by Lango Deen
ldeen@ccgmag.com
EN IN STEM A
s early as 1872, Mary D. Spackman became Howard University’s first female graduate of its medical school. More than 130
years later, America's historically black colleges and universities continue to play an important role in educating girls and women and enhancing career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
Despite meager funding, comparative- ly smaller endowments and unequal public funding, historically black col- leges and universities, founded for the education of youth without restriction of gender, have proven that they can increase the numbers of women and minority graduates.
At historically black colleges and insti- tutions, tuition is typically 50 percent lower than it is at their historically white counterparts, and Pell Grants are available for eligible first-generation/ low-income applicants, experts say.
However, over the last two decades, academic observers have expressed increasing concern about the lack of students completing degrees in sci- ence, technology, engineering and math. There is an even greater concern that few students of color are entering STEM-related fields, others say.
Yet HBCUs are producing a large share of the nation's graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math- ematics. Research shows that in the late 1970s more than 40 percent of black science and engineering doctor- ate recipients received baccalaureate degrees from HBCUs.
Federally funded programs that enable a college to offer financial aid and scholarships have helped to attract an increasing number of young black women to the sciences since 1987, when NASA introduced programs at historically black colleges and universi- ties designed to attract students who were interested in pursuing doctorates in the sciences.
By 1995, the number of underrepre- sented minorities earning science and engineering doctorates rose 68 percent from 711 in 1985 to 1,194. And much of this increase, according to published reports, was due to a substantial rise in the enrollment of black women in sci- ence and engineering Ph.D. education.
Among known U.S. baccalaureate- origin institutions of 1997–2006 black S&E doctorate recipients, numbers eight and 20 of the top 50 were HB- CUs. And the top five baccalaureate- origin institutions of 1997–2006 black S&E doctorate recipients were Howard University, Spelman College, Hampton University, Florida A&M University, and Morehouse College.
According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), eight out of the top 10 producers of African American Ph.D.s in STEM fields were historically black colleges and universities. Data also shows that African Americans who graduate from HBCUs in the sciences are more likely to go on to graduate school and complete their doctoral degrees than African Americans from other institutions.
Some efforts to support HBCUs' central role in the STEM fields have shown considerable promise. For example,
since 1998, the National Science Foun- dation has maintained the Historically Black Colleges & Universities Under- graduate Program (HBCU-UP) pro- gram as a way to provide institutional support for a wide range of activities including planning, faculty and course development, equipment and pre- college bridge programs.
The NSF established HBCU-UP to assist in efforts to strengthen science, tech- nology, engineering and mathematics education and research capacity as a means to broaden participation in the nation's STEM workforce. In doing so, historically black colleges and universi- ties contribute to NSF efforts so that the nation's talent can reach their full potential in these fields.
Another noteworthy program is the National Institute of General Medical Sciences U-STAR program—Under- graduate Student Training in Academic Research—that has supported a variety of needs and initiatives in several biol- ogy departments at HBCUs. One of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, supports research that is the foundation for disease diagnosis, treat- ment, and prevention.
Minority Access to Research Careers U-STAR awards provide support for undergraduate students who are un- derrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences to improve their preparation for high-caliber graduate training at the Ph.D. level.
The program also supports efforts to strengthen the science course cur- ricula, pedagogical skills of faculty, and biomedical research training at
www.womenofcolor.net WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2010 19
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