This week the Urban Institute released a report entitled Capacity Building to Diversify STEM: Realizing Potential among HBCUs. The report evaluates the National Science Foundation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) grantees and has some powerful results.
Too often HBCUs are underresourced, and many cater to students who are from academically and/or economically-challenged backgrounds. In addition to smaller endowments, these two factors make it difficult for HBCUs to fully realize their potential for producing black scientists and engineers. The National Science Foundation initiated HBCU-UP to bolster the resources and strengths of HBCUs.
The report found that compared to STEM graduates nationally, those who participated in the HBCU-UP program were more likely to pursue, and subsequently obtain, graduate degrees, especially degrees in STEM. For example, roughly 34 percent of African-American HBCU-UP graduates obtained graduate degrees as compared to only 20.5 percent of African-Americans nationally. Moreover, those African-Americans who participated in HBCU-UP, were more likely to be employed in full-time STEM employment than their African-American counterparts nationally (33 percent versus 25 percent). Female graduates of HBCU-UP, in particular, outperformed females nationally in educational attainment and in the STEM areas. They also outperform other females in terms of their employment in STEM careers.
The report confirms previous research that found that HBCU students have a greater likelihood of pursuing graduate degrees in the STEM fields. It also solidifies the role of HBCUs as a major source of African-American scientists and engineers. For example, the top five institutions producing African-Americans pursuing graduate STEM degrees are all HBCUs as were 20 of the top 50 producers. The Urban Institute also points to HBCUs’ track record for engaging undergraduate students in research, which plays a part in motivating students to pursue graduate degrees in the STEM fields.
With regard to faculty, the report indicates that HBCU-UP institutions had predominantly male faculties (70 percent), similar to institutions nationally. However, unlike STEM faculties nationally, the HBCU-UP faculties were 50 percent African-American. Most colleges and universities have faculties that are only 5 to 6 percent Black. Of note, and indicative of the power of HBCUs to produce future faculty, 40 percent of the HBCU-UP faculty members earned their undergraduate degrees at HBCUs. As research shows that African-Americans do substantially better in the STEM fields when they have exposure to same race role models and teachers, HBCUs provide an incubator for STEM talent.
The report contains several recommendations; however, the most important one pertains to majority colleges and universities, not HBCUs. The Urban Institute recommends that majority institutions look to the HBCU-UP institutions for direction, adopting some of their policies and practices. When it comes to educating African-American students in the STEM fields, HBCUs have much to teach us. Perhaps we should take a good look at what they are doing.
In case you want to look more closely at the HBCU-UP institutions, they are: Albany State University, Alcorn State University, Bennett College, Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Miles College, North Carolina A&T University, Oakwood College, Prairie View A&M University, Tuskegee University, University of the Virgin Islands, Fort Valley State University, Jarvis Christian College, Kentucky State University, Saint Augustine’s College, Southern University New Orleans, Tougaloo College, Central State University, Claflin University, Norfolk State University, Talladega College, Wilberforce University, Bethune Cookman College, Delaware State University, Langston University, Savannah State University, Winston-Salem State University and Southern University, Baton Rouge.
