HU WELCOMES UNIVERSITY OF MD PRESIDENT FOR COMMENCEMENT

Hampton, VA - Hampton University welcomes alumnus Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, as the speaker for the 132nd Annual Commencement on May 12.

Commencement will be held at Armstrong Stadium at 10 a.m. The Convocation Center and Holland Hall will serve as the rain sites.

Hrabowski, 50, has served as president of UMBC for the past 10 years. He also serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education.

Hrabowski was instrumental in the formation of the Governor's Academy for Mathematics, Science and Technology. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with a special emphasis on issues involving minority participation. He is co-author of two books: "Beating the Odds" (1998), focusing on parenting and high-achieving African-American males in science; and "Overcoming the Odds" (2002), on successful African-American young women in science.

A child-leader in the Civil Rights Movement, Hrabowski was prominently featured in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary, Four Little Girls, on the racially motivated bombing in 1963 of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

Hrabowski, a native of Birmingham, Al., graduated from HU with honors in 1969 with a degree in mathematics. He went on to receive an M.A. (mathematics) and Ph.D. (higher education administration/statistics) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Hrabowski has been honored with numerous acclaims including election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, receiving the McGraw Prize in Education, being named Marylander of the Year, listed among Fast Company magazine's first "Fast 50 Champions of Innovation" in business and technology and receiving the BETA Award (Baltimore's Extraordinary Technology Advocate).

Hrabowski leads a seminar on fundraising for new university presidents at the Harvard Institute for Higher Education and is a College Board Visiting Scholar.

For additional information, please contact: Sarita L. Scott (757) 727 - 5255 or via email: sarita.scott@hamptonu.edu