Dr. Renetta Tull receives the 2016 Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 12:13:02 -0400
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Congratulations to Dr. Renetta Tull, director of Maryland’s PROMISE Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), for being the recipient of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) 2016 Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity!

Dr. Renetta Tull receives the Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity at the ABET Awards Gala in Baltimore, MD on October 28, 2016. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Renetta Tull’s wordpress website

On October 28, 2016, the ABET Awards Gala was held in Baltimore, MD to award and recognize members for their outstanding achievements. One of these awards, the Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity, was awarded to Dr. Renetta Tull. The Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity is awarded to a recipient who resembles Claire L. Felbinger in advocating diversity. Claire Felbinger was a member of the Board of Delegates where she was the first person to bring up the topic and significance of diversity. Since then, she has been an active and influential advocate on diversity, including the creation of a policy on diversity. She passed away in 2008, but her advocacy in diversity continues to live on. Each year, ABET presents the Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity to recognize people who walk in her footsteps and carry out the same goals and visions.

Dr. Renetta Tull was awarded this prestigious award for her “visionary leadership as founding director of the PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and her commitment to achieving greater diversity and inclusion in technical fields.” PROMISE AGEP was initially founded in 2003, which was an alliance between the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB), and the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP). As stated on our website, “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is a university system-wide effort for the state of Maryland to facilitate underrepresented STEM graduate student and postdoctoral professional development and pathways to careers.” In 2013, PROMISE AGEP expanded to outreach to the entire University System of Maryland (USM) and to postdoctoral fellows. The new expansion also included a new Professors in Training (PROF-IT) program, which allowed graduate students to teach at universities within USM, Anne Arundel Community College, the Community College of Baltimore County, and Ana G Mendez University Capital Area Campus.

PROMISE AGEP provides professional development seminars/workshops, conference opportunities, and networking opportunities. It is also an excellent support system for all graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Our mission is to help increase graduate student retention, provide a support system and a sense of belonging for graduate students, particularly underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, and increase the graduation rate of underrepresented minorities. Through PROMISE AGEP, Dr. Renetta Tull is helping to achieve greater diversity and inclusion in technical fields.

Congratulations, Dr. Renetta Tull, for receiving the 2016 Claire L. Felbinger’s Award!