Freeman Hrabowski: From a student perspective to the university of Maryland Baltimore County ‘2022-23’: What he taught at Meyerhoff

Even though he officially retired from a 30-year career as president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2022, Freeman Hrabowski’s calendar is still packed with invitations to share his wisdom on science education and workforce development with leading US university, government and business leaders. Hrabowski has a long and storied track record and they all want to know the secrets to increasing diversity in scientific disciplines.

Nature reveals how much anti-discrimination efforts still have to go because most countries do not publish data on the topic. Data from the United Kingdom show that scientists of marginalized ethnicities are not well represented in the higher ranks of academia. Although UK universities appointed 40 Black professors in the 2022–23 academic year, a 25% increase from the previous academic year, fewer than 1% of UK professors are Black. 4.2% of the population was identified as Black, Black British, African or African Caribbean in the census.

Hrabowski was the guiding hand behind the creation of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Foundation gave a half a a million dollars in 1988 to help prepare African American students for scientific research careers. From that initial instalment, the scheme has boosted the numbers of Black science students in the United States. Nearly 1,500 people have graduated from it, and around 500 have gone on to pursue PhDs. Its success has been replicated at other universities across the country.

When I was growing up in Alabama, I was sitting in the back of church when I first heard a man named Martin Luther King Jr speak. I spent a week in jail at the age of twelve after participating in a peaceful protest against racial segregation at the age of 12. King posed this question to the group: what will it take to open the eyes and hearts of people to allow our children to go to better schools?

The first thing I did when I arrived at UMBC in 1987 as vice-provost was look at what the data could tell us. Students of color were not doing as well in science and engineering as other students. Many of them didn’t have a background in mathematics. It was clear that we needed to be asking the right questions about what level of maths background was necessary to succeed in chemistry or physics. We spoke to students.

In the early years of Meyerhoff, some of my male faculty members would ask why we needed this programme if they were nice to all students. I told them that when they are the only one in the room that resembles them, it feels different. I invited several of those men to spend one full day at a historically Black university. They all came back with a renewed appreciation of how isolating it can feel even when people are nice. They were only there for one day and 50 years of age. Imagine being a 17-year-old in university. We are not trying to do warm and fuzzy things at the school.

There are a few key features of the programme. The summer bridge programme is crucial. During the summer, students get a good foundation in basic science and math, so they can study in college. Building community is a key component. My research showed that even the best students in science aren’t doing well and we emphasized the importance of peer support and working in groups. It requires scientists to produce scientists. The more students get involved in science, the more excited they will be.

Many students don’t understand that math and science can be for everyone. School teachers give children the message early on that they’re either a maths and science student or a history and arts student. I want people to understand that they can use both parts of their brains. If you don’t connect disciplines you won’t find the best questions to ask. While numbers are important, mathematics is more than that. It’s about the whole Universe. It’s about patterns. It’s about how we think. Good questions are the most effective questions for scientists.

The Story of Freeman Hrabowski: A Changemaker in the History of Higher Education for Blacks and Minorities, Part I: Stories of Race and Discrimination

I think we should get away from the word ‘woke’ because it immediately divides people and nobody really knows what it means. The word that I use now is inclusion. And that includes white males, especially because the US demographic group that has had the greatest decline in participation in higher education is white, working-class males.

I didn’t decide to study French until I was 65 years old. Students sometimes look at me strange and say, “Don’t you think you’re kind of old?” I have studied one hour a day for the past seven years and I jump at every chance to speak French with others.

People around the world are fighting back against discrimination to make a difference. Our series will tell their stories and highlight their achievements.

The spirit of the series is exemplified by our inaugural Changemaker, Freeman Hrabowski. Hrabowski is a mathematician and former president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Catonsville. UMBC has an important place in the history of US higher education. It was the first public university in Maryland to welcome people of all races from its opening day in 1966.

The fate of injustice: a tale of two lives, one story, one tragedy, one challenge, and one nightmare: the legacy of injustice and loss

The accounts of facing injustice and then having to fight will feature frequently in the series. They can be uncomfortable to read. But such experiences are still much too widespread, and need to be highlighted until the day comes when they become history.