Chancellor's Report to the Board of Regents on June 16
Report to the USM Board of Regents
Chancellor Jay A. Perman
Frostburg State University | June 16, 2023
Thank you, Madame Chair, and let me congratulate you on your award this week from the American Heart Association. Chair Gooden received the AHA’s 2023 G. Morgan Stark Memorial Award. Let me tell you how big a deal this is: The award is given annually to only one AHA volunteer. Our chair was honored for improving the association’s tech and risk-management platforms. Linda, thank you for modeling service. Congratulations.
I join Chair Gooden in praising our Student Scholarship winners. It was a lovely ceremony and a terrific networking event. Arsalan, again, thank you for ensuring that our extraordinary students get some well-deserved recognition.
Let me also thank our host this morning, Frostburg State. For most of us, it’s a long drive to get here, but the payoff is just incredible. Thank you for having us, Ron.
I add my thanks to all of our departing regents. And to Regent Oludayo, congratulations on your graduation from Bowie State. To Vice Chair Gary Attman—leaving the board after 14 years and three chancellors—I’m so grateful that I’ve personally gotten to serve this great System with you. Your leadership will be missed.
LEADERSHIP TRANSITIONS
As Chair Gooden mentioned, June serves as a year-in-review, and this year was marked by several leadership transitions.
In the space of one week this spring, we formally inaugurated President Sheares Ashby at UMBC and President Lepre at Salisbury University. Both days were perfect—truly perfect—and the joy and optimism of those ceremonies will stay with me for a long time.
At Towson University, we expect to wrap up our search this summer with the announcement of a new president. I thank the search committee and its chair, Regent Fish, for their continuing hard work. The candidates are accomplished leaders from across the country, which speaks to Towson’s prominence. I thank Dr. Perreault for sustaining TU’s excellence and momentum as the search progresses.
This spring, Dr. Jacob Ashby was named the new executive director of the USM at Hagerstown. He was profiled in The Herald-Mail last month, sharing his vision for positioning USMH as the driver of social mobility in Washington County. Dr. Ashby, all of us are here to support you in that mission.
We’re also preparing for a transition at UMCES. I’m grateful that Dr. Goodwin will continue as president until his retirement on Sept. 25, and delighted that Dr. Bill Dennison, vice president for science application and professor of marine science, has agreed to take over as interim leader.
I’ve shared my ambitions that the USM become the country’s premier System for environmental science and policy—that we drive the national conversation on climate solutions. And so I’m honored to be invited to serve on the Aspen Institute’s Higher Ed Climate Action Task Force to accelerate what U.S. universities are doing to solve our climate crisis. I look forward to updating you on our work.
UNIVERSITY EXCELLENCE
Let me turn now to the excellence of our universities, recounting recent good news, but also some of their biggest achievements over the past 12 months.
I begin with our host today. I talk often about Frostburg’s leadership as an anchor institution in Western Maryland, convening partners in pursuit of common economic goals—regional goals. If you consider Frostburg’s efforts this year, you see this “anchor ethos” suffusing everything it does: Installing a clean-energy microgrid to benefit the campus and the community and, more than that, collaborating with area two-year colleges to prepare a local renewable-energy workforce. Winning grants to grow and diversify the teacher workforce in Western Maryland and train culturally responsive educators. Partnering with Garrett County Public Schools in a dual-enrollment program. Ron, thank you for showing what an anchor institution can do in—and for—our rural communities.
Coppin State knows something about serving as an anchor. Last year, Coppin won two federal grants totaling $8 million to prepare talented teachers to serve high-need urban and rural schools. Add to that a $4 million grant to help close the digital divide in West Baltimore. And $2 million from Truist—the largest corporate gift in Coppin’s history—to establish a Hub for Black Economic Mobility.
None of this good work was lost on Gov. Moore, who chose Coppin State’s Class of 2023 for his very first commencement address as Maryland’s leader. Anthony, congratulations.
At UMBC, the research enterprise keeps growing. The year started with a huge NSF grant: $13 million to lead a climate-focused data science institute. And it continued with two more grants advancing UMBC’s vision of inclusive excellence—$10 million from NSF to grow the number of postdocs of color in STEM; and $14 million from NIH—a partnership with UMB—to better recruit underrepresented biomedical faculty.
And earlier this month—with $2 million from the DOD—UMBC launched the Center for Navigation, Timing, and Frequency Research, using photonic technology to develop clocks and communication protocols that are invulnerable to disruptions or sabotage. Congratulations, Valerie.
Towson University is “walking the walk” of equity and inclusion. For the third-straight year, Towson was recognized by Insight Into Diversity magazine—not only for success in diversifying its student body and closing race-based achievement gaps, but for its relentless efforts to sustain a campuswide focus on DEI.
The university joined the American Talent Initiative to expand access and opportunity for low- and moderate-income students—and was one of just 28 universities recognized by Bloomberg Philanthropies for doing just that. And TU’s new membership in the First Scholars Network underscores its commitment to improving experiences and outcomes for first-gen college students. Well done, Melanie.
Last fall, UMES was one of six universities—and the first-ever HBCU—to win a Howard Hughes Medical Institute STEM education grant, which challenges research universities to create cultural change that prepares all undergraduates to excel in STEM. UMES is using the $2.5 million grant to develop an immersive living-learning community for STEM students.
And what a special celebration it was last month as we dedicated UMES’s Pharmacy and Health Sciences Complex, consolidating the university’s nine health sciences programs into one state-of-the-art facility. Heidi, I thank you for your commitment to closing gaps in rural health care and serving your Lower Shore neighbors.
The University of Maryland Global Campus is expanding its access imperative—here in the U.S. and overseas. UMGC signed articulation agreements with community colleges in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, and Colorado. Meanwhile, it’s been awarded a new five-year DOD contract to educate our troops across Europe. The European contract completes a trifecta of sorts, joining DOD contracts in Asia and in the Middle East and Africa.
We often tout UMGC’s global presence, but this is equally important: UMGC now has 100,000 alumni living and working in Maryland. UMGC may have “global” in its name, but we’d do well to remember its very local impact. Thank you, Greg.
Salisbury University continued its Fulbright dominance this year, named the nation’s No. 1 producer of Fulbright Students among U.S. master’s universities. It backed up that milestone with another: a record 12 students named Fulbright semifinalists for this coming round of grants—the most diverse group in SU’s history.
If Salisbury’s students are scholars in the classroom, they’re warriors on the field. In April, SU Cheerleading brought home its first national championship. In May, Men’s Lacrosse won the Division III national championship—the 13th in program history—which brought them to the White House this week to be honored by Vice President Harris. And then last week, Salisbury Softball ended an exciting streak as DIII runners-up. What a season, Lyn. Congratulations.
UMB has won several gifts and grants promising to transform biomedical research and health care: $46 million from DARPA to develop a biosynthetic, shelf-stable artificial blood; $7 million from Bill and Joanne Conway to give full-ride scholarships to another 200+ nursing students; $10 million from the Kahlert Foundation to support a new multidisciplinary institute for addiction treatment and prevention; $18 million from Lawrence Hayman to expand clinical rotations and residencies on the Eastern Shore.
UMB’s dedication to Baltimore shines in its new Center for Violence Prevention, taking a cross-disciplinary approach to reducing violence in the city. And UMB broke ground on 4MLK—the first phase of a $320 million project planned in West Baltimore. Congratulations, Bruce.
UMCES’s environmental leadership was underscored with a series of major grants: $7.5 million to control harmful algal blooms; $2 million to explore how microalgae could cut CO2 emissions from power plants; $5 million with the University of Arizona to innovate farming in a rapidly drying climate.
And UMCES just released its annual Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card, including for the first time an integrated environmental justice index measuring community vulnerability to environmental impacts. This report card has become a vital resource for Maryland policymakers. Peter, I thank you and your team.
The University of Baltimore is known for producing graduates who advance, protect, and serve our democracy. Last fall, UBalt collected three national honors for its voter engagement efforts. And its Schaefer Center for Public Policy deepened its commitment to swelling our corps of public servants—with targeted internships, a new public service minor, and a non-degree certificate.
And in a commencement season filled with deeply affecting stories, I have to mention Kelly Gilliss and Kenneth Bond, who graduated from UBalt’s Second Chance College Program for incarcerated students with their degrees in Human Services Administration. A wonderful moment for an important program. I thank Sally Reed-Aro, here representing President Schmoke.
The USM at Southern Maryland celebrated a year of growth and outreach. The center is expanding programs from USM partner universities and strengthening its pipeline with the region’s tri-county school districts and with the College of Southern Maryland.
On-site events and activities show Southern Maryland students how we’re bringing the extraordinary wealth of this System directly to them. Jean Combs is here representing Dr. Abel. Thank you.
“Partnership” is how I’d describe the year that Bowie State just had. BSU is working with IBM to stand up a Cybersecurity Leadership Center. It’s sharing $2 million from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to expand student entrepreneurship. It’s part of a $90 million DOD-funded consortium on tactical autonomy—the only University Affiliated Research Center associated with the country’s HBCUs. And Bowie State just celebrated its first-ever NSF CAREER Award winner, Chemistry Professor Jacqueline Smith, whose grant supports her breast cancer research.
And BSU’s tech intern pipeline, featured in The New York Times, has drawn the attention of the country’s Fortune 100s. Now they’re banging down Bowie’s door, looking to link up with the university. That’s how you do it, Aminta. Thank you.
All eyes at College Park are on solving the grand challenges of our age. This spring, the university distributed $30 million in grants across campus to address existential threats in education, the environment, health, and justice. The university’s Terrapin Commitment is dedicating $20 million in annual aid to Maryland students in financial need. And that fidelity to access continues with its efforts to help students from small towns and rural communities get into—and through—college.
College Park is expanding its Do Good Institute, laying in more courses, more faculty and staff, more philanthropy-focused research, and more support for students with ideas and ventures to change the world. Thank you, Darryll, for your vision.
The Universities at Shady Grove won a huge endorsement of its work this year, when Google contributed $500,000 to USG’s efforts to build targeted degree pathways for students and aligned career opportunities. To lure more of those student into USG, the center launched its JumpStart Scholarship—$500 to all undergrads starting this fall in any USG program. Well done, Anne.
THE FUTURE OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Before I cede the podium, I want to touch on an issue that’s been front of mind for all of us.
This month, we expect a decision from the Supreme Court on affirmative action—whether the court will uphold or reject 45 years of precedent affirming the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions. And, moreover, whether it will uphold or reject student diversity as a compelling state interest.
Certainly, diversity is a compelling interest to the USM, whose mission is to educate and serve the people of Maryland, to advance equity, justice, and opportunity, and to produce the research and scholarship that improve lives. The court’s decision—whatever it is—doesn’t change this mission.
And irrespective of the landscape drawn by the court’s ruling, Maryland has an advantage. We are among the nation’s most racially and ethnically diverse states, and so the first part of our mission—to educate and serve the people of Maryland—means we must reflect the state’s population. Our universities can and will do this within the bounds of federal law.
But educating Maryland’s people means more than any admissions decision. It starts long before—and continues long after. It means advancing college access and affordability, giving every learner who wants a USM education the ability to enroll here. It means giving these same learners—across all backgrounds and experiences—the individualized academic, financial, and social supports that help them complete their degree.
I’ve been asked to serve on the brand-new Carnegie Postsecondary Commission, whose work mirrors this mission: to innovate how the U.S. propels more underrepresented, low-income, and first-generation students to—and through—college and into fulfilling careers. Because we will not keep this country strong by leaving talent out.
Our universities have been preparing for this court ruling for some time, and are examining their admissions policies and practices to determine whether they need to be adjusted. Nevertheless, we are Maryland’s public system of higher education. We serve the people of Maryland—all of them. And the Supreme Court’s coming decision will not hinder our ability to do just that.
Madame Chair, this concludes my report. Thank you.
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Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu
