Why we need the McNair Program
A doctoral degree bestows benefits that last a lifetime. These include the highest annual median income compared to lower levels of educational attainment, an unemployment rate of nearly zero percent, a lifetime earnings curve that is much higher than lower levels of educational attainment, and a wide array of research and academic employment possibilities.
The McNair program is aimed at leveling the playing field in graduate-level education by preparing academically talented students from low-income, first-generation and underrepresented backgrounds for graduate-level education, with the ultimate objective of completing doctoral studies. As more and more disadvantaged students go on to earn doctoral degrees, they receive the stated benefits of this degree and go on to pass these benefits on to future generations. The intergenerational benefits of educational attainment begin with each McNair scholar.
Who was Ronald E. McNair?
Ronald E. McNairDr. McNair, who received a Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was the first in his family to graduate from college and receive a doctorate. He grew up in a working-class family in a small South Carolina town during the Civil Rights Movement.
During his youth, McNair was very talented and became valedictorian of his high school class, opening the door for him to study at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University under a science scholarship. There he explored his love of science and went on to MIT where he specialized in research on lasers, and received his doctorate in 1976. He joined NASA in 1978. Unfortunately, McNair died in the Challenger shuttle tragedy of January 1986.
McNair encouraged young people to thoughtfully prepare for their futures. "To pursue a dream, you first have to have one," became one of his many mottos. UW-Eau Claire's McNair Scholars fulfill and continue Dr. McNair's vision—young achievers who are well on their way in the pursuit of their dreams.
