Cal State Long Beach Professor Receives Renewal Grants For Career, Research Projects For Underrepresented Minority Students

John Jung, a professor of psychology at Cal State Long Beach, recently received renewal grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for a pair of programs that work with underrepresented minority students--one program for graduate level students and another for high school students.

The grants were awarded for the Psychology Department’s Career Opportunities in Research (COR) Program and the Career Opportunities in Research Education and Training (CORET). NIMH approved $188,619 for the first of five years of COR support and $37,800 in first-year funding was okayed for CORET.

“With each successive renewal, in a sense, my track record as a producer of doctoral students is embellished,” said Jung, who joined the university in 1962 and is currently participating in the CSU Faculty Early Retirement Program. “We’ve been reasonably successful. About 75 percent of our students go past the bachelor’s degree. Since 1981, we have produced 23 students who have received their PhDs and I’m very pleased with that.”

This is the fifth five-year cycle of funding awarded COR and the second five-year cycle for CORET since Jung founded it in 1997.

As director of COR, which started in 1981 as the Minority Access to Research Careers, Jung helps to encourage outstanding underrepresented minority students to pursue graduate studies for doctorates in psychology. This year’s nine trainees receive $10,000 for 10 weeks in the summer and the academic year. Registration fees and travel expenses to a professional conference and the National COR Colloquium are included.

The CSULB program is one of the three oldest COR programs and the only one west of the Mississippi until recently. There are currently 22 COR programs at colleges and universities across the United States.

The CORET Program for ethnic minority high school students covers the junior and senior years. Six high school honors students from Millikan High School and Wilson High School in the Long Beach Unified School District with interests in the social sciences are introduced each year to the nature and importance of scientific approaches to the study of psychology.

The students attend a six-week summer program following their sophomore year, and during their junior year, students come once a week to campus to observe and participate in ongoing faculty directed research projects. They also meet with students participating in the college-level COR program for further guidance.

During the second summer, students are guided in the preparation of an independent research project proposal that is completed during the senior academic year under the supervision of a faculty mentor. At the end of the year, each student makes a formal presentation of their research before an audience of student and faculty mentors, family and friends.

Media Contacts: Rick Gloady, 562/985-5454
Shayne Schroeder, 562/985-1727