Nashville may spawn a lot of country music stars, but it also inspires would-be scientists to get their doctorates. Fisk University is the No. 1 producer of African-American students who go on to get their Ph.D.s in natural and physical sciences, said M. Christopher Brown, the school's executive vice president and provost.
For students without a scientific bent, health care and business administration are popular majors. And with just over 800 students, Fisk is an easy place to build close relationships and bond with professors. Yet the school can feel bigger, since there's plenty to do outside the classroom.
"We don't do the big band or football thing, but we have choir, bands and greek life," said Brown. The school also sponsors cultural trips to art exhibits and theater shows. Student at Fisk, one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, get to follow in the footsteps of some of the nation's most famous black leaders.
"As you walk this campus, you're walking the same campus that educated W.E.B. Du Bois, former Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary, the wife of Colin Powell, and Congressman John Lewis," he said.
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