Freeman Hrabowski and Daryl Smith to Keynote Diversity Event

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Provided by the office for Diversity and Inclusion

Freeman Hrabowski

In the U. S. Department of Education’s Blueprint for Reform, President Obama states that the United States once led countries in college completion by its citizens. Today, 10 countries have surpassed the U.S.

High school drop out rates have increased. The number of students completing college degree programs in science and technology has not kept up with other countries, potentially impacting U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.

Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will discuss how universities can prepare students for global careers as part of the 2010 Campus Day of Dialogue at Rochester Institute of Technology. He will discuss successes in the area of diversity, retention and student achievement in his presentation, “Toward Inclusive Excellence in a Global Marketplace: Transformation Imperatives for Higher Education Campuses and STEM Disciplines.”

Hrabowski’s address takes place 11 a.m.–noon Nov. 5 in Ingle Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report, Hrabowski has also been recognized as one of the country’s premier college presidents. He is known as an advocate for successfully preparing undergraduate students from underserved populations for graduate and doctoral degree programs. Hrabowski founded the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program in 1988 for high-achieving students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Through this program, the university has received accolades for being the nation’s leading source of African-American Ph.D.’s according to Time magazine in 2009.

Continuing the Campus Day of Dialogue about fostering diversity in higher education will be Daryl Smith, professor of education and psychology at Claremont Graduate University. Her session takes place 3:15-4:15 p.m. in the Fireside Lounge in RIT’s Student Alumni Union, and will focus on the specific importance of RIT’s Diversity Framework as developed by the chief diversity officer and campus constituents.

Smith was one of the project leaders evaluating the impact of the Campus Diversity Initiative, a six-year $29 million funded effort sponsored by the James Irvine Foundation in California. The project involved 28 private colleges and universities in California to increase access and success of historically underrepresented and low-income students and to build institutional capacity to develop and evaluate diversity efforts.

Smith's research interests center on diversity in higher education, evaluation and organizational change, college governance issues, women in academe, women's colleges, institutional research, student affairs and classroom teaching.

Registration is limited for Smith’s portion of the Campus Week of Dialogue. Contact Sandra Whitmore at 585-475-5453 or swwpro@rit.edu for information. The Campus Day of Dialogue is sponsored by the President’s Commission on Pluralism and Inclusion and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

Daryl Smith Provided by the office for Diversity and Inclusion