Dr. Mary Good, founding dean of UALR’s Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology and an Arkansas leader in STEM education, is one of five national dignitaries in education being honored at the inauguration of the new U.S.News STEM Leadership Hall of Fame.

Good and the other four honorees were selected by a national committee of industry, academic, and nonprofit leaders in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM).

In addition to Good, the honorees are:

• Dr. Richard Alley, the Evan Pugh Professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University.

• Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

• Tom Luce, chair of the National Math and Science Initiative.

• Ray Mellado, chair and chief executive officer of Great Minds in STEM.

They will be honored at an awards ceremony and panel discussion capping the 2012 U.S. News STEM Solutions Summit in Dallas Wednesday to Friday, June 27 to 29.

“The summit will be an unprecedented gathering of business executives, educators, human resources managers, philanthropists, policymakers, and technology companies united in one critical objective – creating a national consensus on the development of a STEM workforce,” said Alexi Turbow, communications relations coordinator for U.S. News.

Good, who retired as dean in June 2011, currently serves as special advisor for economic development for UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson.

A former undersecretary of commerce for innovation under former President Clinton, Good served as dean of UALR’s engineering program since 1999.

Under her leadership, the engineering college developed a national reputation for excellence in a first-class faculty, graduating students who were prepared to succeed in high-paying engineering and technology jobs, and having a major positive impact on economic development in central Arkansas.

In the state, Good promoted STEM education as a key to economic development. She had a special interest in recruiting young women into engineering and other STEM careers through the Arkansas Women’s Foundation program, Girls of Promise.

With her shock of white hair, sensible shoes and, lately, a walker, Good has a reputation as a no-nonsense dynamo who told legislators, governors, and a U.S. president that Arkansas’ future in the 21st century requires a world-class engineering facility in the capital city and home-grown students to fill its classes.

The birth of the Donaghey college and the construction of a new six-story building to house it was a crowning achievement for Good, the first woman in Arkansas to earn a Ph.D. in the “hard” sciences.

A former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she  is the recipient of Vannevar Bush Award, the National Science Foundation’s highest honor; the National Science Foundation Distinguished Service medal; the American Chemical Society Priestly Medal; and is a Heinz Award winner.

“She came here 10 years ago… in a decision that I think will have very far-reaching, positive consequences for our state and for our entire country,” former President Bill Clinton said of Good at the engineering college’s 10th anniversary gala in November 2009.