Black Students 50-State Report Card
By Shaun R. Harper and Isiah Simmons

In this report, letter grades are awarded to public colleges and universities on four racial equity indicators for Black undergraduates. Additionally, we calculated an Equity Index Score (the equivalent of a grade point average) for each institution. Statistics, grades, and Equity Index Scores for 506 public postsecondary institutions are provided separately on 50 state lists.

Black Male Student-Athletes and Racial Inequities in
NCAA Division I College Sports: 2018 Edition
By Shaun R. Harper

Black Male Student-Athletes and Racial Inequities in NCAA Division I College Sports: 2018 Edition By Shaun R. Harper In Spring 2018, the USC Race and Equity Center released our biennial report on Black male student-athletes and racial inequities at the 65 universities that comprise the five major NCAA sports conferences. The report includes data on team composition, federal graduation rates, and the racial makeup of coaches and athletics executives.

The Center for Urban Education (CUE), founded by USC Professor Estela Mara Bensimon, merged with the USC Race and Equity Center in July 2020. Over CUE’s 20-year lifespan, Dr. Bensimon and other center experts produced numerous high-quality tools and resources that thousands of higher education leaders and faculty members continually use to advance racial equity on campuses and in state postsecondary systems. These evidence-based tools include syllabus review rubrics, workbooks, digital shorts and other videos, and policy review protocols. Many of these resources, along with CUE’s research publications, are available on this open-access website:

RISE for Boys and Men of Color was a three-year interdisciplinary field advancement effort funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Marguerite Casey Foundation. RISE focused on improving the lives, experiences, and outcomes of Asian American, Black, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander boys and men across five fields: education, health, human services and social policy, juvenile and criminal justice, and workforce development. This project united researchers, evaluators, community-based and youth-serving organization leaders, and committed others working with and on behalf of boys and men of color. The RISE website includes downloadable research reports, a searchable expert directory, and a data center with more than 500 open-access quantitative data tables, charts, and infographics.

The Race and Equity Center produced several research reports at the University of Pennsylvania, its birthplace. University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and Marshall School of Business Professor Shaun R. Harper relocated the Center to USC in July 2017. Here are PDFs of six of the most downloaded publications from the Penn center: