Lafayette Journal and Courier

Conference gives black grad students tools to succeed
By Tanya Brown

June 25, 2006

Ritchie Hall stayed up for hours talking to his assigned roommate after arriving in town for the 12th annual Black Graduate Conference in Psychology at Purdue University.

Hall, a clinical psychology student at the University of Cincinnati, said he relished the chance to talk out his frustrations with someone who understood.

"I've pretty much always wanted to be a psychologist," he said. "But in classes, black students want to ask how things relate to issues like class and ethnicity.

"In psychology, no one even thinks of these issues and you don't want to always be the one raising your hand and saying, 'What about race?' It was really great just to talk over my frustrations with someone who has been there."

The conference, which ends today at Purdue and has drawn nearly 40 students from universities across the country, focuses on helping psychology students succeed in doctoral studies. But participants say its lessons apply to all black students.

That's especially so at time when African-Americans pursuing advanced degrees continue to lag.

"There's a sense of community in coming to events like this," Hall said, explaining the draw that has brought him back two consecutive years.

"Many of us come from predominantly white universities. In my first year, there were 10 of us, and I'm the only African-American. I had a lot of anxiety about, 'Am I capable of doing this?' This (conference) gives us exposure to people who have achieved."

Dwight Lewis, the director of multicultural programs at Purdue's graduate school, said the conference is a great example of an effective strategy for recruiting and maintaining more blacks in all areas of doctoral programs.

Nationally, Lewis said the National Science Foundation reports that about 6.5 percent of black students are attaining doctorates. That's relatively low considering that black students make up some 12 percent of the student population.

"There's an access problem," he said. "That starts early. The pool is just not large enough, and then once they're in, there's a disparity between students going into certain disciplines."

Comparatively few black students are choosing the sciences, engineering or social science areas, such as psychology, for graduate work nationally.

More than 36 percent are pursuing education doctorates, which is more than twice the national average.

Not discounting education, Lewis said it is important to entice black students into more scientific programs as well as into the highest levels of education overall.

"Minority students are often coming from historically black or Hispanic backgrounds to a predominantly white area," he said. "If they don't have a mentor, that's just that much more they have to deal with on a daily basis to make it through."

Mia Smith Bynum said that's exactly why the black psychology conference has remained popular over the years.

She attended the first of the conferences as a student, when it was held at Howard University in 1995.

"Getting a doctorate degree is hard no matter what color you are," Smith Bynum said. "But culturally, black students often are taught by their parents to assess the situation and hang back. They can be viewed as not as able to compete as their white peers. Here, they can learn to speak up and express their ideas."