WHO: Members of the University of Rochester community are invited to attend a celebration honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Ronald E. McNair.
TIME, DATE, PLACE: 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28, in Sloan Auditorium in the Robert B. Goergen Hall for Biomedical Engineering and Optics on the University of Rochester's River Campus. A small reception in Munnerlyn Atrium will follow the panel discussion.
WHAT: The David T. Kearns Center for Leadership and Diversity in Arts, Sciences and Engineering will honor the life of the late Dr. Ronald E. McNair, Challenger space shuttle astronaut and laser physicist, on the 25th anniversary of the shuttle's explosion. One of the center's cornerstone programs, the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program, funded through a grant from the United States Department of Education, is named in McNair's honor. The objective of the McNair Program is to increase the number of low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minority undergraduates who pursue Ph.D. degrees and go on to careers in research and teaching at the university level.
During the event, a panel of alumni will discuss their experiences as McNair scholars and there will be a screening of a video of the posthumous honoring of Dr. McNair with the 1987 South Carolinian of the Year award. The event will conclude with a keynote speech by McNair alumnus and noted psychologist Napoleon Wells.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information about the celebration, e-mail Charlana Simmons at csimmons@ur.rochester.edu.