Palmer, R. T., Davis, R. J., & Thompson, T. (2010). Theory meets practice: HBCU initiatives that promote academic success among African Americans in STEM. Journal of college student development, 51(4), 440-443.

In the current postindustrial era, increasing the number of minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is critically important for the United States’ economic growth and its position in the global marketplace. Given the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 projection that the population of minorities is expected to increase by 2050, comprising 50% of the U.S. population, it is critical that research document programmatic initiatives that promote and support the success of underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities in STEM. To this end, the authors interviewed STEM program coordinators at an historically Black college and university (HBCU) in a mid-Atlantic state to gain insight about the uniqueness of their STEM initiatives and the impact they are having on student success in STEM fields. What makes these STEM initiatives unique is that they are undergirded by student affairs retention theories. In this article, the authors will present four STEM initiatives and provide context about the retention theories. They will also discuss what college administrators, specifically STEM coordinators, might learn and be able to implement from the initiatives discussed in this article.

Full article can be found here: https://works.bepress.com/robert_palmer/14/