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

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

Dr. Ken Williams, director of undergraduate education in the computer science department at North Carolina A&T, says many computer science departments at both HBCUs and non-HBCUs have experienced wrenching transitions while being re-established as independent departments separate from mathematics, where many originated.

Williams says North Carolina's computer science program suffered a drop in enrollment dip in the early 1990s when it separated from the math department and joined the college of engineering.

"We tightened standards and went through an enrollment clip," Williams says.

He adds, the undergraduate department has gradually increased its enrollment numbers from 247 in 1994-95 to 317 in 1999-2000, noting that there's a high demand to get into the program. "We don't have to go out of our way to recruit," Williams says.

Uncle Sam's Part

HBCU officials attuned to the federal government's heightened commitment to boost the nation's technology work force are looking to a new federal initiative for scholarship funding.

Seven HBCUs, including Grambling State and Florida A&M, were among 110 institutions out of 280 chosen to participate in a computer science, engineering and mathematics scholarship program for undergraduates.

Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation announced the program awards, which were launched as a $22 million annual initiative. The program was created by 1998 legislation that raised the top number of visas for foreign technical workers from 65,000 to 115,000 a year.

Scholarship funding comes from part of the $500 application fee that Congress has imposed on applications for technical workers, known as H-1B visas. Participating schools are expected to award the funding as $2,500 scholarships to individuals. The scholarships are renewable for a second year.

Congress is currently considering a proposal that would boost the annual scholarship fund to $30 million by raising the worker cap to 200,000 and doubling the application fee.

In addition to throwing its weight behind new scholarship funding, the Clinton Administration has enlisted American corporations to help develop programs around eliminating the so-called Digital Divide.

This past April, telecommunications giant MCI-WorldCom announced at the White House that it was committing $10 million over the next 10 years to establish a scholarship and internship program for minority students in high-tech areas -- such as telecommunications, networking and computer engineering -- to be administered by the engineering action council. Under the grant, the action council also will administer the Information Technology Association of America's "Digital Opportunity Initiative," another program aimed at boosting minority participation in IT fields.

Despite the declining enrollments of students in engineering programs around the nation, the New York-based action council has a highly regarded record on minority engineering recruitment and scholarship fund-raising. Outgoing president Campbell says the information technology initiatives represent a golden opportunity for the organization to boost its ongoing efforts, such as the "Math is Power" public education campaign, and to apply its expertise more directly within the IT arena.