IN 1988, FREEMAN HRABOWSKI PARTNERED WITH BALTIMORE PHILANTHROPISTS ROBERT AND JANE MEYERHOFF TO LAUNCH THE MEYERHOFF SCHOLARS PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY (UMBC). THE PROGRAM'S GOAL WAS TO CREATE A PIPELINE OF STUDENTS OF COLOR, PARTICULARLY AFRICAN AMERICANS, EXCELLING IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING AND GOING ON TO PURSUE RESEARCH CAREERS. AS PRESIDENT OF UMBC SINCE 1992, HRABOWSKI HAS HELPED ADVANCE STUDENTS OF COLOR—BOTH AT HIS UNIVERSITY AND NATIONWIDE.
When we started the Meyerhoff Scholars Program nearly 20 years ago, we faced a
major challenge—helping students of color achieve at the highest levels
academically in science and engineering (S&E). Minority students at the time,
even at institutions with relatively large numbers majoring in the sciences,
were not excelling; even among those who were making it, far too many were
barely doing so.
UMBC, with an underrepresented minority enrollment of approximately 20 percent,
was no different. Today, however, we are among the nation's leaders in producing
African American graduates with bachelor's degrees in such areas as
biochemistry.
I'm deeply proud of our numbers. The Meyerhoff Program has enrolled more than
800 high-achieving students; we have approximately 30 current scholars on campus.
More than 5 percent of he program's nearly 50 graduates have completed
undergraduate degrees in S&E fields, and nearly 90 percent of those graduates
have gone on to S&E graduate and professional programs. Every month, at least
one former Meyerhoff Scholar earns a science-related Ph.D.
To bring about the kinds of institutional changes needed to produce many more
minority S&E graduates, academic leaders must willingly engage the campus
community—faculty, students, and staff—in wide-ranging conversations
about minority participation and performance. Administrators cannot simply
dictate such change. Instead, they must help people to open their minds,
determine weaknesses in the current system, and consider how things might be
different.
These conversations must be informed by institutional data on the performance of
all students—those who succeed and those who don't—and by evaluating
the effectiveness of instructional methods,including whether students have
opportunities to engage in productive research with faculty mentors. We have
learned that it takes experienced researchers to produce aspiring researchers.
UMBC faculty have thought long and hard about these issues, and the campus has
benefited enormously from their experimentation, assessment, and analysis. By
involving all parties in the process, we have gained the broad buy-in needed to
achieve substantive, durable change.
Photo: Paul Fetters
|
