It was recently reported by the U.S. Department of Labor that the overall number of job openings in the United States reached a 15-year high. It was also reported that, in the next five to 10 years, there will be millions of new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs available in the United States.
The massive increase in STEM jobs will depend largely on the production of novel technologies, new industries and a retiring workforce population. Interestingly, the prediction of new jobs is also met with the sobering prognosis that filling new STEM jobs will be difficult due to the number of graduates who will be ill-prepared for the opportunities and challenges of the contemporary work environment.
Not surprisingly, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, African-Americans account for only 5 percent of the STEM labor force, while members of the White community account for over 70 percent of the STEM labor force. Given these morose descriptive statistics, as well as national mandates for improving diversity in the STEM pathway, I presented the need for minority-serving institutions to aggressively incorporate career-centered strategies to enhance undergraduate education during a panel discussion at the White House Initiative on HBCUs.
Moreover, in October 2016, I co-edited a book titled Advancing Educational Outcomes in STEM at HBCUs, where we explore sustainable strategies designed to improve the academic and professional success of HBCU students. This current article expounds on those topics and highlights the importance of graduating HBCU students who have pertinent STEM-based skills and are ready to enter the American workplace after commencement proceedings.
I conceptualized and trademarked the term STEMployable, which is a conceptual framework that provides the organizational structure for understanding the indispensable proficiencies, qualifications, knowledge, and relevant experiences required to obtain a job in a STEM field. Moreover, STEMployable skills refer to an understanding of discipline-specific job-related tasks and an understanding of effective marketing skills to gain employment.
It should be noted that the issue of preparing HBCU students for STEM employment is complex and must involve engagement from administrators, student affairs professionals, faculty, students and corporate partners. Understandably, financial burdens placed on penurious STEM departments at public and private HBCUs make substantive career-based improvements to the research and pedagogical infrastructure difficult, but not impossible.
In order to execute the recommendations proposed in this article, HBCUs are encouraged to pursue funding opportunities with national agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Education (ED), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as well as in the private sector.
