Parity for Minorities in Engineering: Myth or Reality

The need for greater minority participation in the engineering field was put before a large professional audience for perhaps the first time in July of 1972, by J. Stanford Smith, chairman of International Paper. In 1974, the National Academy of Engineering established the National Advisory Council on Minorities in Engineering (NACME). Shortly after that the Academy established the Committee on Minorities in Engineering (CME). Both organizations are part of a growing network of national, regional and local organizations organized to increase minority participation in engineering. The emphasis of much of the current program activity is at the precollege level because inadequate preparation in math and science have been cited as the basic reasons for poor retention rates of minority students entering engineering programs. Professional engineering societies are encouraged to actively support minority engineering concerns through their national offices, as well as encouraging active participation of their members in these kinds of activities.