The Meyerhoff Scholars Program: Making Maths and Science More Efficacious: The One-Page Request for $500,000. Robert Meyerhoff and Jane Meyerhoff
Robert and Jane Meyerhoff would like to increase the representation of Black men in science, technology, Engineering and mathematics. I wrote a one-page request for $500,000. Robert Meyerhoff read it and approved it on the spot. Black men were only admitted to the programme in the first year. In the 90s, it expanded to include Black women. (Since 1996, it has been open to anyone who is committed to increasing diversity in STEM fields.) I decided to find the highest-achieving students in maths and science and help them to be better than they thought they could be. Some people thought it was condescending, but the approach worked.
The journal will continue its reporting on the issues in the Changemakers series. We hope that the series will inspire other researchers, and also the leaders of their research teams, departments and institutions, to make their workplaces kinder and more inclusive.
The creation of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program was led by Hrabowski. It was established in 1988 with a US$500,000 grant from philanthropists Robert and Jane Meyerhoff to help prepare African American students for scientific research careers. From that initial instalment, the scheme has boosted the numbers of Black science students in the United States. Nearly 1,500 people have graduated from it, and around 500 have gone on to pursue PhDs. At other universities, the success of its has been replicated.
When I was growing up in Alabama, I was sitting in the back of church when I first heard a man named Martin Luther King Jr speak. I spent a week in jail after taking part in a children’s march in Alabama 50 years ago, protesting against racial segregation. What is it that will allow people to allow our children to go to better schools? King posed this question to the group.
My love of math helped me solve problems associated with social justice. Teachers and fellow students would question my presence in maths and science classes or ignore me, but I learnt not to be a victim and to use these moments to help faculty and classmates become more sensitive to equity issues. I asked the teacher why he wrote about my well-done test in a way that made me feel good, and he admitted it was because I was his first black student. He shared the story about how I helped change his perspective for the better at his retirement party.
In the early years of Meyerhoff, some of my male faculty members would ask why we needed this programme if they were nice to all students. I said when you are the only one in the room that looks like you, it feels different. I invited several of those men to spend one full day at a historically Black university. And they all came back with a new appreciation of how isolating it can feel — even when people are nice. I also pointed out they were only there for one day and as 50-year-olds. Imagine being a teenager at a university. We’re not trying to do ‘warm and fuzzy’ at UMBC; we’re trying to understand perspective.
The programme has a few key features. The summer bridge programme is crucial. Students spend the summer building a strong foundation in the basics before attending university to study math, English and science. Building community is one of the key components. My research had shown that even the highest-achieving students were not succeeding in science, so we also emphasized the importance of peer support and working in groups. I think it takes scientists to be able to produce scientists. The sooner students are involved in real life science labs, the more excited they will be.
Too many students think that science and maths are only for people with specialized skills. School teachers give children the message early on that they’re either a maths and science student or a history and arts student. I want people to realize that they can use both sides of their brains. Creativity is so important to connect disciplines to figure out the best questions to ask. Maths is about so much more than numbers. The whole Universe is the subject of the film. It’s about patterns. It is related to how we think. The scientists who ask good questions are the most effective.
The Voice of a Changemaker: A Brief History of Higher Education in the Dialogue of Black and White, Working-Class Males and Other Minorities
I think we should get away from the word ‘woke’ because it immediately divides people and nobody really knows what it means. I use the word inclusion now. White, working-class males are the demographic group that has seen the biggest decline in participation in higher education.
I didn’t study French until I was 65 years old. Some students think I am old and sometimes they look at me in a weird way. I have studied one hour a day for the past seven years and I jump at every chance to speak French with others.
All around the world, people are pushing back against racism, gender bias and other forms of discrimination to make a positive difference. Our series will tell their stories and highlight their achievements.
The spirit of the series is typified by our inaugural Changemaker, the man named Mr. Hrabowski. Hrabowski is a mathematician and former president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Catonsville. It’s an important place in the history of US higher education. The opening of the university was the first in Maryland to welcome people of all races.
We’ve Been There: The Stories of Victims of Injustice and Their Persecutive Goliathacs
The accounts of facing injustice and having to fight it will feature a lot in the series. They can be uncomfortable to read. It’s not uncommon for these experiences to be too widespread, and need to be highlighted until they become history.