Meyerhoff Scholarship Program
The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program was founded at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in 1988 with a grant from the , under the guidance of future UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III. It is focused on minority scholarship and awareness in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines. The program has served as a model for fostering scholarship in the African American community.
History[]
Female students of African American descent were admitted to the program as of its second year, and the program was opened up as a general scholarship with an emphasis on minority interests in 1997. This was widely viewed as preemptive action in response to the outcome of protracted litigation levied at the , the first scholarship of its kind to be ruled unconstitutional[1] (though the University of Maryland, College Park did publicly contest the issue vigorously for years).
Publications and Media Coverage[]
Overcoming the Odds[]
Two books chronicle the experiences and results of those affiliated with the program in its formative years. The first was written in the late 1990s with an emphasis on African American males with its companion volume on African American females published in the early 2000s.
- Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women (2001), Freeman A. Hrabowski, Geoffrey L. Greif, Kenneth I. Maton, Monica L. Greene, Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Beating the Odds : Raising Academically Successful African American Males (1998), Freeman A. Hrabowski, Geoffrey L. Greif, Kenneth I. Maton, Publisher: Oxford University Press
In the Press[]
- Editorial: Why American College Students Hate Science (The New York Times, May 25, 2006)
- Paper: Preparing Minority Scientists and Engineers American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science 31 March 2006)
- Article: Fulfilling the Expectations of Excellence (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2005)
- Article: Bound by generosity (The Baltimore Sun, November 2, 2005)[permanent dead link]
- Article: It's Cool to be Smart (Fast Company, 2002)
Education Research[]
The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program is noted for its success in increasing the representation of minority students in STEM.[2] In an attempt to determine whether this model can be replicated at large universities, two scholarships were founded at other universities in 2013: the Chancellor's Science Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Millennium Scholars Program at Pennsylvania State University.[3][4]
Notable alumni[]
- Jerome Adams: anesthesiologist and the 20th surgeon general of the United States
- Kizzmekia Corbett: viral immunologist at the NIAID (NIH) who helped develop one of the COVID-19 vaccines
- Kafui Dzirasa: psychiatrist and professor at Duke University
- Lola Eniola-Adefeso: Chemical Engineer and the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor at the University of Michigan College of Engineering
- Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman: activist, writer, and co-founder and CEO of the Sadie Collective
- Crystal C. Watkins Johansson: neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
References[]
- ^ http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02/24/421d6eee26596
- ^ Kenneth Maton, Shauna Pollard, Tatiana McDougall Weise, Freeman Hrabowski III (2012). "Meyerhoff Scholars Program: A Strengths-Based, Institution-Wide Approach to Increasing Diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics". The Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, New York. Mt. Sinai Journal of Medicine. 79 (5): 610–623. doi:10.1002/msj.21341. PMC 3444508. PMID 22976367.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- ^ "Chancellor's Science Scholars at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill". Association of American Universities.
- ^ "Three Universities Unite to Replicate and Spread Successful STEM Program". Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
External links[]
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- Student financial aid in the United States
- Scholarships in the United States