Winter 2015

The past few months have ushered in significant changes for both the state of Maryland and the University System of Maryland (USM). We welcomed Larry Hogan as our new governor and we announced the Board of Regents' appointment of Robert (Bob) Caret as the next USM chancellor. Also, more than one-third of Maryland's 188-member legislature is newly elected.

Already, we are working with Governor Hogan to help ensure that USM priorities--student access, affordability, and completion; economic and workforce development; and fiscal responsibility--support and advance the state's priorities.

As announced, my last day as chancellor is June 30. Bob Caret will take the helm July 1. As many of you know, Bob is no stranger to Maryland. He served as president of Towson University from 2003 to 2011 and has been president of the five-campus University of Massachusetts System since 2011. He brings a unique combination of experience as a campus- and system-level executive as well as a deep understanding of our state. I share the regents' confidence that Bob will provide strong and effective leadership for USM in the years ahead.

Amid all of these changes, what has remained unchanged is USM's progress in moving Maryland forward. Consider the following:

We've increased the number of students graduating with degrees in STEM fields by 55 percent since 2009.
We've increased the number of undergraduate degrees awarded by 4,500 per year since 2009.
USM institutions have facilitated the launch of 249 startup companies since FY 2011.

We enter the 2015 legislative session with these and other compelling stories of USM excellence and commitment. And we will continue to demonstrate that strong investment in the state's public higher education system is an investment in a strong future for our state.

AN UNEXPECTED MIDYEAR $40.3 MILLION CUT

The Board of Public Works earlier this year approved then-Governor Martin O'Malley's significant reduction to USM's current (FY 2015) budget. This $40.3 million reduction is nearly five times what we had been told to expect.

Clearly, a cut of this magnitude required the USM to take some difficult steps. Our campuses have implemented hiring freezes, put salary increases on hold, delayed facility renewal projects, and reduced class sections.

In addition, four USM campuses--University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), Towson University (TU), Frostburg State University (FSU), and Salisbury University (SU)--implemented modest tuition increases of 2 percent. All told, the tuition increases accounted for $5.4 million, or less than 15 percent of the total state budget cut. Even with the state budget cut being unexpectedly large, we are addressing it while preserving our core missions of teaching, research, and public service.

A LOOK AT FY 2016
Shortly after his inauguration last month, Governor Hogan submitted a budget proposal for FY 2016. He proposed $1.219 billion in state funds for USM, a 1.3 percent increase ($15.4 million) over USM's reduced FY 2015 budget level. Also included is a modest 5 percent tuition increase.

Clearly, this is not USM's ideal budget. First and foremost, it includes no funding for enhancements. This means that efforts to significantly increase enrollment, promote STEM, expand in-demand programs, and boost economic and workforce development efforts will be delayed. And the proposal discontinues the 2 percent cost-of-living increase that state employees received in January, which would create hardships for faculty and staff and make it more difficult to retain and recruit talented employees.

In addition, while USM is slated to receive this $15.4 million increase in state support, our mandatory costs are slated to increase by $86 million. These include the higher costs of employer fringe benefits, new facilities coming on line, increased student financial aid, required IT upgrades, and higher utility rates.

Despite the hard choices, difficult cuts, and potential disruption to USM's advancement in some important areas, the governor's budget proposal for the USM still demonstrates support for higher education. In my testimony earlier this month, I urged its adoption. In addition, I asked that, should a supplemental budget be possible, the General Assembly consider further investment in USM so that we can do more to advance the state's economy and quality of life.

LEADERSHIP HONORS AND CHANGES
Since my last letter to you (spring 2014), there have been several changes on the Board of Regents and in campus leadership. Catherine "Cassie" Motz was sworn in as a member of the board. She is executive director of the College Bound Foundation. We also welcomed our new student regent, Raaheela Ahmed, a senior in the University of Maryland, College Park's (UMCP's) Honors College. She is scheduled to graduate in May 2015 with a double major in finance and economics.

Just last month, we welcomed the Honorable Joseph Bartenfelder, the newly appointed Maryland Secretary of Agriculture, as the board's ex officio member. And we said goodbye to Regent Earl Hance, the former agriculture secretary, and Regent Tracye Turner, who stepped down due to business obligations.

Congratulations are due Regent Norm Augustine for his induction into the U.S. News & World Report STEM Leadership Hall of Fame. This distinction honors individuals who have achieved tangible results in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

Also since my spring 2014 letter, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke assumed his new role as president of the University of Baltimore. Sadly, late last year, Towson University (TU) President Maravene Loeschke stepped down due to health concerns. TU Provost Tim Chandler, who had been serving as acting president, was named interim president. And Frostburg State University (FSU) President Jonathan Gibralter has announced that he will be leaving FSU to become President of Wells College in Aurora, New York. A presidential search committee will be established in the near future to identify final candidates for the TU presidency for Board of Regents consideration. A separate committee will be established later this year to identify final candidates for the FSU presidency.

The Coppin State University (CSU) presidential search committee is working hard to help the Board of Regents achieve its goal of having the new president named by July 1, the end of CSU President Mortimer Neufville's two-year term. The chair of the committee is Michael E. Cryor, president of The Cryor Group, a strategic communications firm in Baltimore.

RANKINGS UNDERSCORE USM'S CONTINUED EXCELLENCE
USM institutions once again have been recognized among the nation's top universities in recent rankings, most notably in the U.S. News & World Report 2015 edition of "America's Best Colleges":

*   UMCP was ranked 20th among all U.S. national public universities, with the Robert H. Smith School of Business ranked 21st nationally and the A. James Clark School of Engineering ranked 22nd nationally.
*   The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) ranked No. 1 among "up-and-coming" national universities for the sixth straight year. UMBC also ranked fifth on the list of campuses with an "unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching"--ahead of Yale, Brown, and Stanford.
*   U.S. News ranked the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Bowie State University in the top tier of America's historically black institutions, at 23rd and 25th, respectively.
*   Towson and Salisbury were ranked in the top tier among publics and privates in the Regional Universities (North) category.

In addition, Towson and Salisbury were highlighted in The Washington Monthly's "Best Bang for the Buck Colleges" list, ranking 26th and 41st, respectively, out of more than 175 public and private master's universities.

FUELING MARYLAND'S ECONOMY
USM competed successfully for more than $1 billion in external grants and contracts in FY 2014, enabling vital research and development, supporting tens of thousands of jobs, generating significant economic activity, and helping to strengthen Maryland's position as a leader in the innovation economy.

USM also took an exciting new "entrepreneurial" step in economic development. University of Maryland (UM) Ventures last year announced its first equity investment: Harpoon Medical, a Stevensville company that is developing a surgical tool for minimally invasive heart valve surgery, using technology licensed from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Through the UM Ventures partnership, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and UMCP plan to invest up to $500,000 each in Maryland-based startups that use technology licensed from the universities. Launched to boost technology transfer and commercialization, UM Ventures is part of The University of Maryland: MPowering the State, the structured collaboration between UMB and UMCP.

USM's growing role as a cybersecurity education and research hub attracted a vital new partnership. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) selected the MITRE Corporation, working in partnership with USM, to operate the first federally funded research and development center dedicated to enhancing cybersecurity and protecting national information systems. UMCP and UMBC, which each offer strong cybersecurity education and research components, will work with MITRE--a not-for-profit organization that operates federally sponsored research and development centers--to carry out the goals of the new NIST facility.

CELEBRATING MILESTONES
Bowie State University has launched a yearlong Sesquicentennial Celebration, marking the university's significant impact in Maryland. Bowie is today a comprehensive liberal arts university, a national Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity, and one of only six National Model Institutions for Excellence in STEM. Please check out the wonderful array of events planned to highlight Bowie State's tremendous progress here.

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) this year is celebrating 90 years of solving problems that face our natural environment, in the Chesapeake Bay and around the world. Complementing the observance is the inclusion of two UMCES scientists among those designated "Admiral of the Chesapeake" by Governor Martin O'Malley during his final days in office. Congratulations to Donald Boesch, UMCES president, and Walter Boynton, an UMCES ecologist with a focus on estuaries, for this designation, an honor reserved for individuals who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the conservation and restoration of the Chesapeake.

IN CLOSING
As my time as chancellor winds down, I want to express my gratitude for your support and encouragement. Because of this support, my 13 years as chancellor have been among the most meaningful and rewarding of my 51 years of working in higher education.

I ask that you provide Bob Caret, USM's next chancellor, with this same level of support when he takes the helm later this year. Bob knows higher education, he knows Maryland, and he has had a positive impact on every institution he has led. I am confident that the momentum we have established and the record of success we have achieved by working in tandem--with a common vision, shared priorities and mutual respect--will continue.

As always, I appreciate hearing from you. If you would like to offer feedback on this letter or any USM news, please write me at: usmbriefs@usmd.edu.