MARYLAND HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

PATRICIA S. FLORESTANO, Ph.D., Secretary of Higher Education


Secretary of Higher Education since 1995.

Member, Governor's Executive Council, 1995-; Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism, 1995-; Education Coordinating Committee, 1995-; Maryland Education Council, 1995-; Education Coordinating Council for Correctional Institutions, 1995-; Southern Regional Education Board, 1995-; Council on Management and Productivity, 1995-; Maryland Advisory Commission on Manufacturing Competitiveness, 1995-; State Use Industries Advisory Committee, 1995-; Governor's Work Force Investment Board, 1995-; Interdepartmental Advisory Committee for Minority Affairs, 1995-; Maryland Higher Education Investment Program Board, 1997-; Task Force to Study the Governance, Coordination, and Funding of the University System of Maryland, 1998-99; Western Maryland Economic Development Task Force, 1998-; Task Force on High-Speed Network Development, 1998-.

Born in Washington, DC. University of Maryland, B.A. (American civilization), 1958; M.A. (government & politics), 1970; Ph.D. (public administration & American government), 1974. Assistant Professor, Institute for Urban Studies, University of Maryland, 1974-79. Director, Institute for Governmental Service, University of Maryland, 1979-84. Vice-Chancellor, University of Maryland System, 1985-91. Visiting Professor, University of Baltimore, 1991-94. Professor (public affairs) and senior research fellow, Schaefer Center for Public Policy, University of Baltimore, 1994-95. Co-author, The States and the Metropolis (1981). Spirit of Excellence Award, University of Baltimore Alumni Association, 1993. Maryland's Top 100 Women, The Daily Record, 1997. Married; two children.

PATRICIA S. FLORESTANO

Patricia S. Florestano is Secretary of Higher Education for the State of Maryland. Before appointment to that position on June 21, 1995, she served as Professor of Public Affairs and Senior Research Fellow in the Schaefer Center for Public Policy of the University of Baltimore from 1994 to 1995. Dr. Florestano also was Visiting Professor at the University of Baltimore from 1991 to 1994. At the University of Baltimore, in the undergraduate program, she taught state and local politics and Maryland government and politics; in the graduate program, she taught bureaucracy and politics and urban management. She also has taught at the Government Executives Institute, University of Maryland, and the Senior Executives Institute, University of Virginia.

Dr. Florestano served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maryland System from 1985 to 1991. She also served as Director of the University of Maryland Institute for Governmental Service from 1979 to 1984.

Secretary Florestano received her Ph.D. in public administration and American government from the University of Maryland in 1974; her M.A. in government and politics from the University of Maryland in 1970; and her B.A. in American civilization from the University of Maryland in 1958. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, past president of the American Society for Public Administration, and past chair of the Urban Affairs Association. Dr. Florestano is the co-author of The States and the Metropolis (1981). She is married and has two children.

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