The LLC is excited to welcome Dr. Cedric Herring as a new faculty member of the doctoral program. Prior to UMBC, Dr. Cedric Herring was Professor of Sociology and Public Policy in the Department of Sociology and in the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also the former Director of the Race and Public Policy Program at the University of Illinois and former Interim Head of the Department of Sociology at UIC. Dr. Herring is former national President of the Association of Black Sociologists.

Dr. Herring publishes on topics such as race and public policy, diversity, stratification and inequality, and jobs and economic development. He has published seven books and more than 60 scholarly articles. His most recent books are Critical Diversity: The New Case for Inclusion and Equal Opportunity and Combating Racism and Xenophobia: Transatlantic and International Perspectives." He has received support for his research from the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and others. In addition, he has shared his findings in community forums, in newspapers and magazines, on radio and television, before government officials, and at the United Nations.

 Please join us in making him feel welcome! 

Dr. Julia Ross has been appointed Dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Dr. Ross received her Ph.D. from Rice University and joined UMBC’s faculty in 1995. Dr. Ross is currently the Constellation Professor of Information Technology and Engineering and professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering. From 2006 to 2013, Dr. Ross served as chair of her department and one of her many accomplishments was a successful merger of two academic programs to form the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering. Most recently, Dr. Ross served as Special Assistant to the Provost for Inter-Institutional Research Initiatives and has been instrumental in enhancing research relationships and collaborations between UMBC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, including the development of the UMB-UMBC seed grant program.

Dr. Ross has a distinguished record of scholarship in the fields of bioengineering and engineering education, and is the co-author of the K-12 INSPIRES Curriculum. In 2008 Dr. Ross was elected as a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and in 2013 she received the prestigious American Council on Education fellowship, the nation’s premier higher education leadership development program preparing senior leaders to serve American colleges and universities. Dr. Ross is known for her commitment to shared governance and for advancing opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in engineering and information technology. As dean of COEIT and as a member of UMBC’s senior leadership team, Dr. Ross will advance the mission of the university and the college by building strategically upon its strengths in the research and scholarly achievement of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, while supporting continued success and excellence in the teaching and service missions of the college’s academic departments and programs.