Sonoma State’s Recent Class Of McNair Scholars Are Ready To Tackle Graduate Programs

Press release from Sonoma State University:

June 15, 2020

Each year, Sonoma State University’s McNair Scholars Program assists 27 undergraduate students, who are either low-income and/or first-generation students of an underrepresented minority group, to prepare and get them accepted into graduate schools. This year, more than half of SSU’s McNair students received accolades, from prestigious awards to being accepted into competitive MA and Ph.D. programs including Stanford, George Washington and Pennsylvania State University.

“I am particularly proud of the McNair Scholars cohort of 2019-2020. They embody a wide range of talents and abilities,” said Daniel Malpica, director of the McNair Program. “These students are special because they have faced all sorts of personal and institutional barriers. Despite these challenges, McNair scholars come to realize that with hard work, dedication, adequate faculty mentorship, and institutional support they have excelled in research and will become experts in their fields.”

One such scholar who had to overcome barriers is Raymundo Lopez, who graduated from SSU this spring with degrees in both political science and French. The San Diego native has overcome many obstacles in his life, including spending his childhood in the foster care system with his four brothers and sisters. In the fall, Lopez will attend Stanford University where he will pursue a master’s degree in Latin American Studies having received multiple fellowships covering his tuition.

“Being surrounded by bright, driven, wholehearted individuals is what I am most proud of as a McNair Scholar," said Lopez. He said his ultimate goal is to fund his own news organization geared toward minority and electoral rights for poor people who are disenfranchised around the world.

Another McNair Scholar with goals of helping the disenfranchised is Lizbet Gonzalez, who joined the McNair Program in 2018. Graduating from SSU with degrees in both Chicano and Latino Studies and philosophy, Gonzalez was accepted into six different graduate programs, but she will be attending George Washington University in the fall on behalf of a tuition fellowship to pursue a Master’s of Public Policy. The Temecula native said she hopes to write and research policies that help historically marginalized communities. If that wasn’t enough, Gonzalez said she has goals of running for Congress one day as well. But without the McNair Program, Gonzalez said she would have never realized her potential.

“The program has been the most formative and influential part of my time at SSU,” said Gonzalez, who came to SSU in 2016. “I will forever be indebted to this program for all it has given me, and I have seen the amazing doors it has opened for so many of my peers as well as myself, and I am very happy that all of the hard work has paid off. I am grateful for this experience in my time at SSU.”

For more information about the Mcnair Scholars Program, including opportunities and how to apply, visit http://web.sonoma.edu/mcnair/. See below for a list of the acceptances, opportunities and fellowships received by the this year's class of McNair Scholars.

Scholar Name
Grad School Acceptances
Summer Research Opportunities/ Other Scholarly Activities
Financial Package/Fellowships

Raymundo Lopez
Stanford University - Master of Arts Latin American Studies
American Political Science Association Minority Fellow
FLAS fellowship: covers $18,000 of tuition and $15,000 stipend & Ayacucho Fellowship: covers $36,315 oftuition and $2,000 stipend
Michigan State University - College of Social Science
Enrichment Fellowship: covers tuition and fees, $29,000 stipend, covers health insurance premiums

Bianca Valencia Barraza

UC Irvine - Master of Pupblic Policy in the School of Social Ecology

CSU Research Competition Participant

Merit Based Fellowship ($9,000)

UC Riverside - Master of Public Policy
Fellowship: $20,589

Alexis Mercado
Keck Graduate Institute Online Pre-Pharmacy Enrichment Program

Angelica Aguilar
MDI Biological Library
MDI Biological Library- $6,000 stipend, all meals included, travel reimbursements up to $400

Brandon Mariscal

UC Santa Cruz - Mathematics Ph.D. program

tuition covered, $25,069 stipend

UC Riverside - Mathematics Ph.D. program
$54,000 stipend
UNLV - Mathematical Sciences program
$1,000 recruitment award, Assistantship with $19,000 stipend
U of Utah - Department of Mathematics Ph.D. program
Assistanship with $21,000 stipend, EDGES scholarship:$6,000 for relocation or other personal expenses, $4,000 for career development expenses

Eve Hostettler
University of Texas at Austin-Jackson School of Geosciences
stipend no less than $26,340, tuition and fees covered, funds to purchase UT health insurance

Fabian Ramirez
2020 Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Undergraduate Program (MSRI-UP)

Lizbet Gonzalez
UC San Diego - M.P.P. Program
UC Irvine - M.P.P. Program
$12,000 fellowship
University of Maryland School of Public Policy
total stipend and tuition benefits of $42,134
Carnegie Mellon
tuition, room, and board covered-total of $78,182
American University - School of Public Affairs
Dean Award- tuition and assistanship total of $45,600
George Washington University
tuition fellowship $30,000

Madison Tinsley

CSU Research Competition Participant

SSU Wine Industry Scholars Prograp (WISP) Scholarship ($10,000)

Nidhi Patel

Cal State East Bay Masters of Social Work Program
San Jose State Masters of Social Work Program
SF State - Waitlist for Masters of Social Work Program

Therese Azevedo
DIMACS-Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science
DIMACS-$5,400 stipend and additional meal allowance

Wyatt Huber

University of Chicago-Leadership Alliance 2020-21, California Pre-Doctoral Program-Sally Casanova Scholar
University of Chicago- $3,150 stipend, housing, $750 meal plan, travel covered

Atziry Rodriguez
Awarded the Social Sciences Undegraduate Research Initiative (SSURI) at Sonoma State University

Lana Harris
Oregon State University - Master of Science
Full funding for M.A. program
Pennsylvania State University - Master of Education
Full funding for M.A. program

David Story
Sonoma State University-Summer Research with Dr. Mohamed Salem

This press release was produced by Sonoma State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.