Continuing the effort to boost students’ achievement and attainment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the Learning Communities for STEM Academic Achievement (LCSAA) will hold its annual project meeting June 5-7, at Talladega College in Talladega, Ala. 

    The two-day event will include activities and workshops to help sustain Learning Communities on black college campuses. Participating HBCUs in the project are Howard University, Jackson State University, Talladega College, and Xavier University of Louisiana. These institutions offer dynamic laboratories for addressing the issue of academic achievement in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields where African American students are underrepresented and, therefore,  have underachieved.  

    The LCSAA project connects HBCUs to the national “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” community centered around the work of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Inter-Institutional and multidisciplinary departments work collaboratively to improve teaching and learning in their classrooms.  

    HBCUs enroll approximately 13 percent and graduate about 23 percent of African American students, despite comprising only about 3 percent of all institutions of higher education. This year’s agenda includes progress reports from each institution, assessment of campus projects and best practices. 

   LCSAA is funded by Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education

   (FIPSE) and U. S. Department of Education.