IHE Ph.D. Student Writes Successful Grant Proposal for Georgia Southern

Dominique Quarles, a Ph.D. student in the Institute of Higher Education, wrote Georgia Southern University’s successful grant proposal for the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, a U.S. Department of Education Federal TRIO Program.

With a perfect score of 110/110, he secured $1.1 million in funding over the next five years for first-generation and low-income undergraduate students at Georgia Southern University who wish to pursue a Ph.D.

“This means a lot to me,” says Quarles, “because I am a Georgia Southern alumnus who was a McNair Scholar as an undergraduate, worked for the program as a graduate student, and then worked for Student Support Services (another TRIO program) at Georgia Southern as a professional. I used the grant proposal as an applied project to complete my coursework for my Ph.D., making it even more meaningful since the program’s purpose is to increase the number of underrepresented Ph.D. graduates.”

Quarles currently works for the University of Georgia’s Office of Institutional Diversity as director for diversity and inclusion. He earned his Master of Education in higher education administration and Bachelor of Science in biology at GSU. His research interests include higher education policy, college completion, equity in higher education, and institutional leadership.