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A Program Helps Build the 'University of the Future'

A new cohort of Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows enters the academic pipeline

mellon mays

President Richard H. Brodhead, meeting with Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Monday, praised the program for attracting students to academic careers. Photo by Les Todd/Duke University Photography.

Junior Katrina Miller spent the summer conducting physics research, an incredible out-of-the-classroom learning experience for her. Senior Asraiel Harewood used the time to explore social science issues without having to take a summer job. David Builes, also a junior, is grateful for the mentoring and financial support he’s received.

Their sentiments echo that of the group of Duke students selected as Mellon Mays Undergraduate fellows. The fellowship is a competitive national program -- up to five sophomores and juniors are selected each year seeks to promote the development of faculty of color and women in fields where they are significantly underrepresented.

This year’s cohort of two juniors and four seniors are conducting research in fields including mathematics, philosophy, film and media, American history and cultural anthropology -- fields, among others identified by the Mellon Foundation, that lack faculty diversity.

The students receive $1,800 per semester as well as a summer stipend that allows them to conduct research. They are also eligible to receive $10,000 in student loan repayment if they pursue a doctoral degree in a Mellon-identified discipline.

Just as important, the program provides mentors for the fellows to encourage their intellectual interests and offer career advice.

Isava

Mellon Mays Fellows Make Their Mark

In two stories last month, Duke Today reported on how MMUF alumni and current fellows used the program to further their academic interests.

Ginny Isava (pictured above) is doing geological research, exploring the Smoky Mountains for clues about development of the mountains and environmental change. Read more here.

Susanna Temkin, a 2007 Trinity College graduate, used the program to set herself on an academic career in art history and curating. Read more here.

On Monday evening the fellows, along with the program’s directors and faculty mentors attended a reception at President Richard H. Brodhead’s home. Brodhead praised the program’s success through leadership and mentorship in building a new generation of scholars.

“If we did not set aside some subset of students and put them on the road to become faculty, there would be no university of the future,” Brodhead told the students. “Think of yourself as the locomotive of the train with many cars coming behind it.”

Brodhead also marveled that the 4,000 students who have been selected for the national program and encouraged to pursue their Ph.D.’s are “replenishing every possible field” and will be “some significant portion of the faculty at great universities around the world.”

Deborah Wahl, the associate director of Undergraduate Research, and Kerry Haynie, associate professor of political science and African and African American Studies, and director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Social Sciences, serve as co-coordinators of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF). Since the program came to Duke in 1997, 16 cohorts comprised of 70 students have gone through the program. Eleven have finished graduate school and nearly 20 fellows are in the pipeline working toward their doctoral degrees.

Forty-three percent of the Mellon Mays fellows from Duke have attended graduate school in a Mellon Mays Fellowship discipline.

Destiny Hemphill, a senior majoring in African American studies and literature has always had a desire to teach.

“Academia gives you the capacity to produce new knowledge, however, some of the same systems of oppression end up being reproduced in academia so it’s important to have adequate representation,” Hemphill said. She enjoys the retreats where MMUF alumni return to share their experiences as faculty of color.

Presenting comes easily to senior Nicole Rudden, a visual studies major with Argentinian roots, who is looking forward to presenting at the MMUF's Southeastern Regional Conference, which will take place at Duke this coming November.

Senior Ginny Isava says that the fellowship has helped her with her graduate school applications. “I’m as prepared as I can be but there is still a sense of uncertainty,” she said. “It’s very arbitrary but having the research experience helps.”

Research and making connections are hallmarks of the program.

“Once a Mellon, always a Mellon,” said Haynie, remarking upon the connections fellows make with each other long after they graduate at other colleges and universities. Excellent mentorship distinguishes the Duke program, he said, something that comes naturally to Duke faculty.

The fellows meet as a group biweekly, usually over dinner, with an invited guest who shares information to help them with their graduate school applications.

“I talk to them about their personal statement and ‘dressing’ your application for success,” said Alan Kendrick, an assistant dean of Graduate Student Affairs, who has helped the fellows. “It’s such a complex undertaking, we want to make sure they have the tools to get a second look.”

In 2003, the Mellon Foundation reaffirmed its commitment to the program and changed its name to the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, connecting the mission to the educational achievements of Benjamin E. Mays, the former president of Morehouse College who was an early adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr.

The program is hosted by 43 undergraduate colleges and universities as well as at 39 member institutions of the United Negro College Fund and three universities in South Africa.

Wahl is energized by the relationships she and Haynie form with students. They stay in touch with the students in graduate school and even have “Mellon grandbabies,” the children of their fellows.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than helping them reach their goals,” Wahl said. “It’s exciting to see them go on to do great things.”