Ranking Member Johnson Introduces “Broadening Participation in STEM Education Act”
(Washington, DC) – Today Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) announced that she has introduced H.R. 4483, the Broadening Participation in STEM Education Act. The goals of the legislation are to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups earning degrees in STEM fields at the undergraduate level and expand the number of faculty members from underrepresented minority groups at colleges and universities.
Ranking Member Johnson said in her floor statement, “The U.S. faces a severe shortfall in students graduating with degrees in STEM fields. With only about 20 percent of our undergraduate degrees awarded in science and engineering disciplines, we rank 27th among developed nations in producing graduates qualified for 21st Century STEM careers. Statistics become even more alarming when you look at the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who receive degrees in STEM disciplines. As of 2011, only about 8 percent of 24 years-olds from these groups had obtained a bachelor’s degree in a science or engineering discipline.”
She continued, “Statistics are equally troubling when it comes to underrepresented minorities and their pursuit of academic careers in STEM disciplines. Underrepresented minorities currently make up about 29 percent of the U.S. population but only about 8 percent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty members at universities and four-year colleges. Less than one percent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty members at the nation’s top 100 research universities are from underrepresented groups.”
The legislation would authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to review and award grants to institutions of higher learning in order to increase participation by undergraduates belonging to underrepresented minorities in STEM education, to develop research and publish results that address reforms to boost minority participation in STEM in higher education, and to assist institutions of higher learning in recruiting, retaining, and advancing minority faculty members in STEM education.
“By authorizing the Director of NSF to award grants to colleges and universities that want to implement or expand innovative, research-based approaches to recruit and retain students from underrepresented minority groups, we will take a necessary step toward increasing the number of students from these groups who successfully complete undergraduate degrees in STEM fields,” said Ms. Johnson. “Similarly, by making grants available to colleges and universities to allow them to make an effort to increase the number of faculty members from underrepresented minority groups, we will take a necessary step toward achieving equality at our institutions of higher education. These are admittedly small steps and the first of what will need to be many if we hope to ensure both American leadership in innovation and fairness at our colleges and universities.”
The bill has already been endorsed by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the National Action Council for Minorities in Education (NACME), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Original cosponsors include Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX).
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