Amanda Krohn
For first-generation college graduate Amanda Krohn ’10, of Hancock, the McNair Scholars Program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh served as an introduction to life in academia.
“McNair first exposed me to the idea that I could attend graduate school and make a career out of my passions for nursing research and teaching,” said Krohn, who began a doctoral program in nursing on a full fellowship at the University of Michigan this summer.
Students accepted into the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program are paired with a faculty member who assists them with designing and implementing a summer research project. McNair Scholars also attend seminars and workshops to enhance their oral and written communication skills, academic and career development, GRE preparation and application, and graduate school visits.
As part of the first cohort of McNair Scholars at UWO in summer 2008, Krohn worked on the research project “Military Wives Adaptation and Coping with Deployment during Wartime” with Suzanne Marnocha, an associate professor in the College of Nursing.
Krohn gave an oral presentation about her senior honors thesis, which dealt with risk management for student affairs event planning, at the National McNair Scholars Conference in fall 2009.
Her current research interests are in psychiatric mental health nursing and military families. “My goal is to become a faculty member at a research-intensive university and inspire future nurses about the importance of research.”
As a McNair Scholar, UWO alumnus Ryan Schuh ’09, of Cascade, learned how to work hard and stay focused.
The kinesiology graduate is studying for a master’s degree in science education at Northern Illinois University, where he has a graduate teaching assistantship. He also is applying to doctoral programs.
UWO graduate Vanessa Ante ’10 , of Ashland, was accepted as a McNair Scholar in fall 2008 and has been involved with the program ever since. The biology major is studying for a doctorate in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Tennessee Health and Science Center
“Once a McNair Scholar, always a McNair Scholar,” she said.
Ante studied ground squirrel retinas with UWO biology professor Dana Vaughn.
“From participating in the McNair Scholars Program, I’ve learned how to conduct research in a professional lab setting, how to complete a research project from beginning to end, and how to present findings at a national level,” Ante said. “I owe a lot of where I am today to the McNair Program.”