ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Systems Theory as a lens to examine the relationship between Black graduate student experiences on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) campuses and workforce readiness skills. The microsystem includes faculty and peer relationships, while the exosystem includes university missions and support systems. Examining each system is critical to understanding HBCUs’ success enrolling and graduating students from under-resourced communities. The chapter includes an examination of the Black professional’s role in an increasingly borderless world. HBCUs have a successful record of preparing professional students for the global workforce; students encounter some of the same stressors as their counterparts at predominantly White institutions. Students that matriculate at HBCUs excel because they are beneficiaries of institutions with a community-centered focus. The relationships between university leaders, faculty, and students are the glue that keeps students from leaving school because of financial, family, or personal obstacles.
