The Success of African American STEM Majors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 51
  In Roundtable Session: Stemming the Tide: Promoting Success for Black Students in STEM

Abstract

According to the Obama Administration, we need a workforce that is going to be STEM ready because this is the only way that the U.S. will be able to compete on a global level with other nations. However, in order for students to be successful in a major in STEM, they need a supportive environment, smaller class sizes, faculty encouragement and support, tutoring services, peer support and accessibility of office hours (Perna, 2009). Students that attend HBCUs reported that professors at HBCUs go out their way to work directly with STEM students in and outside the classroom (Fries-Bitt, Younger & Hall, 2010). However, African Americans that attend HBCUs graduate in STEM majors at a higher rate than their counterparts at PWIs.

Author

• Danielle Forbes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign