Submitted by Mark Harmon on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 22:40.
Your help is needed to create an internet howl of protest sufficient to reverse a decision that will be a blow to UT and a setback for a quality education.
UT's McNair Scholars program is a superb resource. It takes kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who have made it to college and helps them prepare for graduate education. It is one of the most successful McNair programs in the country, and each year it also does a regional conference of other similar programs. I have volunteered as a McNair mentor to a young scholar five times, and found it to be a phenomenal program.
Now the program may lose its federal money (called the TRIO program) because its 2008 application was three minutes late. UT's Office of Research Administration blames a slow link in the grants.gov site. Sadly, so far all attempts to correct have fallen on deaf ears.
Today I visited the local offices of Congressman Duncan, and Senators Alexander and Corker. All shake their heads, but seem resigned to accept the pronouncements of low-level persons who merely cite procedure, or who claim the money is already distributed (when they really mean they don't want to change their allocation formula).
You can call these offices, too. However, I recommend the direct approach, making an appeal for reason and human judgment. You can make that appeal to the program administrator, Dr. Linda Byrd-Johnson (Linda.byrd-johnson@ed.gov, phone 202-502-7729). I recommend politeness but persistence, and spreading the word to other internet sites so we can magnify the message so it will not be ignored.
--Mark Harmon, Knox County Commissioner and UT associate professor of journalism and electronic media
It has come to our attention that TRIO funding for the University of Tennessee's McNair Scholars Program is in jeopardy due to an administrative/technical problem that resulted in their application being submitted three minutes late. This seems rather arbitrary, and frankly, silly.
Dr. Mark Harmon of the University of Tennessee School of Journalism and Electronic Media and also a Knox County Commissioner, tells us that the U.T. program is "one of the most successful McNair programs in the country, and each year it also does a regional conference of other similar programs." He has volunteered as a McNair mentor five times, and says that it is "a phenomenal program."
Dr. Harmon has asked the offices of Rep. Jimmy Duncan and Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker to assist in the matter, but rather than wait for more apparently flawed bureaucratic process it seems that as administrator of the program you could personally intervene to resolve this so the University of Tennessee's McNair Scholars Program continues to receive much needed and well deserved funding.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration regarding this matter.
My e-mail:
Dear Dr. Linda Byrd-Johnson:
It has come to our attention that TRIO funding for the University of Tennessee's McNair Scholars Program is in jeopardy due to an administrative/technical problem that resulted in their application being submitted three minutes late. This seems rather arbitrary, and frankly, silly.
Dr. Mark Harmon of the University of Tennessee School of Journalism and Electronic Media and also a Knox County Commissioner, tells us that the U.T. program is "one of the most successful McNair programs in the country, and each year it also does a regional conference of other similar programs." He has volunteered as a McNair mentor five times, and says that it is "a phenomenal program."
Dr. Harmon has asked the offices of Rep. Jimmy Duncan and Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker to assist in the matter, but rather than wait for more apparently flawed bureaucratic process it seems that as administrator of the program you could personally intervene to resolve this so the University of Tennessee's McNair Scholars Program continues to receive much needed and well deserved funding.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
R. Neal
etc.