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cience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are essential to a nation’s economy, defense, global competitiveness, and the quality of life for its citizens. Given the importance of STEM in today’s world, sustaining a nation’s leadership in science and engineering requires the presence of a critical mass of scientists at the cutting edge of their fields. Scientists have the capacity to advance the frontiers of scientific knowledge, innovation, and application. The role of colleges and universities is central to supporting a nation’s STEM enterprise. Colleges and universities are responsible for producing well-prepared generations of individuals to support and advance every major STEM field. This special issue of The Journal of Negro Education explores a range of strategies advanced by many of our nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to lead efforts to produce STEM graduates of color, especially African Americans. Their efforts are particularly important in view of the nation’s changing demographics which reflect enormous increases in racial and ethnic diversity. 

Coaching is an important and valuable component of leadership development programs and training for emerging leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Based on the results from individual and focus group interviews of nine participants, we found that coaching is valuable for the leadership growth of emerging STEM leaders from nine historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The participants described the outcomes from coaching as a component of value-based leadership that can inspire and motivate professional growth. They emphasized overwhelmingly that coaches were valuable in improving individual and institutional outcomes through effective leadership. Other themes that emerged from the study include coaching through modeling, inspirational motivation, intentional reflection, resourcefulness, authentic trust, and success-orientation. Results have practical and leadership implications for leadership training to broaden participation in STEM.