Professor of Practice, and
Coordinator of Outreach

2215 Benjamin Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-3580
cparham@wam.umd.edu

Ed.D., University of Maryland, College Park
Joined faculty in 2002

Dr. Carol S. Parham holds a position as Professor of Practice at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Before taking that position, she served for 8.5 years as Superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools. 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 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.

Dr. Parham participates actively in many professional organizations. She is active in and 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 also is very involved in the community, serving on the boards of the Anne Arundel Community College Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, and TAMAR, Inc., a nonprofit corporation promoting mental health. Past member of the board of the United Way of Anne Arundel County, the West Anne Arundel County Chamber Foundation, and the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) and a member of the Board of Directors of Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital. She volunteers at the Anne Arundel Medical Center Diabetic Clinic serving low-income and indigent patients.

Dr. Parham was named 1996 Maryland Superintendent of the Year and has received many honors and recognitions over the past years, including selection three times as one of Maryland’s’ Top 100 Women by Warfield’s Business Record. Dr. Parham 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. Dr. Parham is a recipient of the Martin Luther King Peacemaker Award, the Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Award for Excellence to Outstanding Maryland Women in Government Service, and featured in the recently published book entitled Women in Maryland History. She also received the Chair’s Award for the Excellence for Minority Achievement Awards given by the Maryland State Department of Education. This year the County Board of Education voted to name the school’s administrative headquarters in her honor. Dedication of the Dr. Carol Sheffey Parham Building occurred in the Spring, 2002.

Dr. Parham lives in Annapolis with her husband, William N. Parham, Jr. They have two children, William N. Parham, III, a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Julie P. Desai, a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

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• EDPL 489 Field Experiences in Education
• EDPL 640 Introduction to Educational Leadership
• EDPL 675 Public School Personnel Administration

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