When Derrick Greenwade enrolled at The Ohio State University in the fall of 1997, statistics suggested that he, as a Black male, had slightly more than a 50 percent chance of ever receiving a degree. Since Greenwade’s graduation in 2002, the first-year success rates for Black males have shot up. With the help of targeted programs and key research, OSU is solving the first-year, Black male attrition equation.
In 2001, only 68.6 percent of first-year African-American male students returned to OSU for their second year; seven years later, more than 91 percent of Black male freshmen returned for their sophomore year. For the second consecutive year, that figure exceeds the sophomore retention rate for Black women.
Greenwade, a vocational rehabilitation counselor at Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility in New York City, is heartened by the improvements his alma mater has implemented to keep young Black males engaged and present on campus. “When I was a student, the mentorship process wasn’t good,” he says. “You didn’t have another brother saying, ‘Come follow me. I will lead you.’ You didn’t have anybody looking after you, and it was difficult trying to find someone.”
Data show that Black male students often feel isolated, marginalized and invisible on predominantly White campuses. Dr. Mac Stewart, the chief diversity officer and vice provost for minority affairs at OSU, says that was the reality officials at the university discovered with the Black men on campus. “We had to do something to address this issue,” he says. “We first started with a focus group of Black male students. They made some suggestions.”
In 2005, OSU opened the Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male to facilitate personal growth, academic achievement and professional leadership through specialized programs that positively impact Black male undergraduate students.
OSU officials credit the Bell Center and its targeted Black male programming for the increase in first-year retention.
