By University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines:
Black History Month is a celebration of the moment we are living in with a clear-eyed view of the groundbreaking paths that were paved by others.
From my position of leadership at a top public research university in the world, I hold in my sightline the leaders who came first. As the first Black chancellor of the University of Maryland, John Brooks Slaughter endured the hardships that accompany being the first at anything, so that my hopes and potential could be inclusive of just about everything.
Dr. Slaughter passed away last year. His legacy stands in a category all its own (“John Brooks Slaughter, trailblazing leader at University of Maryland, dies,” Dec. 12, 2023).
He was a Black engineer who, like me, rose to the highest ranks of higher education. I am struck by how similar our professional paths have been, while also acknowledging that it is still somehow rare. I hold great optimism for Dr. Slaughter’s legacy and what it means for building more Black leadership.
Long before I even considered the opportunity of becoming a university president, Dr. Slaughter was working behind the scenes and on a national stage to build the infrastructure for more diversity in STEM, academia, student bodies and ranks of leadership. He ushered in true diversity at the University of Maryland and everywhere we went from the U.S. Navy Electronics Library to Occidental College later in his career.
Dr. Slaughter was generous in seeking talent and offering chances to others. He did this for countless academics and scientists, but for me, it linked our professional lives forever. While I was pursuing my undergraduate degree, Dr. Slaughter planted the seed for my growth as his eventual successor as university president here at Maryland. He did this by awarding a National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering scholarship to me that helped carry me through my undergraduate years at Berkeley.
Read the rest of the article in The Baltimore Sun.