Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, Ph.D.

Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, President of UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) since 1992, is a consultant on science and math education to national agencies, universities and school systems. He was named by President Obama to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He also chaired the National Academies’ committee that produced the report,Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads(2011). His 2013 TED talk highlights the “Four Pillars of College Success in Science.”

Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World byTIME(2012) and one of America’s Best Leaders byU.S. News & World Report(2008), he also received TIAA-CREF’sTheodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence(2011), the Carnegie Corporation’sAcademic Leadership Award(2011) and theHeinz Award(2012) for contributions to improving the “Human Condition.” More recently, he received the American Council on Education’sLifetime Achievement Award(2018), the University of California, Berkeley’sClark Kerr Award(2019) and theUCSF Medalfrom the University of California San Francisco (2020). UMBC has been recognized as a model for inclusive excellence by such publications asU.S. News,which for more than 10 years has recognized UMBC as a national leader in academic innovation and undergraduate teaching. Dr. Hrabowski’s most recent book,The Empowered University, written with two UMBC colleagues,examines how university communities support academic success by cultivating an empowering institutional culture.