In 2012, President Barack Obama introduced a plan to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) graduates by 1 million over the next 10 years through the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology initiative (Seadler, 2012). Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play a pivotal role in helping the United States of America achieve a national priority to expand careers in STEM disciplines. HBCUs graduate 40 percent of Black students graduating with degrees in biological science, physics, chemistry, astronomy, environment sciences and mathematics (Jackson, 2013; Owens et al., 2012; Palmer, Davis, & Thompson, 2010).

The purpose of this article is to elucidate factors that are important to the long-term success of HBCUs in preparing STEM students, by summarizes data from the Minority Male STEM Initiative (MMSI), which was collected by The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). Although the surveys focused on the needs of minority males, both male and female STEM students participated in the surveys. The purpose of the MMSI surveys were to understand how university administrators, STEM faculty, and students of color in STEM disciplines currently navigate the path to recruiting, retaining and graduating underrepresented students in STEM disciplines.