The Role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities as Pathway Providers: Institutional Pathways to the STEM Ph.D. Among Black Students
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:
- How many STEM doctoral degrees were awarded to black students overall and by discipline of study?
- 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?
- What are the institutional pathways of black STEM Ph.D. recipients?
- 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?
