Sharon Fries-Britt

Sharon Fries-Britt is a Distinguished University Professor in Higher Education at the University of Maryland's Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Program (HESI). Her research focuses on minority student success, STEM equity, and racial climate in academia. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park (1994).

Her work examines high-achieving Black students, underrepresented faculty, and institutional responses to racial crises. Key projects include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative to improve outcomes for marginalized students and the National Science Foundation-funded study on Black engineering transfer students. She has authored/co-authored books like Black Women Navigating the Doctoral Journey (2023) and Building Mentorship Networks to Support Black Women (2022).

Her research has been funded by NSF, Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and others. Awards include the AERA Social Justice Award (2021), NASPA Shaffer Award (2022), and UMD's Distinguished Scholar Teacher (2019). She advises numerous doctoral students and chairs dissertation committees focusing on race, equity, and academic persistence.

• Grants: Over $1.2M awarded for postsecondary equity and STEM inclusion projects.
• Consultancies: Advises Johns Hopkins, MIT, and Princeton on race and leadership.
• Labs/Teams: Collaborates with the Post-Secondary Measurement Team (Gates Foundation) and the AIP National Task Force (TEAM-UP).