Written by Cianna Jay // Photo by Jeff Montgomery
The McNair Scholars Program at Harding, a U.S. Department of Education grant program, hired alumnus Dr. Kanembe Shanachilubwa as associate director. The McNair program provides first-generation, low-income and/or underrepresented groups in graduate education with tools to guide them to attain their doctoral degree.
Fresh off completing his doctorate in mechanical engineering in just four years, Shanachilubwa has come equipped for the role. Not only has he brought insight from his time as a McNair student, but also experience working with the program as a peer mentor and administrative assistant the last three summers and research into the postgraduate McNair student experience from his dissertation titled, “The STEM Graduate Student Experience: A Study of Well-Being, Disenchantment and Socialization.”
McNair Program Director Lolita Meredith said she has known Shanachilubwa since she started working for the program in 2018. Meredith said that he was one of the first students she met and part of the reason she fell in love with the program. She said he was perfect for the associate director role because of his mix of skills and experience.
“He brings a creative element,” Meredith said. “He brings an experiential element because he’s already done the whole process … from participating here, doing the workshops, doing the travel, doing the conferences, presenting research. He’s published, and then he went through grad school. … But the main thing is the human being that you get along with that, as someone who cares about the other students, he wants to know and get involved with them.”
When Meredith heard Shanachilubwa defend his dissertation this past June, she noticed his research aligned with ideas she had been considering about changes to the way the McNair program views success.
“I’m listening to [Shanachilubwa], and he’s explaining how these students actually experienced more well-being when they made decisions that were personally rewarding and personally wise as to what direction they wanted to go, and it wasn’t always a Ph.D. track,” Meredith said. “Kanembe has done research that backs up my premise.”
Meredith said she hopes Shanachilubwa can present his research at a higher level so a policy change can be made. She said this could involve updating the point system used to measure performance, such as offering partial credit to students for achieving an undergraduate degree.
As part of this goal of policy change, Shanachilubwa said one of his responsibilities has been working on the survey the program uses to assess the academic and career developments of students for the 10 years after they graduate.
“One of my first tasks in the office has been kind of revamping the survey instrument that we use to assess and just refining the kind of questions that we ask and asking different sorts of questions that will give us a little bit more data on how we can better serve future cohorts of students,” Shanachilubwa said.
Becoming the associate director made sense for him on many levels, Shanachilubwa said. He said the McNair program has been a huge part of his life, and he can bring insider knowledge of the effect of decisions from a student standpoint.
“I think there are lots of ways we can continue to evolve and shape the program to more closely tailor to the needs of students,” Shanachilubwa said. “I look forward to bringing whatever insight I can and fresh ideas and innovations to the way we do things, from marketing the program to adding value to students.”
Shanachilubwa took a group of students to a conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sept. 6-7 to present their work from their summer research internships. Senior Desiree Johnson, who attended this trip, said Shanachilubwa was kind and knowledgeable as he helped her with her research over the summer.
“If I had to describe Dr. Shanachilubwa, I would describe him as a good hidden book,” Johnson said. “Not too many people know of him, but once you meet and get to know him, there is just so much to learn and unpack, not only about him, but from him as well.”
