Focus EMU Online, Weekly Issue

McNair Scholar devotes energy to children's struggles in Ireland

For Lisa Ghigliazza, working to help disadvantaged children began with a book — "A Long Way Gone," Ishmael Beah's memoir of a child soldier in Sudan.

"I was already interested in working with children, but I had never thought about this population of children," said Ghigliazza, a senior honors student in Eastern Michigan's School of Social Work and one of the university's first McNair Scholars. "I'd thought about the struggles — abuse and neglect — children have here, but this brought a whole new dimension to the struggles children had to go through."

CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE: Lisa
Ghigliazza, a senior honors
student in EMU's School of
Social Work, traveled to Belfast,
Northern Ireland, this summer.
As a McNair Scholar, she studied
the effect of war, conflict and
displacement on children there.

Thanks to a McNair Summer Research Fellowship, Ghigliazza, 43, spent 10 weeks in Belfast, Northern Ireland, this summer, studying the effect of war, conflict and displacement on children and examining the social service systems put in place to help them.

The McNair program, named after Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair, helps prepare students from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue doctorate degrees. The summer research fellowship included a $2,800 stipend and a $500 research grant. Eastern Michigan University launched its McNair program through the Honors College at the beginning of 2008. The school currently has about 30 McNair scholars, says Betty Brown-Chappell, an EMU social work professor and McNair program director.

"Lisa's maturity sets her apart," said Brown-Chappell, who's also Ghigliazza's mentor. "They're all exceptional students, but Lisa comes to it with an air of confidence and a can-do spirit, and that makes it such a pleasure to be her mentor... Working with Lisa, as with the other honors students, has reinvigorated and enriched my own professional life. That's the payoff."

A very nontraditional student, Ghigliazza finished one semester at Wayne State University before enlisting in the U.S. Army — a path that led to Army Intelligence work with the National Security Agency.