HBCUs need better marketing

Quinton Williams’s Opinion piece about undergraduate physics programs at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs; Physics Today, June 2010, page 47 ) inspired me to write this response and challenge. I gathered from the piece that some, if not most, HBCU physics programs are having trouble attracting, training, and retaining qualified faculty and students. I believe the problem is one of marketing, coupled with the dwindling talent pool of potential students. Middle- and high-school teachers and counselors need to promote physics as a viable academic and career choice. If HBCUs want more physics students, they need to let middle and high schools in on the secret.

When I attended secondary school, I was never informed about the opportunities or career choices available to students who pursued physics in college. The school’s guidance counselor promoted engineering and computer science. During my undergraduate years at an HBCU, I noticed that engineering scholarships, grants, and stipends heavily outnumbered similar funding options for physics majors. The college and its corporate and government sponsors invested heavily in the programs and recruitment efforts for engineering.

It is well known that the talent pool of minority students ready to pursue physics as a college major is rather small. We cannot expect HBCUs to single-handedly solve that problem, but if they need more physics students, they need to help increase the talent pool. As an example, HBCUs can provide tutors and mentors to secondary-school students. Their faculty and physics majors need to be present at science fairs and actively participate—for example, by serving as judges. If HBCUs do not plant the seeds and fertilize the crops, they cannot expect a big harvest of applicants ready and eager to pursue a physics degree. In fact, all college and university physics departments, not just those in HBCUs, need to market their existence to teachers, counselors, and potential students at the secondary level.