Month: October 2023

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) named 19 institutions of higher education as Fulbright Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Institutional Leaders for 2023.

Over the last 76 years, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research in the United States or in one of over 160 partner countries worldwide. Fulbright students and scholars are from or hosted by more than 800 colleges and universities across the United States, and thousands more campuses in over 160 countries.

The HBCU Institutional Leader status recognizes engagement across the Fulbright Program, including the hosting Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants at HBCUs, Scholars-in-Residence, and other Fulbright Students or Scholars as well as having U.S. students, faculty and staff receive Fulbrights to study, teach or conduct research abroad.

The 19 Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders for 2023 include:

• Alcorn State University  – Mississippi
• Bennett College – North Carolina
• Bluefield State University – West Virginia
• Central State University – Ohio
• Delaware State University – Delaware
• Fayetteville State University – North Carolina
• Florida A&M University – Florida
• Howard University – Washington, D.C.
• Jackson State University – Mississippi
• Jarvis Christian University – Texas
• The LeMoyne-Owen College – Tennessee
• Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania

• Mississippi Valley State University – Mississippi
• Morgan State University – Maryland
• North Carolina Central University – North Carolina
• Spelman College – Georgia
• Texas Southern University – Texas
• Tuskegee University – Alabama
• Virginia State University – Virginia

As a hopeful sign of change, recent trends show that Black students are enrolling in medical school at a record rates, with enrollment rising 21.0% from the 2020-21 school year. The fall 2021 freshman class marks the largest and most diverse first-year medical school class than ever before (AAMC).  

HBCUs have long played a significant role in diversifying the healthcare workforce. Here are few facts about how HBCUs have impacted healthcare worker diversity since their inception.

The HBCU Medical School Effect

“The HBCU Medical School Effect,” coined by several researchers, explains how these institutions have helped increase the rate of Black board members, staff, faculty, and students at medical schools. For example, a study reported that despite HBCUs representing 3% of degree-granting institutions, they represented 17% of schools with the most African American medical students in 2013. Xavier University and Howard University students accounted for 92% of African American medical school graduates that same year (HBCUs and the Production of Doctors). Additionally, HBCUs have produced 70% of all African-American physicians and doctors.

An HBCU previously produced more African American medical school applicants than two PWIs combined.

HBCUs’ impact on America’s diverse workforce can be traced through the successful applicant rates of African American medical students. For example, in 2000, Xavier University’s School of Medicine as an individual HBCU attained more successful African American medical school applicants than two PWIs combined. According to the HBCU Alumnicle, Xavier University gain an applicant pool of 94 students, which was more than Johns Hopkins (20), Harvard (37), and the University of Maryland (24) combined.