Degrees earned, one measure of academic achievement and increasingly a required ticket for getting a well-paying job in this country, are up in all ethnic groups, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) and a more narrowly focused report released this spring by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. For the 2006-2007 academic year, the latest figures available from NCES, Blacks earned 9.6 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded, Hispanics 7.5 percent, Asians 6.9 percent and American Indians 0.8 percent. Whites earned 72.2 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded and foreign students 3 percent. For 1984-1985, the corresponding numbers were 6.1 percent, 2.8 percent, 3.4 percent and 0.4 percent. For Whites, in 1984-1985, the corresponding numbers were 88 percent. There was no calculation for foreign students. Racial minorities also showed gains in earning doctorate degrees, the credentials needed to hold professorial and top executive jobs in academic management and policy making such as president, chancellor and provost. The numbers are just as impressive for degrees earned at the master's level. The numerical gains in degrees earned over the past 25 years are just one sign of minority achievements in higher education over the past 25 years. Signs of progress are all over the academic landscape. In leadership, more people of color have been appointed to top executive roles and at a wider range of colleges. Also, while their numbers are finite, Hispanics and Asians are being appointed leaders of colleges, just as Blacks and American Indians have headed institutions of higher learning for decades. In the important arena of accreditation, there has been a steadily increasing presence of minorities in the ranks of accrediting organizations and participation on peer review panels. In the area of academic research about academia, more minorities have become involved with the Association for the Study of Higher Education. They are writing papers that add to the body of knowledge on how to improve the ability of institutions to attract and retain more students of color. For Hispanics, in particular, the passage by Congress in 1992 of legislation officially recognizing Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) paved the way for major initiatives to help these nearly 275 schools (most of them two-year institutions) to help educate more Hispanic students. In subsequent years, HSIs have built on that achievement, getting additional legislation passed including a 2008 Farm Bill amendment that expanded agriculture programs at four-year HSIs to mirror those of the traditional historically White and Black land-grant colleges.