Governor O'Malley Appoints Virginia Harrison to Carroll County Board of Education
BALTIMORE, MD (April 9, 2008) – Governor Martin O’Malley today announced the appointment of Virginia R. Harrison to the Carroll County Board of Education to fill a vacancy.
“I am proud to appoint Ms. Harrison to the Carroll County Board of Education,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “I am confident that her knowledge and experience working with the Carroll County Public School System and her thirty years of professional and civic experience will help bring Maryland schools to the next level.”
In addition to her professional experience, Ms. Harrison has twenty five years of civic leadership experience. From 1983 to 1995, Ms. Harrison served on a Program Advisory Committee and Extension Advisory Council for the University System of Maryland. For nine years, she served on the Carroll County Community Service Council, and was Second Vice President until 1998 for the Council. She was appointed and currently serves as Commission Chairperson to the Carroll County Human Relations Commission. Ms. Harrison also is the founding organization member and currently serves as Vice Chairperson for Carroll Citizens for Racial Equality. She leads the annual leadership conference on racial diversity at local high schools for the organization. She has been a member since 1992. In addition, she served was a general member of Education That is Multicultural from 1995 to 2005, and served as a member of the Carroll County Local Management Board from 1997 to 2004.
Ms. Harrison is currently a member of the Carroll County Department of Social Services Board, the United Way’s Community Partnership of Carroll County, the South Carroll Diversity Roundtable, the Carroll County Advisory Council on Career and Technology Education, the Carroll County School Ethics Panel, the Carroll County Public School Educational Foundation, and the Carroll County Public School Regional Minority Family Forums.
She has been recognized with a number of awards including the Man of the Year award by the Eldersburg Eagle Newspaper in 2005, the Eleanor Hood Gross Award by the YWCA in 2001, and the Nancy S. Grasmick Excellence in Minority Achievement award in 1999. She was indoctrinated into the Carver Vocational Technical High School Hall of Fame in 1992.
Ms. Harrison is the sole owner and operator of Dressing by Virginia, a dressmaking and design business in Sykesville, Maryland that has been in operation since 1975. Prior to opening her business, Ms. Harrison worked as a clerical assistant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1972-1975.
She resides in Sykesville, Maryland.
