Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders recognized as underrepresented in articles, by universities, and grant programs

A quick read of our Google News feed provided us with a nice list of universities, grant programs, and articles recognizing Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders as an underrepresented minority group.  This was refreshing, especially paired with the wonderful progress  being made by underrepresented minority scholarships and fellowships who are choosing to include Pacific Islanders. Here are a few of those articles:

Michigan Daily: Enrollment breaks record for fifth year

Using a new federal demographic classification for the past four years, the University has been able to track data on race and ethnicity. Under these guidelines, the number of underrepresented minority freshmen — which include African American, Hispanic American, Native American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students — saw a slight increase 10.6 percent this year, 0.6 percent more than last year.

 University of Washington: Largest freshmen class ever

The freshman class includes 181 African Americans, 1,794 Asian Americans, 74 Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, 77 Native Americans and 455 Hispanics/Latinos. Overall, the numbers and percentages of under-represented minorities have increased over last year.

Alice Echo-News Journal: University receives grant to help increase Graduation Rate of Minority Students

The Island University partnered with other universities in the Texas A&M System to complete the proposal for the grant. Five doctoral-granting institutions form the central partnership: Prairie View A&M University, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and West Texas A&M University. The goal of the university partnership titled, “Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate” (AGEP), is to increase numbers of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders entering and completing graduate programs. 

The hope for this master plan is that these underrepresented students will enter graduate and postdoctoral training in STEM fields.