Eboney Hearn '01 has been named the new executive director of the MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs (OEOP). She will assume the role on August 22.
An alumna of the Department of Chemical Engineering with deep knowledge of the Institute, Hearn previously served as assistant dean for graduate education and diversity initiatives at the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE) from 2014 to 2016 and as program director of the Broad Institute's diversity initiative from 2008 to 2014. In both roles she provided strategic direction and coordination to increase student diversity and academic success at all levels.
At ODGE Hearn oversaw retention and recruitment efforts of underrepresented minority graduate students, staff training, budget management, and in collaboration with the foundation relations and development offices, secured contributions to support existing efforts and to create new ones such as the University Center for Exemplary Mentoring at MIT.
She also provided oversight for the MIT Summer Research Program and Converge, a graduate preview weekend. Hearn has also served on a variety of MIT-wide committees and working groups, including the Committee on Race and Diversity; Mind, Hand, and Heart Academic Environment; and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day planning.
At Broad, Hearn heightened the visibility of diversity training programs serving audiences from high school students to faculty and collaborated with Human Resources and the Academic Affairs Office to lead efforts addressing the professional development needs of women; to implement and evaluate a mentoring program for scientists; and to create a seminar series to prepare Broad research technicians to pursue graduate degrees in STEM and medicine.
Prior to coming to MIT, she was a mathematics teacher at public middle- and high schools in Boston for five years and was a manufacturing engineer at IBM, where she led several manufacturing processes in circuit board printing and co-patented a novel photolithography process. In addition to her undergraduate degree at MIT, Hearn earned an EdM from Harvard University in 2004. Outside of her work life, she enjoys being the mother of an active and curious toddler, spending quality time with family and friends, traveling, skiing and salsa dancing.
"We are fortunate that Eboney will be building upon a long tradition of success thanks to the strong leadership of departing executive director Shawna Young, past leaders, and OEOP's terrific staff and volunteers," said Ian A. Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering and the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Since 1975, OEOP's programs have provided enriching science and engineering experiences to over 3,000 middle and high school students free of charge.
