Westminster College has received a five-year $1.2 million grant from the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement program of the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will support programs to help first-generation low-income students from under-represented groups to succeed in undergraduate programs so they can move on to graduate work.
Though the program will be housed at Westminster, the funds will be available to all degree-granting programs in Utah. Preference will be given Westminster, Salt Lake Community College and University of Utah students. The federal support is particularly important in Utah, where all minorities are underrepresented in higher education, said Mary Jane Chase, dean of arts and sciences at the private school.
The McNair program is named for Ronald E. McNair, American astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger explosion. It is part of the USDE TRIO effort, a three-pronged program that helps students overcome class, social and cultural barriers to higher education.