Monday, November 9, 2009
PRINCESS ANNE, MD University of Maryland Eastern Shore president, Dr. Thelma B. Thompson, is keynote speaker for the 2009 Women in Maryland Higher Education annual luncheon. Themed “The Sky is the Limit: Women in Higher Education,” the event is scheduled for Friday, November 13, at 11:30 a.m. at the Community College of Baltimore County Catonsville.
The Maryland Network of Women in Maryland Higher Education is a state chapter of the American Council on Education s National Network for Women Leaders. The American Council on Education’s Office of Women in Higher Education provide the national direction for each chapter as they are charged with identifying women leaders in higher education, encouraging women leaders to make full use of their abilities, advancing women into senior-level positions, linking women leaders at all levels to one another and supporting the retention of women in higher education.
The thirteenth president of UMES, Thompson oversees the day-to-day operations of an institution that has enjoyed the unprecedented growth of its student body, record private fundraising, some 22 accreditations and reaccreditations of established programs, the institution of new academic programs and national recognition by U.S. News and World Report as one of “America’s Best Black Colleges” under her leadership.
Among her many awards and accolades, she was recently conferred an honorary doctoral degree of literature and philosophy at the Walter Sisulu University for Technology & Science in South Africa. She was named one of the “Most Important Blacks in Technology,” Career Communications Group, Inc., 2007; one of the “Women Who are Shaping the World,” Essence Magazine, 2005; and one of “Maryland’s Top 100 Women,” 2004. In 2005, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by Howard University. Thompson has been appointed to numerous boards and task forces, having most recently served as the chair of the University System of Maryland Council of Presidents and chair of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Council of Chief Executive Officers.
To register or for more information about the Women in Maryland Higher Education 2009 Annual Luncheon, visit www.123signup.com/register?id=jchgh. Admission is $40 and includes free parking.
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Suzanne Waters Street, director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355, sstreet@umes.edu.
