The university fared better than the national average in 2006, with 23 percent of doctoral degrees going to minority U.S. citizens compared to 20 percent nationally.

Fermin, a black doctoral student, said having more minority students in MSU’s graduate school provides a different perspective on research and creates a better sense of community.

“We are only a generation out of the civil rights movement, and over time we will continue to see even more increases,” Fermin said.

MSU also surpassed the national numbers by improving the number of doctoral degrees for minorities by 4 percent from 2005, compared to a 2.6 percent national increase.

Last year also marked the MSU graduate school’s highest percentage of minority doctoral students.

Karen Klomparens, the graduate school’s dean, said this is a knowledge economy. Finishing high school may have been enough in the 1950s, but today, high school will get you a job — not a career.

“For people to have reasonable career, they need an undergraduate degree,” Klomparens said. “My prediction is that there will be a growing number of professions that will also be wanting employees to have graduate degrees.”

Having a diverse population creates a wide variety of views and different research questions that might otherwise not have been discussed, Klomparens said.

Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the MSU Office for Inclusion & Intercultural Initiatives, said higher education introduces more undergraduate students to research opportunities. Those opportunities increase interest beyond undergraduate degrees and piques student interest in graduate and doctoral degrees.

“Higher education has an engaged effort to increase minority representation in graduate programs through outreach efforts and research opportunities,” Granberry Russell said. “It’s making students aware of the possibilities of industry and higher education careers.”

The national report showed an increased interest in doctoral degrees in life sciences, social sciences and humanities.

Granberry Russell said although increased numbers of doctorates are promising, there is more work to be done with minority group representation in other fields, including science, engineering and technology.

“(Minority) presence may influence the research differently, and we all benefit from it,” Granberry Russell said.

Granberry Russell said the university will continue to see increases in minority representation in graduate school.

“Some of this may be an extension of an increase in undergraduate programs, but it doesn’t stop there,” she said. “We have a responsibility to recruit the best and brightest for graduate school. We are going to have to nurture the interest of all students and those who have historically not been represented.”