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Beating the Odds: Preparing African American and Latino Students for Success in Science, April 3

BOSTON (March 19, 2008) — A nationally known African American research scientist will address what high schools and colleges can do to prepare African American and Latino students to achieve in math, science and engineering, April 3 from 4-6 p.m. at Simmons College.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County — named one of the 50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science — will discuss "Beating the Odds: Preparing African American and Latino Students for Success in Science and Engineering." The lecture, free and open to the public, is in the Linda K. Paresky Conference Center, Main College Building, 300 The Fenway, in Boston.

Dr. Hrabowski is a nationally recognized leader in math and science education, with a special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He is the founder and first director of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, which sends more African American students to doctoral programs in science and engineering than any other scholarship program, college or university. Dr. Hrabowski has received several prestigious awards, including the first U.S. President's Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, the McGraw Prize in Education, and the Educator Achievement Award from the National Science Foundation.

At a young age, Dr. Hrabowski became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement to desegregate his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., and was featured prominently in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary, "Four Little Girls," about the 1963 racially motivated bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He graduated from Hampton Institute at age 19 with highest honors in mathematics and received a doctorate in higher education and statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at age 24.

He currently is a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academy of Sciences, and universities and school systems nationally. He has co-authored two books, "Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males," and "Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women."

The lecture is part of the Race, Culture, Identity and Achievement Seminar Series, co-sponsored by Simmons College, the Center for Leadership Development of the Boston Public School System, Lesley University, The Boston Plan for Excellence, TERC, Connie and Lewis Counts, The Children's Museum, the Center for Collaborative Education, and Wheelock College.

Due to construction, parking is limited. For alternative options, visit the Simmons parking website.

Simmons College is a nationally recognized private university located in the heart of Boston.