Tressie McMillan Cottom

N. C. Central University (tressiemc@gmail.com)

Emory University, Department of Educational Studies (tcottom@emory.edu)

The Future Has a Past:

HBCUs as a Blueprint for the Evolving Urban
University
The Landscape
• Intersecting national issues:
1. The American Graduation Initiative:
a) Five million additional college graduates by 2020
b) “The College Access and Completion Fund will
finance the innovation, evaluation, and expansion of
efforts to increase college graduation rates and close
achievement gaps, including those at community
colleges.” (White House Communications; July 14,
2009)
Landscape cont’d
• Minority Demographics:
1. By 2015, enrollment in American colleges will grow
42 percent for Latinos, 30 percent for Native
Americans, 28 percent for Asian Americans and 27
percent for blacks. (NCES, September 2006)
2. Chronicle Research Services predicts that “at some
point, probably just after 2020, minority students
will outnumber whites on college campuses for the
first time.” (College in 2020; July 2009)
The Inevitable
“The continuing diversification of the college-going population will put pressure on many aspects of postsecondary education to adapt.

Colleges will have to pay more attention to what factors will allow members of different ethnic groups to succeed, especially because the
fastest-growing group (Hispanics) has historically low rates of college attendance.” (Chronicle Research Services, The College of 2020)
Hypothesis

Having produced the majority of all black college

graduates, Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) can maximize the opportunity
presented by demographic projections and the
American Graduation Initiative to assume a
leadership role in shaping the future of post-
secondary education.
Considerations
• HBCUs and HWCUs: shared destiny refutes study
of HBCUs as a “black issue”
• Geography matters
1. Urban population growth
2. Growth in the South
• Where do the needs of Hispanic students intersect
with and differ from black students?
Challenges
• Polarized nature of literature about HBCUs
• Limited longitudinal quantitative data on black
college populations
• HBCU history can impede contemporary critical
analysis
Expected Outcomes?
This is an unprecedented opportunity for HBCUs to:
• Take a leadership role in shaping policy that impacts
black college students across institutional level
• Increase national profile and effectiveness
• Contribute to a more robust and nuanced research
initiative of HBCUs
• Collaborate
Conclusion

Suggestions and feedback welcome!

Resources
• White House Communications; “The American Graduation
Initiative”; July 14 2009
• “Projections of Education Statistics to 2015”; National Center
for Education Statistics; September 2006
• “The College of 2020”; Chronicle Research Services; (June
2009)
• “The Impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
on the Academic Success of African-American Students”,
Research in Higher Education; Vol. 47, No. 4, June 2006