Columbia, MD, April 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Maryland Army National Guard (MDARNG) Adjutant General Janeen L. Birckhead will salute more than 1,100 graduates of Howard Community College (HCC) as the keynote speaker for its 54th commencement exercises on May 23 at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus, beginning at 10 a.m.
“Few leaders can share the values of work ethic, positivity, tenacity, and faith with our graduates and their families in a voice like that of Major General Birckhead,” said HCC President Daria J. Willis. “We are honored to welcome her to Dragon Country to share our finest hour and to celebrate the achievements of our esteemed scholars and professionals together as they move to the next step in their academic journeys or enter the workforce.”
In 2023, Maryland’s Governor Wes Moore appointed Birckhead to lead the state’s military. She is the second African American and the second woman appointed to this role. Before her promotion to Adjutant General, Birckhead served as Commander of the MDARNG, responsible for the combat readiness of 4,600 soldiers and 1,500 combat platforms. She maintained 45 installations statewide and oversaw an annual budget of $182 million. She took on the added responsibility of Task Force Commander for over 14,000 soldiers guarding the U.S. Capitol after the January 6 attack.
In 2021, Birckhead was appointed by former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan as the lead for the statewide COVID-19 Maryland Equity Task Force. She was able to pivot effectively at the onset of COVID-19 to bring a force of more than 1,500 soldiers on duty in the early days of the pandemic. In the second phase of COVID-19, she developed and integrated a planning team with the Maryland Department of Health for vaccine distribution. Her leadership enabled the MDARNG to establish mobile vaccination support teams, delivering nearly 5,000 shots per week within the first two weeks of January 2021. Her efforts helped underserved communities throughout Maryland gain access to the COVID-19 vaccine and established more than 11 mass vaccination sites. Her work on the Maryland Equity Task Force was the subject of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
She began her civilian career in Washington, D.C., in the U.S. Senate. Her subsequent civilian career positions included State Equal Employment Opportunity Manager, Special Agent in Charge for the Defense Security Service, and Deputy Chief of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at the Office of Personnel Management. In 2010, she joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Director of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity for the U.S. Department of the Interior. A native of Snow Hill, Maryland, Birckhead earned a B.A. in Political Science (Summa Cum Laude) from Hampton University in 1991 and holds two master’s degrees – Master of General Administration from the University of Maryland University College and a Master in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
She is an inductee of the National ROTC Hall of Fame and the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.
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| ABOUT HCC Since 1970, Howard Community College (HCC) has been a preferred college choice for students and families in Howard County, Maryland. A public community college, HCC offers associate degree and certificate programs, as well as workforce development training and continuing education classes, to nearly 22,000 credit and noncredit students each year. HCC received the 2019 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s only presidential-level honor for performance excellence in organizations.
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- Adjutant General Janeen L. Birckhead