More than 80 percent of the College of Charleston’s second graduating class of McNair Scholars will enroll in a master’s or doctoral program. This meets the goal of the program, which is designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented segments of society who will ultimately earn a Ph.D., and add to the diversity of higher education faculty.

The list of McNAir Scholars includes the following students:

Kimberly Arnold is a Gates Millennium Scholar and will attend the Master of Public Health program at Drexel University.

Lenise Bennett will attend the master of Public Health program at the University of Miami.

Jessica Branton and Kirstie Sims will earn master’s degrees from The Citadel. Sims plans to earn her M.Ed. in Counselor Education.

Whitney Gibbs and Ariana Renrick will each receive $28,000 a year as part of the Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at the University of South Carolina.

Javier Gomez-Lavin will receive $35,000/year, plus tuition, plus health insurance to earn his Ph.D. in philosophy at City University of New York (CUNY). Gomez-Lavin’s research was published twice and presented at 10 conferences while he was an undergraduate. At CUNY, he has already earned CUNY’s Enhanced Chancellors Fellowship, the Dean K. Harrison Award and the Mellon Foundation Fellowship.

Katherine Gumps will receive $24,000/year, plus tuition, plus health insurance to earn her Ph.D. in neurobiology and behavior at the University of Washington. Gumps spent four years conducting undergraduate research, participating in scholarship programs (including the National Institute of Health’s Undergraduate Scholarship Program), and being featured in numerous College publications.

Laura Jackson will receive $26,000/year plus tuition to earn her Ph.D. in genetics and genomic science at the University of Alabama.

Candice Ulmer will receive $22,000/year, plus tuition, plus health insurance to earn her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Florida. Ulmer earned more than 14 awards while at the College.

“The McNair Scholars Program helped me to clarify, focus on and adequately plan for my beginning career in academia,” Javier Gomez-Lavin says. “Had it not been for their support, and structured time windows that they had, I do now know if I would have been able to have the uniquely situated CV that I had when I applied for grad school.”

The College of Charleston is one of three South Carolina universities to host the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.

The McNair Scholars Program provides special opportunities to academically promising undergraduate students who have an interest in attending graduate school and completing their PhD. Each year, 25 undergraduate students will receive special preparation for doctoral programs. Preparation will include a summer research experience, service learning, coursework, a workshop series and advising to prepare these students for successful completion of graduate degrees.

Services provided under the McNair Scholars Program include the opportunity to engage in academic research, mentoring, academic advising and non-credit workshops, as well as assistance with securing admission to, as well as financial support for, enrollment in graduate level and doctoral programs. Students receive a stipend linked to the accomplishment of specific academic milestones. Once they have successfully completed the program, they will be eligible for special graduate scholarships and fellowships at universities across the country.

To be considered for acceptance into the McNair Scholars Program, students must be College of Charleston undergraduates serious about pursuing a PhD who have earned at least 60 credit hours by the end of the spring semester of application, have a 3.0 GPA or higher, and plan to pursue a Ph.D. They must also be low-income (as defined by the U.S. Department of Education), first-generation college students and/or be from a population group that is underrepresented in graduate education.

For more information, contact program specialist Marta Rivell at 843.953.6755 or McNair@cofc.edu.