Bio on Dean Edward Montgomery

Edward Montgomery became dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences in July 2003. He is also a professor of economics and former senior associate dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. As dean of the college, Dr. Montgomery is responsible for providing leadership and managing the University of Maryland’s largest college, which teaches more than 5500 undergraduates and 900 graduate students each year. The 11 academic departments in the college offer a wide array of innovative degree and non-degree educational programs both at College Park and in Nanjing and Shanghai, China. The global reach of the college’s educational efforts is matched by the breadth of its research programs, which include 42 research centers that combine to make the college the second largest recipient of social science research and development dollars in the country. By expanding the college’s entrepreneurial efforts, tripling fundraising from alumni, private donors and foundations, and shifting resources to emerging areas, the dean has made supporting the intellectual breath and reach of the college his top priority.

As dean, Dr. Montgomery has championed efforts to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience by reducing class sizes, expanding the use of classroom technology, increasing undergraduate internships and developing an alumni mentorship program. He has dramatically increased the college-level support for graduate student fellowships and created dean’s fellows to allow units to attract the very best graduate students. At the same time he has expanded diversity outreach to insure access to all qualified students and to maintain the college’s record as one of the top five producers of Ph.D. students from underrepresented minority populations.

Prior to becoming dean, Dr. Montgomery served as deputy secretary and chief operating officer at the U.S. Department of Labor. He directed the day-to-day management of this diverse organization of more than 17,000 employees with an annual budget of $32 billion. Dr. Montgomery coordinated efforts to issue regulatory standards to address ergonomic injuries, reduce diesel emissions in coal mines, protect health records, and promote equal pay compliance. Working with the secretary, he helped secure the passage of the Work Force Investment Act, which overhauled the nation’s job training system and helped secure funding for new training programs targeted at the needs of inner city youth, welfare recipients and high growth industries. As deputy secretary he oversaw a dramatic expansion in the use of information technology to manage department programs and improve services and the established use of annual benchmarks and goals for program evaluation. Prior to serving as deputy secretary, he was the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor and principal representative to President Clinton’s National Economic Council. While serving as chief economist, he was part of the negotiating teams for the Kyoto Treaty on global warming and the first international treaty against child labor negotiated through the International Labour Organization. He also helped Labor Secretary Alexis Herman negotiate an end to the UPS/Teamster strike.

Dr. Montgomery has published numerous papers and articles on local economic development, youth unemployment, cross national comparisons of labor market performance, savings and pension policy, Medicaid and Social Security, labor unions, and workplace smoking regulations. He is the winner of multiple teaching awards at the University of Maryland and the Teacher Scholar Award at Michigan State University. He has been elected to the Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Kappa Psi honorary societies and is listed in Who’s Who in America. His research has been supported by agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Ameritech and Ford Foundations. He has served on the board of visitors to the National Science Foundation’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Science Division; as a research associate or fellow at the National Bureau for Economic Research, the Urban Institute, the UpJohn Institute for Employment, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and the board of governors of the Federal Reserve and Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Dr. Montgomery earned his B.S. from Pennsylvania State University in 1976 and his A.M. (1980) and Ph.D. (1982) in economics from Harvard University. He is the father of twin daughters (Lindsay and Elizabeth) and a son (E.J.) and lives with his wife Kari Montgomery in Fulton, Maryland.