Wednesday, March 7, 2007
PRINCESS ANNE, MD – Dr. Thelma B. Thompson, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), was recognized as one of the “Most Important Blacks in Technology for 2007” at the Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) Conference in Baltimore recently.
Thompson was cited along with 77 other prominent African-American industry and government leaders in the field of technology. Others recognized included Rodney Adkins, vice president of development, IBM Corp., and Black Engineer of the Year for 2007; Martin B. Davis, corporate CIO and executive vice president, Wachovia Corp.; Arthur E. Johnson, senior vice president, strategic development, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Charles E. Phillips Jr., president, Oracle Corp.; and Nancy Stewart, senior vice president and CTO, Wal-Mart Inc.
Thompson is completing her fifth year as the 13th president of UMES. Under her leadership UMES enjoyed a record enrollment in fall 2006, exceeding 4,000 students for the first time in university history. Some 22 academic programs have been accredited or re-accredited since the start of her presidency, evidence of her commitment to enhance the academic programs at the historically black, 1890 land-grant institution. UMES is in the midst of a seven-year $14 million fundraising campaign to raise philanthropic gifts for student scholarships; thus far some $5 million has been raised.
Career Communications Group, Inc., publisher of US Black Engineer & IT magazine, produces the annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference. The conference gala’s keynote speaker was Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, president of Women in Cable Telecommunications and an Olympic golf medalist. Also recognized was His Royal Majesty, King Adamtey I Suapolor of the southeast Kingdom of The Republic of Ghana.
For more information about UMES, go to www.umes.edu.
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Gains B. Hawkins Jr., vice president, Division of Institutional Advancement, 410-651-7773, ghawkins@umes.edu.
Contact: Suzanne Waters Street, director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355, sstreet@umes.edu.
