Abstract:

The McNair Scholars Program supports and encourages potentially successful first-generation, low-income and underrepresented college students to complete baccalaureate degrees, enroll in graduate programs, achieve doctoral degrees and enter the professoriate. Although the federal government evaluates the McNair Program by measuring the extent of participant achievement in research, enrollment in graduate school and Ph.D. attainment, there is a lack of research on less quantifiable outcomes of the Program. As future faculty members and researchers in their fields, the ways in which McNair participants construct knowledge will impact their scholarly work and shape the way they represent the material of their disciplines to future students. Thus it is important to understand the development of McNair Scholars’ conceptions of knowledge and the ways in which program activities contribute to their educational experiences. In addition, because McNair Scholars receive educational interventions that contribute to academic success, their undergraduate experiences can be viewed as exemplary and the results of this study may contribute to the knowledge of best practices in undergraduate education.
Using the Perry model of college student intellectual and ethical development in an unorthodox and qualitative way, this research seeks to identify how students respond to the McNair contribution to their educational journeys. Data is drawn from multiple sources: participants’ McNair Program and graduate program admission essays; McNair exit evaluations faculty mentorship research, and application to graduate school; and participant interviews.
Preliminary results indicate: participants’ trend from an inward to an outward perspective of knowledge; an increase in participants’ inclination for social activism, and: awareness of their positions in a scholarly community.

Keywords:

cognitive development, leadership, graduate study.