The Black Excel Newsletter

                                             July, 2000
 
 

  In this issue:

  1) Ray Charles Gives $2 Million Dollars to HBCU
  2) Spelman Receives $1 Million to Help Needy Students
  3) Harvard to Offer Doctorate in Black Studies
  4) Xavier U. Launches Computer Engineering Program
  5) Black Student Enrollment Statistics
  6) Georgia Tech Still #1 in Black Engineering Graduates
  7) Black Freshman Wins Debate at Boston College
  8) White Students at Black Colleges
 
 

         RAY CHARLES GIVES $2 MILLION TO HBCU

Students at historically Black Wilberforce University (Ohio), will benefit
from a $2 million gift from singer Ray Charles. The money will be used
to set up a scholarship fund for students studying music, dance, theater
and voice. It will also be used to establish a chair in which musicians,
artists and scholars can visit the school and serve as temporary lecturers.
This is the largest single gift this private university has ever received.

Charles' career has covered rhythm-and-blues, jazz, rock, gospel and
country. He visited Wilberforce in December to receive an honorary
doctor of humane letters degree.

“I was impressed on my campus visit with the quality of the students
and faculty, and I knew the rich history of Wilberforce,'' said Charles.
“In my small way, I wanted to be part of this great history.''

Wilberforce, which has about 1,000 students, is about 15 miles east
of Dayton.
 

SPELMAN COLLEGE RECEIVES $1 MILLION  GRANT
TO ESTABLISH NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Spelman College was recently awarded $1 million from the Goizueta
Foundation to establish a need-based scholarship fund, the first in its
119-year history. The program, titled "Bridging the Gap & Building 21st
Century Leaders," will provide a four-year support system for incoming
freshwomen who face severe economic hardship and who exhibit
exceptional leadership potential, resulting in more than 100 Goizueta
scholars during the program's first 10 years.

For more information on the $1 million Goizueta Scholarship Program
at Spelman College, contact Ms. Trisa Long Paschal, Vice President
of Institutional Advancement, at (404) 223-1485.
 

           HARVARD WILL OFFER A DOCTORATE
                          IN BLACK STUDIES

Harvard University will offer a new doctoral degree in Afro-American
studies, joining at least four other universities that have Ph.D.
programs in the field.

Last month, the university's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to
create the new program, which will admit about five students a year,
starting in September 2001. Once the program has been up and running
for five years, the department expects to have a total of 25 students in
residence.

Other institutions that offer doctoral degrees in Black studies include
Temple University and the Universities of California at Berkeley and
Massachusetts at Amherst. Students at Yale University can earn a
joint doctoral degree in Black studies and one of about a dozen other
disciplines.
 

                   XAVIER U. LAUNCHING COMPUTER
                          ENGINEERING PROGRAM

This fall Xavier University in Louisiana will launch the first independent degree program in computer engineering by a historically black college.  Xavier's new program increases the school's participation in the technology revolution. Tuition for Xavier's computer engineering program is $9,300 a year, compared with $23,500 a year at nearby Tulane.

Xavier ranks first in the number of African-American students earning undergraduate degrees in biology, physics and the physical sciences overall, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The university leads the nation in placing African-American students in medical schools. And about 25% of the African-American pharmacists practicing in the United States graduated from Xavier's College of Pharmacy. The acceptance rate of Xavier graduates at medical and dental schools is 70%, almost twice the national average. Xavier's students, 89% of whom are African-American, will begin receiving computer engineering degrees in 2003.

NOTE: Xavier isn't the only historically black university to offer such
a degree. In the fall of 1999, Florida A&M began to offer a degree in
computer engineering through a joint program with Florida State University.
 

       BLACK STUDENT ENROLLMENT STATISTICS

Here are the latest statistics fort us to consider. Based on
the official 1997 stats, reported by the Department of Education,
39.8% of all black high school graduates went on to enroll in college.

In 1997, over 1,551,000 African Americans were enrolled in a college
somewhere. In point of fact, we make up 10.7% of all students enrolled
in college.

In 1997, over 94,000 bachelor's degrees were awarded to African Americans.

In 1997, nearly 27,000 African-American students earned master's degrees,
a record.

In 1997, Black women earned 64.4% of all the bachelor's degrees
noted. For that year, Black women earned 68.7% of all master's degrees.
In 1998, 64.6% of all African-American doctorates were awarded to Black
women.  That last percentage is from the National Research Council.

Note: According to the U.S. Census, in 1997, 69.2% of all African-American
college students used a computer at home.

Some of the stats above are from the U.S. Department of Education and
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
 

                       GEORGIA TECH STILL #1
            IN BLACK ENGINEERING GRADUATES

Last year, Georgia Tech received high marks from the journal Black
Issues in Higher Education. In its annual "Top 100" list of colleges
and universities that graduate the most students of color, Georgia Tech
continues to excel. This school is a national leader in minority
graduate education, with a number one ranking (tied with Stanford)
in engineering doctoral degrees awarded. It's also ranked number two
in both bachelor's and master's engineering degrees awarded.

Aside: In 1999 Georgia Tech ranked second (behind North Carolina A&T,
a historically Black university) in the number of engineering degrees at
all levels awarded to African Americans.
 

BLACK FRESHMAN WINS DEBATE AT BOSTON COLLEGE

(By Mark Sullivan, Boston Chronicle)

Winners of the prestigious Fulton Prize Debate at Boston College have
included future bishops and barristers. But never in the 108-year history
of the annual forensic competition had the coveted Fulton Medal been
won by a freshman or by an African-American--until now.

Those firsts were both achieved by Mario Powell on April 11 when he
won this year's Fulton Prize Debate before a standing-room-only crowd
in Devlin Hall. Mario Powell, a history major from Diamond Bar, Calif.,
is nicknamed "The Minister" by debate squad teammates for
the preacher's flair he brings to his oratory. Go check out this amazing
story at: www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v8/my11/powell.html
 

          WHITE STUDENTS AT BLACK COLLEGES

The following is a representative list of historically Black colleges
(HBCUs) and their reported white enrollment percentages. The figures
are for the 1999-2000 year.

The "white" enrollment percentages are from various published
sources.

Note: White enrollment at historically Black colleges across the U.S.
climbed 16% between 1990 and 1998.

Florida A&M University--7% white
Tennessee State University--16% white
Morehouse College--1% white
Spelman College--2% white
Delaware State University--17% white
Fisk University---0% white
Tuskegee University---2% white
Clark Atlanta University---0% white
Morris Brown College---17% white
Hampton University--8% white
St. Paul's College--3% white
Virginia State University---3% white
Virginia Union University---0% white
North Carolina Central University--7% white
North Carolina A&T University---5% white
St. Augustine's College---1% white
Bethune Cookman College--2% white
Lincoln University (PA)--2% white
Dillard University--0% white
Xavier University---2% white
Howard University---1% white
Central State University--5% white
South Carolina State University--1% white
Voorhees College---2% white
Bowie State University---11% white
Morgan State University---2% white
University of Maryland at Eastern Shore---16% white
Alcorn State University---3% white
Jackson State University---2% white
Rust College---3% white
Toogaloo College---0% white
Grambling State University---2% white
Shaw University---7% white
Winston-Salem State University---18% white
Texas Southern University--1% white
LeMoyne-Owens College--1% white
Alabama State University---6% white
Miles College---0% white
Stillman College--3% white
Southern University---3% white
Elizabeth City State University--21% white
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania--0% white
Bennett College--0% white
Benedict College--0% white
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff--13.8% white
Mississippi Valley College--5% white
Philander Smith College--1% white

Once Black colleges that are now predominately white:

Bluefield College (WV)--89% white
Lincoln University (MO)--66% white
 

-Isaac Black/Black Excel


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Isaac Black is the CEO of Black Excel: The College Help Network (www.BlackExcel.org). His book, the Black Excel African American Student's College Guide,  will be published in August by John Wiley & Sons.
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