The challenge of getting blacks and other minority students engaged in math, science and engineering requires honest discussion, said Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
"You can't solve a problem if you're afraid to state it," Hrabowski said during the Cook Society's annual lecture Wednesday night at the Nasher Museum of Art.
He said blacks and whites -- and students and faculty -- are reticent about the problem, and uncomfortable discussing the reasons behind the lack of diversity in the sciences.
"The American public doesn't trust science," said Hrabowski, who is a mathematician. "They have had negative experiences as students. Scientists have to figure out a way to create a more caring environment."
Hrabowski delivered the 2011 Samuel DuBois Cook Society Lecture, "Academic Leadership and Inclusive Excellence."
The Cook Society is named for Samuel DuBois Cook, the first tenured African-American named to the faculty of a predominately white university in the South. Earlier this week, members of the Duke and Durham community were awarded Cook Society awards, "Sammies," for their work fostering positive relations between Duke and the African-American community.
Hrabowski, president of UMBC since 1992, has been named one the country's top 10 college presidents by Time magazine. He is a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies, and universities and school systems nationally.
He has had great success getting all high-achieving students, but especially minorities, to pursue advanced degrees and research careers in engineering and science. With philanthropist Robert Meyerhoff, he co-founded the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.
During his talk he predicted that the program at UMBC will graduate 75 black Ph.D.s in the sciences in the next five years, more than any other school in the country.
Based on data and anecdotal evidence working with marginalized youth in Baltimore, Hrabowski shared "major lessons" for educators about how to engage minority students:
-- Create a climate of trust by listening to students so they can say things that may be difficult;
-- Don't assume you know the student if you don't know his or her specific story;
-- Have students regularly assess and reflect on their experiences;
-- Get rid of competition between students by having them work together in cohorts.
The point, he said, is to get students excited about work, such has conducting undergraduate research in engineering.
"Is it considered prestigious (to do research)? Are they studying together? Not just the black students, but white students, too? Is it comfortable for them? Is it too hard? Do they have time to do it? What about support?" said Hrabowski of the questions faculty need to ask. "It has to do with the culture at Duke. Have the faculty really listened?"
As for getting faculty members on board with his vision, Hrabowski said that the resistance could be met with data.
"I've had a hard time with white males who thought it was downright un-American" to pay particular attention to minority students, Hrabowski said. But their success, or lack of success, affects us all, he said.
"Some people may not have experience working with black students, but I find there is curiosity. Most educated people are willing to look at data and trends," he said, adding that, more than anything else, changing attitudes is about the art of persuasion.