Executive Summary
T
H ET E S T I M O N YI am pleased to submit today to the General Assembly will
document the University’s investment of State funds to achieve excellence by recruiting and
retaining outstanding faculty, supporting research programs of high impact, and providing
educational programs that are viewed as national models. It discusses the importance of strength
in the biosciences as essential for the future of the University as a leader of the State.Finally,it
reviews the key role that the University plays in meeting the pr iorities of the State in economic
development, security,educational reform, and global engagement.You have dealt with us
generously,and your flagship University is well on its way to achieving the greatness you
mandated in 1988 and reaffirmed in 1999.
This past year has witnessed highly visible achievements.Two events in which many of
you participated are of special note.The Clar ice Smith Performing Arts Center,a jewel among
performance venues nationwide,opened and is fulfilling its promise to provide a place that will
enhance the arts in Mar yland for generations to come.The University is attracting international
recognition as we host such world famous dignitaries as Nelson Mandela, who addressed a crowd
of 10,000 at the University of Maryland.
The funds you have provided have propelled us into the national spotlight and enabled us
to attract the very best students.The number of applications and the academic profile of our
entering freshmen continue to r ise at truly extraordinary rates.We are most proud that the
diversity of our student body continues to expand.We continue to develop new opportunities
for enriched curricula, and we have initiated special opportunity programs such as the Baltimore
Incentive Awards Program, which enrolled its first class of nine Baltimore City high school
students this year.We have taken the lead at the Universities at Shady Grove to ensure that this
new undertaking offers the best experience possible for students and provides graduates who
meet the workforce needs of Montgomery County and the State.
The University has wisely invested the funds that you have provided over the past several
years in our faculty and their research enterpr ise.Their excellence is reflected in the remarkable
growth of our research support, which is now over $300 million dollars each year after a
remarkable 5-year growth of more than 13% per year.So far this year,our research support is up
9% over last. Our young faculty are achieving national prominence, winning 10 National Science Foundation Career Awards during FY01, more than any other university in the East and the fourth highest in the nation overall, and most remarkably two of the prestigious Packard Fellowships.We have attracted internationally renowned scholars through major new initiatives,
which include the Democracy Collaborative and the Center for Scientific Computation and
Mathematical Modeling.
As the University faculty and programs increase their national visibility, the standings of
our programs in the national rankings are moving up: 61 of our programs that cross all of our
colleges are now ranked among the top 25 in the nation byUS News & World Report.Other
ranking organizations increasingly mention our programs among the nation’s very best.
As our reputation for academic excellence increases,>we have identified several steps that
are critical to continue our momentum, and development of the biosciences is at the top of this
list. Excellence in the biosciences is a hallmark of all great U.S. universities, it is essential to foster
the growth of the biotechnology industry in the State, and it is the first pr iority for federal
research dollars.The University has already laid the foundation for development of the
biosciences, and our efforts are paying off.We have incubated new biotech companies, we have
developed substantial collaborations in both graduate education and research with NIH, FDA
and other members of the University System, and we have hired outstanding faculty.The
proposed biosciences research building is absolutely essential to bringing to fruition the
substantial investments we have made.
The University is the most important asset the State has in achieving its priorities and
developing its future.First among these priorities at the local and national levels is economic
development. Because of its reputation and strengths, the University is able to engage in
partnerships with federal agencies as NASA, FDA, NSA and NIH that bring funds,researchers,
and job opportunities to the State and with major private companies such as Fujitsu Ltd.,
Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,and Fraunhofer.These partnerships allow for
expansion of capabilities, increased opportunities and rapid transfer of ideas into technological
advancements that fuel the market place and benefit people everywhere.They also bring and
keep companies in the State.The University plays a key role as a resource for Maryland
businesses with its successful incubator programs, industr ial partnership programs, and outreach
activities. More than 1,000 Maryland businesses receive direct assistance annually.Finally,the
University impacts the economy through: salary and expenditures that account for approximately
1% of the State’s workforce,7,000 graduates per year into the workforce,more than half of the
doctoral degrees awarded in the State,and the receipt of research funds whose total approaches
the State general fund support.
The second priority for the State and the nation is security.Great sums of federal dollars
and a large amount of State dollars are being directed to preventing the types of attack we
experienced in September and even more dreaded possibilities of bioterrorism. One-hundred-
and-fifty faculty at the University are involved in r esearch and study that apply to security and
counter terrorism. Faculty at Maryland are leading national task forces to determine policies that
would regulate biological agents that could be used in terrorism, and they are called on by policy
makers world-wide to offer advice on causes and long-term solutions for the unrest that
promotes terrorism.The University has been asked to participate in forums at the highest level where counter-terrorism measures and the role of the nation’s universities are explored.
The State has made excellence in the educational systems a priority,and the College of
Education has taken a leadership role in these efforts. It has won major grants to study ways to
improve the teaching of reading, mathematics, and the sciences; it has entered into partnerships in
Prince George’s County,Frederick County,Montgomery County,and the City of Baltimore to
improve pedagogy and the learning skills of children; and it has increased the number of
graduates in key areas of teacher shortage such as science and mathematics. Finally,the College
has established and won federal support for the Maryland Institute for Minority Advancement
and Urban Education to address the problems that confront the entire country.
Through major new initiatives such as the U.S.-China Science Research Park, the first of
its kind outside China, and agreements with international companies that want to work with us
and do business with Maryland as we emerge into a global economy,the University is achieving
a new level of influence abroad that promises to bring opportunities to Maryland companies and
citizens.We engage in projects with governments around the world to provide expertise in areas
that will allow them to educate their own citizens and become better partners with world-wide
democratic societies.We challenge our students to understand the importance of an international
perspective in their work, and we bring a steady stream of outstanding international students,
scholars, and major figures to campus to help all of us understand the global society in which we
are required to work and in which we will lead in the future.