Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

The USM in 2010: 

Responding to the Challenges that Lie Ahead

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Mission: The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is the research and doctoral granting institution on the Eastern Shore. It is an 1890 Land Grant University committed to providing equal opportunity in a diverse environment that values the discovery of knowledge, its development and dissemination, and the practical application of that knowledge to community outreach. The university recognizes that it is responsible for developing human potential, expanding knowledge, enriching cultural expressions, and extending its expertise to individuals, businesses, educational and governmental agencies. These responsibilities are addressed through an array of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, research and creative activities, outreach, and public service programs. The programs of distinctive academic emphasis at UMES are agricultural, environmental and marine sciences, hospitality, technology, computer sciences, business and allied health. These areas are supported by additional programs in business, liberal arts and technology. The university will achieve regional and national reputation as best in class by creating an organizational culture committed to program excellence, teamwork, and organizational integrity. It will continue to recognize that teaching, research, and community service are inextricably linked to each other and must be mutually supportive, appropriately balanced, and consistent with its mission and values. Furthermore, accountability will permeate every aspect of our culture and all operating units of the university, extending to faculty, staff, and students.

Goal I

USM academic programs will evolve to meet the changing educational needs of a growing and increasingly diverse undergraduate and graduate student population and will enhance the quality of life for all Maryland citizens.

Undergraduate Tuition

• Keep tuition and fee increases at or below the average of those at similar institutions in the state and region.
• Monitor the tuition and mandatory fees of similar institutions in the state and region.
• Monitor the difference between financial aid allowances and tuition and fees

Minority Achievement

• Make the instructional, research, outreach and engagement programs accessible for the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary for productive, responsible and meaningful lives.
• Develop and implement an enrollment plan designed to attract the best and brightest, reach out for the educationally disadvantaged, and generally influence the size and characteristics of the student body.
• Develop and implement programs that will increase retention and graduation rates to at least the average rate of institutions of similar admissions policies and missions.
• Provide effective support programs and practices such as appropriate remediation, advising, counseling and tutoring, designed to give students opportunity for academic success.
• Offer innovative, flexible, and varied learning formats and opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students enrolled on-campus and at off-campus sites.
• Provide access to potential students with heterogeneous abilities and varying backgrounds.

Undergraduate Education

• Equip students with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary for appropriate professional employment, professional development and/or graduate study with strong academic programs ensured through regular program reviews, and when applicable, accreditated by appropriate agencies.
• Develop and implement programs of performance assessment of student learning outcomes.
• Set standards for competence in information technology for graduates.
• Seek professional accreditation for applicable programs.
• Increase passing rates on professional examinations.

Online Learning

• Identify and implement the most promising applications of technology in support of more effective teaching, learning and research, ready access to worldwide sources of information, development of graduates that are able to use technology effectively and efficiently and user-friendly administrative services.
• Provide computers and technology to faculty and staff for more effective classroom presentations including interactive and multimedia learning in teaching and other educationally related activities.
• Design and implement faculty development seminars and workshops related to using technology in the teaching/learning process.
• Provide incentives for faculty using technology as an integral part of their instruction.

Life-long Learning

• Use distance learning technologies to provide courses and activities to enhance outreach to non-traditional, place-bound and time-bound students.
• Expand continuing education programs.
• Expand off-campus sites.

Faculty Development

• Sustain, and improve where necessary, the delivery of high quality instruction, and research through a faculty that is committed to teaching and scholarship.
• Provide regular and extensive faculty development programs and opportunities, especially in approaches to enhance student learning through the use of current technology.
• Provide faculty with up-to-date technologies and facilities that promote teaching, scholarship, and public service.
• Stimulate grant activity among faculty that supports scholarship.

Competition and Program Development

• Become a Doctoral II university within the next five years, using the present Carnegie Classification.
• Offer a total of five (5) doctoral programs within the next five years.
• Offer a total of thirteen (13) masters degree programs within the next five years.
• Promote collaborative programs with other institutions to increase training opportunities and options for students.
• Expand summer research activities for undergraduate and graduate students to include students from other four-year colleges and universities.
• Expand faculty exchange programs between UMES and other colleges and universities.
• Increase the number of collaborative agreements with four-year institutions.
• Increase the number of collaborative agreements with community colleges.

Goal II

USM research and scholarship will position Maryland as a national leader in science, technology and other key areas, providing the knowledge and infrastructure to ensure the State's continued economic growth, sustainable development and international competitiveness.

Libraries

• Improve library services.
• Equip the library with appropriate resources so that access will be provided to materials held elsewhere through locally available databases and national and international network connections.
• Provide the university community with access to shared resources of other universities, government agencies, industries and research institutes.

Research and Economic Development

• Work with local and regional economic groups to create an explicit role for UMES in local/regional economic development and planning as well as to support and attract companies that could benefit from collaborative projects for local development.
• Create and promote comprehensive plans for partnerships with area businesses and industries that benefit both partners.
• Increase the number of partnerships with businesses and industries.
• Expand basic research scholarly activity.
• Use environmental research to restore, preserve and manage estuarine and coastal resources as well as Maryland's numerous methods.
• Employ agricultural research and extension to support farmers and the agri-business industry so that they can remain viable and competitive.
• Utilize stakeholder groups to help direct the research foci that address the issues, concerns, and/or needs of our citizens.

Goal III

The USM will achieve its legislative mandate of national eminence and its fundamental mission to serve the public good while carefully managing growth and developing System resources.

Community Service

• Reaffirm the university's explicit role, as the State's 1890 Land Grant institution, of providing educational opportunities to help citizens, individually and collectively, make sound decisions about their lives, businesses and communities and develop economically, socially and culturally.
• Increase the number of programs and activities that will: a) enable agricultural producers to achieve economic and environmental sustainability; insure a safe, reliable and affordable food supply; protect our environment, emphasizing water quality; support renewable natural resources-based economic development; encourage renewable natural resources stewardship; and promote individual health and nutrition.
• Provide through the Cooperative Extension programs educational and technical assistance to families in an effort to meet the needs of homemakers, farmers, youth and the elderly.

Other Management/Effectiveness Strategies

• Adopt a university-wide strategic plan which sets institutional priorities, establishes a framework for budget and resource allocations, and demands that accountability permeate every aspect of the university community.
• Apply cost-benefit analysis in reviewing existing programs and evaluating new programs.
• Use comparisons with state and regional peers to assist in the examination of operations
• Form a university-wide budget committee with the responsibility of ensuring that the allocation of resources is in support of university priorities.
• Use budgeting and financial forecasting for long-range financial planning.

Accountability

• Implement the university's five-year Strategic Plan in which accountability to the State and to its citizens is a central part of the plan's goals and objectives.
• Use the plan to provide direction and guidance in the following areas:
• focusing - ensuring that the use of dollars, time, equipment and space focus on the university's mission, goals and objectives.
• prioritizing - deciding which units to stress, enhance or discontinue, thereby using resources in the most important areas.
• communicating - facilitating horizontal and vertical communication within the university and with external constituencies.
• acquiring resources - guiding the expansion and/or addition of projects or programs that require additional resources.