Dear UMBC Community,
Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s Fall Opening Meeting, whether in person or virtually.
If you were unable to join us, I invite you to watch the recording of the meeting. We covered several key topics, including updates on our incoming graduate and undergraduate classes, the impacts of federal actions and orders, a budget briefing, and an update on the upcoming rollout of UMBC’s strategic plan. We also recognized several new members of our UMBC community.
It was particularly inspiring to hear remarks from three students who are starting at UMBC this fall: Saad Waqas, a first-year student and Sondheim Scholar; Sabirah Burt, a junior transfer student from Howard Community College; and Sydney Braithwaite, a first-year doctoral student in chemical engineering and one of our NSF Graduate Research Fellows. Learning about their journeys to UMBC is a meaningful reminder of the importance of our work. My thanks to Saad, Sabirah, and Sydney for sharing their stories with us. Please join me in welcoming them and all of our new students to UMBC.
The meeting was an uplifting and energizing start to our academic year. I am so proud to be starting my fifth year at this extraordinary institution. Thank you for all you do for UMBC.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear UMBC Community,
Greetings to you all on UMBC’s first day of the fall semester!
Please enjoy this video celebrating what is always one of my favorite days of the year.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear Faculty and Staff,
I am writing to share additional information on the university’s budget outlook for the coming fiscal year, as well as our long-term work to enhance our budget-planning capabilities.
As we shared with you last month, the State of Maryland has set an operating budget of $70.8 billion for Fiscal Year 2027. Following significant reductions in the state’s allocation to the University System of Maryland in FY26, the new budget does not contain any direct cuts to our institution and provides a modest increase of $7 million, or 0.3 percent, to the system overall. The state’s allocation to UMBC for FY27 will be approximately $210 million.
I invite you to learn more about the higher education-related outcomes from this year’s legislative session by reading the USM’s 2026 Legislative Session Report, which provides detailed information on budget and policy actions taken this year. We are grateful for the state’s continued support of higher education, keeping the USM’s operating budget whole even as the state grappled with a $1.5 billion shortfall.
Meanwhile, we are engaged at UMBC in important work to better understand how resources are allocated and managed across the university and to develop a clear, straightforward, and more sustainable budget-planning model for the years ahead. That work involves thorough analysis of expenditures, operations, staffing, and long-term financial projections across academic and administrative units.
In light of the state’s allocation and this ongoing long-term work, we will maintain a flat operating budget for FY27. We believe this is the most thoughtful and responsible approach as we gather more complete information, strengthen our financial planning processes, and develop the tools and projections necessary to support future decisions.
The state’s budget provides $35.7 million toward a 1.5 percent cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for state-funded employees across all USM institutions, effective July 1. That allocation will not cover the full cost of the increase for UMBC employees; we will absorb the remaining cost centrally to be able to provide the 1.5 percent COLA to all employees. We recognize that such support for faculty and staff is critical in the current challenging economic environment.
Indeed, these continue to be challenging times for many individuals, families, and for the sector of higher education. Many colleges and universities, including UMBC, are navigating significant financial pressures, including challenges related to evolving federal priorities and research funding; rising operational costs, including utilities and benefits; enrollment pressures; and broader economic uncertainty.
All of this underscores the need to improve our budget planning and to ensure that our resources align with our strategic priorities. Over the past year, we have taken a number of strategic steps to help manage financial pressures, including carefully evaluating vacant positions and choosing not to refill some positions when doing so would not negatively affect core operations or student support. These decisions, while not always easy, have helped reduce immediate financial strain and position us more thoughtfully for the future.
As you know, we also are making great strides in our strategic planning process. In a time of financial pressure, it is essential that we think carefully and create strategies to remain focused on our highest priorities. Strategic planning helps us clarify our priorities, identify where we can have the greatest impact, and inform where to focus our resources to advance UMBC’s mission and future. Our strategic plan will help guide decision-making about what we sustain and strengthen and provide clarity about what we cannot or should not do.
I look forward to setting this course with all of you with a new strategic plan in the fall. As we proceed on that path and in our budget-planning work, we will keep you informed. We are committed to collaboration, transparency, and thoughtful decision-making as we build a stronger long-term financial model and a bright future for UMBC.
With appreciation,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear UMBC Community,
Happy Last Day of Classes! To our students: I wish you all the best on your final exams, papers, and projects—you are almost there, and I know you can finish strong. To our faculty and staff: Thank you for your dedication to our students and to your work across all departments and every corner of our campus.
To our entire campus community: Congratulations on all you have achieved during this semester and throughout the academic year. I know it has been challenging on many fronts; I hope you all take time to pause and reflect on what you have accomplished and the positive difference you have made for others.
I look forward to joining you in celebrating our graduating students at Spring Commencement next week!
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear UMBC Community,
In just a few short weeks, we will come together to celebrate the achievements of our graduates.
Each year, we invite Commencement speakers who reflect the values of our institution and the possibilities before our students. I am excited to introduce the voices who will help mark this important moment.
Please watch this video to learn more about our 2026 Commencement speakers.
I look forward to celebrating together in the weeks ahead.
Warm regards,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear UMBC Community,
It is hard to believe that we are more than halfway through April and a little more than a month away from spring Commencement! I know that everyone has been hard at work inside and outside the classroom, on campus and off, and I see in so many ways the fruits of your labor.
One recent example was the outstanding news that four UMBC students have been named Barry Goldwater Scholars. Any institution would be thrilled to have one Goldwater Scholar in a given year—as this is one of the most prestigious national scholarships for undergraduates in natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics—but UMBC is celebrating FOUR award winners in one year. Congratulations to Phoenix Bryant, Deeya Mistry, Jessica Slaughter, and Amir Walton-Irvin! We are thrilled that you have received this well-deserved recognition and so excited to see you continue to soar.
The Goldwater Scholarships honor the achievement and promise of individual undergraduate researchers. For UMBC, they also are a reminder of the importance of our core value of inclusive excellence and our ongoing strategic focus on student success and research excellence. These aims propel our work every day, and they were central in our advocacy in Annapolis during the legislative session that has now concluded.
Maryland General Assembly Session
I hope you all have seen the session summary that Paul Monteiro shared with the campus community. I am grateful for Paul’s expertise and his ability to hit the ground running in his first session as UMBC’s vice president for government relations and community affairs. In general, this was a very successful legislative season, and it provided multiple opportunities for UMBC to shine brightly.
Among those opportunities were the many ways our student legislative interns distinguished themselves in their work, as is the case every year. Another occasion centered around celebrating and honoring Adrienne Jones ’76, who stepped down as speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates after six years at the helm, capping an extraordinary and historic career of service. I am deeply appreciative to Speaker Jones for her steadfast support of UMBC and the collaborative relationship we have enjoyed. I am additionally grateful for the early, enthusiastic support we have felt from Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyynk, who picked up the gavel as Speaker of the House. Our new speaker visited UMBC’s campus just a few weeks before being elected to the leadership role, so she had already gotten a chance to get to know UMBC firsthand—and was impressed!
Paul’s message about the session offers a comprehensive summary of actions taken by the General Assembly that affect (whether directly or indirectly) UMBC. I would highlight a few outcomes that may be of particular interest.
I know the budget is of primary concern to many, but first I want to note a couple of measures that go beyond state appropriations. One piece of legislation established the Maryland Artificial Intelligence Partnership in the University System of Maryland (USM), which aims to coordinate and strengthen statewide collaboration in AI research, workforce development, and innovation. We look forward to the development of this partnership and working closely with system leadership and our peers in the USM to realize its promise.
Another item of significance was legislation passed that would grant collective-bargaining rights to nontenure-track faculty at Maryland’s public higher education institutions, effective July 1, 2026, and, separately, that would grant collective-bargaining rights to graduate assistants at UMBC and University of Maryland, College Park, effective July 1, 2028. To be clear, the legislation does not create new unions; it extends to specific nontenure-track faculty and graduate students the right to organize, should they choose.
Budget
As for the budget: As a public institution, about a third of UMBC’s budget revenue comes from state appropriations, which is why, as I have said previously, the state’s budget challenges are challenges for us as well—and these are not one-time, one-year pressures. The state’s final budget of $70.8 billion maintains funding for the University System of Maryland at essentially the same level as last year. In practice, that means we will continue operating at our current funding level, while managing the increased costs associated with compensation and other ongoing commitments. Even as we are grateful that no additional cuts were made in the FY27 budget, the current funding level reflects the reduction implemented in FY26.
The challenges before us remain significant as we continue to work through the impact of last year’s reductions. I appreciate all that you have done and continue to do to navigate these changes.
Even in these constrained budget times, I am encouraged by the State of Maryland’s continued commitment to public higher education and to UMBC in particular. We benefit from the strong support of leaders across the political spectrum who understand the role UMBC plays in advancing opportunity and serving the public good—and who see the impact of our work across the state.
In addition to operational funding, that commitment is reflected in the state’s continued capital investments in UMBC. State support remains in place for the completion of Sherman Hall, for the planning and design of a new student services building, and for the future renovation of Sondheim Hall.
Strategic Planning
The realities before us require thoughtful prioritization and intentional investment of our resources. Our strategic planning work comes at the right time, positioning us to make clear choices about where to focus and how to move forward in support of our students; our teaching, research, and service; and our commitment to inclusive excellence.
I am energized by the progress we have made in recent months. Thank you to our Strategic Plan Steering Committee and to all who have shared in this important work so far, including by participating in the recent strategic plan survey.
Being Accountable to Our Community
As we move toward a renewed vision for UMBC’s future, we will do so with an inclusive excellence framework and a commitment to living our shared values. Our work toward these aspirations continues every day, sometimes in ways that are visible, and very often in ways that are not.
Tanyka Barber, vice president for institutional equity, recently shared an update on progress on UMBC’s voluntary agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding prevention of and response to sexual misconduct under Title IX. Now two years into the agreement, UMBC has fully implemented all initial provisions and is in the monitoring phase of the agreement. We continue to review and improve policies and processes and strengthen coordination and collaboration among the Office of Equity and Civil Rights (ECR) and campus partners.
The work falls largely on Tanyka and ECR, but it is appropriately and necessarily the work of all of us. Thank you to Tanyka, ECR, and this entire community for your dedication—not just to satisfying the provisions in the DOJ agreement, which we are doing—but to creating a community that is truly safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all its members and to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability.
Here, I want to acknowledge that some of this work has been the subject of public scrutiny in recent weeks, and I have been asked, among other things, whether I am concerned that news reports of actions taken in our Athletics Department would harm our reputation. Let me be clear: my concern, first and foremost, is for the well-being and safety of our students. I noted above how much progress has been made in addressing the terms of the DOJ agreement. We remain in good standing with the DOJ. Many of you know that we began comprehensive work to strengthen our prevention and response efforts long before the agreement—and that our work goes above and beyond it.
Progress is ongoing, and it will be signaled in part by more reporting of incidents, not less, as community members increasingly trust our processes and know they will be protected and supported through them. So, it is my hope and expectation that over time, our community will be even better and stronger, as will our reputation.
Likewise, there is more for us to do to be the best possible institutional citizen and neighbor, caring for our campus, our community, and the environment. Recent news stories about the Spring Grove site in Catonsville have caused concern, I know, including reports that UMBC had been cited by the state Department of the Environment for numerous violations related to a stream stabilization project. While I am pleased to report that UMBC has addressed all violations and is now in full compliance with state regulations on this project, there is much more to do—long before we even begin to plan for the future of Spring Grove.
It will require much consultation and much engagement—not one conversation, but many—with our campus community, including faculty with relevant expertise, and with our neighbors, to reach the best-case path forward and outcome. This is my intention, and my promise.
Staying Informed, Looking Ahead
Widening the view to national and international concerns, we continue to monitor closely numerous issues related to executive orders and actions, international conflicts, and more that are affecting higher education broadly and UMBC specifically. I encourage you to stay informed by reading the periodic updates from our core team (including this one from late March) and visiting the Federal Orders and Actions website, where we are maintaining an evolving list of resources and FAQs.
As we do our best to answer your questions and address your concerns, including about how UMBC responds to international incidents and how we would handle immigration enforcement actions on our campus, we also are navigating uncertainties about federal funding, international student recruitment and retention, and more.
We expect that the increased challenges for international students to study in the U.S., along with the current political climate, will result in a reduction of international students among incoming undergraduate and graduate students. The size of that reduction is not known at this time, but as we approach National College Decision Day on May 1, UMBC faculty and staff across the university are doing all they can to respond to questions and provide support and opportunities for admitted students to connect and learn about UMBC.
We do know there is much to look forward to with respect to incoming students this fall. At the graduate level, an exciting new initiative, Free Graduate Application Week, spurred more than 2,100 applications to degree-granting master’s and doctoral programs in one week in January, contributing to a 37 percent increase in domestic applications to master’s programs and a 16 percent increase in international applications to master’s programs compared with the same week in January last year.
A second Free Graduate Application Week is happening later this spring. As part of our commitment to strengthen Maryland and its communities, the Graduate School and Division of Professional Studies have partnered with the Provost’s Office to offer a special $2,000 master’s program scholarship for Marylanders. These are terrific new efforts that I know will yield great results for our graduate programs, and I am grateful to all who have helped make them happen, including faculty, graduate program directors and coordinators, and, of course, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School Christa Porter and her entire team.
In undergraduate enrollment news, our first-year applications grew 2 percent over last year, and the admitted student cohort is academically strong and diverse in every way, including geographically. And we continue to grow in our commitment to serve Baltimore City, with a 20 percent increase in applications from Baltimore City students.
Hats off to Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Planning Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88 and the Enrollment Management team for their work to attract such outstanding students and serve the state of Maryland. I was delighted to celebrate with them two momentous occasions recently: the opening of the Baltimore Ravens College Track Center—for which we are College Track’s public higher education partner—and our annual Admitted Student Day celebration on April 11. With more than 2,000 newly admitted first-year and transfer students and their families on our campus that day, the energy was palpable, and the optimism and excitement impossible to miss.
Thank you for all you do for UMBC! I am inspired and honored to be in service with all of you.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear UMBC Community,
I am writing to provide an update on our efforts following UMBC’s 2024 agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to strengthen and expand initiatives for preventing and responding to reports of sexual misconduct and sex discrimination under Title IX. The agreement followed a lengthy investigation by the DOJ that found systemic failures in the university’s Title IX compliance between 2015 and 2020.
The agreement is in effect through the 2028 – 29 academic year and commits us to taking many steps to bolster our Title IX office and its work, provide specific support for student-athletes and the Athletics Department, expand training for all members of the community, and provide financial relief to certain individuals, as determined and directed by the DOJ.
The update provided here shares a report of progress since the fall 2025 update. As required by the agreement, UMBC submitted its fourth monitoring report to the DOJ this winter. The university has fully implemented all of the initial provisions of the agreement and remains in the monitoring phase of the agreement. Thus, the work that we continue to do goes above and beyond what is required under the agreement. It is not the agreement that drives our work, but rather our commitment to uphold the highest standards of care, safety, integrity, and accountability for our campus community.
Our recent work includes:
The Office of Equity and Civil Rights (ECR) in particular bears a significant load of this work. And, none of this is possible without the dedicated staff who work tirelessly across campus to uphold our commitment. Thanks to the many campus partners who continue to engage and support these efforts.
Sincerely,
Tanyka M. Barber
Vice President for Institutional Equity and Chief Diversity Officer
Dear UMBC Campus Community,
Happy New Year!
I am delighted to share good news about Dr. Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, vice provost for enrollment management and planning.
When I began at UMBC more than three years ago, we intentionally staffed the president’s office with a small, strategic team of three members. As the university continues to grow, and as we look ahead to the next phase of UMBC’s future, the scope and complexity of our work have expanded significantly. This includes deepening existing and new partnerships that benefit the institution; increasing UMBC’s visibility and engagement across Baltimore, the state, and the region; and advancing key initiatives associated with our forthcoming strategic plan. At this moment, we need an exceptional leader to help drive these efforts forward.
I am confident Yvette is that leader who can hit the ground running. Effective August 1, 2026, she will join my office as senior advisor to the president for strategic initiatives. With Yvette in this new role, UMBC is getting the best of both worlds: a deeply trusted and accomplished campus leader who knows our community well and a respected ambassador with a strong record of building meaningful relationships across the region and state. Yvette has also been a consistent champion of UMBC’s students, mission, and values.
While this move takes a highly respected leader out of Provost and Senior Vice President Manfred van Dulmen’s leadership team, he agrees that it is the right opportunity at the right time for the university. Provost van Dulmen will share additional information later this month regarding the search process to fill the vice provost for enrollment management and planning position.
Until August, Yvette will continue to lead enrollment management and planning, ensuring a smooth transition for her team.
Please join me in congratulating Yvette on her new role, and thanking her for her continued leadership and service to UMBC.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby
Dear UMBC Community,
As the fall semester draws to a close and we look forward to celebrating graduates at Commencement ceremonies tomorrow and Thursday, I write to share updates on some key areas of focus. This is a long message, and so I hope you will bear with me, because I wanted to be as thorough as possible in sharing information about some of the work we have been doing this semester.
First, though, I want to acknowledge that this has been a very demanding semester for many individuals personally and for our community broadly. The pressures on higher education are unrelenting, and many contexts and events bring anxiety, fear, and pain for members of our community. We all live in this world, not apart from it, and I know that its dissonance, divisions, and dangers can weigh heavily upon us.
Whether you are affected directly or indirectly, your well-being matters to me. I see how hard you are working, and I see your dedication, your resilience, and your love for UMBC. I urge you all to continue to care for yourselves and one another and take full advantage of our resources for care and support as needed (for students and for faculty and staff).
Federal actions and orders
One area of ongoing challenge and focus is our response to impacts related to executive orders and actions by the federal government. Our core team has continued to meet regularly throughout the fall semester, monitoring and responding to multiple ongoing and developing issues, including many affecting international students and scholars, our LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color, and UMBC’s research enterprise.
I encourage you to regularly visit our website for the latest information on UMBC’s response to federal actions and orders. Of particular interest: the Office of International Students and Scholars posts relevant immigration policy updates; please check back often for the most up-to-date information in this frequently changing environment (for instance, last week, the office posted travel considerations for winter break).
Given the immigration enforcement actions we are seeing nationwide, I also want to remind you of the guidance, information, and resources we have shared related to the possibility of such enforcement action at UMBC, including this guidance concerning requests from any external law enforcement agencies for information, records, or access to non-public areas of the campus. We remain concerned about and attentive to the impact of these and other federal actions and policy changes on our international students, staff, and faculty, who are a vital part of the UMBC community and the global education we provide. At the heart of that education is our core commitment to inclusive excellence, which remains unyielding.
Strategic planning
Setting the course for the future of inclusive excellence at UMBC is key to the work we are doing now to develop the university’s next strategic plan. I hope you all saw the recent communication from Professor Charissa Cheah, who is leading the strategic planning steering committee. As she noted, the committee has met three times this fall to advance work on five strategic pillars, which were shaped by input from the community in the Bold Conversations and Core Values survey.
My sincere thanks to Charissa, the members of the steering committee, and all who have and who will yet participate in setting the course for our future. I look forward to continuing progress toward a new strategic plan in fall 2026.
Budget
As we articulate broad goals for the future and specific initiatives to achieve them, we will ensure that our resources align with our priorities. Doing so requires that we hold ourselves to a high level of accountability and to strategic long-term budgeting. This is especially important as we continue to respond to fiscal pressures, including reductions in state funding.
As I shared during our Fall Opening Meeting, we reduced expenses by $14.5 million to balance the current (Fiscal Year 2026) budget in response to significant state cuts. While the state continues to be a strong, dedicated supporter of UMBC and higher education (its investment in UMBC has grown significantly over the past several years), given the financial outlook for the state of Maryland, we are planning for additional cuts for the coming fiscal year.
These are not one-time or one-off cuts; a review of our primary revenue sources can illuminate a clear picture of what we face. UMBC’s main sources of revenue and their outlooks are:
State allocation (outlook: declining, especially due to the tax revenue implications of so many Marylanders having lost federal jobs this year)
Federal research funding (outlook: declining, due to changes in federal policy and priorities)
Student revenue (outlook: increasing modestly; revenues grew $1.8 million in FY25, reflecting an increase in undergraduate revenue and a decrease in graduate revenue)
Philanthropy (an area of focus for strategic growth in FY26 – 27)
In light of the outlook for the coming year and our aim to budget strategically to advance our highest priorities, we are working with our colleagues in both academic and administrative areas of the university to determine how best to absorb and minimize the impact of anticipated state funding cuts in FY27.
Additional updates
I hope you saw the happy news we announced late last week of the appointment of D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., as our new vice president for government relations and community affairs. He succeeds former Vice President Yaakov “Jake” Weissmann ’06, who was named secretary of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management in October.
Paul joins us this week at a particularly important moment for our work with the state on issues related to the budget and much more, as well as at a time that calls for even stronger coalitions and more effective advocacy with local, state, and federal officials and partners. Welcome to UMBC, Paul!
The search for our next vice president of administration and finance is ongoing, and we are moving as quickly as we can to fill that leadership role.
Finally, I want to highlight one other important update shared recently by Tanyka Barber, our vice president for institutional equity and chief diversity officer. Tanyka provided a status report on the university’s ongoing response to UMBC’s 2024 agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to improve and expand upon our work to prevent and respond to reports of sexual misconduct and sex discrimination under Title IX. That agreement followed a lengthy investigation by the DOJ that found systemic failures in the university’s Title IX compliance between 2015 and 2020.
As Tanyka noted in her message to the community, this work is progressing effectively and efficiently, and it is coordinated collaboratively by Tanyka and a small team of other leaders, including Kacey Hammel, chief of staff to the president; Tiffany Tucker, director of athletics, physical education, and recreation; and me. I am grateful to Tanyka and her entire team, as well as to Kacey and Tiffany for their dedication to this comprehensive, important effort.
Our commitment is not only to the DOJ, but, more importantly, it is to all of you, and to all who will join this community in the years to come. Nothing is more important than your well-being, and we will continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards of care, safety, integrity, and accountability.
My best to you and your families as we look to a well-deserved winter break. In the days ahead, I hope that you find time to rest and recharge and that you encounter joy, love, and grace this holiday season.
Sincerely,
President Valerie Sheares Ashby