Move Over, DeVRY … - more Afro-Americans studying computer science

Black Issues in Higher Education, June 22, 2000 by Ronald Roach

Dr. Marion Harmon, chairman of the Florida A&M computer information systems department, says that while his department has experienced gradual growth in enrollment, it has seen heavy growth in federal research awards, student scholarship funding and computing resources.

From 1990 to 2000, the department went from a research budget of zero dollars to one that spends nearly $4 million annually. In 1991, the faculty had just two Ph.Ds on a staff of 13; by 2000, the department counted 13 Ph.Ds on a teaching staff of 14, according to Harmon.

Its students are widely recruited by employers from around the nation that includes 3M, the Eli Lilly & Co., IBM and Dell. Harmon reports that corporate funding enables the department to hand out up to 25 scholarships a semester to top-performing students. The department had 400 undergraduate students in spring 2000 compared to 350 in 1991.

Faculty members have made a concerted effort to provide undergraduates with research jobs. Harmon says 35 to 40 students a year get paid research positions with faculty members.

"They are seen as prestigious positions," Harmon says of the undergraduate research jobs. "[The jobs] give them the sense of being competitive in the academic arena."

Dr. Clement Allen, a Florida A&M assistant professor of computer science, says he has co-authored academic papers with undergraduates five times over the past five years, a feat which he describes as atypical for a faculty member at a research-oriented computer science department.

"Part of the reason for high undergraduate participation in research is that we haven't had graduate students around. Their program got started in 1996 and 1997," he says.

He adds that another critical component of their success is that the university has taken advantage of grant awards by the National Science Foundation that require faculty and undergraduate collaboration, including a foundation grant for infrastructure development at minority-serving institutions.

Dr. Norman Fortenberry, division director for undergraduate education at the foundation, says the group places a high priority on encouraging undergraduate science and technology faculty members to incorporate research into the education of their students.

"We believe that it's valuable when [science and technology] programs can integrate research into the undergraduate curriculum. The reason is that it brings frontiers of knowledge to the student," he says.

Harmon attributes the department's track record over the past decade to a core group of faculty members who became responsible for attracting research monies to the school. He says the unit has grown strong despite the fact that the department's operating budget pays only for faculty and staff salaries, leaving the department to pay for its ongoing capital expenses.

Rounding Out the Top 10

Officials at North Carolina A&T State University, and Alabama State University also report significant degree-recipient jumps in their computer science programs. School officials also say they have nurtured their programs and assisted students with National Science Foundation funding and other federal monies.