North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT) proposes a novel, 2-way collaboration between HBCUs and research universities in order to increase the number of African Americans who obtain graduate degrees and enter faculty and research careers in computing. Alliance participants include HBCU's - NCAT, Bennett College, Dillard University, Jackson State University, and Norfolk State University - and majority, research universities - the University of Colorado, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. North Carolina State and the United Negro College Fund Special Programs will provide consulting.
The program will have three components. Firstly, it will strengthen undergraduate computing programs at the HBCUs by changing curriculum and pedagogy to include collaborative learning environments, discovery-based and hands-on learning. The Alliance will create research and educational experiences for undergraduates and graduate students providing authentic learning in the form of design, research, industry and workshop experiences. The students will be given social, academic, and career support through peer-, step- and faculty-student mentoring. Secondly, Alliance activities will institutionalize two-way research opportunities and teaching partnerships for students and faculty. This will be done with the development of joint research and teaching, both remotely and through student and faculty visits and exchanges. Faculty will partner on research teams and graduate student supervision. Thirdly, the Alliance will support ongoing research partnerships among faculty members and will provide pathways for HBCU students to pursue faculty careers after graduation. All of these activities are based on a unique, dual feeder model that allows some HBCU undergraduates to pursue Master's study at a research intensive HBCU (NCAT) before going on to Ph.D. study at a research university. The collaborations developed under this Alliance will be meaningful, two-way relationships that will be built from the PIs' experience in facilitating collaborations between research universities and HBCUs.
