JBHE: Latest News for 4/1/10

A Healthy Increase in the Number of Blacks in Academic Nursing

In 1990 there were 8,745 African Americans enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs in nursing in the United States. They made up 10.1 percent of all nursing students in the nation that year. In 2009 the number of blacks in bachelor’s degree programs in nursing reached a total of 15,453. This is an increase of 77 percent over the past two decades. In 2009 blacks were 11.1 percent of all nursing school students.

The progress has been even more spectacular at the graduate level. In 1990 there were 1,197 blacks enrolled in master’s degree programs in nursing in the United States. They made up 5.7 percent of all students in master’s degree programs in nursing. By 2009 the number of blacks in these graduate nursing programs had increased more than sevenfold to 8,479. Blacks now make up 12.6 percent of all students in master’s degree programs in nursing.

Blacks in doctoral programs in nursing have also made tremendous progress since 1990. That year there were 109 black students pursuing a doctorate in nursing. They made up 4.5 percent of all students enrolled in doctoral programs in the field. By 2009 the number of blacks in nursing doctoral programs had nearly quadrupled to 424. Today, blacks are 11.6 percent of all students enrolled in doctoral programs in nursing. Blacks in doctoral programs in nursing are particularly important as these students tend to go on to careers in academic nursing where they will teach and become role models for young African-American students in the field.