Baltimore, Md. — The fourth annual survey by US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine has found that 52 private-sector organizations are considered most supportive of the United States’ historically Black engineering schools.

Participants in the survey were the deans of the ABET-accredited, historically Black college and university (HBCU) engineering programs; and the Board members of the corporate-academic alliance, Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering (AMIE). The questionnaire asked the deans to list the 10 companies they feel contribute most to their schools' institutional missions. AMIE was asked what companies provide the most support to Black engineering schools. In all, 52 companies were named Top Supporters.

Tyrone D. Taborn, editor in chief of USBE&IT and chairman and CEO of the magazine's publisher, Career Communications Group Inc. (CCG), says, "We are consistently finding many corporations that are doing more than their share in building the pipeline. This survey reflects the perception that the deans and AMIE share about the level of support they receive from corporate America.

"One of the reasons we received a tremendous response from our readers to our last four surveys is that people care. Black students and professionals want to know more about what these companies are doing for their colleges. People want to work for a company that is committed to their community."

Last year’s top supporter, The Boeing Company, was ranked number one again in 2006 as a Top Supporter with ten mentions. In second place, with seven mentions, was General Motors Corporation. The third place was shared between Corning, Hewlett Packard, UGS, and EDS, who received six mentions each. 

HDR Engineering Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon Corporation, and Sprint received four mentions each.  Fifth place was shared between Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble, Shell, and Xerox, who each received three mentions. 3M, Chevron Phillips, General Electric, IBM, Intel, Johnson Controls, Medtronic, Motorola, and Northrop Grumman Corporation came in sixth place, with each receiving two mentions.

The following companies each received one mention:
Adtran, Alabama Power Company, Alcoa Corporation, Black & Decker Corporation, Black and Veatch, Career Communications Group Inc., DaimlerChrysler, Duke Energy, Eli Lilly, Exxon Mobil, Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Ford Motor Corporation, Gateway, Gillette Company, Guidant, Merck, Norfolk Southern, Parsons Brinckerhoff, PPG Industries, Pratt & Whitney, Progress Energy, Rolls-Royce Corporation, Southern Company, Teledyne Solutions Inc., Texaco, Texas Instruments, Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Turner Construction, United Technologies, UPS, and Verizon.
  
Taborn stresses, "This list is important for two reasons. First, the schools we've surveyed here graduate one-third of the Black students who receive engineering degrees in the U.S. each year. And, second, for many years, corporate America’s relationship with HBCUs and non-HBCUs has not been equitable. Corporate execs naturally tend to support the college they came from. If you don't have HBCU graduates in your executive ranks, you don't think about Black colleges. The total amount of corporate support Black schools receive does not reflect the level of service they provide in producing engineering talent for the nation."

Career Communications Group Inc. (CCG) is a leading talent management and career development company whose mission is to promote career and educational opportunities for minority and female professionals and students in engineering, technology, and science.

CCG publishes US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology, Science Spectrum, and Women of Color magazines, and is founder and presenter of three national events: the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference, the Minorities in Research Science Conference, and the National Women of Color Technology Awards Conference. CCG is also founder and national coordinator of three public awareness campaigns to increase minorities' interest in technology: Black Family Technology Awareness Week, La Familia Technology Week, and the Native American Family Technology Journey.

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