Spelman has a thing for science. Atlanta’s Spelman College produces the most African-American graduates who go on to earn doctoral degrees in science and engineering, according to the latest college stats. The small private liberal arts college for women with a student body of about 2,200, sent 150 Black students on to Ph.D. degrees in those traditionally male disciplines from 1997 to 2006, according to a survey by the National Science Foundation. That’s more than any other undergraduate program in the country except the much larger, coed Howard University, with 224. Howard, another historically Black institution, has about 7,000 undergraduates. As for the other Georgia institutions, Morehouse ranked fifth in the country with 99; Georgia Tech came in 48th with 32; and Emory didn’t make the top 50. “Spelman really shatters many of our ideas about women in science and math, and Black women in science and math in particular,” said Lily McNair, Spelman’s associate provost of research.

General Motors names its first Black design director. Just as the struggling auto industry seeks new capital to save its life, one of the big three picks a Black woman to head up its North American design division. Read more here.