Freeman Hrabowski III, Ph.D., to speak at 31st annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation
Loyola University Maryland will hold the 31st annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation with Freeman Hrabowski III, Ph.D., president emeritus of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. in McGuire Hall East. The Convocation is free and open to the public and will also be livestreamed.
The Convocation, “Looking Back to Look Forward 1964-2024,” will be moderated by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Ph.D., founding executive director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice and professor of communication and African and African American studies at Loyola.
“We’re honored to welcome Dr. Hrabowski, who has been a revered leader in Maryland higher education—and an esteemed thought leader nationally—for more than two decades,” said Rodney L. Parker, Ph.D., chief equity and inclusion officer at Loyola. “His leadership of UMBC took that university in new strategic directions, and his commitment to equity and justice set an example for higher education more broadly.”
Hrabowski served as president from 1992 to 2022. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance.
He chaired the National Academies’ committee that produced the 2011 report, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads.
He was named in 2012 by President Obama to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. His 2013 TED talk highlights the “Four Pillars of College Success in Science.”
To learn more and register, visit www.loyola.edu/mlk.
About the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation
The Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation, celebrating its 31st year, is an occasion
for Loyola and the Baltimore communities to launch the spring semester and the new
year by coming together for shared inquiry into the issues of social justice, politics,
spirituality, and the legacies of race and racial justice in America. The convocation,
which is sponsored by Loyola University Maryland’s Office of Equity and Inclusion,
is a signature event for the University. Past speakers have included Michelle Alexander,
Ibram X. Kendi, Octavia Butler, Spike Lee, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Roxane Gay.