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Two young visiting professors stood at the "head of the class" recently, not so very long after sitting in the student seats.
Jason Best from Connorsville and Emmanuel "Manny" Harris from Indianapolis earned IU Bloomington degrees in 1992. Both went on to doctoral degrees, Best in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, and Harris in Latin American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. And both returned to Bloomington this past summer to teach, flesh and blood illustrations of why programs like IU Bloomington's Minority Achievers Program (MAP), now beginning its 12th year, are developed and sustained.
 Among the first groups of students to participate in IU Bloomington's Minority Achievers Program, Jason Best and Emmanuel "Manny" Harris (left and right, respectively) returned to campus this past summer in the capacity of visiting professors. Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Hiring and Support Alberto Torchinsky (center) is also director of the Minority Faculty Fellowship program, which sponsored Best's summer position in astronomy and Harris' in Spanish culture and language. Photo by Storme Day
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"MAP provided me financial support," said Harris, "but more importantly, it provided significant means of personal and social support to facilitate my graduation from here. You have to understand that to be a black person at a university this size can be intimidating."
IU also gave Harris the opportunity to explore until he found a field he loved. Switching majors from business to history, with a Spanish minor, he spent his junior year in Madrid--"an enriching, empowering experience." He is now assistant professor of Spanish at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas.
Best, assistant professor of astrophysics at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, W. Va., knew at age four what he loved--Star Trek. "I saw a bunch of people studying space, and they were like me; they were all different, but they got along," he said.
Best turned down an Ivy League school and came to IUB for its nationally ranked Department of Astronomy and a Richard Lugar scholarship. In the MAP program, he found the same kind of support and camaraderie his Star Trek heroes and heroines enjoyed.
"As only a small subset of the country's populace pursue science as a career, and of those a still smaller subset are minorities, the isolation felt by a young scientist such as myself can be amplified," he said. "MAP established a community of like-minded scholars in close proximity. Knowing that such a community existed lessened the impact of any isolation the students may have felt within their disciplines."
For Best and Harris, teaching at their alma mater was "truly an honor" in Best's summary, and "in a word: wonderful" in Harris.' But summer's brightness was tarnished by the shooting of a Korean graduate student on campus, "literally about 200 yards from my apartment," said Harris. "This, nor any other college campus, is an oasis from the outside world."
"The campus must be a place of learning, and not just of training within narrow discipline boundaries," said Best. "Maintaining such a conducive atmosphere must be a group effort. Administrators must not only acknowledge their responsibility to make the campus more hospitable, but must act bravely to maintain that environment. Faculty must create and maintain a climate of tolerance for all in the classroom and departments. Students must be able to feel that their contributions are valued and valid. Alumni must support these measures and contribute time and money.
"Long-term vision and long-term solutions are necessary to make this a reality."
http://www.indiana.edu/~mapmass/map-home.html
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