Time out, higher education. This book has a proven model for increasing the pool of African Americans with doctorate degrees in non-traditional courses of study. With valuable resource information, this book has special importance for the administrators of traditionally white colleges and universities who are sincerely interested in providing a positive campus climate for African-American students to experience success in doctoral programs.

The authors, S. David Stamps and Israel Tribble Jr., have provided a wealth of data to document the value of the McKnight Model, a program developed by the Florida Education Fund in 1984 that has as its purpose producing African-American Ph.Ds.

With no fewer than forty academic-related issues addressed in this study, the authors have proposed a structure for the reform of undergraduate education to function as formalized preparation for the post-graduate experience. Progressive activities in the formalized structure are discussed for each level of undergraduate study.

The intended outcome of such a structure is that students will view the bachelor's degree not as a terminal experience but as a stepping stone toward graduate study, with the student's ultimate goal being the doctorate degree. This concept is worthy of attention because it is projected that by the year 2000 approximately 50 percent of the current higher education faculty will retire. African Americans will be increasingly sought for faculty positions.

Unfortunately, there is an imbalance between the availability of African Americans with doctoral degrees and the need for them -- especially in areas such as science, mathematics and engineering. Most of the doctoral degrees earned by African-American students have been in education.

It is recognized that higher education has not responded to the higher graduation rates of African-American high school students. Of all racial/ethnic groups, African Americans have shown the most significant decrease in college degrees conferred. This is partly due to the decrease of African-American males in higher education, especially considering the high rates of incarceration. In 1977, college participation by African Americans peaked. But between 1978 and 1988, there was a 22 percent decrease in doctoral degrees for African Americans and a 47 percent decrease among African-American males.