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Dr. Freeman Hrabowski
President, University of Maryland
Baltimore County
As an educator, administrator, researcher, and civil rights advocate, Freeman A. Hrabowski, III has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to educational excellence and minority achievement, particularly in math and science. Dr. Hrabowski became President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in 1992 and has rigorously promoted excellence in undergraduate teaching, research, and graduate education. At UMBC, he oversees a campus of 10,500 students, 500 full-time faculty, an operating budget of $263 million, and $80 million in external contracts and grants for research and training.
In 1988, Hrabowski founded the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC to promote opportunities for aspiring African-American scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. As a result of the program, which awards scholarships to 50 high school graduates each year who have shown promise in math or science, UMBC is among the nation's leaders in the numbers of undergraduate degrees awarded to African-American students in the life sciences and computer and information science. Nearly all Meyerhoff students have gone on to graduate or medical school.
Dr. Hrabowski's research has focused on science and math education, with a special emphasis on minority participation. He was instrumental in the formation of the Governor's Academy for Mathematics, Science and Technology. He is co-author of the book, Beating the Odds, focusing on parenting and high-achieving African-American males in science. His second book, Overcoming the Odds, is on successful African-American women in science and will be published in early 2002.
A champion for equality in education by the age 12, Hrabowski experienced firsthand the challenges facing young black students in the racially segregated South of the 1950s and '60s. Hrabowski went on to graduate at 19 from Hampton Institute with highest honors in mathematics. He received his M.A. (mathematics) and Ph.D. (higher education administration/statistics) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at age 24.
Dr. Hrabowski serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, and universities and school systems nationally. He also is a member of numerous corporate and foundation boards. |
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