Brown to oversee scholars program

Harding University has named a former faculty member as its new director of the McNair Scholars Program.

Ann Brown has returned to Harding University after working at Augusta High School, the university said. The scholars program, part of the university’s Center for Student Success, started in 2003 and supports undergraduate students’ scholarly activities through the academic year and summer, according to a news release.

The program, which receives $243,000 annually from a U.S. Department of Education grant, helps 27 students each year through the scholarly experiences and mentorships to prepare them for graduate school.

“I know firsthand the challenges and pitfalls students face as they make their way through university and later graduate school because I am that ‘first generation, low-income student from a population that is underrepresented in fields requiring a graduate degree’ that McNair seeks to help,” Brown said in a prepared statement. Brown received a master’s degree in education from Harding University and a doctoral degree in English literature from Howard University. Howard is a private, historically black university in Washington, D.C. She taught at Harding, a private Searcy university, from 1990-93 and has taught at the Centre of Excellence of Applied Research and Training in the United Arab Emirates.