Meet ASU doctoral candidate and McNair Scholar Littisha Bates

Littisha Bates, an ABD (all but dissertation) PhD student in the School of Social and Family Dynamics, is researching the effect of social class and race on children’s educational achievement throughout school.

Working as a research assistant in ASU’s Center for Population Dynamics (CePoD), she is taking an innovative look at the effects of both the family and the school environment on children’s learning process. “We already have knowledge about children from certain educational backgrounds or schools,” she says. “We know private schools students score better. Two parent families score better overall. But what happens to a minority kid in a majority school? How do teachers and teachers’ helpers relate to these students? Are they getting the attention they need? Are their educational scores the same?”

Bates, a native of Chicago, became a McNair Scholar in 2000 as an undergraduate at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. “The McNair Program has given me the opportunity to create and conduct my own research project,” she says. “I also had the privilege of presenting at three professional conferences as a junior in college, which prepared me for future conferences and increased my confidence in conducting and speaking about my own research.”

At ASU, Bates has worked as a teaching assistant for several undergraduate courses as well as teaching online courses in Sociology. Bates is currently a member of Population Association of America (PAA), American Sociological Association (ASA) and Association of Black Sociologists (ABS).

Bates is slated to graduate in the spring of 2009. “After graduation I would like to teach at a research university. I believe that the research I am doing is important to education and policy reform/creation. Like every other researcher in the world I want to make a difference.”

"The McNair Scholarship program proved absolutely invaluable in preparing me for graduate school," says Diana Meneses, an ASU doctoral candidate in History. "I had almost no idea what graduate school was or why I would want to pursue it until I became involved in the McNair program.

"Doing research with the help of an excellent mentor really allowed me to see what graduate school would be like, and the program gave me many tools I would use in applying for graduate school as well as in taking courses."

Diana plans to assist in developing, in conjunction with the Graduate College, a network of support for graduate McNair Scholars at ASU. "Many of us were greatly assisted by the McNair program at our respective undergraduate schools through research, funding, conference experience, mentoring, and the process of getting into graduate school," she says. "Now, as graduate students, a McNair support network will benefit both incoming students as well as graduating students because they are able individuals who have proven they have something to contribute to the scholarly community at ASU and beyond."

Originally from La Paz, Bolivia, Diana Meneses grew up in San Antonio, Texas where she received her B.A. in History and English in 2002 from the University of the Incarnate Word, then moved to Arizona in 2002 to pursue her Master's in History at ASU focusing on the history of Arizona basketry among Native communities. She is currently an ABD student at candidacy pursuing a Ph.D. in History at ASU. Read more about Diana Meneses...