By Jeff Murphy,
September 29, 2017
WARRENSBURG, MO – After graduating from J.C. Penney High School in Hamilton, Mo.,
Skip Crooker took a trailblazing step to become the first member of his family to
enroll in college. A couple of years into the study of economics at the University
of Central Missouri, a faculty member took note of his strong academic skills and
suggested something the first-generation college student considered unthinkable –
prepare for doctoral study.
Crooker now jokes that as a student in the early 1990s the idea of him earning a doctorate
seemed about as feasible as fulfilling his childhood dream to become the Kansas City
Royals’ shortstop. After giving it some thought, however, he not only embraced the
idea of pursuing a Ph.D., and achieved that goal, but now mentors other UCM students
who want to follow the same path through the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement
Program. Known on campus as the McNair Scholars Program, it is housed in the College
of Education within the Department of Academic Enrichment.
Serving as a UCM faculty member and director of the Office of Institutional Research
and Assessment, Crooker is one of a growing number of university graduates who have
returned to higher education after completing this federally funded program. This
unique initiative now has an opportunity to extend its services in support of many
more UCM students, thanks to the renewal of a federal grant.
The university recently learned that it will receive $256,547 in federal funding for
McNair Scholars for the budget year, beginning Oct. 1, 2017. Additional support is
anticipated in the future, bringing the funding total to $1,282,735 over the next
five-years, according to Margaret Shull, program director.
The McNair Scholars Program is named for NASA astronaut Ronald E. McNair, who died
in the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 while seeking to become the second
African American to fly in space. As a memorial, the U.S. Congress established a new
TRIO program in his name in 1989 for the purpose of preparing first-generation, low-income
college students and students underrepresented in higher education for doctoral study.
The program was established at UCM in 1991, and Crooker became a member of the first
cohort class before going on to complete a doctorate at Iowa State University in Ames.
“The McNair Scholars Program is funded to serve 28 students annually,” Shull said.
“Students generally enter the program during the fall of their junior year. Recruitment
for the program occurs during September and October.”
She noted that McNair students are selected for the two-year program based on an interview
and application process. Once they become a McNair Scholar, students have opportunities
to participate in research and other scholarly activities such as informational seminars,
conducting research under the guidance of faculty mentors, participating in graduate
school campus visits, and the opportunity for a paid summer research internship.
Participants also have an opportunity to publish their summer research projects in
“The McNair Journal,” an annual UCM publication, and present their research to an
audience during the UCM McNair Research Symposium in September.
“The greatest benefit for our participants is the individual mentoring and research
support they are given so they can better appreciate and achieve their abilities as
researchers,” Shull said.
Each student works with a three-member faculty mentor team. This group consists of
a Discipline Mentor to provide individual academic advisement regarding graduate studies
in the student’s major field. It also includes a Library Mentor who helps the student
achieve information literacy, and a Research Mentor, who supervises and guides all
activities related to planning and executing the scholar’s research.
“You don’t write a lot of research papers at the undergraduate level, so that was
certainly something I was doing for the first time in my life,” Crooker said in talking
about the McNair Scholars research experience that gave him an opportunity to use
his skills in data analysis. “This was part of the program to get students acclimated
to doing things that won’t seem foreign to them when they get into graduate school.”
Shull said articles and abstracts represent a breadth of disciplines, and “the uniformity
of the scholars’ dedication to acquiring knowledge encompassed in the academic research
process.” Some research relates to topics that are in the national spotlight. In the
most recent issue of “The McNair Journal,” for example, there is a featured study
by Lacy Hembree, a senior political science major, with Robynn Kuhlmann, assistant
professor of political science. It “explores factors of exposure to sexual violence
on college campuses and correlations between sexual victimization and poverty.” One
of the journal’s abstracts deals with the emotional effects of military service. Kiera
C.A. Green, a senior criminal justice major, and Gene Bonham, professor of criminal
justice, collaborated on this study, “From Shell Shock to PTSD: How Print Media Portray
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
Shull said a goal for McNair Scholars is to prepare students for doctoral study and
return to the professoriate. Including Crooker, the university currently has three
faculty members who were UCM McNair Scholars as undergraduates, and went on to achieve
doctoral degrees. Also on the faculty are Amber Clifford-Napoleone, Ph.D., associate
professor of anthropology and curator of the McClure Archives and University Museum;
and Ken Bias, Ed.D., professor in the Department of Nutrition and Kinesiology.
“Previous participants have earned a total of 70 doctoral degrees of various types
and are engaged in many areas of work,” Shull said. “Several are faculty members at
other colleges or universities. Some have become lawyers, and one is a judge. We have
several who have become pharmacists, physical therapists, and osteopaths.”
For Crooker, being a McNair Scholar has come full circle. In addition to serving as
a mentor to students, he participates in the McNair Scholars student interview process,
and continues to be a fervent advocate for the benefits of McNair Scholars as a way
to help qualified students learn how to navigate the often complex process of graduate
school preparation. This includes gaining a wealth of knowledge that ranges from financial
aid and how to conduct scholarly research to discovering how to prepare for the Graduate
Record Exam (GRE) and taking courses that will help the student make a smooth transition
into graduate study.
“I received a lot of encouragement about which classes I should take at UCM that were
going to help me most to be successful in graduate school,” he said. “I had a really
nice background of classes that made graduate school so much easier because I had
already been exposed to so many ideas at the undergraduate level.”
Crooker attributes the longevity and success of the McNair Scholars Program to strong
faculty and staff support at UCM.
He noted, “The program is so strong and the leaders we have on campus, and the way
they nurture students, is incredible. They have changed the direction of so many
students. I’ve seen it firsthand, and it’s absolutely outstanding.”
