Directory of HBCU Computer Science Programs ... Bachelors & Masters, Version 2.0

Last update: Friday 5/15/15 

The directory of Computer Science programs offered by HBCUs appears at the end of this report in Table D in the APPENDIX. An overview of the directory is provided by the comments on the following three summary tables and charts ... Note: this report will be updated in Fall 2016




A. HBCUs Conferring Computer Science (CS) Degrees

• As per Table A (below), 59 of the 86 accredited 4-year HBCUs conferred Bachelors and/or Masters degrees in Computer Science in 2012/13 -- 34 public 4-year institutions and 25 private 4-year institutions.
   
• All HBCUs that conferred Masters degrees also conferred Bachelors degrees, except Texas Southern University (TSU); TSU only conferred Masters degrees.
   
• Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation was obtained by 16 of the 34 public HBCUs (47%), but by only 3 of the 25 private HBCUs (12%). ABET accreditation is an important indication that CS departments offer programs that meet nationally recognized standards, but it is not mandatory. For example, the CS departments at Harvard, Stanford, and Carnegie-Mellon are not accredited by ABET.

Table A.  HBCUs Conferring Computer Science Degrees in 2012/13

Type of HBCU	Total	Bachelors	Masters	ABET	% ABET
Public 4-year	34	33	13	16	47%
Private 4-year	25	25	2	3	12%
Combined	59	58	15	19	32%

   Figure A. ABET Accreditation

B. Computer Science Degrees Conferred on Black Students

• As per the first row of Table B (below), 311 of the 386 Bachelors degrees (81%) conferred by public HBCUs went to Black students; but only 60 or the 129 Masters degrees (47%) went to Black students.
   
• The second row of Table B shows that 144 of the 159 Bachelors degrees conferred by private HBCUs (91%) went to Black students; but only 7 of the 10 Masters degrees (70%) went to Black students.

Table B. Black Graduates of HBCU Computer Science Programs in 2012/13

Type of HBCU	Bachelors	Black Bachelors	% Black Bachelors	Masters	Black Masters	% Black Masters
Public 4-year	386	311	81%	129	60	47%
Private 4-year	159	144	91%	10	7	70%
Totals	545	455	83%	139	67	48%

C. Gender Diversity 

• As per the first row of Table C (below), public HBCUs conferred Bachelors degrees on 90 Black women, i.e., 29% of the 311 degrees conferred on Black students (Table B); and they conferred 27 Masters degrees on Black women, i.e, 45% of the 60 Masters awarded to Black men and women (Table B)
   
• The second row of Table C shows that private HBCUs conferred 46 Bachelors degrees on Black women, i.e., 30% of the 159 degrees awarded to Black students; and they conferred 2 Masters degrees on Black women, i.e., 29% of the 7 Masters awarded to Black men and women.
   
• While all of these percentages are substantially higher than the national percentages for mainstream colleges and universities, they must be considered within the demographic context of HBCUs. Black women represent at least 60 percent of the enrollments at the vast majority of HBCUs. In other words, HBCU CS Departments show more gender diversity than mainstream colleges and universities, and far more gender diversity than Silicon Valley; but they aren't as diverse as they should be. 

Table C. Black Women Graduates of HBCU CS Programs

Type of HBCU	Black Women Bachelors	% Black Women Bachelors	Black Women Masters	% Black Women Masters
Public 4-year	90	29%	27	45%
Private 4-year	46	32%	2	29%
Totals	136	30%	29	43%

APPENDIX

The following table is  a directory of the Bachelors and Masters degrees offered by HBCUs in "Computer Science" in the 2012/2013 academic year, the most recent year for which data about the number of graduates is available from the IPEDS Data Center (at this time). The Websites of all of the HBCUs in this directory explicitly describe their programs as "Computer Science" 

To obtain data about the HBCUs that ddidn't show up as CS programs in the IPEDS data, I looked up each of the missing HBCUs manually on the College Navigator page that displays the IPEDS data for one HBCU at a time. I assumed that the missing CS programs had been misplaced into other subcategories of the broad "Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services" category. 

In most cases, the "other" subcategory was called "Computer and Information Sciences", which was usually the name of the HBCU department that offered the "Computer Science" degrees. In the few case where Navigator listed two or more subcategories for an HBCU, one was "Computer and Information Sciences" or had a name that enabled easy comparison to the programs listed on the HBCU Websites. Therefore in all cases, I was able to identify the Navigator subcategory that was really "Computer Science".

What's in each column:

• Col 1 = Names of accredited HBCUs ... Each name is hyperlinked to the Home Page of the HBCU's Computer Science Department. Note: "Accreditation" here means accreditation for the entire HBCU by a regional accrediting body. IPEDS does not collect data for non-accredited institutions.
• Col 2 = States in which the HBCUs are located
• Col 3 = Total number of students who received Bachelors degrees in 2012/13 in Computer Science
• Cols 4, 5, 6 = Total number of Black students who received Bachelors  degrees in the 2012/2013 academic year, total Black females, and the percentage of Black graduates who were female.
• Col 7 = Total number of students who received Masters degrees in 2012/13 in Computer Science
• Cols 8, 9, 10 = Total number of black students who received Masters degrees (MA or MS) in the 2012/2013 academic year, total Black females, and the percentage of black graduates who were Black females
• Col 11 = "Yes" if the programs were accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The "Yes" also provides a hyperlink to the page on the ABET Website that describes the HBCU's accreditation.

Note -- According to IPEDS, HBCUs did not award any doctoral degrees in Computer Science in 2012/13 nor did the author of this report find any HBCU Websites that claimed to offer doctoral degrees in Computer Science.

TABLE D. Directory of HBCU Computer Science Bachelors and Masters Degree Programs

Historically Black   Colleges and Universities  Public 4-Year	ST	Bachelors	Black Bachelors	Black Women Bachelors	Black Women % of Black Bachelors	Masters	Black Masters	Black Women Masters	Black Women % of Black Masters	ABET
Alabama A & M University	AL	21	19	10	53%	11	7	2	29%	YES
Alabama State University	AL	9	9	4	44%
Alcorn State University	MS	2	2	1	50%	1	0
Bluefield State College	WV	9	0
Bowie State University	MD	10	9	2	22%	7	4	3	75%	YES
Central State University	OH	1	1	0	0%
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania	PA	1	1	0	0%
Coppin State University	MD	6	5	2	40%
Delaware State University	DE	8	5	1	20%
Elizabeth City State University	NC	10	6	3	50%
Fayetteville State University	NC	21	9	3	33%					YES
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	FL	27	24	6	25%	8	7	3	43%	YES
Fort Valley State University	GA	9	9	3	33%
Grambling State University	LA	6	1	0	0%					YES
Jackson State University	MS	11	10	3	30%	12	8	5	63%	YES
Kentucky State University	KY	10	5	1	20%	11	1	0	0%
Langston University	OK	4	4	1	25%
Lincoln University of Pennsylvania	PA	12	10	2	20%
Mississippi Valley State University	MS	9	7	2	29%					YES
Morgan State University	MD	5	5	1	20%
Norfolk State University	VA	29	26	9	35%	18	9	5	56%	YES
North Carolina A & T State University	NC	43	38	13	34%	11	8	4	50%	YES
North Carolina Central University	NC	4	2	0	0%	1	0
Prairie View A & M University	TX	11	6	2	33%	6	2	0	0%	YES
South Carolina State University	SC	17	17	1	6%					YES
Southern University and A & M College	LA	27	27	8	30%	19	6	3	50%	YES
Tennessee State University	TN	14	9	3	33%					YES
Texas Southern University	TX					5	1	1	100%
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff	AR	11	11	4	36%
University of Maryland Eastern Shore	MD	8	6	1	17%	7	1	1	100%
University of the District of Columbia	DC	3	3	0	0%	5	1	0	0%	YES
University of the Virgin Islands	VI	6	5	1	20%
Virginia State University	VA	11	11	2	18%	7	5	0	0%	YES
Winston-Salem State University	NC	11	9	1	11%					YES
TOTALS	34	386	311	90	29%	129	60	27	45%	16
Historically Black   Colleges and Universities   Private 4-Year	ST	Bachelors	Black Bachelors	Black Women Bachelors	Black Women % of Black Bachelors	Masters	Black Masters	Black Women Masters	Black Women % of Black Masters	ABET
Benedict College	SC	7	7	2	29%
Claflin University	SC	3	2	0	0%
Clark Atlanta University	GA	2	2	0	0%	6	3	1	33%
Dillard University	LA	1	1	0	0%
Fisk University	TN	1	0
Florida Memorial University	FL	8	5	0	0%					YES
Hampton University	VA	10	10	4	40%					YES
Howard University	DC	10	6	1	17%	4	4	1	25%	YES
Huston-Tillotson University	TX	4	2	0	0%
Johnson C Smith University	NC	26	26	12	46%
Lane College	TN	14	14	5	36%
Morehouse College	GA	12	11	0	0%
Oakwood University	AL	2	2	0	0%
Philander Smith College	AR	6	6	0	0%
Rust College	MS	12	12	5	42%
Saint Augustine's University	NC	1	0
Shaw University	NC	10	9	3	33%
Spelman College	GA	6	5	5	100%
Talladega College	AL	2	2	1	50%
Texas College	TX	2	2	1	50%
Tougaloo College	MS	3	3	0	0%
Tuskegee University	AL	6	6	4	67%
Voorhees College	SC	1	1	0	0%
Wilberforce University	OH	6	6	1	17%
Xavier University of Louisiana	LA	4	4	2	50%
TOTALS	25	159	144	46	32%	10	7	2	29%	3