By the year 2010, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF), this country will need to produce 11,000 Ph.D.s in engineering and science annually. Concurrently, the annual Ph.D. shortfall could be about 9,600 by the year 2000.

This substantial shortfall cannot--and will not--be alleviated by continued dependence upon the "good ole boy" network of traditional sources of scientists and engineers. It will be physiologically impossible for Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Michigan, MIT, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins universities--alone--to pick up the slack with regards to our national needs as far as economic development is concerned.

This means that increasingly, as already signaled by the federal government, there will be more and more dependence upon the productivity by historically Black institutions.

Data compiled by the National Research Council show that from 1983 to 1987, HBCUs produced the largest percentage of Black Ph.D.s. And according to the NSF, in 1988-89, the nation's five top producers of Black engineers with baccalaureate degrees were all HBCUs --North Carolina A&T, Howard, Tuskegee, Prairie View A&M, and Southern. The sixth was the City College of New York, which has a proportionately large number of Black students.

The nation's problems associated with the internationalization of economic competition cannot be alleviated until it deals with the issue of the underrepresentation of minorities and females in science and technology. That means the federal government and the Fortune 500 must find a way to enhance Black campuses. Any disparity that exists between Black campuses and majority campuses--as far as facilities, missions, and programs are concerned--threatens the ability to address those problems.

On the one hand, Blacks are underrepresented in science and technology. On the other hand, there is ample evidence to suggest that HBCUs --which produce the largest number of Black scientists and engineers--are sitting in a position of disequalization as far as program mission and facilities equity are concerned.

For example, in 1993-94, according to the NSF's list of top 100 research-producing universities receiving federal money for science and engineering research, the institution that garnered the most federal dollars was Johns Hopkins University, which received $701 million from ten federal agencies. Number 100 on that list was the University of Massachusetts-Worchester, which was awarded $36.6 million. There wasn't an HBCU on the list.

In contrast, of the eighty-one top research-producing Black institutions to receive federal funds for research, Howard University ranked first with $18.4 million.

Millions of these dollars were used for laboratory construction, for the erection of science buildings, and for general infrastructure enhancement. Given the importance that infrastructure enhancement has for HBCUs, it is noteworthy that very little of the total pot went to Black campuses.

Given the aforementioned industry shortfall, and the successful track record of HBCUs and their production of Black scientists and engineers, it is incumbent upon this nation to develop strategies and delivery systems necessary to ensure that HBCUs get their fair share of the research-grant pie.

HBCUs will survive to the extent that they are able to provide their students with the kind of programmatic thrusts that will enable them to prepare for their career-based place in the sun. The emphasis should--and must--continue to be on academic quality and product. Funding equity would greatly enhance the ability to maintain that emphasis.

There is an inextricable relationship between the continued economic growth of this nation and the strength and ability of its colleges and universities to produce more scientists, engineers, educators, businessmen, economists, and computer scientists. And the reality is that the nation, when all is said and done, could care less what color the university is or whether its student body is predominantly Black, White, Asian, Native American, or Latino. The nation's major concern is product.

These campuses have produced 50 percent of the nation's Black business executives, 50 percent of its Black engineers, 75 percent of its Black military officers, 80 percent of its Black federal judges, and 85 percent of its Black physicians. And while the names of the political, cultural, and social luminaries who attended these institutions are too numerous to list here, it is obvious that some kind of academic quality had to exist on these campuses in order for them to take so many diamonds in the rough and polish them into jewels that glisten for the entire world to see.

The goal of HBCUs is to insure the adequacy of preparation for survival in an age of high technology while preserving the unique history of the institution and the constituency that it, in the main, represents. It is a goal worthy of greater respect--and support--from the federal government and its funding agencies.

© Copyright 1998 by DiverseEducation.com
© Copyright 2007 by DiverseEducation.com

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