All posts by: Magazine Editor

Dr. Michael Summers is the Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in ​Research and Mentoring​; a Distinguished University Professor​; and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Over the years, he has worked with dozens of Meyerhoff scholars in his lab. UMBC Magazine sat down with Summer​s to talk about his history with the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, now celebrating its 30th year.

UMBC Magazine:  Can you tell us what your involvement has been with the Meyerhoff Scholars Program over the years?

Mike Summers:  Well, I have no administrative role with the Meyerhoff program. I got started when [UMBC President] Freeman [Hrabowski] was vice provost, and I was an assistant professor. He called me up, and we talked about general things, like my life, my background. He said, “Thanks for meeting with me, and I remember leaving, thinking, “What was that about?” Then maybe a couple of months later, a young student, Chianna Paschall, came into my office and wanted to do research. I said, “What’s your GPA?” She said, “Well, I have a 4.0, and I’m a Meyerhoff Scholar.” And I said, “Oh, tell me. What is Meyerhoff?”

Then she ended up doing some very high-profile work that was published on the cover of a journal and now it’s in a lot of textbooks.  The next year, there were about four Meyerhoff scholars who wanted to work in my lab. And, now there are typically 20 or so undergraduates in my lab, including not only Meyerhoff Scholars, but MARC and BUILD scholars as well, along with UMBC students who aren’t in any particular program.

UMBC Magazine:  How do you make sure students are on the right track with their research?

Mike Summers:  What I try to do is get students to start talking to faculty about research after their first semester at UMBC. I encourage them to meet with different faculty, learn about their research, talk to students in the lab, find out if it’s an environment and the kind of research that they’re interested in. Do they think they could have a good rapport with a faculty member? I always say there are no bad mentors. There are just poor mentor-student dyads.

There are some faculty who probably would be terrific mentors to only a few students who need a certain type of mentoring. I think our best mentors are those that can adjust to a broader range of student needs. UMBC is fortunate because we’ve got lots of really terrific mentors and research labs, so students can choose from a multitude of really good opportunities. If a student comes and says they want to work in my lab, I first make sure that they’re on good academic footing because I tell them, “No matter what you want to do when you graduate, people are going to  look at your GPA first.”

UMBC Magazine:  How would you describe the effects of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program on the way you and others teach? And how has that changed over time?

Mike Summers:  Think about what happens when you intentionally put a group of 20 or 25 high-achieving minority students shoulder to shoulder in the front row of a classroom of 350 students. They are in their seats 10 minutes before class, asking good questions and typically doing extremely well on exams. It causes you to change the way you think about the abilities of minorities in science.  Prior to Meyerhoff, the well prepared minorities would be sprinkled around the class or sitting in the back. They didn’t stand out, and we tended not to notice or pay attention to them even when they did do well. As a white male who was raised in the South, I had my own set of prejudices and misconceptions when I started at UMBC. But I believe that people who go into academics typically do so because they want to do something good for society.  They generally want to do the right thing. So it’s a natural thing for us to see that kind of performance among minorities in our classrooms and laboratory, and then go home and look in the mirror and say, “Wow, I couldn’t have been more wrong in my thinking.” When that happens, faculty like me begin reaching out and communicating in different ways. Our expectations just naturally go up, for all students.

And I think the high visibility of the Meyerhoff Scholars also raises expectations among minorities who are not in the program. Consider a non-Meyerhoff who earns a C on their first entry-level chemistry exam; it’s not that they haven’t studied hard, but they don’t know how to study for a college-level exam. For me, it took years to figure out how to go from a C/B average to a B/A average. They get their first test back, and because they weren’t asked to just recite what they’ve been taught, as happens often in high school, they were asked to take what they’ve been taught and apply it in a way they’ve never seen before, and they don’t know how to do that yet.  Now, the sense of imposter syndrome creeps in.

So, I believe that the Meyerhoff program directly addresses imposter syndrome because these students look up in that front row and there are those Meyerhoff Scholars who are making As. Rather than thinking, “I don’t belong here. Society was right. I’ve been hearing this message my whole life,” they instead think, “Okay, what do I have to do differently?” They might go to the tutorial center and be tutored by somebody who looks like them and has common life experiences.  What our studies show is that the number of minorities who aren’t even in the program and graduate with science degrees has increased dramatically since Meyerhoff started, even for students who are not in the program. As the saying goes, a rising tide raises all the boats up.

UMBC Magazine:  Have you seen these changes happen beyond UMBC?

Mike Summers:  Fortunately, yes!  Over the years, lots of schools have visited UMBC and learned about our program, but they tended to pick and choose what they wanted to do. They had some success, but nothing like our success. A few years ago, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute funded a partnership experiment between UMBC, UNC, and Penn State.  The leadership at those schools expressed a willingness to “go all in.” It was a risky thing for HHMI to support: Freeman has shown what can be done at a majority school by a dynamic, charismatic black leader. The chief diversity officer at Penn State said, “This will never work here because parents of high-achieving black children will not trust us with their kids. They are so isolated. Their minority population is much, much lower than UMBC’s as a percentage, and they don’t have the history.” The question was, can it be done at different institutions with majority leadership and with different histories and different geographies?

Penn State and UNC agreed to try to replicate Meyerhoff as faithfully as they possibly could, and they got help not only from UMBC administrators, faculty, and staff, but even from Meyerhoff Scholars who visited their campuses and helped them recruit their first cohorts.   

The best news is that their outcomes dramatically exceeded expectations — reaching Meyerhoff-like academic performance, retention, and matriculation to Ph.D. and/or M.D./Ph.D. programs in their very first year.  Both programs are now institutionalized and supported by major endowments, and both continue to share ideas and outcomes with UMBC as we work together to strengthen our programs and show the rest of the nation how true inclusive excellence can be achieved.

From its very first days, Earnestine Baker, Executive Director Emerita, has been an integral part of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. UMBC Magazine sat down with Baker to talk about some of the ways she — along with other staff and students — laid the foundation for the program’s successes over the last thirty years.

UMBC Magazine: What are some of your first memories of how the Meyerhoff Scholars Program came to be?

Earnestine Baker: Immediately what comes to mind is the phone call I received from Dr.Hrabowski, inviting me to a meeting in his conference room. I was working in the Office of Financial Aid as the Associate Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships; UMBC did not have a scholarship program at that time. Tom Taylor, the Director of Financial Aid, initiated UMBC’s formal scholarship program.

So in that capacity, I worked to establish the scholarship program for incoming freshmen. One afternoon in the summer of 1988, I received a life-changing call from the Assistant to the Vice Provost, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, inviting me to come to a meeting to discuss scholarships. I was thinking that we would talk about my work and plans for UMBC’s scholarship program, but instead he laid out his plan for recruiting, to UMBC, African American men who would go on and achieve Ph.D.s in science. He met with Mr. and Mrs. [Robert] Meyerhoff, and he wanted to develop this program. I hesitated a little but finally said “Okay,” and he said, “I want to create the environment that we had when we were undergraduates [at Hampton Institute now Hampton University.]” And when he said that, I knew immediately what he was talking about. … During the meeting he asked if I would look into developing an application for the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. I went back to my office, developed a design and that’s how I began working with the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. By the way, the first application received for the Meyerhoff Scholars Program was from Chester Hedgepeth now an M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

UMBC Magazine: How did you initially spread the word about it?

Earnestine Baker:  So that’s an excellent question, because what happened after that meeting I thought was very smart of Doc. He sent letters to all the state superintendents of schools, principals, the heads of private and parochial schools, letters to guidance counselors throughout the state, community leaders, inviting them all to come to UMBC for a meeting. During this meeting, he again laid out his plan for the Program; first buy-in approach I thought.

Additionally, we asked students who were the people who made an impact in their lives educationally. And they said, “My teacher in biology,” or “My guidance counselor,” or, “My minister,” “My pastor of my church,” or “Someone down the street.” We collected names and addresses of individuals and invited them also to this meeting, and … asked them to nominate students for the scholarship. From this came the Meyerhoff Nomination Process.

UMBC Magazine: How did folks react to the program at the very beginning?

Earnestine Baker: That’s what was great about this meeting with the superintendents, principal and others …yes we announced the scholarship, but we also wanted support, buy-in, plus community ownership for the Program we were about to launch.

UMBC Magazine:  So in a way, you were opening the door to the people who were most likely to make it successful, because someone coming to the meeting was already going to believe in what you’re talking about. That seems like just such a smart move.

Earnestine Baker:   Right, it was a very wise decision. We let our leaders in education know that UMBC will provide another opportunity for them to support students whose goal is to increase the number of scientists who will teach and become researchers.

UMBC Magazine: What was it like bringing students into research opportunities for the first time, when you were still figuring pieces of the experience out?

Earnestine Baker:   The students were very excited. We knew for them to have a competitive application for graduate and professional schools, they needed strong research experiences, be it in industry or in higher education. Initially, a larger number of students were completing research in industry and not in higher education, at the NIH, National Science Foundation, NSA, and NASA; we had more connections in industry at that time.

At UMBC, the first faculty member to take one of our students in his lab was Dr. Frank Hanson in the Biology Department. I said to Frank, “I need to find a lab placement for one of our students,” and he said, “Well, let’s look at it and see what we can do.”

It took many, many meetings with high schools, universities, federal and state agencies and individuals to get our message “out.” Many of these meetings included Charles “Tot” Woolston – you don’t hear much about his efforts, but he gave tremendously while promoting the Meyerhoff mission and goals. Dr. Phyllis Robinson, Biology Department was extremely helpful in advising the program for internships and graduate school placements. A major breakthrough for research opportunities came when Dr. Hrabowski connected with Leadership Alliance, whose executive office is at Brown University.

Dr. James “Jim” Wyche was the director of the Leadership Alliance as well as a faculty member at Brown. This partnership, provided opportunities for our students to participate in research at the top leading institutions across the nation. There are about 38 schools in the Alliance now. I invited one of the Leadership Alliance faculty members from Harvard University to visit UMBC, meet faculty and the Meyerhoff Scholars. From this meeting – the next two summers, she (the late Dr. Jocelyn Spragg) selected three Meyerhoff Scholars for summer research at Harvard. The Meyerhoffs Scholars were Crystal Watkins M3, Damon Tweedy M4, and Andrew Atiemo M4. Their work was exceptional and created an interest in Meyerhoff Scholars at other top tier universities. This was a very exciting time, and my confirmation that “yes, we can do this.” Jocelyn invited me to visit Harvard while Damon and Andrew were there. She remained a good friend and strong supporter of UMBC and the Meyerhoff Program.

UMBC Magazine:   I would love to talk about Summer Bridge, because that is what comes up so often with everyone as a really pivotal moment of the Meyerhoff experience.

Earnestine Baker:  I feel Summer Bridge is the key component. It is the beginning stages of becoming a Meyerhoff Scholar and truly understanding the goals of the Program and what it means to work together as a family; the true feeling of the Meyerhoff family.  I often say to students “you don’t have to love each other, you don’t have to like each other, but you have to help each other.”

It’s not only about working together as students, but also learning how to work with faculty, staff and administrators; teaching the UMBC way, the Meyerhoff way. Academically, we talked about high expectations and goals. We had regular meetings and talked about how the Program expected students to perform academically, personally, socially … in all aspects of their undergraduate career.

What is critically important, and what we have tried to communicate over the years, is that you cannot be successful in STEM trying to do it alone, nor should you try. Interdependence is taught during Summer Bridge, and it’s very important. Some students’ approach is similar to high school, “I have to do this by myself. I cannot – I don’t – I shouldn’t ask questions, because if I ask questions it shows that I’m not smart, I’m not capable, and I’m not intelligent.” Hence some don’t want to ask questions or reach out for help. Some have the mindset, “It’s me. It’s mine. And that’s the way it’s going to be.”   I know it’s a part of their growing-up experience. For some, it’s the first time — hearing when you gain knowledge and achieve you should, and we expect you to, share what you have gained with others. When one wins we all win. When one fails we all fail. In Meyerhoff failure is not an option.  Can you imagine the reaction in a calculus class when the lowest grade on a test – let’s say 69 – becomes the grade for everyone in the class? Not happy campers.  Over the years I have enjoyed and appreciated the lesson learned in this class; seeing the class come together and work to achieve an “A” was just what I hoped would happen. It’s a powerful lesson and it has been passed forward.  During Summer Bridge scholars are expected to move about campus together – a part of the bonding process.  I remember once a group of scholars decided to leave their cohort early for lunch.  Upon my arrival to the dining hall one of the dining hall staff members reported to me that some Meyerhoffs had arrived early and she knew that they were not supposed to do that.  This to me was a wonderful example of institutional buy-in.  This staff member knew and supported our mission.

It begins with Summer Bridge, and the lessons learned hopefully will continue. I’m told it continues at the graduate level and in the work place. Summer Bridge is not easy. LaMont (Toliver) and I used to plan, plot, and scheme to make each Meyerhoff co-hort the best they could be. No gaps in the line while walking to class together, 6 a.m. wake-up calls, never late to anything, sit in the front of class … Scholars were not always happy with us, I know, but I hope they realize the reasons and can see and appreciate the benefits. For what we have accomplished over thirty years – “it is worth it.”

UMBC Magazine: What’s it like talking with students about Summer Bridge now, especially those who didn’t initially understand what you were trying to do?

Earnestine Baker:  It was a challenge seeing Meyerhoff Scholars go through Summer Bridge and initially not understanding its purpose, not getting it. Sometimes I saw hurt on their faces, or anger, and I said to them, ‘ Just listen. Just listen and you’ll come to understand what it is that we are trying to do.’ … And now I hear – ‘Okay, I’m out. I’ve graduated now, and I get Summer Bridge. I understand’…and they find themselves repeating some of the same principals not only to their students and colleagues, but to their kids…. I feel this part of my life has been so worthwhile. At the end of the day, I exhale and reflect, and I say, ‘Thank you, God.’”  Many scholars have expressed their gratitude for my support over the years and I am grateful.  But the only thank you I desire is to see them give back to others.

Learn more about the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at meyerhoff.umbc.edu.

Photos, top to bottom, provided by the Meyerhoff Scholars Program: Baker with Lamont Dozier, a member of the second Meyerhoff cohort; Early Meyerhoff students studying; Baker with members of the Meyerhoff Parents Association; Meyerhoff student activity on the Quad.