Ed.D., University of Maryland
Carol S. Parham serves as Associate Chair and Professor of Practice at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Before taking the position at the University of Maryland, Dr. Parham served for over eight years as Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland. The first woman to serve in this position and the first African American, she was the chief county school officer for a 75,000 student school system, providing leadership to more than 8,000 employees. In her role, she led the fifth largest school district in Maryland and the 43rd largest in the nation.
Formerly employed by Baltimore City Public Schools and Howard County Public Schools, Dr. Parham is a graduate of the University of Maryland where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in social studies education. She also received a Master of Arts degree in Education and Counseling and an Advanced Studies Degree in Education Administration from The Johns Hopkins University and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Maryland.
In her work at the University of Maryland, Dr. Parham has designed and implemented a field-based doctoral program in partnership with the Montgomery County Public Schools. The program, Maryland Program for Excellence in Leadership (MPEL), is now in its fifth year and has two operational cohorts.
Dr. Parham also teaches a variety of leadership courses and regularly advises students in the leadership program. She was recently appointed as chair of the University of Maryland's President's Commission on Women's Issues for the period 2008-2010 and also serves as Co-Advisor for the Black Graduate Student Association. In 2004, she was inducted into the University of Maryland chapter of the Sigma Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.
Aside from her work at the University of Maryland, Dr. Parham participates actively in many professional organizations. She has served as President of the Washington Area School Study Council, the Association of School Business Officials of Maryland and the District of Columbia, and the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland. She is a long time member of the North Arundel Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She is a member of the Board of Trustees of McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) and in 2006, was elected to the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church, USA.
Dr. Parham has received many honors and recognitions over the past years, including selection on three occasions as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by Warfield’s Business Record. She received the Maryland State Teachers’ Association Outstanding Achievement in Leadership Award; the Woman of the Year Award from the Glen Burnie Chapter of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women; the “First Women” award presented by the YWCA of Anne Arundel County and the Anne Arundel County government, and the Paul D. Bell Award for her years of service with the Association of Business Officials of Maryland-DC. She is also a recipient of the Martin Luther King Peacemaker Award, the Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Award for Excellence to Outstanding Maryland Women in Government Service, and is featured in the book entitled Women in Maryland History. She also received the Chair’s Award for the Excellence for Minority Achievement Awards from the Maryland State Department of Education. In the Spring of 2002, Dr. Parham was honored with the dedication of the Dr. Carol Sheffey Parham Building as the administrative headquarters of the Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
