Kentucky Baccalaureate Origins — Bramwell and Broivn 



135 



university is 234, above the lowest ranked 

 benchmark, Georgia at 305, but significantly 

 below the next lowest benchmark, University 

 of Iowa at 59. 



Tables 4 through 7 present results for the 

 production of doctorates from underrepresent- 

 ed minority group candidates whose baccalau- 

 reates are in the biological sciences and chem- 

 istry. No results were tabulated for physics 

 since only one doctorate was earned over the 

 25 years of collected data. 



The results suggest that little or no attention 

 was paid in a systemic manner to any Ken- 

 tucky underrepresented minority group from 

 1978 through 2002. During that time, the per- 

 centage and absolute numbers of U.S. under- 

 represented minority group students receiving 

 baccalaureate degrees and then earning doc- 

 torates in the biological sciences, chemistry, 

 and physics roughly doubled, but little change 

 was reported for such individuals in 

 Kentucky. 



Table 8 presents the annual averages of 

 Kentucky baccalaureate origins of doctorate 

 production from 1978 through 1994 (17 years) 

 and from 1995 through 2002 (8 years). These 

 time periods were chosen to reflect the impact 

 of large-scale or systemic funding during the 

 late 1980s and early 1990s by the NIH and 

 the NSF. Of particular interest were the NSF- 

 funded Statewide Systemic Initiative pro- 

 grams, including the Rural Systemic Initiative 

 Program (targeting pre-college students) and 

 the Alliances for Minority Participation Pro- 

 gram (targeting college undergraduates). 

 These programs were introduced nationwide 

 and targeted to address perceived deficiencies 

 in the growth of the scientific and technolog- 

 ical workforce. The effects of these programs 

 should have been evident as early as 1995 on 

 the production of doctorates in sciences 

 (Hicks, A. J. 2004. Program Director, NSF- 

 LS AMP Program, Division of Human Re- 

 source Development, pers. comm., 1 1 Dec). 

 Thus, we chose to look at changes in doctorate 

 degree production during these periods and 

 compare them to national trends. Of the NSF 

 systemic programs that would directly affect 

 doctorate production from baccalaureate insti- 

 tutions, Kentucky universities participated 

 only in the Rural Systemic Initiative, a pro- 

 gram that focused on the needs of women and 

 of the rural economically disadvantaged. 



Our data with respect to women doctorates 

 are consistent with those reported by Everett 

 and DeLoach (1991) and more recently by 

 Freeman et al.(2004). There has been signifi- 

 cant growth in the percentage and absolute 

 numbers of U.S. women receiving baccalau- 

 reate degrees and then earning doctorates in 

 the biological sciences and chemistry both na- 

 tionwide and in Kentucky. The rate of growth, 

 using results solely from 2002 and 1978, 

 seems more rapid than Table 8 would suggest. 

 If 2002 is used as a measure, then in the bi- 

 ological sciences, 47.1% of U.S. doctorates 

 (up from 25.1% in 1978) were awarded to 

 women, while in Kentucky 51.4% (up from 

 20.8% in 1978) were awarded to women. 



In chemistry a similar trend increase was 

 observed with 34.3% of U.S. doctorates (up 

 from 12.6% in 1978) awarded to women, 

 while in Kentucky 27.3% (up from 0% in 

 1978) were awarded to women. 



In physics, the overall number of doctorates 

 awarded decreased nationwide, with women 

 earning 4.8% of U.S. doctorates (down from 

 11.5% in 1978), while in Kentucky women 

 earned 0% in 2002 and 0% in 1978. 



The results with respect to underrepresented 

 minorities suggest that most numerical anal- 

 yses would be questionable since so very few 

 individuals who earned a baccalaureate in 

 Kentucky subsequently earned a doctoral de- 

 gree in the sciences. 



However, these results are consistent with 

 (a) a highly successful NSF-sponsored and 

 state-partnered Appalachian Rural Systemic 

 Initiative program designed to increase the 

 numbers of women and economically disad- 

 vantaged Kentuckians entering the scientific 

 and technological workforce; and (b) the lack 

 of any systemic program (e.g., NSF-Louis 

 Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, 

 NIH-Minority Access to Research Careers) 

 designed to increase the numbers of underrep- 

 resented minority Kentuckians entering the 

 scientific and technological workforce. 



The baccalaureate origins of doctoral recip- 

 ients in core competencies (the biological sci- 

 ences, chemistry, and physics) in the physical 

 sciences provide reasonable benchmarks to 

 test the quality of science, technology, engi- 

 neering, and mathematics (STEM) baccalau- 

 reate programs. 



