MAP, MASS programs available to minority students at IUB

By George Vlahakis

IU senior biology major Chioma Ndubisi has taken advantage of the many opportunities offered by these programs. Ndubisi learned about the program from other minority students during her sophomore year of college. Now an instructor for the MAP/MASS Biology Pre-Med Freshman Interest Group, she has been a participant for three years.

Ndubisi, of Indianapolis, joined the program to take advantage of the scholarship opportunity and to interact with other minority students on campus. She said being involved in the program has helped her develop skills she didn't know she had. "It helped me achieve leadership skills. They gave me a job to teach, which gave me my leadership skills and helped me fine-tune them," she said.

Ndubisi, who is studying to be a doctor, feels that leadership skills play an important role in that field. "When you think of a doctor, you think of a leader," she said.

The program is more than just scholarships, which can range from $1,500 to $7,000 annually for up to four years or eight semesters for the MAP program and $2,000 to $8,000 for the MASS program. Ndubisi said the program encourages students to know all their professors and school or department administrators.

The program also provides a number of resources to students, and Ndubisi feels that it has offered her networking opportunities through her field of study. The MAP and MASS programs allow students to interact through different programming with professors and deans of schools around the IU campus.

Ndubisi, in her second year of being an instructor in IU's Freshman Interest Groups (FIGS) program, said she believes she has more knowledge of what she is doing and what is expected of her. One of her goals as an instructor is to help her students grow from all their college experiences.

According to Chandra Dyson, associate director of the MAP and MASS programs, Ndubisi has made her presence known throughout the program by making sure the FIG group's goals are met and that others are aware of what MAP and MASS programs are doing. "She cares about the well-being of the students," Dyson said.

When Ndubisi attends medical school, she will not only learn but teach, making it a two-way process, Dyson said.

To find more information about IU's Minority Achievers Program, go to this Web site:
http://www.indiana.edu/~mapmass/