Keeping up with their historic missions, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have progressively selected and granted an increased number of degrees to women over the past few decades. From 1993 to 2006, the number of black women undergrads receiving degrees at HBCUs increased by 24%. In 2002, 75% of Black women awarded doctorates in Biology had baccalaureate origins from HBCUs. In 2006, data revealed that there was 900 black women faculty in STEM disciplines at HBCUs and 2,810 Black women faculty at non-HBCUs. They accounted for 22% and 2% of faculty at HBCUs and non-HBCUs, respectively. The ADVANCE-PAID: Advancing Women Faculty in Engineering and Technology at Historically Black Colleges and Universities project at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) received National Science Foundation funding from September 2009 through August 2014. The overarching goal of the project was to generate a toolkit defined by the different stages of an academic career path and a new base of information regarding effective strategies and promising practices for women faculty to use to successfully navigate their careers in Colleges or Schools of Engineering and Technology at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A retrospective analysis was conducted to determine the long-term impacts of four activities held during the funding period. The project implemented four key activities: (1) annual workshops; (2) Seed grants to support research efforts; (3) professional career coaching; and (4) weekly writing groups. Fifty-five women faculty from 14 HBCUs attended at least one annual workshop, 13 from 9 HBCUs received seed grants, 11 from 9 HBCUs participated in career coaching, and between four and six women attended weekly writing groups. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with past participants to determine the impact activities had on their careers. Current faculty rank and position of each participant were compared to the rank and position held when they initially participated in ADVANCE-PAID activities. Surveys were sent to participants to assess how this project impacted their success, informed their decision or interest in pursuing administration, and how the various activities helped them overall.

Sister outsider: Advancing women faculty in engineering and technology at historically black colleges and universities

256th National Meeting (2018)

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