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24 Sep 2014
Brief

The Role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities as Pathway Providers: Institutional Pathways to the STEM Ph.D. Among Black Students

Rachel Upton and Courtney Tanenbaum

The participation of diverse groups of individuals in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academic and workforce communities is severely lacking, particularly in the context of the nation’s shifting demographic landscape. The need to broaden participation in STEM is particularly salient for those who identify as African American or black. An examination of black STEM Ph.D. recipients’ institutional pathways to the doctorate can provide insight into who among black students are earning STEM doctoral degrees, whether black students are earning these degrees at historically black colleges and universities or other types of institutions, and the extent to which they being supported financially in their degree pursuits.

Specifically, this brief examines the following questions:

  1. How many STEM doctoral degrees were awarded to black students overall and by discipline of study?
  2. What proportion of black STEM Ph.D. recipients earned their doctoral degrees from HBCUs, and which HBCUs were the top producers of black STEM Ph.D. recipients?
  3. What are the institutional pathways of black STEM Ph.D. recipients?
  4. How do the characteristics of black STEM Ph.D. recipients, including discipline of study, citizenship status, gender, first-generation college status, and level of graduate student funding and graduate student debt, differ by institutional pathway taken to the STEM doctorate?
PDF icon The Role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities as Pathway Providers: Institutional Pathways to the STEM Ph.D. Among Black Students

Related Projects

Project

Increasing Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Education and Professions

In 2004, NSF contracted with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to conduct a short-term study to assess program impact and collect evidence of project success in infrastructure enhancement, and student recruitment, retention, graduation and advancement in STEM careers with an emphasis on achieving and sustaining diversity in the STEM workforce.

Related Work

24 Sep 2014
News Release

HBCUs Key to Producing Black STEM Ph.D.'s, But These Grads Have Less Aid, More Debt

New research on the educational pathways of black STEM Ph.D. holders finds that nearly a third of those from historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) graduated with high levels of debt. AIR also found that 72 percent of those with a STEM doctorate from an HBCU also earned their undergraduate degree at an historically black institution.
2 Jan 2013
Report

How Long Does It Take? STEM Ph.D. Completion for Underrepresented Minorities

This issue brief is the first in a series produced by AIR to promote research, policy, and practice related to broadening the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM doctoral education and the workforce.

Topic: 
Education, STEM
16 Apr 2014
Index

stem-grad-230x164x150dpi-01.jpg

AIR Index: STEM Ph.D. Debt by Race

Hispanic, black, Asian and white Ph.D. graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics face different levels of debt on average. Here are the quick facts.
Topic: 
Education, Postsecondary Education, STEM

Further Reading

  • Broadening Participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
  • HBCUs Key to Producing Black STEM Ph.D.'s, But These Grads Have Less Aid, More Debt
  • Broadening Participation in STEM
  • New AIR Report Looks at Ph.D. Gender Imbalance in Academic Fields
  • Long Story Short: Increasing the Number of Minority Students Pursuing Ph.D.s—Which Schools Are Doing the Best Job?
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