GS Student Awarded Highly-Selective Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

GS student Carmen Ervin ‘16 is one of just five undergraduate Columbia students recently awarded a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF), and the first to be selected from the School of General Studies.

According to the website, the MMUF Program “provides valuable research training, faculty mentorship, and financial support for undergraduate students who wish to pursue a Ph.D. and a career in the professoriate, and whose intellectual and social commitments embody those of the late Dr. Benjamin Mays.” 

Ervin, who had always dreamed of a career in academia, was not sure it was a realistic goal given that she had started completing her undergraduate degree requirements later than traditionally-aged college students.

“Growing up in perpetual need of financial stability, I developed the idea early on that attaining the ‘American Dream’ meant earning as much money as possible, as quickly as possible,” Ervin said.

However, her studies at GS quickly developed her interests in political and social sciences, which inspired her to investigate the causes of the social injustices she saw around her.

“I began to unpack the historical realities of systemic inequality and realized that ‘making it’ in the ways I initially intended would require me to set aside narratives concerning the larger political context in which many individual lives similar to my own hold no currency,” Ervin said.

Ervin met with Glenn Novarr, Assistant Dean for Academic and Veteran Affairs, who suggested she apply to the MMUF Program after learning about her future goals to pursue a PhD.

Upon discovering the program’s mission to “increase diversity in the faculty ranks of institutions of higher learning,” she immediately recalled her most inspirational experience at Columbia: “Africa and the Anthropologist” taught by Professor Hlonipha Mokoena, who ultimately motivated Ervin to pursue a major in anthropology.

“My teaching assistant for that course was Wendell Marsh, an African studies graduate student who taught me just how much power my words carry in academic writing,” Ervin said.

At GS, Ervin’s studies are focused on the cultural embodiments of racialized diseases and pathologies in marginalized communities, in particular questioning how the discourse around the genetic or biological pre-determinants of diseases impact the ways in which black women experience illness. As a future professor of social science, she plans to spend her time researching, generating new knowledge, and sharing her unique cultural experiences with colleagues committed to challenging the status quo.

“If I can change the world in one way, I will work to effect positive social change by creating and expanding safe spaces for individuals from marginalized groups to live their fullest lives and have their voices heard and valued,” Ervin said.

For more information about applying, visit the website or schedule a fellowship advising appointment.

About the MMUF Program

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation established the MMUF program to assist eligible undergraduates enter into PhD programs and the professoriate. Nationwide, MMUF has over thirty chapters and three chapters in South Africa. The Columbia University chapter was established in 1996, and since then 50 percent of Columbia alumni have entered PhD programs and/or earned terminal degrees.