Dear UMBC Community, 

I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to share with you some leadership transitions within Academic Affairs, specifically in the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery. 

Over the past eight years, Patrick Dawson has served as the director of the library and we are grateful for his service in this role. Effective immediately and through spring 2025, Patrick will move into a new role and support the Office of the Provost in policy development, review, and approval. 

As we continue to reshape the direction and vision of the institution, we will be redefining this leadership role at the library. Over the next year, we will conduct a national search, supported by an executive search firm, for a dean of the university library. In the interim, we will identify an external resource to serve as an interim dean of the university library through a highly qualified pool of interim candidates from The Registry, a firm specializing in placing interim higher education leaders. You may recall that we used this same firm for the interim provost prior to my arrival. 

I would like to acknowledge the work of Patrick and the entire library team during this time of transition and thank each of those staff members for their work in serving our UMBC community. If you have any questions or need further information, feel free to reach out. 

Thank you for your continued support and dedication. 

Sincerely, 

Manfred H. M. van Dulmen 

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs