A national survey study conducted by the American Society for Engineering Education found that 21 percent of engineering degrees awarded in 2016 were earned by women. But at Howard University, the historically Black educational institution in Washington, D.C., gender diversity in engineering is far ahead of the national average. At the College of Engineering and Architecture at Howard University, 43 percent of students who earned engineering degrees in 2016 were women. This is more than double the national average. Out of 170 incoming freshman who will begin studies at the college this fall, 43 percent are women.
Howard University has also made tremendous strides in the gender diversity of faculty. The percentage of assistant professors in the College of Engineering and Architecture who are women has increased from 9 percent in 2015 to 39 percent today.
Hazel Ruth Edwards, chair of the department of architecture at Howard, stated that “it is extremely important to have women scholars who serve as role models for our growing numbers of young, aspiring and talented women engineers and architects.”