Extended Reading List

Source: Minorities in the Sciences: Top Twenty Annotation, October 2, 2000.

Prepared by: Kenneth Maton, Alphonso Gantt, Troy Green, and Colleen Loomis. Funding Provided by NIGMS/NIH

• Allen, W.R. (1992). The color of success: African American college student outcomes at predominantly white and historically black colleges and universities. Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), 26-44.Widely cited research examining the greater academic success of African American college students on historically black campuses than on predominantly white ones.
• Astin, A.W., & Astin, H.S. (1993). Undergraduate science education: The impact of different college environments on the educational pipeline in the sciences. Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.Large-scale, longitudinal study indicating that approximately 1/3 of African-American, Hispanic and American Indian students at college entry select an SEM major. More generally, Astin’s yearly reports (The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 19..) and related specialized analyses, are a widely cited nationally representative source of data on students.
• Bowen, W.G., & Bok, D. (1998). The shape of the river: Long-term consequences of considering race in college and university admissions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Written by former presidents of Harvard and Princeton, this book has influenced the policy debate in the college diversity/affirmative action area. It is based on a large scale study of the of minority students who benefitted from racial preferences when admitted to highly selective colleges. The post-college outcomes of the students affirm the importance of diversity, as does survey data which indicate that non-minority students appreciate the value of a diverse student body.
• Carmichael, J.W., Labat, D., Hunter, J., Preivett, J, & Sevenair, J.P. (1993). Minorities in the biological sciences: The Xavier success story and some implications.Bioscience, 43, 564-569.One of the well-known success stories in the SEM area, Xavier, an historically black college, has developed a comprehensive approach to enhancing the minority pipeline, for pre-med students especially. The approach includes working closely with local public secondary schools, and a campus collaborative effort to enhance student achievement in chemistry and biology based majors.
• Culotta, E., & Gibbons, A. (eds.) (1992). Special report: Minorities in science. Science, 258, 1176-1196.Widely-cited special section of Science in the early 1990′s focused on minority students in the sciences. Important as an emerging indicator of the high visibility of this issue, the challenges faced by minority students in the sciences, and the status of efforts to make a positive difference.
• The College Board (1999). Reaching the top: A report of the national task force on minority high achievement. New York: College Board Publications.College Board report which focuses on issues related to minority students reaching the top tier in undergraduate and graduate education. Factors which influence academic achievement are highlighted, as are strategies needed to enhance highest levels of achievement. Significant in its focus on achieving high levels of achievement; proposes the term “affirmative development” as a basis for efforts in this area.
• Fullilove, R., & Triesman, U. (1990). Mathematics achievement among African-American undergraduates at the University of California at Berkeley. An evaluation of the Math Workshop Program. Journal of Negro Education, 59, 463-478.One of first studies indicating positive findings for Uri Triesman’s group-based and strengths-focused (non-remedial) intervention for minority freshman mathematics students. The study is significant in supporting the value of strengths-based, academic enhancement efforts in the SEM area and the view that there is an untapped pool of capable minority SEM students.
• Gandara, P., & Maxwell-Jolly, J. (1999). Priming the pump: Strategies for increasing the achievement of underrepresented minority undergraduates. NY: College Board.Significant for its systematic examination of 20 promising (mostly SEM) intervention programs, each of which has some documentation of effectiveness in enhancing minority college student success. Components common to programs are highlighted, along with challenges faced by SEM intervention programs.
• Hilton, T.L, Hsia, J., Solarzano, D.G., & Benton, N.L. (1989). Persistence in science of high-ability minority students.Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.Early, influential report highlighting key factors related to minority student success and persistence in the SEM area.
• Malcolm, S., Van Horne, V., Yolanda, G., & Gaddy, C. (1998). Losing ground: Science and engineering graduate education of Black and Hispanic Americans. Washington, DC: AAAS.Survey results from 93 major research universities which indicated a drop in minority graduate SEM first-time enrollments from 1996 to 1997. Authors suggest that anti-affirmative action policies may be a contributing factor.
• Maton, K.I., Hrabrowski, F.A., & Schmitt, C.L. (2000). African American college students excelling in the sciences: College and post-college outcomes in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. Journal of Research and Science Teaching, 37, 629-654.Well-designed evaluation of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, indicating substantial program success in African American SEM graduates entering Ph.D. graduate programs. Significant for quality of research design, comprehensive nature of program, and its focus on talented minority students. Information about the parenting and community factors contributing to the academic success of the students from their early years onwards can be found in Beating the Odds: Raising academically successful African-American males. (Hrabowski, F.H., Maton, K.I., & Greif, G.L., 1998, Oxford University Press).
• Mervis, J. (1998). Wanted–A better way to boost numbers of minority PhD.s. Science, 281, 1268-1270.This article is significant in continuing the high visibility emphasis on the importance of the minority Ph.D. issue. Alternative approaches that majority institutions are using in order to achieve diversity in the current, anti-affirmative action political climate are portrayed.
• Miller, L.S. (1995). An American imperative: Accelerating minority educational achievement. New Haven: Yale University Press.Broad-based and insightful analysis of the problem of minority educational achievement.
• Nettles, M.T. (1990). Success in doctoral programs: Experiences of minority and white students. American Journal of Education, (August), 494-522.Early, systematic study of graduate education which delineates a number of factors, including racism, as accounting for the lower success rates of minority graduate students.
• Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (1991). How college affects students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Widely cited volume which examines a diversity of variables which influence student outcomes in college.
• Pearson, W., & Warner, I. (1999). Mentoring experiences of African American Ph.D. Chemists. In H.T. Frierson, Jr. (Ed.), Diversity in Higher Education. Volume II: Examining mentoring protege experiences. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Another in a series of insightful accounts of factors influencing the success of African American scientists by a well known researcher in the area.
• Seymour, E., & Hewitt, N.M. (1997). Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Widely cited, in-depth study examining why students leave science majors.. The chapter on minority students briefly reviews existing knowledge, and portrays a number of factors which differentiate SEM major “switchers” from “non-switchers”.
• Steele, C.M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52, 613-629.Summarizes evidence for his novel, widely cited “vulnerability threat” hypothesis. Based on research with college students, this hypothesis states that when minority students are aware that their academic performance results will be linked to their race, they do less well, due to the negative influence of concerns about confirming existing stereotypes.
• Tinto, V. (1987, 1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: The University of Chicago PressWidely cited, broad-based book which examines factors that influence student attrition from college–includes discussion of factors related to attrition among minority students.
• Treisman, U. (1992). Studying students studying calculus: A look at the lives of minority mathematics students in college. The College Mathematics Journal, 23, 362-372.Seminal research which informed the development of Treisman’s Math Workshop Program, indicating less group support and group studying among African-American than among Asian college students.