478 ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION SUMMER

Date: June 20, 2006

Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Summer Bridge Program contact: Dr. Barbara Knox, 615-898-5311


(MURFREESBORO) — Twenty-seven incoming college freshmen are continuing the second of three weeks of the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Summer Bridge Program at MTSU this week.
Under Dr. Barbara Knox, director, and various MTSU faculty, the students spend 12 hours a day in classes like math, chemistry, physics, computer science, aerospace and writing in order to taste a sample of college live.
They also have or will visit other alliance colleges and universities. Last weekend, they visited the University of Memphis, LeMoyne-Owen College and Vanderbilt and Tennessee State universities.
On Friday, June 23, they will visit the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus, and then spend about 24 hours in Pigeon Forge at Dollywood (June 24) and the Pigeon Forge Mall (June 23).
The program ends with an awards program at noon Friday, June 30 in the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room. The guest speaker will be Rev. Vincent Windrow, vice president, Zycron Computer Services Inc. of Nashville.
Incoming MTSU participants include Kensley Van Dyke (computer science) of Paris; Raymond Dennis (engineering technology and industrial studies) of Murfreesboro; Jason Jarrett (computer technology) of Memphis; Justin Cherry (biochemistry) of Memphis; Cassandra Titus (biology) of Nashville; Dwight Patterson (animal science) of Murfreesboro; Tony Lee (biology) of Ripley; and Kelman Edwards (ETIS) of Nashville.
Incoming UT-Knoxville participants include Collins Eke (aeronautical engineering) of Murfreesboro; Sydney Fears (aeronautical engineering) of Little Rock, Ark.; Chassidy Holloway (computer engineering) of Lafayette, Ala.; Paul Fuller Jr. (computer engineering) of Bolivar; and Brandon Gaitor (aeronautical engineering) of Cordova.
The University of Memphis participant is Herman Mitchell (aeronautical engineering) of Memphis.
The TSU participants include Quneta Borum (biology) of Memphis; Brian Coleman (biology) of Stone Mountain, Ga.; Melanie Hughes (biology) of Nashville; Brittney Macklin (biology) of Memphis; Passion Wells (biology) of Memphis; Nigel Jordan (computer science) of Chattanooga; and Wendell Patterson (civil engineering) of Memphis.
Incoming Vanderbilt participants include William Yzaguirre (civil engineering) of Las Vegas; Sean Cardell (civil engineering) of Chattanooga; DeAngelo Harris (engineering) of Memphis; Robert Jackson (engineering) of Antioch; Erica Mills (biomedical engineering) of Alpharetta, Ga.; and Javier Cora-Roldan (computer engineering) of Caguas, P.R.
A $65,000 National Science Foundation grant housed at TSU funds the program.
For more information, contact Knox (bknox@mtsu.edu) by calling 615-898-5311 or Dr. Tom Cheatham (cheatham@mtsu.edu), dean, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, at 615-898-2613.
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Media welcomed.