“NJIT has been repeatedly recognized for being in the top percent in the nation for awarding baccalaureate degrees to African American engineers,” said Joel S. Bloom, EdD, interim provost at NJIT and dean of the Dorman Honors College at NJIT.

Three important programs help NJIT achieve the dual status of being nationally ranked without sacrificing a deep commitment to diversity,  Bloom said. NJIT’s Center for PreCollege programs is the pipeline to develop interest and skills for students, grades four through twelve, particularly those students who are under represented in the engineering professions.   NJIT’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) allows the university to remain a top opportunity school, Bloom added, as a result of the counseling, tutoring and scholarship services available to the EOP students at NJIT.

The Dorman Honors College at NJIT, with an enrollment of 650 students and an average SAT score of 1350, enables the school to compete for top students. And such high-caliber students help raise NJIT’s status in academic rankings such as the one produced by U.S. News and World Report.

Last year, Black Issues ranked NJIT seventh in the nation and first in New Jersey for awarding 19 master’s degrees in engineering (13 to men and 6 to women) to African- American students. The magazine also ranked NJIT 16th nationally and first in New Jersey for awarding 38 baccalaureates in engineering to African Americans. Of that number, males received 31 degrees and females received seven degrees. 

The data for the study comes from the U.S. Department of Education. It is collected through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) program  survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics.