As of last spring, only 20 African-Americans are concentrating in SEAS, according to SEAS data. But a far higher proportion of concentrators in engineering, applied math, and computer science self-identify as black because this group includes students who directly hail from Africa.
Most students contacted for this article say that they believe a higher proportion of black SEAS concentrators were African, rather than African-American.
In interviews with a number of black students within SEAS, a number of trends emerged which may shed light on why more African students than African-Americans may feel drawn to engineering and applied science.
Many African engineering concentrators pointed to cultural expectations as a primary motivation behind their decision to take on their major.
“In the countries where we come from, the economies are not really well-developed. The best way to get a stable job is in the physical sciences,” says Leonard C. Kogos ’12, a Kenya native who is studying engineering sciences. “There is a perception that when we go to school, we should study something like engineering.”
Nigerian student John Yusufu ’12 echoed this view, noting that engineering and some of the applied sciences are viewed as “prestigious” in Africa.
Yet some African-American students say that their engineering studies stem from individual interest. Hilton H. Augustine ’13 says he has always been interested in technology and electronics, and Ainsley E. Faux ’13 says he has “always been interested in understanding how things work and building things.” Both students plan to declare concentrations within SEAS.
Based on her experiences with African and African-American friends, Nigerian student Olumurejiwa “Mureji” A. Fatunde ’12 says she believes that the latter group is more receptive to choosing majors in the humanities simply because they have a broader sense of acceptable career options.
Even if cultural forces may encourage more African-American students to major in the humanities, no students indicated that any institutional barrier exists to discourage African-Americans from majoring in SEAS.
“I don’t see anything inside SEAS that is creating the discrepancy,” Augustine says.
DIVERSIFYING THE FACULTY
Murray says that one potential method to increase the number of African-American and Latino concentrators within SEAS is to attract a greater number of faculty members from underrepresented minority groups. Such efforts have shown to be successful among graduate students, she notes.
According to SEAS Director of Communications Michael P. Rutter, some efforts to diversify the faculty are already underway.
“I would say that we have begun to think about ways to further improve our efforts to diversify our junior faculty,” Rutter writes in an e-mail, adding that any diversification plans are still “nascent” and “in development.”
Several black SEAS students say that they noticed the relative lack of black professors within the school, though most say that the issue has not affected their perception of SEAS.
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