Exploring Hispanic-Serving in Minority Serving Institutions: Pathways, Racial Equity, and STEM Doctoral Degree Production in the United States

Abstract

Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) can play a role in advancing racial diversity in STEM Ph.D. production and STEM workforce participation in the United States. To understand the role of MSIs, it is necessary to consider the institutional pathways of racial/ethnic STEM Ph.D. recipients that considers Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), which are federally designated MSI campuses with an enrollment of 25% or more undergraduate full-time equivalent Hispanic students. Due to national data limitations, HSIs often are excluded in the discussion of MSIs and STEM Ph.D. attainment despite awarding STEM doctoral degrees. Our study found that U.S. STEM Ph.D. production differs by race/ethnicity across types of institutions. Among HSI campuses, we found HSIs did not graduate more Hispanics STEM Ph.D. holders as their federal classification would suggest. At the same time, HSIs graduated a larger share of Hispanic STEM Ph.D. holders than HBCUs or PWIs. Suggesting that STEM Ph.D. production at HSIs might be more inclusive and serving a greater share of students beyond one racial/ethnic group.

Keywords

• hispanic-serving institutions (hsis)
• minority serving institutions (msis)
• stem pathways
• graduate education
• race/ethnicity