Former Teacher Spreads
Message of Social Justice

By Abigail Green

Emma Byrne knew she was different from her UMBC classmates in the late 1960s. It wasn't just her Scottish accent or the fact that she was one of the few people who rode a bike to campus. The biggest difference was her age: she was a 49-year-old mother of two, while the other students were in their early 20s. "I think I was even older than the professors," Byrne says.

But this pioneering student gained the respect and friendship of her classmates, some of whom she still keeps contact with today. "I was like a mother figure to the students, particularly in my psychology classes," recalls Byrne. "I'd meet with the other students for coffee, and they would tell me about their problems with their boyfriends and things like that." They also nominated her class spokesperson to approach the professor on such issues as difficult exam questions.

After graduating magna cum laude in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in sociology, Byrne went on to pursue a master's degree in teaching at Coppin State College and was a special education teacher in Baltimore City and in Howard County public schools until her retirement in 1983.

Byrne’s longstanding commitment to social justice and community service has become her second career since retiring. She serves on the Howard County Commission for Human Rights and the county’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Commission, and she is active with the League of Women Voters and Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse. She also assists recent immigrants through the Foreign-Born Information and Referral Network.

Working with Community Building Howard County, Byrne helped start a peer mediation program at Atholton High School. After one year, there was a reduction in violent incidents and suspensions, she says. The program is now available in all Howard County high schools, and there are trained conflict resolution instructors in the elementary and middle schools. The former teacher also found a creative way to spread the message of non-violence to youth shortly after the September 11 attacks. She penned a peace rap.

Byrne credits an introductory political science class at UMBC with teaching her a history of different governments and the importance of getting involved, a lesson she tries to pass on to others. "That's why I joined the League of Women Voters," she says. "Voting is a non-violent way of getting people's wishes done. Saving people from frustrations often saves them from violence… I don't see that we can have peace until we have justice."

At 81, Byrne's eyesight is failing and she can no longer drive or read. However, she attended the April 24 Alumni Awards Reception, where she was presented with the UMBC Alumni Association’s Community Leadership Award. (It is not the first time she has received public recognition for her contributions—she was named Howard County's Volunteer of the Year Award in 2000.) Attending the event were her children—David, known to many as the founding member of the '80s band the Talking Heads, and Celia, a breast cancer researcher at Georgetown University.

Does the energetic octogenarian plan to slow down her busy schedule at some point? Not until she is confident that someone else will fill her shoes.