Gates Millennium Scholars: Gates Millennium Scholars in Action

Gates Millennium Scholars Program

The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was established in 1999 to provide outstanding low-income African American, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline they choose. Continuing GMS Scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science. The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence by providing thousands of outstanding students with significant financial need the opportunity to realize their full potential.

One of the Gates Millennium Scholars' goals is to increase the awareness of the need for more minority students to enter into the field of public health. Attendees' assistance with the program and their innovative ideas to meet this goal would be greatly appreciated.

One approach that the GMS program has taken is to have interactive settings for the purpose of getting GMS Scholars directly involved in Public Health activities and ultimately consider Public Health as a graduate area of interest. Just recently, a GloGerm demonstration was given by current Gates Scholars and one GMS alumna from the Albuquerque area as well as nurses from the New Mexico Department of Health. The demonstration was given to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders from the Santo Domingo Pueblo Elementary School in New Mexico.