Historically Black Colleges Combine Research, Education

Sidebar: Information on Minority Access to Research Careers In the United States, there are more than 100 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In the late 1860s, these institutions were designated by the federal government to educate African Americans as a result of a segregated educational system in the South. Science administrators at the majority of these schools view their mission differently from their counterparts at majority U.S. institutions. Rather than focus their eff

Written bySteven Benowitz

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Sidebar: Information on Minority Access to Research Careers

TEACHING-ORIENTED: NSF’s Luther Williams notes that HBCUs have a strong tradition of stressing undergraduate education.

"HBCUs traditionally have been built around a mission of undergraduate education," explains Luther Williams, assistant director of the directorate for education and human resources at the National Science Foundation. But this does not mean that good, solid research cannot be conducted at these schools, notes Williams, who was president of one such institution, Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), from 1983 to 1987. "Teaching and research should not be seen as conflicting entities."

INVALUABLE: Morehouse College’s John Hopps points out the educational utility of undergraduate research. Students at Atlanta-based Morehouse College, for example, participate in several innovative programs designed to involve undergraduates in scientific research. Yet research output is less important than is research for its educational value, says John H. Hopps, Morehouse's provost. It is considered ...

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