Daniel Liebler, Ph.D. said the diversity and quality of biomedical research at Vanderbilt will make the institution a strong player in the field of proteomics. Dana Johnson
Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, the president University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will be the featured speaker during the Second Annual Levi Watkins Jr. Lecture.
The lecture series, focusing on diversity in medical education, is named for the first African-American admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical School. He is also the first to graduate from the medical school.
This year “Beating the Odds: Preparing Minorities for Success in Science and Medicine” will be the topic of the lecture, scheduled for Oct. 10 at 1:30 p.m. in 208 Light Hall.
Hrabowski president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County since 1992, first joined the University in 1987, as vice provost and later as executive vice president.
A native of Birmingham, Ala., Hrabowski graduated from Hampton Institute with highest honors in math when he was 19.
One year later, he received his M.A. in math from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his Ph.D. in higher education administration/statistics at the age of 24.
Hrabowski serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, and universities and school systems nationwide.
He is a member of many boards and a recipient of numerous awards including his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, being named Marylander of the Year by the editors of the Baltimore Sun, receiving the McGraw Prize in Education and the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics.
His research and publications focus on science and math education with special emphasis on issues involving minority participation. He is co-author of two books and 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. n