Dr. Howard Adams has been engaged in the struggle to attract more African American students into graduate education in science and engineering for more than twenty years. In that time, he has witnessed measurable improvement in the academic caliber, motivation, and preparedness of African American undergraduates. Still, he says, many obstacles remain to impede their access to and success in graduate school.
Adams is the former director of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minority Engineering and Science, Inc., more commonly known as GEM. Founded in 1976, this public/private partnership provides programs, activities, and fellowships aimed at ameliorating the under-representation of Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans in engineering, science, and mathematics from pre-college through the doctorate.
One of the most common excuses Adams hears from colleges and universities about the scarcity of African American graduate students on their campuses is that it is hard to persuade Black students to pursue graduate study rather than earn top salaries with their bachelor’s degrees.
“I remind people that that’s not true,” he says. “Yes, the reason [Black students] go to school is to get a job. I mean, everyone else is looking for jobs too. Why should we be any different? But [Black students] also look at options if other things are available.”
Too often, Adams says, Black undergraduates aren’t encouraged to think about graduate school. Moreover, when they do get information, it is marketed to them in negative terms. He characterizes the sales pitch
as going something like this:
* Admission to graduate school requires skills and talents;
* it is only for those who wish to do research;
