The Top 100 degree tables published in this edition of Diverse, and the many more detailed tables included on the Diverse Web site, delineate the institutions that have conferred the most master’s, doctoral and first professional degrees to students of color in academic year 2007-2008. As is our custom, each table shows the number of degrees for a specific minority group as well as for total minorities, by gender and total. We also include the prior year total along with two percentages: the percentage of degrees in that degree and disciplinary area conferred to members of the target minority group; and the percentage change from the prior year in degrees conferred to the target minority group in the degree/disciplinary area.

As we note in each Top 100 issue, the data for this analysis are collected by the National Center for Education Statistics from all U.S. postsecondary institutions. These data are part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set (IPEDS). The preliminary data we use are complete and accurate for those institutions included in the analysis, which represent the vast majority of U.S. four-year colleges and universities. Institutions of higher education also indicate the disciplinary areas of degrees conferred using Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes, a comprehensive and fairly stable taxonomy developed by the NCES and updated regularly to reflect changes in curricula.

We noted in the undergraduate issue (see the June 25 edition) that the NCES has begun a process of moving to new racial/ethnic categories that will be aligned with the way information is collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies. Specifically, enrolled students are first asked whether they are of Hispanic or Latino origin. Any U.S. citizen or permanent resident who responds “yes” to this question is categorized as Hispanic. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident is categorized as a “non-resident alien.” All other individuals are categorized according to their answer to a second question in which they are presented with a set of racial/ethnic categories and asked to “check all that apply.” When responding to IPEDS surveys, college and university officials are asked to report individuals who check only one category into one of five standard categories: Native American or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African-American; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; and White. (Although NCES has started to disaggregate Asian and Pacific Islander data, our analysis still reports the combined category.) Anyone who checks off more than one category is placed into a new “two or more races” category.