African American Chemists

1. Transformation of Louisiana State University: The Best University in the Country for African Americans to earn PhDs in ChemistryIsiah M. Warner, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State Universitypresented to Dept. of Chemistry, U. Wisconsin, Madison, WI, May 24, 2005

2. US African American Chemists

3. Problems for Recruiting Minorities • Building A Critical Mass • Active recruiting • Shortage of Role-Models at Major Universities • Minority faculty at Top 50 Universities (Science, 292, 1292, 2001) • Admission Standards Culturally Biased (?) • GRE Scores (Are they a true reflection of Graduate school success?) • Good Students Do Not Come Solely from Research I Universities • HBCUs and smaller universities (non-PhD institutions)

4. LSU Graduate Program • Historical Context • LSU - Developments in the 90's • Chemistry - Profile of the 90's • Success Factors

5. LSU Milestones • CAP 1991 • Cooperative Assistantships for HBCU students • Huel Perkins 1994 • Fellowships for African American Doctoral Students • External (McNair, GEM, NSF, NIH) • Minority Infrastructure in the 90's - • OMA, AACC, BFSC, many student organizations • Intercampus initiatives • Vice Chancellor for Diversity

6. CHEM LSU Selection Criteria • GPA • Letters of Reference • GRE (Verbal and Quantitative) • Personal Interview

7. CHEM LSU Success Factors • Mentoring and Support • Proximity of HBCUs • Critical Mass • Faculty Collusion • Self-Sustained Recruiting • Employability

8. The First 20 Years - 1965 to 1985 3 PhD Degrees: • Richard Evans, PhD, 1965-1971 • Mildred Smalley, PhD, 1968-1972 • Don Prier, PhD, 1975-1981

9. The Next 20 Years - 1985 to 2005 33 PhD Degrees 11 MS Degrees

10. Success Rates

11. US HBCU's • Alcorn • Jackson State • Mississippi Valley • Tougaloo • Dillard • Grambling • Southern NO • Southern BR • Southern Shreveport • Xavier • Prairie View • Texas Southern

12. The Transformation of LSU Chemistry Continues