FAMU ranks fourth in producing black bachelor’s degree recipients who earn STEM Ph.D.s

Between 1997 and 2006, FAMU produced 100 black baccalaureate degree recipients who went on to earn Ph.Ds in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). All in all, the institution ranked fourth nationally. Howard University ranked first, with 224.

The data, compiled by the National Science Foundation and reported by Inside Higher Ed, shows that HBCUs still do the best job of preparing black students for STEM doctoral studies. HBCUs rounded out the top eight positions on the list. The top-ranked predominately white university was Harvard, which sent 73 black undergraduates on to STEM Ph.D. programs during the time period studied.

Ansley Abraham, director, State Doctoral Scholars Program at the Southern Regional Education Board, believes that the HBCU tradition of reaching out to “diamonds in the rough” – students whose potential is higher than their standardized test scores reveal – is a key reason for their success in this area.

He also theorized that blacks who graduate from HBCUs don’t pick up “the baggage that goes with being a minority on a majority campus,” which means that they “perhaps have a little bit more energy and drive to go on for more education.”

Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, credited an HBCU culture that encourages students to seek post-baccalaureate education. “Our institutions have really emphasized the undergraduate degree as the launching pad, and generally the culture says to go to graduate and professional school,” he said.

FAMU’s high ranking directly results from former President Frederick S. Humphries’ robust recruitment program and, especially, the Graduate Feeder Scholars Program (GFSP) he established. GFSP helps top performing FAMU students gain admission and generous financial aid packages at graduate degree-granting institutions across the country.

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