Comments on: The McNair Program

By: Julianne

Julianne — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:04:01 +0000

The McNair program is probably run slightly differently at different institutions, so touchy-feeliness can probably vary. I have an extremely low tolerance for that stuff myself, so I’m sympathetic. It’s certainly true that some fraction of McNair scholars are going to be fine no matter what, particularly given that it’s a competive program, so the students are already selected to be somewhat on the ball. But, I think that, at least in the incarnation run here at UW, the practical information is of great value, particularly for first-generation students who’ve never seen the path modeled by anyone in their family.

By: Richard E.

Richard E. — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:17:18 +0000

Hit submit too early, but hopefully my meaning can be disentangled from the typos above…

By: Richard E.

Richard E. — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:16:08 +0000

Levin (Yale) is a former economics professor, and Columbia president is a lawyer first amendment scholar. So far Ike’s batting average looks remarkably weak.

By: Z

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:57:41 +0000

The McNair program sounds wonderful in principle, but I have to say that a student I had who was in the program found it annoying (he said there was a lot of “touchy-feely” mentoring) and dropped out. He did fine on his own.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:18:51 +0000

Ronald McNair lived a pretty interesting life, and seemed like both a stand-up guy and someone with a fascinating career. I’m glad to see there’s a legacy like this for him.

You can read his NASA bio here, and a more detailed bio of him here. I particularly like this quote from him:

Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them and how badly you want them.

There’s a neat book about him, too.

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:13:59 +0000

I’d be interested in knowing what schools are headed by ex-pharmaceutical company CEOs or other similar people. The president of Harvard seems to be a professor of history without any of this CEO experience. Princeton’s president is a molecular biologist who seems to have worked in many places but I don’t see any pharmaceutical companies. After looking at Cornell, Yale and Columbia and also don’t see this link.

Can you give some concrete examples of what Ivy League schools you are talking about? It certainly doesn’t seem to be all of them.

By: Bob Munck

Bob Munck — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:11:03 +0000

After all, who is running your school? Chances are, it is an ex-pharmaceutical company CEO or someone similar. That is certainly the case at many of the leading U.S. universities these days - all the Ivy League schools,

President of Brown University:

Born in 1945, in a farm of sharecroppers in Grapeland, Texas; the baby of 12 children family headed by sharecroppers; great-great grandparents were slaves. Her mother ironed clothes and cleaned houses for a living; her father was a factory worker. Simmons was educated in segregated schools, first in Grapeland, and later in Houston.

A French professor before entering university administration, President Simmons also holds an appointment as a professor of comparative literature and of Africana Studies at Brown. She graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans and completed her Ph.D. in Romance languages and literatures at Harvard. She served in various administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College before becoming president of Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States.

Not seeing a lot of the pharmaceutical company CEO experience there.

By: ike

ike — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:36:12 +0000

Time to add a new pillar to your classics - exchanging scientific integrity for political conformity in order to gain tenured positions in a corporate-controlled academic system. It’s all the rage in academia these days, and is probably the single most common feature among all professors in those areas of science that generate potentially lucrative intellectual property rights.

Yes, the system is broken, and American academics is in a huge but mostly silent crisis as a result. After all, who is running your school? Chances are, it is an ex-pharmaceutical company CEO or someone similar. That is certainly the case at many of the leading U.S. universities these days - all the Ivy League schools, as well as at the University of California system and all the large Midwestern schools.

When a fish rots, it rots from the head down. Do your students a favor and tell them the truth about the current situation in academics.