The Meyerhoff Scholars: A STEM diversity program that really works!

Abstract

Although African Americans represent approximately 11 percent of all students enrolled in the nation's colleges and universities, and a greater percentage of African Americans begin college with interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields that their Caucasian peers, they earn less than seven percent of all STEM bachelor's degrees and less than two percent of the STEM doctoral degrees. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program was created at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 1997 to address this retention problem. Since its inception, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program has supported more than 800 students (including ~260 currently enrolled undergraduates). Most of the graduates (87%) earned STEM undergraduate degrees, and of these, 41% matriculated to PhD or MD‐PhD programs, 22% to Masters programs, and 24% to professional programs. A Meyerhoff Gradaute Fellows program was initiated with NIH support about 12 years ago, and since that time, minority participation in biomedically related PhD programs at UMBC have increased from about 2% in 1995 to 17% today. Key elements of both the undergraduate and graduate programs that appear to be essential for successful student retention will be presented.