Georgia Tech named top producer of African-American engineers

Black Collegian, Feb 2002 by Bowie, Larry

Georgia Tech is elated for having been named the top producer of AfricanAmerican engineers in the country. Georgia Tech awarded more bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees to African-American engineering students during the 1999-2000 academic year than any other university or college in the nation. The ranking is based on figures provided by the U.S. Department of Education for universities and colleges for the academic year 1999-2000.

Georgia Tech awarded 147 bachelor's degrees in engineering to African-American students for the 1999-2000 academic year, which accounted for 11.9 percent of the total number of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded at Tech that year.

Georgia Tech awarded 36 master's degrees in engineering to African Americans, which accounted for 6.3 percent of the total number of master's degrees in engineering awarded at Tech for 1999-2000. The Institute also awarded AfricanAmerican students with 11 doctoral degrees in engineering, which accounted for 6.9 percent.

"Georgia Tech was early to recognize the importance of developing a strong minority recruitment effort, as well as an environment supportive of the education of minority engineers," said Georgia Tech Provost Jean Lou Chameau. "We are pleased and proud of our success in this area and, more importantly, of the successes of our minority graduates."

Georgia Tech maintains a strong relationship with the traditionally Black institutions in the Atlanta area that represent the Atlanta University Center - Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, Spelman College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Interdenominational Theological Center.

At any given time, about 150 African-American students are enrolled in a joint-degree program in which students obtain an undergraduate degree in liberal arts from the Atlanta University Center, then move on to obtain an undergraduate degree in engineering from Georgia Tech.

Robert Haley, director of special projects in the College of Engineering, said Georgia Tech has approached minority recruitment on a number of fronts from elementary to graduate school. Haley is creator and coordinator of FOCUS, an annual event designed to attract the country's finest minority undergraduates to Tech's graduate programs.

Each year almost 200 African-- American students from more than 30 colleges and universities attend the three-day series of lectures, tours, panel discussions and social events. According to Haley, the program's success record of enrollment, retention and graduation rates is high. Thirty percent of the FOCUS participants have subsequently enrolled in graduate school at Georgia Tech and the graduation/retention rate of those is 90%. "The leadership at Georgia Tech has made a strong commitment toward encouraging and achieving diversity in the academic setting," Haley said. "Georgia Tech has implemented a series of diversity programs for minority students commonly referred to as a seamless pathway from kindergarten through Ph.D."

Other programs at Georgia Tech that have been successful in attracting and supporting AfricanAmerican students are:

* SURE (The Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science Program) - a ten-week summer research program designed to attract qualified minority students into graduate school in the fields of engineering and science. About 30 students of at least junior-- level undergraduate standing are recruited on a nationwide basis and paired with both a faculty and a graduate student mentor to undertake research projects in the College of Engineering, College of Sciences and the Packaging Research Center.

* FACES (Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Sciences) - a collaborative effort of Tech's Colleges of Engineering and Sciences and Morehouse College to increase the number of African Americans receiving doctoral degrees and encourage them to become faculty members.

* The Georgia Tech Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), which seeks to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community. It hosts activities including academic retreats, study sessions, future business owner's dinners and an annual career fair.

Larry Bowie is a media relations specialist for Georgia Tech in Atlanta.