.
Each year, fellows receive $1,600 from the program, intended to free time for them to focus on their studies instead of working to pay for their education. In addition, if any fellow wants to attend a professional conference, there is $400 available each year to pay for travel and expenses.
Each summer, fellows are eligible for a stipend of $3,000 if they choose to intern or engage in research. In the past, students have used the opportunity to work with professors at other universities and travel overseas to study.
Money is a major component of the program. "Minority students tend to delay going into grad school because of the enormous amount of loans they have accumulated as an undergraduate," Cox said. For that reason, MMUFP helps fellows who continue into graduate school repay their undergraduate loans.
The program pays up to $1,250 of a fellow's debt per year, for up to four years, if he or she enrolls in a Ph.D. program in an eligible field. Fellows who wish to take a year or so off from academics are not excluded; the loan repayment is offered to any fellow who enters graduate school within 39 months after graduation. An additional $5,000 of undergraduate loans is repaid upon completion of the Ph.D.
Of the 455 fellows of MMUFP nationwide who have graduated from college, 184 are now in graduate programs in their respective fields and are currently benefiting from the loan-repayment program. Of the three fellows who have graduated from Rice, one has gone on to graduate school and one more is planning to enroll next year.
"I firmly believe the program has made a difference," Cox said.
Building a Community
At Rice this year, the program has 11 fellows: six blacks, four Hispanics and one Native American. The group gathers every other week to promote a sense of community amongst the fellows.
The meetings are held informally, usually over lunch at one of the colleges, and they give the students an opportunity to discuss their work and experiences.
According to Wiess College senior Kadeshia Matthews, a MMUFP fellow, "Everyone seems interested in what the others are doing, even if it is outside their major." She adds that "establishing meaningful ties" with one's peers is an important skill to those who plan to be involved in the academic community.
Guests are invited to speak to the group about topics related to graduate school and academics.
"We seek individuals who not only support the program's goals, but who also model the excellence in professional and academic achievement that we envision for our students," Kossie said.
Cox said that he likes to invite speakers based on a different theme each year. A couple of years ago, the program highlighted preparation for and application to graduate schools. This year, speakers have included minority professors from around the country who have spoken to the students on academic life as a minority.
This year, the program has branched out, encouraging high school students to consider college in much the same way the fellows are being encouraged to consider graduate school. Fellows have visited high schools and other programs to speak to students about life at the university level.
At the end of each year, the fellows have a formal banquet at which they send off the graduating seniors and welcome the newly selected fellows.
Historian in the Making
Hanszen College senior Tiffany Player, a history major, has been able to use MMUFP to broaden her knowledge in her field and to prepare herself for a graduate and professional career in academics.
Player, who is black, began with Cox as a mentor. However, in an example of what networking can do for an academian, Cox introduced her to Evelyn Nolen, assistant editor of the Journal of Southern History , a publication that covers topics in which Player is interested.
For Player, the relationship with Nolen has blossomed. "We have become great friends as well as having established a good mentor-mentee relationship," she said.
Player took advantage of her summer stipend by going to Emory University in Atlanta to do research for her summer thesis on the commercialization of the "Mammy image" in American culture. The trip to Emory served two purposes: first, to provide a change of atmosphere in which to research; and second, to see Emory firsthand, since it is one of her primary choices for graduate school.
Player also took advantage of the money set aside for travel to conferences; earlier this year, she traveled with Nolen to New Orleans to attend the Southern Historical Association Conference. "Since not many undergraduates get to go to these scholarly events, I fully appreciated my involvement with the Mellon program which made it possible for me to attend," she said.
At the conference, Nolen introduced Player to her friends in the teaching profession, including some names Player was familiar with.
"I had breakfast, lunch and dinner with people whose work I had come to admire," she said.
Player was disappointed when she experienced personally the problem that MMUFP was founded to help solve, i.e. a lack of minorities in academics; the vast majority of those attending the conference were white.
"I realized that I am in a program like MMUFP precisely because I want to bring more of a minority presence to ... academia," she said.
And she intends to carry through on that wish. After graduation, Player plans to obtain her Ph.D. in history with an emphasis on Southern and black women's issues. "The support and encouragement I have received from everyone in the program has made me believe I can be a great historian someday and that I can make a difference in the field of education," she said.
An Ex-Premed Success Story
Matthews didn't know what to do for a career after deciding to abandon premedical studies. She had never given much thought to graduate school before being selected to be a Mellon fellow.
"I wasn't aware of what grad school involved, so the whole idea of it seemed overwhelming," she said.
But after working with Lucille Fultz and Helena Michie, both from the English Department, she has decided to pursue an academic career in literature.
Fultz was a major influence on her decision to continue with her studies.
"We discussed graduate school in general and specifically those institutions that have good programs in African-American studies," Matthews said.
The work that Matthews has done with Michie has varied from assisting with the final details of the Women's Conference to leading a discussion in Michie's Victorian novel class. She is also writing a research paper for Michie to put up for publication.
Last year, Matthews went to Louisville, Ky., to attend the first Toni Morrison Conference at Bellarmine College. "It was an immensely positive experience," she said. The conference taught her more about a subject of great interest to her and exposed her to the wide array of other subjects open to research.
One of Matthews' favorite events was the visit to Smiley High School's College Day program. Matthews was one of four Mellon fellows who talked to students about life and work at the university level.
"So many of the young women expressed an interest in going to college, but few of them had specific knowledge as to what they needed to do to get there," she said. Also, she said that the students seemed encouraged to see black and Hispanic students who were succeeding in college.
MMUFP was very important in influencing Matthews to decide to go on to graduate school. "Because of the Mellon program, grad school is no longer an alien, daunting idea," she said.
Interested?
The program is open to black, Hispanic and Native American sophomores whose areas of interest fall under the scope of humanities, anthropology, mathematics, mathematical sciences, statistics, physics, geology, ecology and earth sciences.
The deadline for applications this year is March 12. Interested students can obtain an application from the History Department secretary.
To apply, a student must fill out an application and supply a transcript, personal statement and resumé, as well as a letter of recommendation from a faculty member. A number of candidates will then be selected for interviews, after which the new fellows will be chosen.
This item appeared in the Features section of the March 1, 1996 issue.
Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights
Reserved.
This document may be distributed
electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety
and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted
without the express written permission of:
The Rice
Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.
The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@rice.edu