University System of Maryland Board of Regents
September 8, 2006
Minutes of the Public Session
A. Chairman Kendall called the meeting of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents to order at 8:35 a.m. on Friday, September 8, 2006 at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Those in attendance were: Chairman Kendall, Regents Brady, Finan, Florestano, Gill, Heidemann, Hoffmann, Johnson, Kelly, Krongard, Mandel, Mitchell, Nevins, Pettit, and Pevenstein. Chancellor Kirwan, Vice Chancellors Goldstein, Vivona and Raley; Assistant Attorneys General Goedert and Short; Presidents Aldridge, Battle, Boesch, Bogomolny, Burnim, Dudley-Eshbach, Gibralter, Hrabowski, Hunter-Cevera, Mote, Ramsay and Thompson; Ms. Ryan, Ms. Doyle; USM Staff; members of the press and others. He welcomed Caitlin Heidemann to her first "official" board meeting; Regent Heidemann had attended several board meetings after her appointment was announced.
B. Dr. Hrabowski gave a welcome to Regents and other guests at the meeting and noted that it is UMBC's 40th anniversary and his 19th anniversary in the USM. He introduced the newly-appointed dean of engineering, Warren Devries, formerly an NSF official and chair of mechanical engineering department at Iowa State University. He then introduced several students who spoke about their varying experiences at UMBC and their future goals and ambitions. He also introduced Michael Summers, a Howard Hughes investigator who has numerous grants in chemistry and biochemistry which engage 25 undergraduate students in research in protein interactions in HIV.
C. Committee of the Whole
1. The Minutes of June 23, 2006 were unanimously approved (Moved by Regent Florestano, seconded by Regent Mitchell).
2. Chancellor Kirwan presented his report to the Board. He welcomed Janice Doyle as the new Secretary to the Board. Janice joins USM from MHEC where she served as assistant secretary. She has 30 years of experience in higher education, including a stint at our host institution, UMBC, where she was senior director of enrollment services. He also welcomed USM's two newest presidents: Jonathan Gibralter who began his presidency at Frostburg State University August 1; he was previously president of Farmingdale State University (NY) ; and Mickey Burnim who assumed the presidency at Bowie State University on September 1; he previously served as president of Elizabeth City State University (NC). Institutional news of note include a) UMB's new School of Public Health is in the process of pursuing accreditation AND the new $153 million dental school facility at UMB is now open. b) UMBC recently broke ground for the new home of the U.S. Geological Survey's Maryland-Delaware-Washington Water Science Center at its on-campus research and technology park. In addition the National Science Foundation has awarded UMBC a $2.9 million grant to establish a new doctoral student training program in "Water in the Urban Environment." c) FSU had its accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education unconditionally reaffirmed. d) UMES beat out 15 other teams from across the nation to win the American Society of Engineering Education's Model Robot Design competition, scoring 526 out of a possible 543 points. e) Dr. Yonathan Zohar, Director of the Center of Marine Biotechnology at UMBI, was selected as an Einstein Professor by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Zohar was recognized at the meeting by Chancellor Kirwan. f) Several USM institutions can take pride in recent college rankings. Salisbury University now ranks No. 5 in the Top Public Universities-Master's category (North) in U.S. News & World Report's 2007 America's Best Colleges guide, with Towson University ranking sixth. U.S. News also ranks the University of Maryland College Park 18th among the Top 50 public universities. UMCP also had 91 programs ranked in the Top 25, including 31 Top 10 rankings.
Highlights of this report include news that USM has made progress in addressing the issue of benefits for non-tenure track, full-time faculty at some of the old Board of Trustees-governed institutions. He commended the affected institutions for addressing this issue and thanked CUSF for bringing the issue to our attention. The Chancellor expressed optimism that higher education will remain a priority among state leaders in Annapolis as the budget process unfolds, noting the extraordinary success we had this year. He reported that the USM federated Capital Campaign continues to move forward. The Capital Campaign work group, chaired by Regent Cheryl Gordon Krongard, held its first meeting just last month. The cumulative campaign goal been increased to $1.65 billion and we are almost 1/3 of the way to that goal. Finally, he informed the Regents of the upcoming statewide Listening Tour. The tour, to be held at eight sites, is intended to open up a dialogue with businesspeople regarding their view of how Maryland higher education is preparing students for the workforce and to create innovative partnerships to enable Maryland higher education to enhance its ability to meet the state's economic and workforce development needs, as well as provide business leaders with a better understanding of and appreciation for higher education's role in workforce and economic development. The tour is a collaboration of USM, MICUA, MACC and GWIB. An itinerary for the tour was distributed to Regents.
- The Board of Regents Staff Awards were presented by Regent Kendall and Chancellor Kirwan to the following outstanding USM staff:
EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE INSTITUTION
Exempt: Richard L. Tysor, UMBI
Non-exempt: Cynthia I. Zimmerman, TU
EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY
OR TO THE GREATER COMMUNITY
Exempt: Gains B. Hawkins, UMES
Non-exempt: Marian C. Birkhead, UMES
OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO STUDENTS IN AN ACADEMIC
OR RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT
Exempt: Marylane McGlinchey, SU
Non-exempt: Emma Sellers, UMBC
E. Report of the Councils
1. President Thelma Thompson gave a positive greeting to the Regents and guests and thanked the Chancellor for his leadership.
2. Dr. David Parker, new chair of CUSF, gave a brief greeting; CUSF has its first meeting September 14.
3. Mr. Larry Lauer, new chair of CUSS, spoke about CUSS's priorities for the upcoming year, including strengthening the shared governance process; working closely with CUSF on issues of mutual concern; and increasing participation of the institutions in nominating non-exempt employees for the Staff Awards. He also provided a schedule of CUSS meetings for the year. A written report is on file in the Chancellor's Office.
4. Mr. Brian Bailey, chair of the USMSC, announced that the students will have their first meeting September 16.
F. Finance Committee Regent Pevenstein
1. University of Maryland College Park: Renovation of the 2nd Floor South Wing of the Hornbake Library for the College of Information Studies. The Regents are asked to approve the expenditure of $1.3 million of its fund balance for the renovation. The Committee recommends approval to the Board with the stipulation that UMCP will continue to meet its annual fund balance growth targets. Regent Pevenstein moved the item; Regent Florestano seconded; it was unanimously approved.
G. Technology Transfer Workgroup Regent Gill
Regent Gill outlined the goals of the workgroup: educate about, advocate for and facilitate success of commercialization activities at the institution. He reported that USM institutions' commercialization totals $1 billion. Initiatives include better funding sources for proof of concept dollars.
H. Capital Campaign Workgroup Regent Krongard
The workgroup held its first meeting recently and plans to focus on long-term planning as well as short-term needs for fund-raising. Regent Krongard said that the group wants to be a help, not a hindrance, to the institutions. The workgroup will look at both macro and micro issues, including, but not limited to, staffing, donors, matching up appropriate donors and institutions, and making the case to the Governor and the Legislature that fund-raising infrastructure is a good investment.
The meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m. with a motion to convene in executive session to consider executive function items and items exempted from consideration under the state's Open Meetings Law.
Notes from Executive Session
September 8, 2006
It was moved and seconded at the close of the public session to convene in executive session to consider executive function agenda items and items exempted from consideration under the state's Open Meeting Act. Those in attendance were: Chairman Kendall, Regents Brady, Finan, Florestano, Gill, Heidemann, Hoffmann, Johnson, Kelly, Krongard, Mandel, Mitchell, Nevins, Pettit, and Pevenstein. Chancellor Kirwan, Vice Chancellors Goldstein, Vivona and Raley; Assistant Attorneys General Goedert and Short; Ms. Ryan, Ms. Doyle and Mr. Salt.
A. Committee of the Whole
1. UMCP: Honorary Degree Request for Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. ElBaradei will deliver the Sadat Lecture for Peace on October 24, at which time the degree will be awarded. It was moved by Regent Nevins, seconded by Regent Florestano and unanimously approved.
2. UMCP: Naming of the new Journalism School Building the John S. and James L. Knight Hall in recognition of a $5 million gift from the Knight Foundation. It was moved by Regent Johnson and seconded by Regent Krongard and unanimously approved.
B. Finance Committee
Six real property items were approved by the board as presented. Regent Kelly recused himself from one item. Appointments and reappointments to UMBC's Research Park Corporation Board were unanimously approved as presented.
The meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m.