Provost Philip Rous shared an emotional moment with the UMBC community yesterday as hetook to the stage at the university’s Fall Opening Meeting, just a day after UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski announced he will retire in June 2022. He shared a message he’s been hearing from across Retriever Nation, one of gratitude and hope.

“Each of us holds in our hands the legacy of Freeman’s leadership and that of all members of our community who have built it into what it is today. But as Freeman often says, ‘success is never final,’ so that legacy is not static, it’s dynamic,” Rous told the group. 

“It’s forward-looking and it belongs to all of us,” he said, noting that our community’s strong foundation of shared values will allow us to continue the “important work of building and advancing this remarkable university to even greater heights.”

As Retriever Nation awaits the start of the search for UMBC’s sixth president, Hrabowski thanked the community for their support and encouraged them to think about how to carry on the important mission and values of this community.

“Here is my message—this is the house that love has built,” said Hrabowski, following a huge standing ovation in the RAC. “We show the world that we can transform lives through education.”

Messages of congratulations and gratitude from alumni, legislators, and other friends of UMBC have poured in since the announcement went live Wednesday afternoon. Here are a few of our favorites.

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Learn more about the presidential transition process at president.umbc.edu.

Story by Jenny O’Grady and Randianne Leyshon ’09. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC Magazine.

A message from our President and Provost:

The UMBC community’s journey started when the University welcomed its first students on September 19, 1966. We are delighted now to provide a preview of exciting plans to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Our celebration will honor many facets of the UMBC experience and span the period between October 2015 and May 2017. You will see several early elements of the celebration during Homecoming 2015, including:

• Introduction of the anniversary brand – UMBC 50 Grit & Greatness. This brand statement, developed through a year of consultation with alumni and others, is inspired by our mascot True Grit as well as the innovation and perseverance of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni. The statement reflects how far we have come as a campus and as individuals, as well as our understanding that excellence is a continuous pursuit, not a destination.
• Launch of 50th anniversary outreach to alumni leaders who will help us reconnect fellow graduates with the campus. Our message: We Need Hundreds of You to Reach Thousands of Us. We are delighted that hundreds of graduates will be on campus Friday evening, October 9, for an event celebrating the important role alumni play in the University’s success. We look forward to greeting them, alongside members of the President’s Council, Senate leaders, academic department chairs, 50th Anniversary Engagement Team members, and Student Alumni Association members.
• The Office of Institutional Advancement also seeks partners to plan the celebration and is designating funds to support innovations in alumni outreach. A Request for Proposals seeks campus and alumni suggestions for developing and executing 50th anniversary programming and events this academic year and next, with special emphasis on a celebration weekend planned for September 17-19, 2016.

UMBC’s 50th anniversary is an important time to celebrate our success. It also represents a vital strategic opportunity. As the campus completes a new strategic plan and prepares for a comprehensive fundraising campaign, anniversary events and communications will build pride in the campus and its extraordinary impact in just 50 years. The celebration also provides a significant opportunity to renew and deepen relationships with our more than 65,000 alumni. During the past 10 years, 20,000 alumni have been event participants, volunteers, or donors. Alumni engagement is a central focus of 50th anniversary planning, with the aim of increasing the number of active alumni by 10,000, or 50 percent. Change at this scale depends on a campus-wide effort.

We deeply appreciate the ideas, energy, and resources so many members of our community are bringing to this once-in-a-generation opportunity. Our alumni are the best advocates for our endeavors and aspirations, and we are confident that the campus celebration of the 50th will benefit UMBC for decades to come.

If you have ideas to share about the 50th celebration, please contact Lisa Akchin, associate vice president for engagement, at akchin@umbc.edu.

We look forward to celebrating this exceptional campus community with you.

– President Freeman Hrabowski and Provost Philip Rous

To: The UMBC Community
From: Provost Philip Rous

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Julia Ross as Dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT). Dr. Ross will begin her new role on August 4, 2014. Dr. Ross’s appointment brings to a successful conclusion a national search that was begun at the start of this academic year.

Dr. Ross received her Ph.D. from Rice University and joined UMBC’s faculty in 1995. Dr. Ross is currently the Constellation Professor of Information Technology and Engineering and professor of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering. From 2006 to 2013, Dr. Ross served as chair of her department and one of her many accomplishments was a successful merger of two academic programs to form the Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering. Most recently, Dr. Ross served as Special Assistant to the Provost for Inter-Institutional Research Initiatives and has been instrumental in enhancing research relationships and collaborations between UMBC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, including the development of the UMB-UMBC seed grant program.

Dr. Ross has a distinguished record of scholarship in the field of bioengineering and engineering education, and is the author or co-author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications and the K-12 INSPIRES Curriculum. Since joining UMBC, she has been awarded nearly $7 million in external grants as PI to support her research. In 2008 Dr. Ross was elected as a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and in 2013 she received the prestigious American Council on Education fellowship, the nation’s premier higher education leadership development program preparing senior leaders to serve American colleges and universities. Dr. Ross is known for her commitment to shared governance and for advancing opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in engineering and information technology.

As dean of COEIT and as a member of UMBC’s senior leadership team, Dr. Ross will advance the mission of the university and the college by building strategically upon its strengths in the research and scholarly achievement of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, while supporting continued success and excellence in the teaching and service missions of the college’s academic departments and programs. Dr. Ross will develop and promote activities that support and build a diverse faculty, and oversee faculty recruitment and development, promotion and tenure, and the appointment of department chairs and center directors. Dr. Ross will identify, develop, expand and sustain public and private partnerships and sources of research and extramural funding. She will collaborate with on-campus and off-campus partners and stakeholders to identify and engage in innovative strategies to strengthen research activity and infrastructure, technology transfer, venture creation and other economic development initiatives. She will also represent the interests of the college and the university to various constituencies both inside and outside of the UMBC community, and participate in campus-wide shared governance processes.

On behalf of the entire UMBC community I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the dedication and commitment of the members of the search committee, under the outstanding leadership of Professor Anupam Joshi, and for the contributions to this process made by our faculty, staff and students. UMBC is very fortunate to have someone of Dr. Julia Ross’s impressive experience and talent to serve as our next Dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology. Please join me in congratulating her.

Learn more about Dr. Ross.

To: UMBC Community
From: Philip Rous, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

I am delighted to announce that Dr. Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, health science and policy, has been promoted to the position of Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Planning. Dr. Mozie-Ross served as Associate Provost for Enrollment Management since 2011 and prior to that appointment served for five years as Assistant Provost for Enrollment Management. Dr. Mozie-Ross also served as Acting Director of Academic Services and Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation. Dr. Mozie-Ross is a UMBC alumna and earned a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Administration from the University of Maryland, College Park.

This appointment recognizes the centrality of strategic enrollment management, development and planning as it impacts the mission and future of our community and the success and progression of our students. It recognizes the importance of developing a leadership structure consistent with the increasing breadth of the enrollment management portfolio and the critical importance of strong and effective leadership of the enrollment management team in supporting core academic affairs functions and initiatives, including student success, retention and graduation; student administration and oversight; and direction of the SA system and the SA functional team. As Vice Provost, Dr. Mozie-Ross will work with the Provost and with UMBC’s leadership team on strategic enrollment planning and to leverage existing tools and resources to enhance data- and evidence-driven approaches to determine and reach our institutional enrollment and student success goals.

I am grateful to Dr. Mozie-Ross for her leadership, dedication and commitment in service to the UMBC community for the past 25 years. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mozie-Ross on her appointment as Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Planning.

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