Mays Named to Task Force

Mays Named to Task Force

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Burroughs Wellcome Fund Senior Program Officer Alfred Mays has been named to N.C. Governor Roy Cooper’s DRIVE Task Force created to recommend education equity measures.

Established through Executive Order 113, the task force is focused on improving equity and inclusion in education and will submit a report to the Governor with recommendations to reach that goal.

“North Carolina is committed to living up to our responsibility to deliver a quality education to every student in every county,” said Governor Cooper. “This group of experts knows how to tackle the inequities across our state in order to ensure quality education.”

The task force is comprised of parents, educators, administrators, education advocates, representatives of state and local government, representatives from the University of North Carolina system and North Carolina Community College System, and employers with a presence in North Carolina. The Hunt Institute, an affiliate of the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, will provide facilitation and research support for the task force.

Mays began his tenure with BWF in 2015 and is responsible for strategic program development in science education and diversity in science. He directs a portfolio of competitive and strategic grants and serves on a number of nonprofit educational and civic boards. Mays’ active engagement in diversity includes collaboration with the Color of Education, a partnership between the Public School Forum of North Carolina, The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, and Policy Bridge at Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy to achieve racial equity, co-lead for the RACE 2.0 project to return the Science of Race Exhibit to North Carolina permanently, coordination of various diversity enrichment networks, and contributor to various local, state and national diversity, equity, and inclusion STEM initiatives.

Mays was the founder of EdSync Strategies, Inc., an education contract service that provided assistance to NC eLearning Commission, NC STEM Learning Network, rural NC public school systems and the Public School Forum. From 2007-2011, he served as the assistant director of the Collaborative Project, an initiative that “sought to strengthen participating school systems serving low-income students in rural areas of the state.” Mays also worked with the University of North Carolina General Administration, serving as the director of information resources and director of special projects.

Read the Governor’s announcement on his website.