USCB Student Karina Julia Dorris Selected as a Ronald E. McNair Scholar
University of South Carolina Beaufort's Karina Julia Dorris has been selected by the University of South Carolina-Columbia TRIO Department to become a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. Dorris is from Bluffton, SC and graduated from Bluffton High in 2021. She will graduate from USCB in 2025 with a B.S.N. in Nursing.
This scholar program was established to honor the legacy of Ronald E. McNair, a South Carolina native, who received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This post-baccalaureate achievement program offers expanded faculty mentoring, research experience and other academic opportunities. Its goal is to increase the number of Ph.D. recipients who are first-generation, Pell-eligible, or from underrepresented groups in graduate education. McNair Scholars are actively recruited by graduate programs, which often offer them tuition waivers, graduate assistantships and fellowships.
"When I saw this opportunity in our student newsletter, I thought it was amazing," Dorris said. "This is a great chance to get more support from faculty who can help me."
Dorris is a 2021 Heritage Classic Foundation Scholar, a Kathleen and Jim Jordan Annual Scholarship recipient, and Beaufort College Honors student who lives in USCB's student residences on the Beaufort campus. She has a 4.0 GPA and is involved in the USCB Student Advisory Council, USCB Honors Student Association, Society for Collegiate Leadership & Achievement (SCLA), National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA), Gamma Beta Phi, Little People of America Association, The National Society of Leadership and Success, and the USCB Student Nurses Association (SNA). She is also part of USCB's Lab For Early Affective Development (LEAD) research group.
McNair projects provide opportunities for research or other scholarly activities; summer internships; seminars and other educational activities designed to prepare students for doctoral study; tutoring; academic counseling; and activities designed to assist students participating in the project in securing admission to and financial assistance for enrollment in graduate programs.
This summer, Dorris will spend six weeks on the USC-Columbia campus with her cohort of McNair Scholars.