Dear Maryland community,
This semester has been one of tremendous progress for our university. We welcomed a new class of Distinguished University Professors and Distinguished Scholar-Teachers. We announced a historic investment in need-based financial aid for Maryland students. We opened Johnson-Whittle Hall, our newest residence hall, and Yahentamitsi, a dining hall that honors the Piscataway people and the indigenous roots of our campus. And we officially opened the doors to our new School of Public Policy building.
Today, three events championed more progress, commemorated landmark achievements for the state of Maryland, and reflected our strategic commitments in our university's strategic plan.
Governor-Elect Wes MooreWe proudly hosted a special event with Governor-elect Wes Moore at our new School of Public Policy building to announce his transition plans as he prepares to take office on January 18, 2023. Ken Ulman, our chief strategy officer for economic development, was introduced as a transition co-chair.
This was a historic race. Moore will become the first Black governor in the state of Maryland and just the third elected Black governor in U.S. history. Aruna Miller, the Lieutenant Governor-elect, will be the first Asian American lieutenant governor and first immigrant to hold statewide office in Maryland. And even more firsts: Anthony Brown will be the state's next attorney general, making him the first African American elected to the position, and Brooke Lierman will become the first woman elected as state comptroller and to an independent state government office in Maryland.
Building a diverse and inclusive multicultural community here on campus is a key goal of our strategic plan, and it is inspiring to see the diversity of our state reflected in its incoming leadership. And we are also proud to call the new First Lady one of our own. Dawn Moore graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in government and politics.
Stanley R. Zupnik HallToday was also marked with a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new interdisciplinary engineering building, Stanley R. Zupnik Hall. The new facility will play an integral role in the efforts of the A. James Clark School of Engineering to attract and develop leaders who will work together to solve some of the world's most pressing issues and translate their solutions to impact society for the public good.
Named for Stanley Zupnik '59, this new facility will help shape generations of engineering students to go out and shape the world in lasting ways. But these buildings are more than just structures. As he said himself today, they are places for our students to exchange ideas, collaborate and build the foundation for their future.
Major funding for Stanley R. Zupnik Hall is made possible by a partnership between the state of Maryland and the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation's Building Together: An Investment for Maryland.
MPower: Institute for Health ComputingAnd finally, our university stood proudly beside the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) to announce a transformative partnership to establish the University of Maryland 3 - Institute for Health Computing. This initiative is a signature project for the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) and Montgomery County, Md. This new institute will leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence and computing to create a premier learning health care system that evaluates both de-identified and secured digitized medial health data to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases in patients across the state of Maryland. This collaborative and interdisciplinary work will lead to broad impacts on human health and well-being.
Today marks a historic occasion to commemorate democracy, diversity, interdisciplinary research and partnerships. Each of today's special events demonstrates that progress can be accelerated by partnership and collaboration—foundational elements of our university's strategic plan.
Our university will host another signature event this Saturday, November 12. Good Neighbor Day is another example of investing in people and communities, with more than 40 service projects, workshops, and donation drives in College Park and neighboring communities. I encourage you all to volunteer for a service project, register for a workshop, or donate to a drive on Good Neighbor Day to make an impact in our community.
Together, we will lead Fearlessly Forward.
Sincerely,
