Saturday, August 04, 2007

Black PhD Index2007

EDSTATS YOU CAN USE SPECIAL:
BLACK PHD INDEX2007

Note: Many folks have asked me to see if I could pull together some data on the state of Black PhDs in the US today. Well, below is an index that quickly shows the crisis (or crises) that we- as a people -face in the realm of US higher education: a growing dearth in Black PhDs in every field except education... and especially in the mathematical, science and engineering fields. These latter fields are the areas where the very survival of Planet Earth is dependent upon.. and we are the most distant people from them... and we are the people who- over five centuries -have been the deepest affected by all the negative aspects of the capitalist sciences and medicine.

We have no choice but to encourage our present 8 and 10 year olds to develop an interest in any of the vast scientific, mathematical, medical and engineering fields... because that is just about all the time (10-15 years) we have before the window of opportunity shuts for us in the US. Another, obvious but still devastating reality is the fact of the disappearing Black Male Graduate Student. Over the next 10-15 years, we have to find ways to bring tens of thousands more Brothers into higher education WITHOUT diminishing the rising number of Sisters in higher education.

Only thru a strong national Black education organization that's grounded in self-determination and the powerful tradition of "Education for Liberation" can we build a force powerful enough to reverse this downward education spiral and accelerate a new cadre of Black intellectuals dedicated to the liberation of People and the Earth from a world-system helbent on death and destruction for the sake of profit maximization for a few.

In Struggle,

S. E.Anderson

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Black PhD Index2007
(a la Harper’s Index- based on 2005 stats)

Number of Black PhD Grads in 1987: 787
Number of Black PhD Grads in 2004: 1869
Number of Black PhD Grads in 2005: 1688
Percentage of US Population that is Black: 13
Percentage of new PhD Grads that is Black: 6.4
Percentage of new PhD Grads in 1977 that were Black women: 38.7
Percentage of new PhD Grads in 2005 that were Black women: 64.9
Percentage of all new Black PhDs that are in Education: 39.2
Percentage of all new white PhDs that are in Education: 18.8
Percentage of all new Black PhDs that are in the Sciences: 5.0
Percentage of all new white PhDs that are in the Sciences: 12.0
Percentage of new Black PhDs that are in Engineering: 1.3
Number of PhDs awarded in Mathematics in 2005: 1231
Number of Black PhDs awarded in Mathematics in 2005: 16
Number of PhDs awarded in Astronomy in 2005: 72
Number of Black PhDs awarded in Astronomy in 2005: 0
Number of PhDs awarded in Physics in 2005: 1300+
Number of Black PhDs awarded in Physics in 2005: 10
Number of PhDs awarded in the Earth Sciences in 2005: 379
Number of Black PhDs awarded in the Earth Sciences in 2005: 2
Number of PhDs awarded in Ocean & Marine Sciences in 2005: 190
Number of Black PhDs awarded in Ocean & Marine Sciences in 2005: 1
Number of PhDs awarded in Biological Sciences in 2005: 6455
Number of Black PhDs awarded in Biological Sciences in 2005: 142
Number of PhDs awarded in 53 other scientific fields: 2275
Number of Black PhDs awarded in 53 other scientific fields: 0
The average age of a Black Ph.D. recipient in 2005: 36.7
The average age of a white Ph.D. recipient in 2005: 33.8
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Culled from National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago