Fellows and coordinators from Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship's (MMUF) seven west coast member institutions visited Whittier College for their Annual Regional Undergraduate Conference from October 30 to November 2. The gathering, designed to simulate an academic conference, offered fellows from Caltech, Heritage University, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, and Whittier, the opportunity to present and critique academic research and connect with fellows outside their own institutions.
“I met many different people from colleges and universities across the country and had enlightening conversations about race and identity, education, solar earthquakes, colonial history, mathematical sequence, data encryption, transregional art -- the list goes on,” said MMUF Fellow Kellen Aguilar ’16. “I was able to network with coordinators from the visiting institutions and Whittier College alumni who offered encouragement and insight into the graduate application process. I have a greater sense of purpose, community, and confidence in pursuing a doctoral degree and teaching at the university level.”
Forty-five undergraduate MMUF fellows and six graduate fellows (all Whittier alumni in Ph.D. programs ) attended the event along with 15 MMUF coordinators and a representative from the Mellon Foundation, Mr. Lee Bynum, associate director of the MMUF program.
"The MMUF West Coast Regional Conference is rotated between campuses," explained Professor Sylvia Vetrone, MMUF coordinator at Whittier College. "It is important for Whittier to host this event because it allows us to highlight our campus and our MMUF program. Every school has their own unique way of running their program, and we are very proud of ours and especially our Fellows."
The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, established at Whittier College with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who will pursue a Ph.D. and enter the professoriate in core arts-and-sciences fields. The MMUF Program aims to equalize the ethnic and racial composition of faculties in higher education and also to address the attendant educational consequences of these disparities.
