USM Education Policy Committee to Meet September 16

The University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents’ Committee on Education Policy will meet in public session on Thursday, September 16 at 9 a.m. in the Terrace Lounge of the Baltimore Student Union at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, 621 West Lombard St.

The meeting will begin with a joint public session with the Regents’ Committee on Finance, during which two items will be reviewed:

• A USM-wide plan for improving the quality of Maryland’s public school teachers. The plan is designed to forge new partnerships between K-12 teachers and faculty at USM institutions.
  
• The USM Mission Statement, developed by an ad hoc committee comprising representatives of the USM institutions and headquarters staff. Unlike the institutional mission statements mandated by the recent governance legislation and currently under review by the USM and the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), the statement is not required by law and does
  not follow the format of the institutions’ statements. It also does not require review or approval by MHEC. It is intended to clarify the role of the USM in serving the State of Maryland. The proposed statement reads in part:

  “The University System of Maryland aspires to be a pre-eminent, public system of higher education for the 21st century. Cognizant of our central role in providing high quality educational opportunities for the State of Maryland, we are dedicated to creating an informed citizenry who both understand the challenges posed by an interdependent world and have a commitment to serve the community. … [T]he USM will strive to be acknowledged to be among the best higher education enterprises individually and collectively….”
  

Following the joint session with the Finance Committee, the Education Policy Committee will take a vote on the USM Mission Statement and consider these agenda items:

• Annual status report and five-year summary on the state of agriculture instruction, research and service in the University System of Maryland, prepared jointly by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
  
• Tentative agenda for the Education Policy Committee for 1999-2000.
  
• Update on institutional mission statements, provided by USM Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Charles Middleton.
  

Full agenda and background information will be available at the meeting. Sign language interpreters and/or other appropriate accommodations for eligible individuals with disabilities will be provided upon request. Please call 301/445-2756 (voice) or 301/314-7683 (TTY/ITT) to make special arrangements.

Contact:

Chris Hart
Phone: 301/445-2739
Pager: 301/507-2316
E-mail: chart@usmh.usmd.edu