Participation and Degree Attainment of African-American and Latino Students in Graduate Education Relative to Other Racial and Ethnic Groups: An Update from Office of Civil Rights Data

Abstract

In this article, Gail Thomas uses 1988-1989 degree completion data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights Survey to track the number of Black and Latino students awarded graduate degrees in engineering, mathematics, and science by U.S. institutions of higher education. Her study reveals the severe underrepresentation of Black and Latino students in graduate programs in these fields. Given the changing racial composition of the United States and projected shortages of science and engineering professionals and faculty by the year 2010, Thomas's findings challenge higher education administrators and policymakers to examine and correct the conditions that hinder the participation of U.S.-born minorities in science, mathematics, and engineering graduate programs and professions.