Prep Students Earn Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowships

Talisa is pursuing an English major at Barnard College with a prospective concentration in creative writing, and a minor in race and ethnicity studies. She is narrowing down the focus of her MMUF research project between the Latina student experience in private institutions of higher learning and the shifting dynamics of diversity in the fashion magazine industry. “The first meeting of a college seminar, ‘Living in Spanglish: Hybrid Latino Identity and Cultural Production,’ had me thinking about representation of people of color in academia. That, coupled with my Prep for Prep and Poly Prep experiences and support from friends and family, pushed me to apply. I want Latina women and people of color in general to know that they have a place in the Academy.” 

At Brown University, Nicole is an Africana Studies concentrator interested in examining how Dominican women understand themselves in the Latin American diaspora. She is interested in pursuing a future in academia “to redress the lack of professors of color and to pursue my research interests, Black Latin American and Caribbean social and political history.” Mentored by Professor Keisha-Khan Perry, Nicole’s MMUF research will focus on how the Miss Rizos Salon in Santo Domingo becomes a space for transnational racial discussions. 

Talisa and Nicole join 13 previous Prep for Prep/MMUF fellows:

About the Fellowship
Established in 1988, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program is the centerpiece of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s initiatives to increase faculty diversity in institutions of higher learning. The MMUF Program’s partner colleges nominate students from underrepresented minority groups and those with a demonstrated commitment to reducing racial disparities to encourage teaching in academia and/or pursing PhDs in eligible areas of study. The fellowship includes access to mentorship, research funding, and graduate school support. As of 2014, over 4,000 students have been selected as fellows, more than 500 of whom have earned the PhD and 85 of whom are now tenured faculty members.