Institutional Pathways to the STEM PhD Among Black Students Rachel Upton PhD and Courtney Tanenbaum EdD American Institutes for Research AIR Overview Introduction Blacks in STEM and the Role of HBCUs ID: 276186
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Slide1
The Role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities as Pathway Providers: Institutional Pathways to the STEM PhD Among Black Students
Rachel Upton, Ph.D. and Courtney Tanenbaum,
Ed.D
.
American Institutes for Research (AIR)Slide2
OverviewIntroduction – Blacks in STEM and the Role of HBCUs
Research Questions
Definition of Terms
Methodology and Data Sources
Sample and Analytic Approach
Results
Discussion
Conclusion and Q&A – Share HBCU Issue BriefSlide3
Introduction – Blacks in STEM
Economic growth,
technological
innovation, and
U.S. national
security require a
strong STEM workforce
(American Institutes for Research, 2014).
By
2060, the
U.S.
will
be
a majority-minority nation, with only 43 percent of the
population
composed of single-race, non-Hispanic
Whites
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2012).
Based on the nation’s shifting demographics, the reliance on White, non-Hispanic males to generate the STEM workforce is untenable.
Slide4
Introduction – Blacks in STEM
The participation
of Blacks and other diverse groups of individuals in STEM doctoral programs is severely lacking
.
Blacks
and other underrepresented groups of individuals represent an underutilized source of talent
(George et al., 2001).
In
2008, Blacks represented
12%
of the
population
and
11%
of all undergraduate enrollments, but
earned only 9%
of
STEM bachelor’s degrees in
2009
(American Institutes for Research, 2012).
Slide5
In 2010, Blacks
received: 1) 7%
of all bachelor’s
in
the biological
sciences; 2) 5%
in mathematics and
statistics;
and 3) 4% in engineering (NSF, 2011). In 2009, Blacks earned 2% of all U.S. STEM doctorates, and less than 2% of doctorates in physical sciences (Washington, 2011). This raises questions regarding the extent to which there is equal opportunity, and about educational pathways and characteristics of Black STEM PhDs.
Introduction – Blacks in STEMSlide6
Introduction – The Role of HBCUs
HBCUs
represent just
3%
of
higher
education
institutions, receive r
elatively smallendowments and tend to have low institutional resources than other institutions. By 2010: HBCUs: 22% offered doctoral degree programs (Palmer, Hilton, & Fountaine, 2012). HBCUs: 19% of the nearly 9% of all bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering awarded to Blacks (Gasman & Nguyen, 2014).
HBCUs:
33% of all Blacks with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and statistics.
HBCUs:
nearly 10% of all Black STEM
doctorates (SED/IPEDS data).
Slide7
Research QuestionsBlack
STEM
PhDs’
institutional pathways
can
provide insight
on who earns
STEM
doctorates at HBCUs, and the extent to which they are supported financially.HBCUs produce a larger percentage of Black STEM bachelor’s degrees than predominantly White institutions (PWIs) (American Institutes for Research, 2012; Strayhorn et al., 2012). Little research investigates HBCUs’ role in Black students’ movement from earning an undergraduate STEM degree to a STEM doctorate. Slide8
Research QuestionsHow
many STEM
doctorates
were awarded to Black students overall and by discipline of study?
What
proportion of Black STEM PhD recipients earned their
doctorates
from HBCUs, and which HBCUs were the top producers of Black STEM PhD recipients? Slide9
Research QuestionsWhat
are the institutional pathways of Black STEM PhD recipients?
How
do the characteristics of Black STEM PhD recipients, including discipline of study
, citizenship status, gender
,
first-generation
college status, and level
graduate student debt, differ by the institutional pathway taken to the STEM doctorate? Slide10
Definition of TermsPWI:
Institution of higher education in which Whites generally account for 50 percent or more of the student enrollment
(Brown &
Dancy
, 2010
).
HBCU:
Institution of higher education in the U.S. that was established prior to 1964 and was created with the intention of serving the Black community
(White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 2010). Slide11
Definition of TermsInstitutional pathway:
Type of undergraduate and type of graduate institution (HBCU or PWI) through which Black STEM PhD recipients passed in the course of earning a doctorate.
-Four
institutional pathways of Black STEM PhD recipients are
examined:
Undergraduate and Doctoral Degree at HBCU
Undergraduate Degree at HBCU and Doctoral Degree at PWI
Undergraduate Degree at PWI and Doctoral Degree at
HBCUUndergraduate and Doctoral Degree at PWISlide12
Definition of TermsCitizenship status:
PhD recipients who identified as U.S. citizens or permanent residents
defined
as U.S.
citizens.
-PhD
recipients who identified as non-U.S. citizens and nonpermanent residents
defined as non-U.S. citizens. Graduate debt: Four levels of graduate student debt, or the amount of debt accrued during graduate school, by a student at the time of earning the degree: No graduate debt Less than $20,000 graduate debt Between $20,001 and $30,000 in graduate debt Greater than $30,000 in graduate debtSlide13
Methodology and Data SourcesWithin-group design
: study
that examines a single ethnic group or several ethnic groups that are considered a unit, such as Asian Americans
(
McLoyd
& Steinberg, 1998).
Examines
Blacks as a racial group on its own terms and
explores the variation in Black STEM PhDs’ characteristics and pathways to the doctorate. Slide14
Methodology and Data SourcesData were drawn from:
NSF’s
2005–2010 Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED
)
National
Center for Education
Statistics’
(NCES) 2010 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (
IPEDS)The SED provided data on student-level demographics and graduate student funding and indebtedness. The 2010 IPEDS data were used to categorize institution type (e.g., HBCU, PWI).Slide15
Methodology and Data SourcesData
examined
between
2005-2010 to
maximize
sample
size and
capture most
recent years of data available at the time. Data suggest that Blacks and other underrepresented minorities exhibited large increase in STEM doctorates, yet constituted only a small percentage of U.S. citizens who earned STEM doctorates. Slide16
Sample and Analytic ApproachFinal
sample size
was (
n
=2,713) of 4,037 Black STEM PhDs. More than one-third of earned an undergraduate degree at an HBCU.
About 13% were
not U.S.
citizens (temporary
U.S. residents or non-U.S. citizens with unknown visa status). Slide17
Sample and Analytic Approach52
% of the sample were
women, and nearly 40% identified as first-generation college students.
Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests of independence
used
to
examine whether the
characteristics of Black STEM PhD recipients differed by
institutional pathway. Statistically significant results were reported at the .05 alpha level. Slide18
Results – STEM PhDs Awarded OverallSlightly
less than
half of all Black STEM PhDs
(
44%)
earned PhDs in the biological and biomedical
sciences.
25% earned
PhDs in engineering. Remaining PhD recipients earned degrees in the physical sciences (17%), while few earned degrees in the computer and information sciences, agricultural sciences, or mathematics and statistics. Slide19
Figure 1. Distribution
of Black STEM PhD Recipients, by Discipline of Study: 2005-2010Slide20
Results – Top HBCU Producers of STEM PhDs
12% (about
n
=326) of all Black
STEM
PhDs
earned
their doctorates
from an HBCU.The majority of Blacks who received a STEM doctoral degree from an HBCU received their PhD from: Howard University (33%) Meharry Medical College (14%) Florida A&M University (9%) Slide21
Institution
Percentage of STEM Degrees Awarded Among HBCUs
Howard University
33
Meharry
Medical College
14
Florida A&M University
9
Alabama A&M University
8
Morgan State University
7
Clark Atlanta University
6
Jackson State University
6
North Carolina A&T University
4
Morehouse School of Medicine
4
Tennessee State University
3
Table 1. Top Ten HBCU Producers of Black STEM PhDs: 2005–2010 Slide22
Results – Institutional PathwaysOne-third
of Blacks who received a STEM PhD
earned
their undergraduate degrees at
HBCUs,
but most
earned graduate
degrees from PWIs (
88%). 9% went to an HBCU for their undergraduate and graduate degree.26% went to an HBCU for an undergraduate degree and then earned their doctorate at a PWI. 62% attended a PWI for their undergraduate and graduate degree.Slide23
Figure 2. Institutional Pathways of Black STEM PhD Recipients: 2005–2010Slide24
Results – Characteristics of Black STEM PhDs
Blacks
most likely to attend the same type of institution for
their undergraduate
and
doctoral degree.
Among HBCU doctorates,
approximately
72% earned their undergraduate degrees from HBCUs. U.S. citizens tended to earn both their undergraduate and graduate degrees from HBCUs than Black non-U.S. citizens (results not shown).Black women more commonly earned HBCU undergraduate degrees than Black men (results not shown). Slide25
Figure 3. Undergraduate and Doctoral Degree Institutions Attended by Black STEM PhD Recipients: 2005–2010 Slide26
Results – Characteristics of Black STEM PhDs
Across STEM disciplines, most Black STEM PhDs attended PWIs for their undergraduate and doctoral study.
Somewhat
more common among Black STEM PhD recipients in the agricultural sciences (48
%) and physical sciences (39%) to earn an undergraduate degree at
an
HBCU.
Earning
an undergraduate HBCU degree was more common among first-generation Blacks than those with at least one parent with a college degree (results not shown). Slide27
Figure 4. Institutional Pathways for Black STEM PhD Recipients, by STEM Discipline: 2005–2010 Slide28
Results – Graduate Student DebtMost Black STEM PhD recipients reported having no graduate student debt after
completing
their doctoral program (
57%) (results not shown).
A
sizable proportion of Black STEM PhD recipients (approximately
21%),
however, had
over $30,000 in debt (results not shown). Across institutional pathways, most students reported having no graduate debt. PhD holders who earned their doctorate at an HBCU (30%) reported having more than $30,000 in graduate debt relative than their counterparts who earned doctorates at PWIs.Slide29
Figure 10. Institutional Pathways for Black STEM PhD Recipients, by Graduate Level Funding: 2005–2010 Slide30
DiscussionSuccess
of HBCUs in producing Black STEM PhD
recipients,
particularly among U.S.-born Blacks, females, and first-generation students,
may be because of their:
Focus
on student
support
and in fostering academic and social integration in science and engineering among Blacks (compared to PWIs). Avoidance of the traditional model of STEM education that promotes the competitive, “survival of the fittest” mentality that is more common at PWIs (Gasman & Nguyen, 2014). HBCUs require fewer “weed-out” courses than most PWIs.Slide31
DiscussionSuccess
of HBCUs in producing Black STEM PhD
recipients may also be because:
HBCUs provide more same-race and same-sex mentors, and more collaboration among Black students and faculty members
(
Allen
, 1992; Allen & Jewell, 2002; Gasman & Nguyen, 2014).
The
transition from HBCU undergraduate programs to PWI graduate programs can be difficult for Black women in STEM. -Black women commonly report academic difficulties and social isolation at PWIs after leaving an HBCU (Brown, 2000; Joseph, 2007; MacLachlan, 2006; Ong, Wright, Espinosa, & Orfield, 2011). Slide32
DiscussionThere are additionally several disadvantages in attending HBCUs:
PWIs
generally enjoy larger endowments,
academic
and financial resources for students, and often lead to stronger career prospects
(
Allen, 1992; Allen & Jewell, 2002;
Strayhorn
, 2008). Black PWI graduates tend to have higher average earnings than those from HBCUs (Strayhorn, 2008). This fact may be important since research suggests that Blacks, particularly those who attend HBCUs, have more economic barriers and financial need (Allen, 1992; Freeman, 1999). Slide33
Conclusion and Q&A – Share HBCU Issue Brief
Future research
-
examine factors contributing to HBCUs’ success in retaining Black STEM
PhDs
, and assess
student
debt among HBCU PhDs to determine what mechanisms could be put in place to increase graduate funding and tuition
support. Slide34
AppendixSlide35
Figure 5. Institutional Pathways for Black STEM PhD Recipients, by Citizenship Status: 2005–2010 Slide36
Figure 6. Institutional Pathways for Black STEM PhD Recipients, by Gender: 2005–2010 Slide37
Figure 7. Institutional Pathways for Black STEM PhD Recipients, by First-Generation College Status: 2005–2010 Slide38
Definitions and Terms
Tuition support:
The level of tuition remission a student received during his or her graduate program tenure (“No tuition support” means a student did not receive any tuition remission; “partial tuition” means less than one third tuition remission, between one third and two thirds tuition remission, or more than two thirds tuition remission; and “full tuition” means
100%
tuition remission.)
Four levels of graduate student funding and tuition support are
defined:
No funding and no tuition
supportFunding but no tuition support Funding and partial tuition support Funding and full tuition support Slide39
Figure 8. Institutional Pathways for Black STEM PhD Recipients, by Level of Graduate Funding: 2005–2010 Slide40
Figure 9. Level of Graduate Student Debt for Black STEM PhD Recipients: 2005–2010