Steven Fernandez

Transcript

Derek Smith:
Hello, and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week, we go in-depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research, and student life. I'm Derek Smith.
Today, we are discussing successes with Baylor's McNair Scholars Program. Launched at Baylor in 2017, the university's McNair Scholars Program has grown over the years as it prepares students for postgraduate and PhD work, as they pursue their Baylor degree. The McNair program serves undergraduates from low income, first generation, and other underrepresented backgrounds through mentorship, research opportunities, and other scholarly activities.
We're visiting today with Steven Fernandez. Steven serves as director of Student Opportunity and Achievement Resources at Baylor, also known as SOAR, which includes the McNair Scholars Program. He came to Baylor in 2018. I believe we had you on the program a year later and we're glad to have you on with us again, Steven. Thanks so much for joining us on Baylor Connections.

Steven Fernandez:
Thank you, thank you. It's really an honor to be here. So excited to be having this conversation. Thank you.

Derek Smith:
Well, there's a lot of great things going on with McNair, with SOAR in general. Let's start off just by talking about this time of year because it's the culmination of so much with your students. When you think about the weeks and months leading up to commencement, how joyous are those for you and your staff as you interact with your students?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, it's really interesting. I always say that the spring semester is one of my favorite times of year. It's interesting to see the development, obviously beyond the excitement of these students getting into some amazing programs and all the honors that these students receive.
I always say my particular favorite point of this part of year is seeing the transformation in the students. Many of them, you'll see in their faces, they come into the program often having doubt with themselves and their abilities. Having them realize that not only have they been accepted into some of the most amazing programs, they're really making an impact. These are students getting into some of the top schools in the country. They're often first generation students who've never ... Their family haven't been to college before. They were excited to get into undergrad, much less not even thinking about graduate programs. Now they're going off to becoming doctors and really making an impact on the world around them.

Derek Smith:
I guess you never get tired of a student emailing you or coming and seeing you in the hallway and saying, "Hey, I've been accepted to fill-in-the-blank."

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. It's great because you really see, like I said, that transformation in them. They have an opportunity to really showcase who they really are. Because like I said, they're doing cutting-edge research that sometimes flies over my head sometimes because it's amazing. We have students from all different disciplines all across the university, and they're really making a difference. It's exciting to see them really get those opportunities that they deserve.

Derek Smith:
Well, I know there's no way to list just everything, everywhere everyone is going. But could you tell us some examples? A few of the places this year's grads are going.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, this year is particularly exciting. We were doing the numbers the other day, and about 94%, so almost the entire cohort of graduating seniors from this year, went on to some of the top universities across the country. Just to name some of them, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, Vanderbilt, UT, MD Anderson Brown, Harvard, Rice, obviously Baylor, just to name a few. These are, like I said, amazing opportunities for these students to really go to some top-notch universities and research opportunities.

Derek Smith:
Yeah, some high level placements for sure there.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
More than that, great opportunities for the students as we visit with Steven Fernandez. Steven, for those who aren't really familiar with the McNair Scholars Program, could you give us the 101 on it?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, that's a great question. The McNair Scholars Program, that's how we short name it. Its longer name is Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. It's a Federal grant through the Department of Education's trio of programs. It is awarded only to select number of colleges and universities across the country. It's been at Baylor, as you mentioned, since 2017. The mission of our McNair Scholars Program here is to prepare low income, first generation, and underrepresented students with the knowledge, skills, and capacities to be successful navigating a path to the PhD programs following graduation from Baylor. So really, providing them those resources, and mentorship, and just resources to take those next step.
The program is open to all majors. Students can apply as early as their sophomore year. Some of the benefits, just to go over a few. Obviously, including graduation preparation, application assistance, but also faculty mentorships, which is so key. A summer research internship, professional development workshops, attending conferences all across the country and even internationally, just to name a few.

Derek Smith:
Visiting with Steven Fernandez. As we mentioned, we had you on this program. It's been well, five years ago. 2019, the McNair Scholars Program, it was still in not quite its infancy, but it was growing at that point.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
How has it grown in that time since then?

Steven Fernandez:
What's exciting is we were looking at the data the last couple of years, and we've now served over 100 truly amazing students so far. Each year, bringing in more outstanding scholars. Over the past years, we've incorporated a number of different resources, worked really closely with a lot of on-campus collaborators, and really expanded the depth of some of the resources our students get, including applications to some of the most prestigious fellowships and award opportunities. Then, working closely with our resources across campus and beyond.

Derek Smith:
About how many students do you have in a given year and how many graduates?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. We have about 25 students that we serve every year. It's a mixture of juniors and seniors. Each year, we recruit the amount of seniors that graduate in the year before. Students can apply, like I said, as early as their sophomore year. But we have students that apply as juniors, and or actually seniors, really giving them those resources to take those next steps.

Derek Smith:
Steven, as we talk about some of the challenges and obstacles that you mentioned you help them overcome, first I'm curious. You yourself were a first generation student. How much of yourself do you see in the students that you get to serve?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, that's a great question. I always say, as a first gen student myself, it's easy to feel lost. I didn't know who to turn to and what to do next. It can be terrifying. So much pressure to be the trailblazer of your family to go onto college, but often you're unsure of yourself or even start doubting your own abilities. That's why I'm really proud of what we do with our amazing McNair team, is creating that kind of community where scholars feel supported and understood, so they can really focus on reaching their true academic potential and becoming the next generation of knowledge creators.

Derek Smith:
You paint a picture, from your own experience, of some of those challenges and you think about the obstacles. How much of it is helping them develop that personal sense of I can do it? How much of it is helping them just understand higher education, or where you go when you have this question, or how to apply here? How much of it is very practical, how much of it is personal?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. It's a great question where, when it comes to this next stage of graduate school, it is a lot of that personal conversation. It is networking, it's the opportunity to engage. Meeting graduate recruiters from across the country, meeting faculty. Finding out ... Not just, "Hey, I'm interested in biology." But, "What is my personal niche? What am I interested within that, that I want to take those next steps?"
Some of the things that we often talk to students is navigating the confusing landscape of research and graduate school application, and really letting them work closely with not only just their faculty mentors, us, but really looking at all the depth of research and opportunities available. It can be sometimes daunting to know where to start, and how to connect with faculty, look at research opportunities, and so on. We help mentor them through the process and position them for success. The McNair team works hard to create really a community of support and mentorship, to help these students along their journey.

Derek Smith:
I want to ask you a little bit about what those mentorship relationships look like. But before I do, I mentioned your title is director of Student Opportunity and Achievement Resources at Baylor, or SOAR. How does McNair fit into that SOAR landscape and how much are you able to lean on other resources throughout the university?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, thank you so much for bringing that up. One of the things we were really excited about since we last met is McNair, we really expanded to incorporate a lot of new resources. SOAR as we call it, our Student Opportunity and Achievements Resources, has a number of different programs within it, including McNair, including our financial wellness program. Basic need, including our on-campus food pantry. Pathfinders, which is our newest program, for undergraduate research. Students really as freshmen, that are interested in engaging in this research conversation early, which may put them on a pipeline to become a McNair Scholar and apply onto graduate school, or set them up in other capacities. We work with a lot of different programs on campus.
Then our other program is our Adelante program, which is for our first year freshmen or transfer students from Latino backgrounds, helping them navigate those first years at the university, similar to what we do with our Pathfinders and McNair.
I'm really excited about the growth of opportunity we've had to serve not only our McNair, but all Baylor students across the campus.

Derek Smith:
Wonderful. Visiting with Steven Fernandez on Baylor Connections. Again, Steven serves as the director of Student Opportunity Achievement Resources, which includes the McNair Scholars Program we're discussing today.
Let's go inside, as best you can, to take us inside what students in the McNair Scholars Program experience. Start with those faculty mentorship relationships, intentional mentorship. I know it's faculty, maybe it's other staff as well.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
But could you tell us a little bit about what those look like?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, that's a great question. Mentorship is key to what we do with our McNairs. Starting with our staff, our staff works very closely. We have not only our permanent staff, but also graduate students that work with the program can speak their own lived experience as PhD students here at Baylor, and helping them navigate what are some of the things I should have done differently, what are things that I did right, as they take those next steps from undergraduate into some of these graduate programs.
There's also the addition on, and I think probably one of the key components, is our faculty mentorship. Mentorship, like I said, is heart of what we do with McNair and couldn't do it without the amazing Baylor faculty that often dedicate and volunteer their time. Not only in the summer when they're doing undergraduate research, as a mentor. But they're often working with the students throughout the academic year, helping them find conferences, find the right niche of particular research that they're interested, where to apply, what labs they might be applying for outside summer research opportunities, and development a deeper research with the students. Who often turn to them for advice on everything from, like I said, graduate applications to, "What do I do about this conference that's coming up," or any opportunities available.

Derek Smith:
Now, are these faculty mentors, are these faculty whose classes they take? Or are these just people who are intentionally paired? What does that look like?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, that's a great question. The way that it works is we rely on the students a lot to identify faculty that they're particularly interested in. They do not have to be in their particular discipline. I've had a biology major that might be working on something in mechanical engineering. Or a variety of different disciplines. They don't have to be in their particular major, but we do advise them to connect it to what are your next steps for graduate school. Where do you see yourself? As a psychology major, does looking into something in the arts really impact on what you're going to be doing as you're applying to graduate programs?
The mentors, students work with identifying the mentors. When needed, we obviously step in and help students connect some of those. Because like I said, even as a first gen myself, I don't know who to reach out to. I'm interested in research, but I don't know whose doing what. We help them navigate that and really connect them with the faculty. Then as they develop that relationship, they have an opportunity to really dive in deeper to what it means to be a future PhD student.

Derek Smith:
Steven, you've mentioned conferences, presentations. You mentioned obviously research they're doing on-campus or perhaps elsewhere. Where are some of the places we might find your students engaging in these? What do those look like?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. That's a great question. What's exciting and unique about McNair is it is open to all students from all different disciplines. We have a wide variety of what research looks like. It's always exciting for me to see. You might have a student that's doing a typical lab in biology and chemistry. But then, you have someone doing completely different look research that's in art history or in English, or even music. A lot of different disciplines across the university. It really is tailored.
Again, why we focus on this particular small group of students is we're tailoring the experience for each individual student to providing them resources for them to be successful within their passion and interest. They're all united by the interest and goal of pursuing a PhD in their particular passion, and have this impact around the world. But it really is tailored towards their experience within their particular major and discipline.

Derek Smith:
I think when you talk about some of the places that your students are going, you talk about Ivy League, elite institutions, MD Anderson. I guess that that paints a picture of the success of that approach I'm sure. Is it a little bit art, a little bit science, a lot of relationship?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, it's a little bit ... It's very much working individually with a student and looking at what are some of their strengths and just bringing that to the surface. Having conversations with them about, "What are you interested in? What are the next steps looking like? What are you passionate about?" And really matching those up with those universities. I always say just because a university has a big name, is that particularly interesting and something that matches with your particular research interests? Where is it that you can see yourself and where can you be the most successful? Having those tailored conversations is really important.
It is, like you said, a little bit of art, a little bit of networking. Also, exploring, research. Obviously, these are brilliant students so they're doing amazing things academically. But really, helping them navigate what's the best path to position them to be the most successful.

Derek Smith:
Visiting with Steven Fernandez on Baylor Connections. Let's shift gears a little bit. The McNair Scholars Research Conference, an area that's grown over the years.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
Can you tell us what that is?

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. That's exciting. We're one of only a few McNair programs nationwide that host a national McNair conference. This is an opportunity for students to present on a national stage. We have students ... Not only McNair students. This is actually opened to any student involved in undergraduate research. We've had 300 to 400 students and participants from all across the country, that fly in to present their research, meet fellow McNair, fellow researchers, and have an opportunity to really showcase and stretch those academic muscles, as we always say. We've had 40 plus graduate recruiters that actively come to recruit these scholars because they know that they're doing some amazing research and are the next generation of PhD, Masters, and other disciplines.

Derek Smith:
That's got to be exciting to welcome everyone to campus. I'm sure that opens some interesting doors as well.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. We've always been very excited. We've been a great partner with the Baylor Graduate School since its inception here, the conference inception because we have an opportunity to really showcase the amazing work that Baylor is, as a graduate entity as well. Many of those students who attend our conference from across the country, they're also applying to graduate programs here at Baylor. They see themselves here, they're really excited. It gives us a unique opportunity to showcase the amazing work that many of our faculty and graduate programs are doing.

Derek Smith:
Steven, we've talked about where your students are going in terms of universities, but there's been another area of real success as of late. Institutionally, I know we've seen Baylor's had a record number of recent graduates and current students that are receiving Fulbright Awards this year.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
Your students are a big part of that. Fulbright Awards, GEM fellowships, NSF awards. Tell us about what that's been like, to see your students received these very competitive, highly competitive honors.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. Yeah, that's been one of the very exciting moves that we've done the last couple of years. So talking a little bit about how we transitioned over the last couple of years as a program here on campus is we've done a lot of intentional focusing on providing students information on how to navigate and apply for some of these most prestigious awards that are out there for graduate programs. Over the last couple of years, we've had a number of alumni receive, as you'd mentioned, the Fulbright. This year in particular, we're excited that not only did we have a student receive the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, but also a GEM fellowship as well.
Really, it speaks to the determination and commitment to these students. We're just so, so proud of them. These are only awarded to a small group of students, typically nationwide. We've had a number of students receive these. We continue to position our students to apply for these. We're actually right now, this summer, working through applications, and getting them for our next cohort to start applying and submitting those applications this coming fall.

Derek Smith:
That's exciting. Yeah, Baylor's getting listed, I know broadly, along with some of the top institutions in the country of students earning these.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah. No, that's what's exciting. As Baylor has become an R1 institution, it's really making a mark not just within here, but nationwide. I think some of the research that it's producing, its undergraduate research in particular, has been really exciting. I've seen it, over the last couple of years, continue to grow and expand. Faculty have been working really hard to incorporate a lot of these undergraduates into these high level research opportunities. We're really excited to be part of that. We're so excited for what doors this opens to our students. Because as they get involved in research and these faculty mentorship, that's what's going to position them to become these award recipients.

Derek Smith:
Visiting with Steven Fernandez. Steven, as we are in the final minutes of the program here, I want to ask you now. You're talking about this began seven years ago, so you've got a few graduating classes now. What are some of the themes you're starting to see of the impact of this program? And the things that make you proud, of just the way you've been able to work with these students and support them.

Steven Fernandez:
Yeah, it's so exciting to see not only the impact that the program has had on the scholars, but the impact that the scholars have had on all the world around them. Often, our alumni are coming back and they're offering, "Hey, how can I hop? How can I pour into the next generation of McNair?" Seeing some of the things they're already doing, getting involved in research, and publishing some of these amazing things all across the United States, working in some of the top universities across the country.
I'm really proud of some of the amazing work that our McNair staff, including Rico and Angie, and our graduate students Emily and Megan, have done to really pour into these students each and every day. We're just so thankful for everything they do. It really shows in some of the work that our students are doing and the amazing things our alumni are accomplishing.

Derek Smith:
In a lot of ways. It's only just beginning for McNair here at Baylor. That's exciting. Well, Steven, final question for you. Looking ahead, what are you most excited about when you think about the continued growth? I know got that renewal from the Federal grant renewing, keep this growing here. Was that last year I believe, or two years ago?

Steven Fernandez:
Yes. Yeah.

Derek Smith:
Last year. What are you most excited about?

Steven Fernandez:
We're really excited about the opportunity to continue have McNair on campus. The way that it works is, as we continue to be successful and our students get into graduate programs, we're given competitive priority to continue to provide these programs on-campus. We're hoping that we will have McNair here forever, as we continue to have these amazing students really make some great strides.
One of the things I'm really excited about is just the expansion of services we talked about within SOAR as a whole. Our newest program, our Pathways program, is an undergraduate program designed for first year students and transfer students to help them navigate this first year in university. Like, "Hey, how do I get connected with undergraduate research? How do I start thinking early about these opportunities? How do I get with a lab, with a faculty member?" And really, setting them up for their academic career, to set them up for success in college and beyond.

Derek Smith:
Well, that's exciting. We'll look forward to that. Steven, it's great to have you back on the program with us and even better to see all the success your students are having. Thanks so much.

Steven Fernandez:
Thank you so much for having us. Thank you.

Derek Smith:
Great to have you. Steven Fernandez, director of SOAR, Student Opportunity and Achievement Resources at Baylor, our guest today on Baylor Connections.
I'm Derek Smith. You might even hear this and other programs online, baylor.edu/connections. You can subscribe to the program on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.