Prestigious Group Includes Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, Neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Activist Marian Wright Edelman

CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu

November 20, 2008

BALTIMORE -- University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, has been named to the prestigious U.S.News & World Report “America’s Best Leaders 2008” list. The annual project is sponsored jointly by the magazine and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

President Hrabowski has led the UMBC campus since May 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. In the latest U.S.News & World Report Best Colleges Guide, UMBC was named an “Up-and-Coming” campus by college presidents and provosts across the nation. UMBC is among the Top 5 national universities recognized as innovators, with George Mason, Clemson, University of Southern California and Arizona State University.

In its story for the “America’s Best Leaders 2008” issue (Dec. 1-8), U.S.News reported that President Hrabowski has established at UMBC “a dramatic increase in the number of technologically advanced graduates of all races and genders.”

Others named to the list include neurosurgeon Ben Carson of the Johns Hopkins University, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman, jazz musician Herbie Hancock and the biologist and Nobel Laureate David Baltimore of the California Institute of Technology.

“I see this as an honor for all of us at UMBC,” President Hrabowski said. “People are impressed by the UMBC story. We have become a great model for 21st-century higher education.”

The 2008 National Leadership Index, which measures public confidence in leadership across societal sectors, found that 80% of Americans believe that the U.S. faces a leadership crisis today, a number that has increased each year since the study began in 2005. However, Americans also placed significant importance on the 2008 election with 77% believing it mattered a great deal for the future of the country.

“Even though Americans have lost confidence in current leadership, over the past year they have had unique opportunities to observe and debate the qualities of strong leaders,” said Brian Kelly, editor of U.S.News & World Report. “With our Best Leaders issue, we widen the lens to examine people who are showing leadership in unexpected ways across a wide variety of fields.”

In a collaborative effort between U.S.News and Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership, the leaders were selected by a nonpartisan and independent committee without the participation of U.S.News editors. The selection criteria used by the committee in choosing the honorees included the ability to set direction, achieve results and cultivate a culture of growth.