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September 17, 2003
Dear Alumni and Friends:
The beginning of a new academic year is full of excitement, boundless
promise, and certainty that the year will bring many surprises. Each
fall, I get particular pleasure out of greeting our new students. We have
another impressive freshman class, to be sure, as we continue to attract
the best and brightest students. One point of pride: The GPA average for
entering freshmen has jumped from 3.5 to 3.9 in just five years.
The rising achievement of these students corresponds to the rising
recognition of the University of Maryland. In the latest U.S. News &
World
Report rankings, we moved up to 17th among national public
universities. To think that in 1998 we ranked 30th is to realize how much
we have already achieved. But we are destined for even loftier
heights; they are ours to grasp.
Clarice
Smith Performing Arts Center
In
the five years it has been my privilege to lead this institution,
many
factors have come together to propel the university's rise into the top
echelon of public research universities. We have long been proud of our
beautiful setting, and now we can also boast of truly world-class
facilities to match. Consider the Clarice Smith Performing
Arts Center—the finest such center on any university campus. Some
210,000 people from the region enjoyed performances within its six performance spaces this
past year. Our Comcast Center for basketball and major
university
events is also unrivaled. New academic buildings and research facilities worthy
of our high-achieving programs are also dotting the campus
landscape. Since 1998, we have added 3.5 million square feet of new
buildings completed or underway, equaling 25% of our total square footage,
with 2,500 new residence hall beds and 3,000 new garage parking spaces.
Achieving true greatness depends upon the impact of excellent teaching and
innovative research. Across-the-board, members of Maryland's faculty are
lauded for the impact of their achievements. Allow me to mention just one
example. Sarah Tishkoff, a molecular anthropologist
and assistant
professor of biology, was selected by Popular Science magazine as one of
its "Brilliant 10." She's in the special company of nine other exceptional
scholars. Tishkoff's pathbreaking research uses DNA to study the origins
of modern man, and her findings indicate we can be traced to East
Africa. Now she is launching the biggest study yet of African genetic
diversity.
This institution has an unwavering commitment to excellence. We are acting
on many fronts to ensure that our quest for excellence prevails despite
severe funding challenges. During the past year I have consulted literally
hundreds of our university's stakeholders, including faculty, students,
legislators, alumni and members of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of
Trustees. To a person, they agree: an institution of the highest quality
is an absolutely invaluable asset.
We have to take the responsibility for shaping our future, and in all
likelihood, that future means more reliance on tuition revenue and
philanthropic funds to support the academic mission and excellence. It
also means a continuous quest for efficiency and new and expanded
partnerships with government agencies and companies through which we can
leverage our intellectual and financial resources. One notable example of
a public-private partnership is the development of M
Square, the
University of Maryland Enterprise Campus. M Square is our research park
located on 115 acres near the College Park/University of Maryland Metro
Station. It will offer the opportunity for the top research university in
the region to connect its intellectual capacity with large and small
companies, government laboratories and other organizations that locate
next to it. Ultimately, it will also mean employment for about 5,000
people in two-plus million square feet. It's just one example of the ways
the university serves as a catalyst to the state's economy.
Many of the values of a highly respected university are intangible. A
nationally prominent university such as ours builds a sense of pride in
the Maryland community, our alumni and friends, and the citizens of the
state. Businesses and individuals want to locate in a state that stands
out for the strength of its educational institutions, embodied in a great
flagship campus that offers so much to them. Maryland is such a place.
It's also a place that offers some of the brightest students in the state
and nation an amazingly rich undergraduate experience. Do you know that
fully 40 percent of all entering freshmen take advantage of our wide array
of living/learning experiences? It has certainly caught the attention of
others. U.S. News & World Report cites our university's learning community
and first-year experience programs as among the best in the nation.
Please
come see for yourself. On September 24th you are invited to Cole
Field House for a virtual tour to mark the start of construction of the
Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center—our first place on campus
for all
alumni to
call home. That same day, we will unveil a statue of alumnus Jim Henson
and his beloved Muppet, Kermit, which will have a place of prominence in a
courtyard outside the Stamp Student Union. While a freshman at Maryland,
Jim fashioned the first Kermit out of a green cloth coat. How fitting to
have a statue of Jim and Kermit—made possible by a Class Gift—at
Kermit's "birthplace." We hope you can join us.
