| Developed in 1994, the MSU Roads Scholars
is a program that takes Murray State faculty and staff out of their
traditional on-campus roles and places them in high schools, middle
schools, and vocational schools within the region. Participants, who
are all volunteers, are placed on teams of three to five members,
mixing various departments and specialties of members so that each
team is diverse. A team captain coordinates activities with the target
school and generally serves as the liaison between the team members
and the school.
The purpose of the program is to develop relationships with high
school, middle school, and vocational school colleagues; to shadow
their faculty and assist in determining needs; to provide support
in educational reform; to assist in curriculum assessment and development;
and above all to make stimulating and dynamic presentations to classes
of students, for the marked purpose of displaying the validity of
pursuing a postsecondary education.
Murray State went a step farther last year and adopted a newly
conceived concept known as the "At Large"
Roads program. An important extension to the existing Roads program,
this group includes faculty and staff who are not necessarily affiliated
with a Roads team, but who have specialized presentations that can
be exported upon request to area schools.
The advantage of this expanded "At
Large" aspect of the Roads program is that more faculty
and staff are involved in higher quality presentations for a greater
number of students who, perhaps without being exposed to a real
live University faculty member, may not have otherwise entertained
the idea of going to college.
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