Bryn Mawr College

Symposium on Math and Science Education
Features Keynote Speaker Hrabowski

In today’s increasingly technological world, math and science literacy is a prerequisite for success in many careers. How can educators help all students succeed in math and science and hence have equal access to the opportunities of our society?

Mathematicians, scientists, students, and educators from around the region will gather at Bryn Mawr to offer their answers to that question at a symposium titled "Strategies that Support Student Success in Math and Science" on Wednesday, March 19.

The program opens at 3 p.m. with a panel of Bryn Mawr alumnae who will reflect on the support they were given as students and what that support has meant to their postbaccalaureate experiences. Between 4 and 6 p.m., math and science professors from Philadelphia-area colleges and universities will share information about strategies for enhancing all students' achievements in math and science.

The capstone event of the symposium is a keynote address by University of Maryland, Baltimore County, President Freeman Hrabowski III, the author of Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males, and Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women. Hrabowski is known nationwide as a visionary leader in higher education. According to The Washington Post, he has "transformed the University of Maryland Baltimore County with his exuberant, forceful character ... and helped lift minority and low-income students, especially black math and science majors, to the highest levels of academic achievement."

One of Hrabowski's many notable accomplishments is the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, established in 1993, awarded to high-achieving high school seniors who have an interest in pursuing doctoral study in the sciences or engineering, and who are interested in the advancement of minorities in the science. The program has since produced more than 400 graduates, nearly all of whom are pursuing advanced degrees, and 220 more Meyerhoff Scholars are currently at UMBC. According to the National Science Foundation, “The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program has become one of the leading sources of minority students who pursue graduate degrees in the sciences and engineering—and it soon promises to become the leading source.”

Hrabowski serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and universities and school systems nationally. Two of the numerous corporate and civic boards on which he serves are the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Constellation Energy Group. He has received honorary degrees from eight institutions, including, most recently, Haverford College.

For more information about the symposium, e-mail Professor of Mathematics Victor Donnay.

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Posted 3/6/2008 by Claudia Ginanni