Freeman A. Hrabowski III
{{Short description|American academic administrator (born 1950)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Freeman Hrabowski
| image = Freeman Hrabowski 2012 Shankbone.JPG
| caption =
| office = President of University of Maryland, Baltimore County
| term_start = 1992
| term_end = 2022
| predecessor = Michael Hooker
| successor = Valerie Ashby
| birth_name = Freeman Alphonsa Hrabowski III
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|8|13}}
| birth_place = Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse = Jackie Coleman
| education = Hampton University (BA)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (MA, PhD)
| website = {{URL|president.umbc.edu}}
}}
Freeman Alphonsa Hrabowski III (born August 13, 1950) is an American educator, advocate, and mathematician. In May 1992, he began his term as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC),{{Cite web|title=Office of the President - UMBC|url=https://president.umbc.edu/|access-date=March 9, 2021|website=Office of the President|language=en}} one of the twelve public universities composing the University System of Maryland.{{Cite web|last=Office|first=University System of Maryland|title=University System of Maryland Institutions|url=https://www.usmd.edu/institutions/|access-date=March 9, 2021|website=www.usmd.edu|language=English}} Hrabowski has been credited with transforming UMBC into an institution noted for research and innovation.{{cite news|last=Howard|first=Christopher B.|title=On Leadership|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-leadership/freeman-hrabowski-umbc-president-leads-higher-education-innovation/2011/11/28/gIQAxRdZ8N_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 29, 2011}} Under his leadership, UMBC was ranked the #1 Up and Coming University in the U.S. for six consecutive years (2009-2014) by the U.S. News & World Report magazine.{{cite news |title=Changing the Equations |first=Amy F. |last=Reiter |url=http://www.uiaa.org/illinois/news/illinoisalumni/utxt0401h.html |work=Illinois Alumni Magazine |publisher=University of Illinois Alumni Association |location=Urbana, Illinois |date=January–February 2004 |access-date=October 29, 2010 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905214412/http://uiaa.org/illinois/news/illinoisalumni/utxt0401h.html |url-status=dead }} When that designation was retired, U.S. News & World Report began including UMBC on its annual Most Innovative National Universities list.{{Cite web|title=Most Innovative Schools National Universities|url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/innovative|website=U.S. News}}
His research and publications focus on science and math education, with a special emphasis on minority participation and performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Hrabowski is the co-author of the books Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males (1998); Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women (2001); Holding Fast to Dreams: Empowering Youth from the Civil Rights Crusade to STEM (2015); and The Empowered University: Shared Leadership, Culture Change, and Academic Success (2019).{{Cite book|title=The Empowered University {{!}} Johns Hopkins University Press Books|url=https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/empowered-university|access-date=March 9, 2021|publisher=jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu|date=2019 |doi=10.1353/book.67825 |last1=Hrabowski |first1=Freeman |isbn=9781421432922 |s2cid=239182571 }}
Hrabowski chaired the National Academies committee that produced the report Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads.{{cite web|department=Policy and Global Affairs|title=Committee on Science, Education, and Public Policy|url=http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/COSEPUP/diversity_senate/|publisher=The National Academies}} In 2012, President Barack Obama appointed Hrabowski to chair of the newly created President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.[http://www.yumanewsnow.com/index.php/news/latest/795-president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts], Yumanewsnow.com. Publications have named him one of America's best leaders,{{cite news|last=Green|first=Erica|title=UMBC president named among world's most influential leaders|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2012/04/18/umbc-president-named-among-worlds-most-influential-leaders/|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=April 18, 2012}} one of the 100 most influential people in the world,{{cite news|last=Rotherham|first=Andrew J.|title=The World's 100 Most Influential People: 2012|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112119,00.html|newspaper=Time|date=April 18, 2012}} and one of America's 10 best college presidents.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1937938_1937933_1937920,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115062750/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1937938_1937933_1937920,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 15, 2009|title=Freeman Hrabowski - The Top Ten College Presidents|accessdate=November 15, 2009 | magazine=Time | date=November 11, 2009 |first=Gilbert |last=Cruz}}
In 2011, Hrabowski received the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Academic Leadership Award, one of the highest honors given to an educator.{{cite web |title=Carnegie Corporation Honors Higher Ed Leaders Freeman A. Hrabowski III and Eduardo J. Padrón |url=https://www.carnegie.org/news/articles/carnegie-corporation-honors-higher-ed-leaders-freeman-a-hrabowski-iii-and-eduardo-j-padron/ |website=Carnegie Corporation of New York |access-date=14 April 2022|date=November 2, 2011 |language=en}}
Early life and education
Hrabowski was born in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of his parents, both of whom were educators.{{cite web |title=Biography of Freeman Hrabowski |url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/freeman-hrabowski-39 |publisher=The HistoryMakers Project |access-date=31 October 2022}} His mother was an English teacher who became a math teacher, and his father was a math teacher who went to work at a steel mill.
Frequently asked about the origin of his unusual surname, Hrabowski explains that he is the great-great-grandson of Eaton Hrabowski, who was enslaved and renamed for Polish-American slave owner Samuel Hrabowski.{{cite web | url= http://search.ancestry.com/| title = Ancestry.com for Hrabowski}}{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Childs |title=Freeman Hrabowski's UMBC legacy grows as he celebrates 20 years as president |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-hrabowski-profile-20120901-story.html |access-date=14 April 2022 |work=Baltimore Sun |date=September 1, 2012 |language=en}} In a CBS television interview, Hrabowski recounted that he is the third Freeman Hrabowski; his grandfather was the first Freeman Hrabowski born a free man, as opposed to having to be freed.{{cite interview |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57319098/hrabowski-an-educator-focused-on-math-and-science/ |publisher=CBS News |title=Hrabowski: An educator focused on math and science
|interviewer-first=Byron |interviewer-last=Pitts |date=November 13, 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114143423/https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57319098/hrabowski-an-educator-focused-on-math-and-science/ |archive-date=2011-11-14 |url-status=dead}}
When he was 12 years old, in 1963, Hrabowski saw his friends readying for the Children's Crusade march for civil rights. He convinced his parents to let him join in as a youth advocate, but soon into the march he was swept up in a mass arrest. Birmingham's notorious Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor spat in his face and arrested him.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112119,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419054658/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112119,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 19, 2012|title=Freeman Hrabowski - 2012 Time 100: The Most Influential People in the World|accessdate=April 19, 2012 | magazine=Time | date=April 18, 2012 |first=Andrew |last=Rotherham}}
When he was 19 years old, Hrabowski graduated from Hampton Institute with high honors in mathematics. During his matriculation there he spent a year abroad at The American University in Cairo in Cairo, Egypt. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he received his MA in mathematics and four years later his PhD in higher education administration and statistics.{{cite news|last=Mitchell|first=Andrea|title=Education Nation|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#VpFlash|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031225090952/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#VpFlash|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 25, 2003|publisher=MSNBC|year=2010}}
Career at UMBC
File:Freeman Hrabowski, UMBC President.jpg]]
UMBC was a relatively young school in a Baltimore suburb when Hrabowski arrived in 1987 as vice provost, then executive vice president, and president in 1992.{{cite news|last=Salter|first=Chuck|title=It's Cool To Be Smart|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/44730/its-cool-be-smart|newspaper=Fast Company|date=March 31, 2002}}
Over nearly three decades as president of UMBC, Hrabowski gained a high public profile. Hrabowski emphasized STEM education, and co-founded the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, aimed at promoting minority achievement in STEM fields. Under his leadership, "more black students earn bachelor's degrees in science and technology from UMBC than from any other non-historically black university in Maryland, even College Park, which has three times as many students." Hrabowski was an advisor to President Barack Obama on higher education policy, and was appointed by Obama to serve as chair of an advisory council on excellence in African-American education. He received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University in 2010. Hrabowski retired from UMBC in 2022.{{cite web |last1=Winnick |first1=Dinah |title=UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski to retire in spring 2022 after three decades of transformational leadership |url=https://news.umbc.edu/hrabowski-retirement/ |website=UMBC NEWS |access-date=14 April 2022|date=August 25, 2021}}
Awards and honors
Hrabowski has received, among other awards:
- National Academy of Public Administration: Elected Fellow, 2021.{{Cite web |last=Incorporated |first=Prime |title=National Academy of Public Administration |url=https://napawash.org/fellow/78388 |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=National Academy of Public Administration |language=en}}
- Membership to the American Philosophical Society{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Freeman+A.+Hrabowski&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=July 6, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}
- 18th Annual Heinz Award in the Human Condition category{{cite web|title=The Heinz Awards: Freeman Hrabowski|url=http://www.heinzawards.net/recipients/freeman-hrabowski-III|website=The Heinz Awards|accessdate=August 24, 2016}}
- UCSF Medal – 2020{{cite web |title=UCSF Medal |url=https://chancellor.ucsf.edu/chancellor-awards/ucsf-medal |website=Office of the Chancellor |accessdate=July 1, 2020 |language=en}}
- Black History Month 2017 Honoree, Mathematically Gifted & Black{{Cite web|title=Freeman Hrabowski|url=https://mathematicallygiftedandblack.com/honorees/freeman-hrabowski/|website=Mathematically Gifted & Black}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- [https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-n58cf9k10t#at_1797.059526_s "Freeman Hrabowski discusses changes to the SAT on PBS"] on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. July 2, 2002, NewsHour Productions, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
- {{TED speaker|2=Freeman Hrabowski}}
- {{C-SPAN|90212}}
- [https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_529-nv9959dk5d "In Black America; Beating The Odds with Dr. Freeman Hrabowski"]. October 1, 1998, KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
{{UMBC presidents}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrabowski, Freeman A., Iii}}
Category:Activists from Birmingham, Alabama
Category:Presidents of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Category:Hampton University alumni
Category:University of Illinois alumni
Category:21st-century African-American academics
Category:21st-century American academics
Category:Urban Institute people
Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society
Category:20th-century African-American academics