2026 Women's History Month
UMB Celebrates Women’s History Month
Dear UMB Community,
March is Women’s History Month. At the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), we celebrate the impressive accomplishments and contributions of women throughout history and in our lives, and we honor trailblazers, innovators, and leaders who have inspired us by their examples of perseverance, courage, and brilliance.
We recognize women such as Lillie May Carroll Jackson, who was born on May 25, 1889, in Baltimore. As an educator, organizer of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, and pioneering civil rights activist, Jackson was a powerhouse for Maryland and instrumental in the integration of Baltimore schools after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. She set in motion the tactic of nonviolent resistance to racial segregation used by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others.
We honor leaders such as Prasanna Nair, who was born in India and completed her medical training at Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi. In 1960, she moved to Maryland, where she began her medical residency in pediatrics at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Much of Nair’s medical contributions came from her work with infants and mothers with HIV/AIDS or those dealing with substance abuse.
We recognize extraordinary women such as Angela Hartley Brodie, PhD, who was a professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and an internationally recognized scientist whose groundbreaking cancer research is considered among the greatest advances in treating breast cancer.
Women’s History Month also is about us — our communities, families, and influential women who might never be in the public spotlight or grace the headlines or front pages, but whose daily work and sacrifice build our communities and our society at-large.
In many cases, we can say, “We are because they are.”
Maya Angelou said, “Each time a woman stands up for herself … she stands up for all women.” This message is especially important as we find ourselves in a challenging moment in our democracy around the rights and roles of women in our society.
This Women’s History Month, we affirm our commitment to support and advance the development of women, celebrate their achievements, and continue to collaborate to foster a more inclusive, equitable, and diverse UMB.
In partnership and collaboration,
Diane Forbes Berthoud, PhD, MA
Chief Inclusive Excellence and Institutional Effectiveness Officer and Vice President
Professor, School of Graduate Studies