Terrance Lewis and Tanya Wineland Named Holmes Scholars of the Month
Terrance J. Lewis
Congratulations to Terrance J. Lewis, the distinguished Holmes Scholar of the Month for November 2023. McNeil, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., is a doctoral candidate in secondary education social science at Auburn University, where he currently serves as a presidential research fellow and graduate assistant. McNeil’s research agenda spans the exploration of pedagogical beliefs and practices of Black men social studies teachers, the factors associated with teaching Black history in K-12 classrooms, and the use of documentary film as an instructional tool in social studies.
Before enrolling at Auburn, Lewis taught U.S. government, world geography, and Georgia studies at the high school and middle school levels for four years in Columbus, GA. During his time as a classroom teacher, he served in various roles including student council sponsor, robotics coach, and wrestling coach. He was also the founder of a mentoring program, Building Better Men Lunchroom Mentoring, which provided mentorship and support to male students in sixth through eighth grades.
McNeil’s research has been featured at national conferences including the Men of Color Summit hosted by Clemson University and the Teaching Black History Conference hosted by the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has also conducted research on topics related to diversifying social studies curriculum and the impacts of Black history education.
McNeil is a graduate of the University of Alabama where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education and a master’s degree in secondary education from Columbus State University. His professional goal is to obtain a tenure-track faculty position at a university where he can continue his research while educating and mentoring future social studies teachers. Lewis firmly believes a life spent serving others is a life well lived.
Tanya Wineland
Congratulations to Tanya Wineland, Holmes Scholar of the Month for December 2023. Wineland has had extraordinary success in their educational journey as a first-generation college student, graduating magna cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre and obtaining a master’s in academic advising from Kansas State University. Wineland is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. educational psychology program at VCU where they also serve as a senior academic advisor supporting multicultural students pursuing business degrees, notably finance, risk management and insurance, real estate, and financial technology majors and minors. In 2021, Tanya was awarded the Campus Partner of the Year for their work with the Rams in Recovery program. They also bring recognition to advising through internal university service and presentations, recently serving on the Associate Directors of Advising Search Committee and leading presentations at university events.
Wineland prioritizes advocacy for student success, utilizing software tools and proactive outreach to monitor student progress and connect them with helpful academic, career, and personal resources. As a result of their 1,370 advising appointments with 545 students in 2021, Tanya ranked in the university’s top advisors for appointments held. For their advising strategies and commitment to meeting and exceeding appointment benchmarks, Tanya maintains a high student advising satisfaction rating above 4.9 out of 5.
Dedicated to educational equity, Wineland’s research aims to understand how help-seeking behaviors and meaningful academic experiences improve post-transfer achievement and graduation rates for multicultural college transfer students. As part of projects like VCU’s REAL Challenge grant, Wineland’s research is generating data and recommendations to help the university expand opportunities and pathways to success for historically marginalized student groups.
We are excited to highlight Wineland as a strong contributor to student equity and empowerment through their determined scholarly efforts to maximize student achievement and equity in higher education.
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