a NEW generation of business LEADERS Search:
The University of Vermont
The School of Business Administration
COMMUNITIES

Professor Student Research Collaboration

The McNair Scholars Program
Dr. David Jones with student Abraham Awolich10/15/2005
Dr. David Jones, Asst. Professor of Management, took on a very special role this summer as a faculty mentor in the McNair Scholars Program. He worked in collaboration with Abraham Awolich, a senior UVM anthropology major and business minor, originally from Sudan. The two first met during the spring 2005 semester when Abraham was enrolled in Dr. Jones’ Principles of Management and Organizational Behavior course. A dedicated student, Abraham had already impressed Dr. Jones with his diligence and work ethic. When Abraham was accepted to the McNair Scholars Program, he asked Dr. Jones to serve as his research internship mentor, and a partnership was begun.

The McNair Scholars Program

Established at UVM in 2004, the McNair Scholars Program is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Education. The program was established by the United States Congress to commemorate the accomplishments of the late Ronald E. McNair, PhD, a NASA astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. The program is designed to support first generation, lower income and underrepresented minority students in preparation for graduate school opportunities. During the spring of 2005, 10 UVM students were matched with faculty mentors for 10-week summer research projects. These research collaborations offer the McNair scholars academic, research and professional experiences to enhance their competitiveness in gaining admission to doctoral programs.

During the summer program, Dr. Jones and Abraham conducted a research project testing a new theory about how people judge fairness in the workplace. They worked together on a daily basis to recruit participants, collect the data, and analyze and interpret their findings. Abraham also completed a paper based on the project and presented his results to other McNair scholars, academics from various disciplines, and members of the community. Asked about the outcomes of the collaboration, Dr. Jones said: “We completed a summary of the preliminary results and submitted it for presentation at a top conference in my field. We’ll find out if it is accepted in November. If so, Abraham will travel with me to Dallas to present our research at the conference.”

More than a research project

The collaboration led to outcomes well beyond the research results. Discussing the experience, Dr. Jones often mentioned Abraham’s engaging smile, his cheerful demeanor through even the most tedious research tasks, and the friendship the two developed during the course of their project. “I very much valued the opportunity to help a bright, motivated student achieve his goals,” Dr. Jones added. “It felt great to know that I was potentially making a difference in his life. Here is a hard working and bright student who had to overcome difficult challenges that many Americans never face. He came here knowing little to no English and now, a few years later, he is a semester away from completing an undergraduate degree"