TRiO programs at UW-Superior provide qualified students with the necessary assistance to achieve their educational goals. They include Student Support Services, which provides tutoring and assistance to qualifying students;Upward Bound, which helps high school students prepare for college;and the McNair Scholars program, which prepares first-generation college students and students from under-represented groups for graduate study.

Those receiving awards on April 17th this year included:

Academic Support Center Tutor of the Year – Ali Bergstrom, Superior, now a senior at UW-Superior who is majoring in Elementary Education and minoring in Early Childhood, works as a tutor for the Academic Support Center where her tutoring services are highly sought after. She has the knowledge, patience, and skills necessary to help her fellow students.

Academic Support Center Student of the Year – Mualigbe Keita, who was in his first year at UW-Superior, emigrated to the U.S. about eight years ago from Guinea. As a student, he is a hard worker, and tries his best to do well in school and to complete his assignments on time. He is not shy to seek out assistance when needed. 

Math Lab Tutor of the Year -Tom Minor, Superior, Wis.

Math Lab Student of the Year – Jacob Murto, Milwaukee, Wis.

McNair Scholars Program — Scholar of the Year – Kang Her, Roberts, Wis.

McNair Scholars Program — Scholar of the Year – T.K. Vang, Stevens Point, Wis.

Upward Bound Tutor of the Year – Jade Wong, Milwaukee, Wis.

Upward Bound Students of the Year -Sami Lego, Poplar, Wis.

UW-Superior Foundation Gulland Scholarship Recipient – Rachel Taylor and Sara Mathias both from Superior, Wis.

TRiO Achiever Award for Outstanding Faculty and Staff – Jeff Kahler, Budget and Policy Analyst at UW-Superior.

UW-Superior Chancellor Renée Wachter opened the program with a welcome and congratulated the students on their accomplishments. Josh Berlo, UMD’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, was the guest speaker for the TRiO Day Awards program. Wisconsin State Representative Nick Milroy, a UW-Superior alumnus, was the concluding speaker for the event.

 The University of Wisconsin-Superior has also been selected to receive funding through a federal grant to continue the successful Student Support Services Program, enabling the university to continue offering tutoring, remedial work, disability support services, and outreach to first-generation, low-income college students.

The Student Support Services (SSS) grant from the U.S. Department of Education provides $292,340 a year for an anticipated five years. The first year of this grant award takes effect from September 2015 through August 2016. UW-Superior also contributes funds to Student Support Services. In 2015, UW-Superior was one of 25 Wisconsin universities and colleges to receive grants through the competitive process. U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin notified UW-Superior that the school has once again been selected to receive the on-going funding.

“This grant will enable us to continue to serve students and families that need support to complete their dreams of a college education,” said Toua Thao, project director, SSS, (TRiO) at UW-Superior. “Our priority is to serve students who might need an extra boost to prepare them for a quality education,” he said.

Student Support Services is a federally funded program designed to serve students who are qualified according to federal income guidelines, who are first generation college students (neither parent has a baccalaureate degree), or who have a disability. UW-Superior will be able to award $33,000 in scholarships through this program. Last year, UW-Superior was awarded $292,340 and was one of 11 UW System institutions that earned a grant.

Read the original article posted on July 30, 2015 here.

A senior in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts is the winner of this year’s McNair Scholars Summer Research Symposium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Demetrius Green of Cairo, who is majoring in radio, television and digital media, won a $150 cash award for his presentation titled “Black Sitcoms and White Fragility: How to become a successful American television show.”

His mentor was Saran Donahoo, associate professor of educational administration and higher education.

The annual symposium, held July 16, highlights the work of SIU undergraduates in the McNair Scholars program.

The research institute is an intensive eight-week program during which the scholars work with their mentors to master advanced research skills, including fieldwork and literature review, compiling data and writing research papers.

This year, 12 students from the McNair Scholars Program and 10 students from the SI Bridges to the Baccalaureate program presented their research at the symposium.

The McNair Scholars Program is named for the late Ronald E. McNair, a physicist and astronaut who died in the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

The program provides enriched instruction for first-generation or otherwise underserved students.

 It emphasizes strong mentoring, professional development and research opportunities that promote academic excellence and encourage success at the graduate level.

The SI Bridges to Baccalaureate program is funded by the National Institutes of Health and provides paid biomedical and behavioral science research training and professional development for underserved community college students.

Students receive assistance in transferring to SIU and completing a baccalaureate degree in science, technology, engineering, math or social science disciplines.

SI Bridges is a cooperative effort among SIU, John A. Logan College at Carterville and Shawnee Community College at Ullin.

Among the other award recipients, with the title of their research and mentor were the following students from the Southern Illinois area:

Second place: Naomi Tolbert, a junior in political science from Carbondale for “Unequal Access: Factors Contributing to the Disproportional Representation of Marginalized Groups within Study Abroad Programs.” Her mentor was Chris Stout, assistant professor of political science.  Tolbert received a $100 cash award.

Fourth place (tie): Michael Sall, senior in horticulture from Carbondale, for “In vitro screening of native Trichoderma spp. isolates as potential biological control agents of seedling diseases of soybean caused by Macrophomina phaseolina and Rhizoctonia solani.” His mentor was Ahmad M. Fakhoury, associate professor of plant, soil and agricultural systems. Sall received a $50 cash award.

Students who also made presentations included the following students from the Southern Illinois area:

Leslie Murray, a senior in philosophy from Carbondale, for “The Immanence of the Eschaton & the Scientific Discoveries of the Present.” Murray’s mentor was Randall Auxier, professor of philosophy.

Luis Trevino-Pena, junior in philosophy from Cobden, for “Physician-assisted suicide: Addressing the ‘right to die’ argument.” His mentor was Andrew Youpa, associate professor of philosophy.

This article was originally posted on July 27, 2015 on AnnaNews.com. Click here to read the original article.