Partnering for success.

Historically black colleges and universities are increasing their competitiveness by teaming up with major corporations and government agencies

A FEW YEARS AGO, THE SITCOM A Different World--the highly rated spin-off of The Cosby Show--offered millions of viewers worldwide their first glimpse into black college life. But for generations of African Americans, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been a community staple, providing the only real option for a quality education. The phenomenal success of these institutions is proof-positive that they have lived up to their mission.

"Our schools disproportionately produce more black talent than mainstream institutions," says William H. Gray III, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. The numbers speak for themselves: according to a 1994 survey, HBCUs account 16% of the nation's black population, but they produce 30% of all black graduates.

In addition, HBCU undergraduates account for half of all blacks with master's degrees and 45% of African Americans who hold corporate positions of vice president or higher. "Any institution with the ability to produce those numbers is worth supporting and strengthening," asserts Gray.

While alliances with private sector businesses and the opportunities they offer--such as student internships and student exchange/study-abroad programs--have been limited, traditional support for HBCUs has come in the form of charitable donations and scholarship gifts. However, in recent years, HBCUs have become more than just tax write-offs for some in corporate America.

"The economic environment dictates that companies aren't going to throw funds at any school and not expect something in return," says Lucy Reuben, Ph.D., dean of South Carolina State University's School of Business and BE Board of Economists member. "When all is said and done, they'll be looking to get their money back in human or intellectual capital," she says.

To meet this demand, partnerships are becoming increasingly popular between HBCUs and some of the nation's top corporations, as well as nonprofit organizations and federal agencies. "Companies are beginning to see the real value of these schools," says Dierdre Francis-Dickerson, manager of strategic relations at Nissan Motor Corp. in Gardena, California. "Their graduates represent future economic wealth, and corporations need to pay attention to them," she says.

Corporations know that institutions and their graduates are only as good as their professors and curricula. By training HBCU faculty and providing state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, these companies help to strengthen the schools from the ground up. These efforts make the schools more attractive to top instructors, who in turn produce graduates who can compete in the 21st century business world.

Why this sudden interest in developing black colleges and universities? Corporate leaders know that if they expect to compete in the global marketplace, they must retain the nation's top scholars--including African Americans.

BACK TO THE CHALKBOARD

Since 1989, the annual Nissan-HBCU Summer Institute has been assembling business executives, 25 HBCU undergraduate B-school faculty and other scholars for a week-long symposium. "Professors learn how to apply their theoretical expertise to real-world business problems," says Ardie Ivie, Ed.D., institute director, "and they go back to their classrooms and supplement textbook information with reality-based material to form a more well-rounded, useful curriculum."

Since attending the institute last year, Olenda Johnson, Ph.D., assistant professor of management at North Carolina A&T's School of Business and Economics, has begun incorporating new technologies into her lesson plans. "I'll be using some case studies in CD-ROM format," she says. "The audio and visual elements not available in traditional paper cases make for a more interesting and interactive learning experience for the students."

Nissan fellows are selected from 88 participating HBCUs. They form their own networks and collaborate to develop new ideas and share information. "The program challenges us to reexamine our own ways of thinking," says H. James Williams, Ph.D., dean of Delaware State University's School of Management and two-time Nissan fellow. "We develop the ammunition to influence how the business of HBCUs is conducted."

For instance, Williams and other fellows from Tuskegee University and North Carolina A&T convinced their administrations to support their development of a collaborative corporate education program for middle- to upper-level business managers. "We need corporate America's resources and financial support, and it needs our teaching credentials and research expertise," Williams says. "Together, we can produce qualified students who can hit the ground running in the next century."

While some HBCUs have one-on-one partnerships, South Carolina State University (SCSU) has taken a "strength in numbers" approach by teaming up with over a dozen companies. In one such program, the Management Education Alliance, SCSU and eight other HBCUs partner with 10 major corporations, including NationsBank, Sunoco, Springs Industries and Pioneer Hi-Bred, a Fortune 500 agricultural manufacturer. "By developing many separate relationships, we have increased support initiatives and more than. doubled faculty research funding initiatives," says Reuben.

Participating fellows spend a semester at an assigned company as paid, full-time consultants. SCSU agribusiness faculty has developed research initiatives, including corporate analysis and assessment, with the Des Moines, Iowa-based Pioneer Hi-Bred. In return, Pioneer has contributed to case writings and conducted curriculum reviews as a member of SCSU's agribusiness council.

"We only partner with companies that are interested in our business programs--period," says Reuben. "They're the ones who can help HBCUs become more competitive."

UPDATING HBCU FACILITIES

In addition to faculty development, some companies provide HBCUs with the infrastructure needed to conduct research on a nationally competitive level.

Atlanta's Spelman College established such partnerships with a number of companies in 1993. In need of funds for a new science building, the school turned to corporate America for help. "Many corporations expressed interest in doing more than just giving us money," says Trisa Long Paschal, vice president of institutional advancement. "They saw Spelman as an opportunity to set up a model partnering program for HBCUs."

And for good reason. Spelman, the belle of the HBCU ball, is among the most recognized of the 116 black educational institutions, which include Howard University, Morehouse College and Florida A&M University. "Corporations always want to team up with big, brandname schools," adds Ivie. "Collaborations with them are considered valuable due to their size and popularity," he says.

The result was the Corporate Partnership Program, which sponsors a faculty/executive exchange. It attracted more than 70 companies, including Citibank, AT&T and General Motors, and contributed $12.7 million over four years to the school's campaign. "The program was the first corporate partnership program that included major gift giving," says Paschal, who has since received inquiries from other schools such as the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, Queens College of the City University of New York and California State University at Northridge.

In particular, the efforts of Amgen, a leading biopharmaceutical company, have resulted in the new $22.5 million Amgen Center for Molecular Biology (scheduled to open in late 1999). "Amgen funded the construction and donated $1.5 million to our science program to encourage more black women to enter the field of biotechnology," says Paschal. "They've expressed long-term interest in fueling a pipeline of science graduates for future hiring."

Harold Davis, D.V.M., Ph.D., Amgen's director of toxicology, says the company chose to participate mainly because of Spelman's commitment to the applied sciences--37% of the students major in math, science and engineering. "We're interested in creating a network of future professionals," he says. "So it made good business sense to go where the talent and enthusiasm were most evident."

Of the graduates who responded to Spelman's 1998 senior survey, 18% accepted positions in corporate America (16% of those companies are science-based).

Amgen considers the new center to be a springboard for cutting-edge scientific development. "It's not enough to have great ideas if you don't have the necessary facilities to transform them into tangible initiatives," says Davis.

Gears are already in motion for a faculty exchange program with Amgen. Currently, the company hosts an on-campus lecture series, where company scientists share their knowledge in short-topic courses and workshops with Spelman faculty and students. In turn, professors will be able to spend six weeks working on research projects in Amgen's state-of-the-art laboratories.

"As we increase our expertise and contacts, we can provide our students with the information they need to do well in the corporate world," says Pamela Gunter-Smith, Ph.D., chair of Spelman's biology department. "Spelman has become much stronger as a result of these partnerships," says Gunter-Smith, who visited Amgen as a program advocate.

A FAVORITE UNCLE

Even the federal government is seeing the value of working together with HBCUs. In 1995, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) established a five-year partnering program designed to link HBCUs and mainstream institutions with technology experts from the public and private sectors.

The $100 million Federated Laboratory program consists of three faculty/industry-run teams, each specializing in sensor, telecommunications or display technology. Each consortium contains a corporation, a mainstream university and a black institution.

"Each HBCU receives approximately 10% of its consortium's budget over five years," says John Miller, ARL division chief of signal and image processing. "In addition to partnering with technology leaders in the private sector, participating HBCUs implement problem-solving strategies through focused, government-funded research," he says.

North Carolina A&T, one of four HBCUs in the FedLab program, has greatly benefited from its participation, says John Kelly, Ph.D., professor of computer science at the College of Engineering, "We are already the No. 1 producer of black engineering Ph.D.s," he says. "But as a result of the program, enrollment in our industrial engineering curriculum has increased."

FedLab resources have also contributed to the improvement of North Carolina A&T's infrastructure. The campus library, the Edward B. Fort Interdisciplinary Research Center, underwent $20 million in renovation to house high-profile research projects, including those for the NASA Center for Aerospace Research and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

While many of these alliances have been successful, "there are still HBCU faculty and administration members who feel threatened by technology," says Lorraine Smoot-Stone, Ph.D., national president of the United Minority Contractors Association (UMCA). "They feel it will only end up replacing--not helping--them." Smoot-Stone partially blames this reluctance for the failure of last year's $60 million Diversity Initiative with Apple Computers. The project, which was to be co-sponsored by the UMCA, would have supplied computers and wiring to approximately 32 HBCUs.

Partnerships in this arena are crucial in producing the next generation of black entrepreneurs and professionals. "Technology has the potential to be the great equalizer in education as well as economics," says Ramon Harris, director of the Technology Transfer Project, a training program of the Executive Leadership Council Foundation in Washington, D.C. "But if HBCUs don't change their way of thinking and accept the high-tech revolution, they'll suffer and lose their relevance."

Despite a few reservations, the tide is turning for HBCUs. As partnerships grow more and more innovative and results-oriented, it is hoped that apprehension will give way to a common-sense view of survival. Thanks to these collaborations, it no longer has to be a different world for historically black colleges and universities--just a more balanced one.