MTSU STEM Mentors

Freneka F. Minter, Ph.D., MS, MCHES, PMP

Freneka F. Minter

How would you describe your college experience?

My college experience was like a culture shock and a long journey. It was a culture shock because I was the first to go to college in my mother's family. In college, I experienced many things for the first time, started to think about things critically, and was exposed to different people, cultures, ideologies, etc. I also experienced a journey of self-discovery because I had no clear sense of what I would become, but I was very hopeful that I was destined for greatness. I dealt with many physical (weight gain and health problems), mental (mild depression, anxiety, and financial issues (given that my family did not have much money) during my undergraduate. I entered MTSU as a pre-med student but had to declare a major after my sophomore year. I chose Chemistry since I had a solid background in science in high school, was a regional Science Olympiad winner in Chemistry, participated in the ACS Project SEED Scholars program, and already had taken many chemistry courses with good grades. I wouldn't be who I am today without some incredible MTSU faculty. On the other hand, I dealt with many life issues, shall we say, during that period. I worked part-time to make ends meet, and my studies were frequently interrupted by bouts of mental health distress and alcohol abuse. Fairly common college antics, I'm afraid, but they created a lot of drama in my life before I learned how to deal with stress and relationships more positively. It took a long time to sort out what I wanted to do with myself. I completed my Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Chemistry in May 2002 and was the first in my mother's immediate family to achieve this level of achievement. My college experience has also been a long journey. After I graduated from MTSU in 2002 and got married, I entered UT Health Science Center in Memphis for an M.D./Ph.D. program and had to withdraw due to some life issues. However, after six months, I changed paths and steered away from my science background to social science and biomedical science disciplines. I came back to MTSU in 2003 and received a master's degree in science (M.S.) in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) with a concentration in health in 2005 and became a certified health education specialist (CHES), credentialed by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC). Afterward, I worked in Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Prevention for a while, at the Tennessee Department of Health as a public health educator, and at Oak Ridge Associated Universities/Oak Ridge Institutes for Science and Education as a public health education specialist. In 2011, I obtained the Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) credentialed by NCHEC and decided to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Degree in Health Services with Walden University. In 2012, in the middle of my doctoral pursuit, I took a pos