Black Faculty in the Biological Sciences

Data collected by Donna J. Nelson, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma, finds that there are 101 black scholars teaching in the biological sciences at the 100 universities with the largest research budgets in the field. These 101 black biologists make up only 1.4 percent of all biology faculty at these 100 research universities. Sixteen of the 101 black biologists teach at Meharry Medical College, the historically black medical school in Nashville. There are 14 black biologists at the University of Texas Medical Branch and nine black biologists at the University of Florida. There are four black biologists at Yale, Cornell, and Michigan State University.

Of the 101 black biologists at these 100 large research universities, 26 are women. Thirty-five black biologists hold the rank of full professor at these 100 institutions.

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.