Dear UMBC Community,
It is with great pleasure that I write to share the news of two key appointments in UMBC’s Academic Affairs leadership team.
Effective November 4, Richard Darga has been appointed as interim dean for the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery. Richard has 30 years of experience in education, health care, and information technology, and possesses demonstrated leadership ability in organizing, directing, and controlling the strategic planning and marketing function. He is also skilled at developing new services and successfully turning around problem operations. Richard was the dean of libraries for 12 years at Chicago State University, and for the last two years, he served as interim dean at Bowie State University and at Vermont State University. He has also served as a hospital administrator and chief information officer at the Northern Michigan Regional Health System. Richard earned a master’s degree in special education from Eastern Michigan University and a Ph.D. in educational foundations policy and administration from the University of Michigan.
I would also like to take this moment to thank Lynda Aldana and Zandra Campbell, who have served for the past months as interim co-directors for the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery. As I noted in the leadership announcement on September 18, we will conduct a national search for a dean of the university library over the next year.
Effective November 18, John M. Young has been appointed as provost chief of staff. John is an accomplished higher education administrator with a strong background in strategic advising and planning, operational leadership, team development, and risk management in university settings. Currently serving as chief of staff to the superintendent and professor of practice in management at Virginia Military Institute, John formerly held faculty appointments and academic leadership roles as vice chair for administration in preventive medicine and biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He also served as section chief and program director of the Healthcare Quality Master’s Program at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. John earned an executive master’s degree in leadership from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and a Ph.D. in professional studies, information management/data science, from Syracuse University, School of Information Studies.
Please join us in welcoming Richard and John to the UMBC community!
Sincerely,
Manfred H. M. van Dulmen
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs