The Black Cultural Center hosted the TRIO Day Event in February. There was a presentation about the history of African Americans in the space program and the history of the TRIO programs.
By Melanie Escalante / The Hub@TTU
In 1959, a 9-year-old black boy living in segregated Lake City, South Carolina, was denied the opportunity to check out books. Standing firm in his desire, he refused to leave. Once the cops arrived, the librarian was instructed to allow him the opportunity to check out the books he wanted.
52 years later, the library was named for the boy; Ronald E. McNair.
He was a first-generation college student, valedictorian at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and physicist who earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A NASA recruit, and the second African American to go to space in 1984, McNair was the first person to bring a saxophone into space and one of the seven astronauts who passed in the challenger explosion in 1986.
His legacy is honored by the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, commonly known as the McNair Scholars Program, established in 1989.
Jon Crider, director of the McNair Scholars Program at Texas Tech, said the program is one of the four TRIO programs at Tech, the other three being Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math and Science, and Student Support Services.
The Upward Bound programs and the McNair Scholars Program run on the same five-year cycle, meaning institutions are required to apply for the federally funded grants every five years. Tech renewed the grant in 2022, allowing the program to remain secure until 2027, Crider added.
Ronald McNair on left, the middle is Guion Bluford, and right is Frederick Gregory — 1978 selection of astronauts.
The goal of the program is to provide more intense support for first-generation, low-income college students and students who are underrepresented in higher education in order to be better prepared for graduate school.
“They may not have family that understands that process, may not even understand why [I need to get a] masters or a Ph.D.,” Crider said. “We walk them through that and teach them what grad school is, how it works, and then help them to apply.”
Jayme Mowery, Tech senior studying history and political science from Blanco, Texas, said a lot of the hard work she dedicates to her education is for her own benefit but is also due to her being McNair Scholar since the fall of 2021.
“It’s always good to like, make my parents proud and everything, but they kind of have no idea what I’m doing here. I think it’s nice to have that kind of support but it’s also misplaced sometimes,” Mowery said.
She said the process has already allowed personal growth in management technique and willpower.
“I’ve had to push myself through this program. Before it was like if I didn’t want to do it, I wasn’t going to do it,” Mowery said. “Being in the McNair program is like having a reason to do all of that homework (research) because like I wouldn’t do it outside of something like this. I would not have picked up a research project for fun if I wasn’t in a program like this.”
LaTricia Phillips, assistant director for the McNair Scholars Program and alumna of the program at Grand Valley State University, said she was lost before her involvement in 2007.
Phillips said she was a freshman at Grand Valley State University who knew she wanted to be a doctor, but not a medical doctor. She had no idea what graduate school meant or how to get involved until she attended a workshop at the college graduate center where she was guided along the right path.
“It helped me a lot with my own self-confidence, or self-efficacy, like even believing I can do this,” Phillips said. “I felt like I was able to navigate that space beyond just (being) a student. Now I’m getting professional development, I’m understanding conference etiquette, things like that, that I probably wouldn’t have known as an undergraduate student trying to get through it.”
Crider said students follow a chronological process for two years. Students are recruited during their sophomore year, selected in the summer and start the program during the fall of their junior year.
Students choose a faculty mentor and begin developing their research project during the fall semester and in the spring, the project is expanded upon and preparation for graduate school begins. During the summer, students participate in an eight-week research internship and receive a stipend. At the end of the summer, students are taken to a conference somewhere across the country where they present their research.
The Black Cultural Center was envisioned by Texas Tech students in order to raise awareness on scholarship, advocacy, networking, and knowledge of social change, and to create opportunities to preserve and celebrate culture, provide fellowship, and validate appreciation toward Black histories. Photo by Melanie Escalante.
In their last year of the program, students work on finalizing personal statements and curriculum vitae (CVs), visit potential graduate schools via trips funded by the program and await the anticipated acceptance letters.
Mowery said this past summer participants went to the University of California, Los Angeles, to present research.
The name of her research project: Letting loose a feminist history of flatulence.
Although she only works directly with her mentor on the project, her cohort meets once every two weeks.
“Even if I didn’t get anything out of the research experience, like the folks that I met in my cohort are so wonderful and I’m so glad that I met them,” Mowery said. “I think that I will legitimately have long-term friends out of meeting some of these folks.”
Phillips said the program emphasized finding your community once it is time to venture off.
When she moved to Lubbock, about eight years ago, she found her community in the Black Graduate Student Association at Tech, which was a huge part of her transition. Phillips graduated with a doctorate degree in higher education/higher education administration from Tech in December.
“A lot of my reasons for continuing to push through was very much because of my parents, and the support — I was very blessed to be supported by them,” Phillips said. “Even if they didn’t necessarily know exactly what was happening, they were still very willing, they wanted to talk about it, make sure I was okay. I felt bad for moving across the country and they’re like, ‘No, you need to do whatever you need to do.’”
As her parents watched her cross the stage, she saw the sacrifices she made take shape in the form of her diploma.
To now be assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program is very rewarding, Phillips added. She is no longer the overwhelmed student, but the support on the other end.
“I get so many calls or messages back, and they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, Trish, you are right, this is what’s happening,’ but I think it’s just important to take my experience, and really let them know that they can do this. It’s okay. It’s going be hard but you’re more than capable, and you’re deserving of this,” Phillips said.
Crider said part of the program’s goals is to diversify the academy and bring in the representation of diverse backgrounds in academia, or private industries, which makes the name of the program quite fitting considering McNair helped uplift first-generation and students from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds to strive for achievement in higher education, Crider added.
Phillips said she believes the renewal of the McNair Scholars Program is important because it is successful in what it is designed to do — increase doctorate degrees earned amongst underrepresented groups and contribute to the next pool of researchers in the world.
“I truly do love everything about McNair. I’m extremely happy that I was even part of the program,” Phillips said. “Just to reiterate, I don’t know where I would be without it, coming from my own background and, you know, just not knowing what was out there.”
Applications are now available and due on Mar. 23.
For more information, visit https://www.depts.ttu.edu/diversity/mcnair/.
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