SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Hrabowski Discusses Science for Women and Minorities
from the Washington Post (Registration Required)
Mathematician-turned-university-president Freeman A. Hrabowski III is known for encouraging minority students to pursue science and engineering careers. When the head of University of Maryland Baltimore County started as vice provost in 1987, black and Hispanic students were struggling in science at the school, he says.
He helped launch the Meyerhoff Scholars Program for young black males in science and engineering fields in 1988; since then, it has expanded to include people of both sexes and all races. UMBC, a predominantly white university, is now a national leader in the number of minority graduates who go on to earn doctorates in medicine, the sciences and engineering.
Hrabowski, 59, grew up in Birmingham, Ala., where he marched for civil rights and was arrested and jailed for five days at age 12. He graduated from Hampton University in Virginia at age 19 with a mathematics degree. He went on to earn a master's and a doctorate from the University of Illinois. He has been president of UMBC since 1992. In November, Time magazine named Hrabowski one of the 10 best college presidents, and in May Harvard gave him an honorary degree for his work with minority students, among other achievements. The Post spoke to Hrabowski about molding young scientists.
Read more...
Science in the Media
Newspapers:
Magazines and Web Sites:
The Science-Media Intersection:
Subscribe to Our Content!
Visit our RSS Feeds page to choose among 13 customized feeds, or create a free My AmSci account to request an email notice whenever a specified author, department or discipline appears online.