The First Three African American Women to Receive Doctorates in the Mathematics Department at the University of Maryland at College Park

In December 2000, three young African American women received doctorates from the Mathematics Department. Tasha Inniss and Kimberly Weems received doctorates in Applied Mathematics, and Sherry Scott Joseph received her doctorate in Mathematics. Here are some pictures from events surrounding their graduation, and their time studying at Maryland.

This is the picture of the three of them that appeared in the Washington Post on the morning of graduation. The order is Kim, Tasha, Sherry.

The same morning there was a picture of Sherry's mother, Dr. Rosemary Moore, helping Sherry with her hood.

Here is a black and white picture of the three of them (Tasha, Sherry, Kim).

Of course, there were activities in the Department before graduation.

When Kim Flagg got married (and became Kim Flagg Sellers), Gwen Irby, Iris Eagleton, Monica Jackson, Ahmad Ridley, Kim Weems, me, Tasha Iniss, Atiya Hoye, and Dawn Lott-Crumpler attended.

This is a picture of Sherry with her mathematical "brother" Rodney Kerby, who also received his Ph. D. under John Benedetto's supervision.

As a graduate student, Tasha Inniss participated in (and was one of the graduate students who helped inspire the idea for) the first CAARMS conference at MSRI (see more information below); here is a picture of J. Anthony, T. Inniss, Dr. Sylvia Bozeman and Dr. Robert Megginson from the conference in 1995.

This is a another picture at the Conference of Dr. Dawn Lott-Crumpler, Tasha, Darryl Corey, and Willette Johnson.

There were also activities after graduation.

The Black Alumni of the University of Maryland invited them to participate at one of their activities on the Potomac River; this is a picture of Brodie Remington, Vice President of University Relations, Tasha, Sherry, Kim, me, and Danita Nias, Executive Director, Alumni Association.

Here and here are pictures of Tasha when she received an award from FAA administrator Jane Garvey.

This is a picture of Tasha that ran with an AP story about Maryland. Someone decided that since they could not see the end of the equations, the solution was wrong and called the AP. The caller was wrong.

In early April 2005, there was a conference in honor of Dr. Etta Falconer held at Spelman College. The conference was called Infinite Possibilities. At the Conference, Kim, Tasha and Sherry are pictured with Evelyn Boyd Granville, the second African American woman to receive a doctorate in mathematics.

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