Analysis

We wanted to better understand how to get African American students interested in interdisciplinary research, so we explored best practices in industry trends in relation to African American students at IUPUI who are involved in research, those who are interested in research but are not involved, and students not interested in research at all or are unaware of research opportunities on campus. Combining both digital research with the data collected from the local study, the team synthesized the following analyses.

Providing a “home” at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) to all African American students

Studies have shown that lack of diverse faculty and cultural support in colleges and universities has played a major role in the drop in African/Black enrollment and completion rates. The supportive atmosphere and clear devotion to students of color in science at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has resulted in many top Black chemists. Predominantly White institutions have to work harder to provide the sense of belonging to African American students to achieve success rates.

Professor Vincent Tinto blamed the lack of African American enrollment on the generations of disadvantages that face the Black community. “Black students get the illusion of education without the critical components of a quality education,” Professor Tinto said. This research suggests that the Olaniyan Scholars Program should:

Show a true commitment to the development of Black and African students
Focus financial aid, mentoring, faculty, and cultural support directly to African/Black students

Research suggests that in doing so you will see higher graduation rates among Black students, and higher retention rates in the years to come.

Continuing one-on-one mentoring for students in Olaniyan Scholars Program

In their article “Inequality in Black and White High School Students’ Perceptions of School Support: An Examination of Race in Context”, published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Bottiani, Bradshaw and Mendelsohn explain that training teachers in empathizing with and caring for students of diverse backgrounds could work wonders: “intervention [in support of Black students] may do better to focus on the student–teacher relationship itself, rather than targeting the broader social environment… school staff in diverse schools may benefit from on-the-job training to recognize and bridge cultural and ecological gaps in their relationships with students whose backgrounds differ from their own” (Bottiani, Bradshaw, & Mendelsohn 2016).

“Teaching multicultural awareness and mentoring minority students” adds that minority students look to mentors and counselors for emotional support as well as encouragement in career development (Pierce 2017). All our research suggests that supportive mentorships are an important component in the experience of Black college students, and should therefore continue to form one of the backbones of the Olaniyan Scholars Program.

Building partnerships and recruiting African American high school seniors.

Olaniyan scholars work to serve students in ways that maximize the students' success. Most students get to choose their own research topics in which they connect with full time faculty members for mentorship. This practice is consistent in the Olaniyan Scholars Program among college students. It's non-existent in high schools, since most African American high school seniors have no exposure to primary research experiences; and even though they do, their interests are most likely not explored.

In her article, “Increasing African Americans’ participation in higher education,” Kassie Freeman, the president and CEO of African Diaspora Consortium in New Orleans Louisiana says that, “African American high school students are rarely if ever asked for their perceptions of the problems or, more importantly, for their ideas about possible solutions” (Freeman, 1997). Although most college programs aim at recruiting high school seniors, many of them don’t give those students a chance to voice their opinions and interests. Olaniyan can start learning about some of the factors that hinder African American high school seniors from pursuing and engaging in research in college through partnerships with local high schools.

When most African American students get to college, especially Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), they miss out on major opportunities due to ignorance and lack of people who can show them places and means to exploit opportunities such as:

Research opportunities
Scholarships programs
Mentorships
Tutoring services
Advising
Professional partnerships with faculty etc

This is evident by the results of the local study that was collected by our team. The study showed that 7.7% of the African American students at IUPUI are currently looking for research opportunities, 25.6% want to be involved in research but do not know where to start, 12.8% are not even aware of these opportunities despite their interest in research and 15.4% are not even aware that IUPUI has undergraduate research opportunities. (Chart from survey)

Olaniyan could shrink the number of students who miss out on research at IUPUI through a partnership with local high schools. Students can come into college fully supported and a lot more knowledgeable on how to explore their interests at a Predominately White Institute.

Giving 3rd and 4th year scholars an incentive over lowerclassmen to promote retention in the program

Olaniyan Scholars Program does well in attracting students into the program by providing incentives to scholars such as

The value of full in-state tuition that is renewable up to four years
A $2,000 stipend per year
An exceptional opportunities to engage in research with full-time faculty members (cite Olaniyan page).

Most students in Olaniyan share the same incentives where both lower and upper level scholars have the same perks in the program despite the difference in their experience, research expertise and contribution to the program. Providing exclusive benefits to 3rd and 4th year scholars could persuade them to stay in the program due to increased incentives but also promote retention among 1st and 2nd year scholars who wish to attain those same perks if they stay in the program.

In the research paper, “Comprehensive Approaches to Increasing Student Completion in Higher Education: A Survey of the Landscape,” Rachal Fulher Dawson, Melissa S. Kearney and James X. Sullivan from the University of Notre Dame studied different programs that were assisting first generation students go and stay in college until graduation. One of the programs assessed was, One Million Degrees; being the only program that increased stipends based on student performance and persistence in the program, it had the second highest retention of students in the program over a period of six years (Rachal et.al., 2020). Additionally, the local study conducted by our team showed that 85.7% of students were motivated by monetary benefits when engaging in research. Olaniyan could provide monetary advantages to 3rd and 4th year scholars in the program that 1st and 2nd year scholars don’t have in order to promote retention.

From the client meeting with Dr. Turley, the associate director of Olaniyan Scholars Program, clarified that the program did not necessarily have extra funds to increase incentives above what is already offered to students in Olaniyan Scholars Program. Instead, the team would recommend that Olaniyan take advantage of the $2,000 stipend they already give to all the students and make that incentive exclusive only to 3rd and 4th year scholars. This would not only promote retention among both classes of students, but it would also allow the program to have more funds that can be implemented in other aspects recommended in this report.

Establishing Skills Workshops Alongside College Coursework

One of our team’s main objectives is finding incentives for black students to engage in research programs. Part of our survey asked that students tell which skills they wanted to learn whilst doing research programs, choosing between soft skills, leadership and management, data analytics, teamwork, or all the above. More than two-thirds (63%) of respondents chose all of the above.

The survey respondents aren’t alone. A statistic from a 2019 report written by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 51 per cent of its members, who responded to a survey said that “education systems have done little or nothing to help address the skills shortage. The top missing soft skills, according to these members: problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity; the ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity; and communication” (Willkie). Another article, titled Employers Say Students Aren’t Learning Soft Skills in College, addressed a similar dynamic with hard skills as well. Nancy Woolever, SHRM-SCP, vice president for certification operations at the Society for Human Resource Management, explains how "universities are businesses, too; they are equally interested in changing with the times, but they have a tendency to move at a much slower pace than businesses in general” (Wilkie). The research suggests providing students with a skills workshop prior to graduation, which would set them up for workplace readiness. After having interviewed Andrea Mills, academic coordinator for First-Year Experiences at IUPUI, she said that there are currently no skills workshops that exist for any undergraduate students (H. Minor, D).

Fostering Relationships between African American Students and Faculty

Another objective of the report is to boost the overall morale of students in their learning experience. We found that pairing African-American mentors, teachers, and other faculty with undergraduate students was a valuable way for students to feel engaged with their work by working with someone that is a part of the community. The research behind this idea agrees. A survey conducted in 2016 states that black teachers were perceived more warmly than white teachers, regardless of race (Bruzda). While student satisfaction for black teachers is there, there are burdens within the school system that these teachers overall face. Part of the reason is isolation. Iesha Jackson, assistant professor of teaching and learning at UNLV, explains how teachers of colour, especially black male teachers, “face particular forms of isolation, including how they’re oftentimes looked at to be father figures, or disciplinarians — roles that they didn’t get into teaching to play”(El-Mekki). Professor Jackson also goes into detail about the cultural relevance of black teachers, and how important it is for students to have teachers relate to them culturally in practice.