Since their establishment in the mid-1960’s as a part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty program, TRIO Programs have attempted to provide educational opportunity and make the dreams come true of those who have traditionally not been a part of the educational mainstream of American society.

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Purdue University Calumet (established at the Calumet camp us in October 1989) is an attempt to provide opportunity and make dreams come true for students seeking graduate study.The McNair Achievement Program (as it is known at the Calumet campus) is a federally funded program of the U.S. Department of Education. The Program is designed to prepare and encourage students underrepresented in areas of graduate education, for graduate study (not necessarily at Purdue) that leads toward a doctorate degree.