As some may recall, an early blog post featured data and opinion on the state of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate degree completion for women of color (including top degree-granting institutions). Although much of my work has addressed the experience of women and women of color in STEM, as a gender and diversity scholar, I feel it is my responsibility to recognize the other side of this proverbial coin: the lived experience of men of color in STEM.
As with all historically underserved student populations, the educational advancement of minority men is both an access and success issue; the status of minority men in K-12 and undergraduate education is alarming. In large urban centers such as New York City, Houston, Oakland, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Columbus, minority men are graduating high school at rates below 50 percent. And although the high school graduation rate between White and Black men has narrowed over the past 50 years, the college completion gap has widened.
While many researchers and practitioners have long recognized the dire status of minority men in higher education, there is a renewed focus on men of color by broad-based organizations such as the College Board, Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, and the Center for American Promise.
Scholars such as Victor Saenz (University of Texas, Austin), Robert Teranishi (New York University), and Lee Bitsoi (Harvard University) are actively addressing the sociocultural and systemic challenges that face young men of color from distinct racial and ethnic backgrounds. Challenges include discrimination, disrupted racial identity, lack of peer and community support, low expectations from meaningful adults, a virtual absence of academic role models, and a strong inter-ethnic stigma attached to excelling in the classroom.
Campuses are responding in kind to quell the trend of dwindling minority male populations. Houston Community College’s Minority Male Initiative is one such example that further draws on community voice and involvement.
Appropriately, there is also a growing community of academic and policy scholars addressing the underrepresentation of minority men in STEM fields, including organizations such as Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) out of Washington, D.C., and led by Dr. Shirley McBay.
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), QEM recently hosted a series of workshops on Black, Hispanic, and Native American men in STEM featuring scholars such as Terrell Strayhorn (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) and Karl Reid (United Negro College Fund) who are further questioning the presence of minority men in STEM education and careers.
