Freeman A. Hrabowski III

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, (born August 13, 1950) in Birmingham, Alabama, is a prominent African American educator. He has served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since May, 1992.

Dr. Hrabowski graduated at 19 from Hampton Institute with highest honors in mathematics. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he received his M.A. in mathematics and four years later his Ph.D. (higher education administration/statistics) at age 24.

Dr. Hrabowski is co-author of the books, "Beating the Odds, Raising Academically Successful African American Males", published in 1998, and "Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women", published in 2001.

A child-leader in the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Hrabowski was prominently featured in Spike Lee’s 1997 documentary, "Four Little Girls", on the racially motivated bombing in 1963 of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Dr. Hrabowski serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and universities and school systems nationally.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, He also holds honorary degrees, including most recently from Duke University, the University of Illinois, Gallaudet University, the Medical University of South Carolina, Binghamton University, and Goucher College.

Hrabowski is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.