As a 19xx graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park (do you really need to know the date?), I used to have a bias against our sister campus 20 miles to the north. But over the last 10 years, I have become involved in a number of educational and economic development efforts at UMBC and I’ve seen the light! I’ve taught a few Entrepreneurship Classes through the engineering department, served as the Entrepreneur in Residence for a period of time and sat on both the Technology Center and Cyber Incubator advisory boards. On every corner and at every turn, I continue to run into education professionals who care deeply about the students, the region, the University and have the skills and competency for making UMBC a fabulous educational institution.
Perhaps the folks at CBS News have uncovered the same bit of commitment. A piece of exciting news for the University community is that UMBC is scheduled to be on “60 Minutes” this Sunday (Nov. 13, 2011). After many months of filming on campus, “60 Minutes” plans to feature UMBC on one of it’s news documentary segments. The news show is looking at how we, the United States, is lagging behind in the graduation of students, particularly minority, in science, technology, engineering, and math. The good news is that “60 Minutes” focuses on UMBC as a place that gets it right!
I can anecdotally attest to this first hand in that in my entrepreneurship classes, most of the students had a science major and many were minority. That can translate into eager young minds solving tough technical problems and finding ways to take their solutions to market. Sitting on the Tech Center and Cyber advisory board, I see the potential for enlightened minds coming up with new ways to secure the web or solving some medical challenge facing our society.
From the student body to regional economic development, UMBC, under the inspiring leadership of Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, just seems to get it. So set your DVR for Sunday night and re-discover one of America’s best-kept educational secrets.