While studying chemistry at Xavier University in New Orleans,
Robert Swayzer III excelled in the classroom during his freshman and
sophomore years. Although the twenty-three-year-old Winnsboro,
Louisiana, native decided against pursuing medical school early on in
his college career, Swayzer’s performance as a chemistry major won him
an environmental research scholarship as a junior through Xavier’s
Center for Environmental Programs.
That scholarship, which was funded by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), allowed Swayzer to work with Xavier faculty to
develop materials that absorb toxic chemicals from waste water. As a
result of the research experience, Swayzer grew more interested in
environmental science and won another research award. He became an
Environmental Justice Scholar at Xavier’s Deep South Center for
Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) during the 1995-96 school year.
As an employee at the Xavier center, Swayzer now coordinates
student programs and publishes community newsletters on environmental
issues. Next fall, he expects to enroll in a master’s program in
Industrial Hygiene at Tulane University’s School of Public Health in
New Orleans.
“My goal is to work in industry in a capacity where I can help a
company improve its safety practices in the workplace and assist it in
safely disposing toxic chemicals,” Swayzer said.
Swayzer’s story is part of an educational movement that is sweeping
historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority
institutions. Over the past seven years, a dramatic expansion of
environmental education has transpired. Through partnerships with the
federal government, largely the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and
EPA, institutions have developed environmental education programs that
are attracting students to environmental careers.
A total of seventeen schools comprise the Historically Black
College and University/Minority Institution Environmental Technology
Consortium (ETC), which has been funded for the past five years by DOE.
In 1990, ETC was organized to participate in federally-funded
environmental programs. Since winning the support of DOE, member
schools have dramatically added environmental education courses,
content and degree programs to their curricula. They have established
outreach programs with their local communities and pre-college
students, and have provided environmental education training for
faculty.
“We have become part of an effort I where we are among the leading
institutions. Traditionally, HBCUs have played catch up,” said Dr. Kofi
B. Bota, the consortium’s director and vice president for research and
sponsored programs at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta.
