subject: Study Abroad and McNair Scholars: A Partnership for Success! [print this page] Study Abroad and McNair Scholars: A Partnership for Success!
The University of Delaware has found a particular niche when it comes to diversity in education abroad. While UD can boast great variety in the locations and academic focus of its study abroad programs (all seven continents, including Antarctica, in the 2004-2005 academic year), it also stands out for attracting a high percentage of a very special group of students to these programs:study us McNair Scholars. The study abroad participation rate among McNair Scholars has averaged 41% since 2001 (30 out of 74 students), compared with 34% among all University of Delaware undergraduates during the same period.
The University is home to one of only 156 Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Programs in the United States, which forms one of six TRIO programs administered by the United States Department of Education. This program memorializes the life of Dr. Ronald McNair, who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. The goal of the program is to increase the attainment of doctoral degrees by low-income, first-generation college students and underrepresented students of African American, Latino, and Native American descent. Each annual class of approximately 10 to 20 McNair Scholars at UD benefits from an array of support services designed to facilitate the students' successful application to graduate school and to make them aware of opportunities to enrich their academic experience. They participate in research opportunities, mentoring with faculty, graduate school seminars, summer internships, study usand more.
What attracts such a high percentage of McNair Scholars to study abroad? Perhaps it is the opportunity to study and interact on a daily basis with the faculty members who develop the study abroad programs at the University. Approximately 90% of the 1,400 students who study abroad annually at UD do so on one of the over 60 one-month January term or summer programs, all of which are faculty led. The faculty themselves are a diverse mix of expertise and ethnicities. Sometimes the faculty member leading the program is originally from the place the group is going to explore and other times the location reflects their academic expertise. Courses offered on the various programs range from the usual English, History, and Foreign Languages to Wildlife Conservation, Hotel and Restaurant Management, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Animal Science, and others, which reflect the diverse discipline areas of the faculty. Following the trend at the University, most McNair Scholars have chosen to study abroad during the winter term. The overriding factor that makes study abroad a possibility for McNair Scholars at the University of Delaware seems to be the availability of need- and merit-based scholarships. Some of these are provided by the Center for International Studies, (CFIS), while others are funded through various donors. As one student explains, "Without the CFIS scholarship, I would have had to take out another student loan. I am already in debt, and I would have had an even greater debt load. Also, the little money that I did have on my own, I was able to bring that money with me to Mexico and turn it into pesos." Nine McNair Scholars who have studied abroad have been recipients of merit-based Center for International Studies General Scholarships. Thanks to a substantial grant from the Starr Foundation and other generous benefactors, the Center for International Studies is also able to fund an ever-increasing number of need-based scholarships each term. These awards cover the full or partial cost of the program for students who have never studied abroad, thereby offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance to students who would not otherwise be able to afford it. Mesha Eaton, who studied in Granada, Spain for a semester, expresses the thoughts of fellow McNair Scholars and award recipients: "Without the Starr scholarship I would not have been able to experience one of the greatest experiences of my life. Enough said.I am forever indebted."
These awards are extremely competitive, but McNair Scholars have been particularly successful in obtaining them: to date twelve McNair Scholars have been selected as Starr Study Abroad Scholarship Program award recipients. This represents nearly 8% of the total Starr Study Abroad Scholarship Program awards, although McNair Scholars comprise only .5% of the total study abroad population at UD. Although the awards are primarily need-based, the program is competitive, and these winners are also scholars with outstanding academic credentials. While the availability of scholarships is certainly an important factor in making study abroad possible for not just a few students, how do students decide to study abroad in the first place? Most prospective students are introduced to the study abroad programs offered by the University when they come to visit campus as a junior or senior in high school. McNair Scholars also reported hearing about study abroad at those programs, from friends, printed materials, the study abroad Web site, and from professors in class. Wendy Garcia attributes her decision to study abroad in Brazil directly to the McNair Program. McNair Director Maria Palacas offers her own perspective: "Our scholars know that everyone has a story to tell, and our discussions facilitate interest in discovering the people and places behind the stories of the world. Additionally, McNair Scholars themselves represent the pluralistic society in which we live; they long to discover first hand the roots of their heritage and the ways which their own heritage intersects with or diverges from that of othersstudy us."
What has this diverse group of McNair Scholars gained from their time abroad? Yolanda Acree, who studied in Cuba, explains that, "after studying abroad I felt more mature and grounded as a person. Learning about another culture helped me to see myself more clearly." Others commented that their time abroad helped them to narrow their course of study, while others felt that they had simply gained a new perspective. Many times this new perspective was directly related to being open to diversity. Nicole Hitchens noted that after studying abroad in Granada, Spain, "I feel I have a lot more strength and courage to try new things. Also it had a lot to do with getting along with people of different backgrounds and cultures. I feel I am more open-minded and I didn't think that was possible." Jennifer Durham, who spent a winter term in Italy, commented, "The study abroad experience really tested a lot of my preconceived views of myself and how I viewed others. Having the opportunity to live in another country allowed me to see and live a different side of myself that I didn't even know existed." For many of these students it was the first chance to travel outside of the United States, and for some it was the first time they had ever flown on an airplane.
