Trisha Mackey began her new role as the director of the Transformational Scholarship Program on Dec. 1. Through the program, students from eastern North Carolina who plan to major in education, have demonstrated financial need and meet other requirements are provided with $10,000 per year, as well as hands-on experience opportunities and guidance throughout their four years to support them through college so they can return to teach in their home region.
Mackey wants to change the way low-income students studying education tackle college and their future career. Her past as the former TRIO academic & research coordinator at NC State gave her experience with programs aimed at helping students gain opportunities.
“When I first came to NC State, I worked with a program out of the Friday Institute, working with community-based organizations, helping low-income, first-generation underrepresented students, and gaining access to college,” Mackey said. “From there, I started working with the TRIO collegiate programs at NC State, which is a program that serves first-generation and low-income students as well.”
Mackey became aware of the opening for this job position on the NC State Jobs portal. She applied in the summer of 2021, participated in a round of interviews in the fall of 2021, and was offered the position in late October. Her job is to recruit first-generation students that come from low-income households and want to obtain a degree in education through which they can change the way teaching is done in North Carolina schools.
“Within this position, especially right now, one of the biggest things that we have been doing is recruiting students to apply for the program, so that’s been a huge responsibility,” Mackey said.
While recruitment plays a big role in Mackey’s new position, she is also in charge of reaching outside NC State to the community around campus.
“[We have been] engaging with stakeholders, those within the college and the eastern North Carolina region,” Mackey said. “So outreach has been a major role as well.”
According to Mackey, because this is a new program, there has been a lot of development to ensure growth and progress.
“Creating those foundational building blocks for the program has been a large role,” Mackey said.
Matt Friedrick, the executive director of development for the College of Education, was on the team which hired Mackey.
“For this position, we were really looking for someone who understands the unique needs of eastern North Carolina’s education systems,” Friedrick said. “We were looking for someone with a deep relationship with scholarship admission and with NC State University.”
Friedrick said he believes teachers and administrators need to be diverse. The program will fund 20 first-year students in the 2022-23 academic year, with 20 more students inducted each year thereafter until eventually 100 students have received the scholarship. Each scholarship lasts for four years.
“This is the largest scholarship program for teachers in the history of North Carolina,” Friedrick said.
Mackey has a background similar to the majority of the students who have applied to the program.
“For me, just working in higher education is very personal,” Mackey said. “I was a first-generation, low-income college student, and that really informed my professional practice. Once I graduated college, I knew that I wanted to be in a space to support students that were similar to me.”
According to Mackey, because of her background, she holds an understanding of the challenges that these undergraduate students face coming into college and knows what their needs are in order to be successful.
“Part of my responsibility with them will be co-advising, so working with them to make sure they are taking the right classes and that they are supported holistically in their time in the College of Education and at NC State,” Mackey said.
To learn more information about the program, visit the Transformational Scholarships program website.
