News Archives - 2007

Augsburg has been awarded the McNair Scholars Program Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The McNair Scholars Program at Augsburg is funded to serve 25 students who are low-income and first-generation and/or from underrepresented groups in graduate education to prepare them for graduate school through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. The four-year grant totals around $900,000 and has an Oct.1 start date.

This is the second time Augsburg has had a McNair Scholars Program -- the first was from 1999-2003 -- which has demonstrated great success in the numbers of alums who are enrolled in or have earned master’s and doctoral degrees at prestigious institutions across the country. Dixie Shafer, director of the Office for Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity, said, "[this second iteration of] McNair will draw upon the success and wisdom of our McNair alums to support the new cohort of scholars.”

In addition to the return of McNair, Augsburg College is one of 15 higher education institutions in Minnesota, along with the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota High Tech Association, to be awarded a 5-year, $2.45 million grant aimed at attracting under-represented minorities to science, technology, engineering and math programs. The National Science Foundation (NSF) will fund this program through its Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program.