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Message from the Faculty Coordinator


The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It is one of the most distinguished national/international honors programs, with a twenty-one-year history at Emory University. The Program's fundamental objective is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students (and others with a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial disparities) who will pursue a Ph.D. degree in Mellon-approved fields in the arts and sciences. The Program seeks to reduce over time the serious under-representation of individuals from certain minority groups on the faculties of American and South African colleges and universities, and address the attendant educational consequences of these disparities. The MMUF Program aims to achieve its mission by identifying and supporting students of great promise and helping them to become scholars of the highest distinction.

On behalf of Emory University's entire Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program staff, I am pleased to welcome you to the website for the MMUF Program at Emory University. If you are a student visiting for the first time, we appreciate your interest in our program and welcome any questions or suggestions you might have. We have established the website to provide easy access to information and forms that will address some of the most frequently asked questions about the MMUF Program and application process. If you are an Emory College MMUF alumna/us, we extend a special greeting and invite you to frequent our website, which will feature the academic and professional experiences of current and past MMUF fellows and provide important information, forms, and links to national sources of support for MMUF fellows.

Over the past twenty-two years, first under the leadership of Drs. Rudolph Byrd and Mark Sanders (2001-2008), the MMUF Program at Emory University has recruited and retained twenty-three cohorts, totaling 96 students. Of this number, eleven students are involved in the MMUF Program as Emory undergraduate juniors and seniors. Fourteen alumni are currently enrolled in Ph.D. programs, twenty-three have completed their Ph.D. degrees, and many more have pursued impressive scholarly and professional paths. Many other Emory MMUF alumni/ae have plans to enroll in Ph.D. programs after completing terminal masters programs or service programs.

As the Faculty Coordinator of the MMUF Program at Emory University, I am happy to entertain any questions you might have about the structure, goals, and requirements of the MMUF Program or about preparing an application for consideration. I encourage you to contact me at dstewa4@emory.edu (404-727-8671), or the MMUF Faculty Co-Coordinator, Dr. Kyrah Malika Daniels, at kyrah.malika.daniels@emory.edu with these and other inquiries.

Thank you for visiting our website; we are delighted to share our important legacy with you!

Sincerely,

Dianne Stewart
Faculty Coordinator