Campus Messages

I have proudly served as your president for one week, and I continue to prioritize keeping you informed as we remain physically distant and dispersed. Seven days in, I want to provide some important updates to our community:

Today is my first day as the 34th President of the University of Maryland. I have been on our campus for more than 25 years as an Assistant Professor, Department Chair, and Dean. Now, I am honored and humbled to be leading our great university in the third decade of the 21st century. My wife, Sylvia, and our two children love the University and the great state of Maryland. We have proudly raised two Terps! We are all part of the greater Terrapin Family and we are excited about our collective future.

On May 29, 2020, the White House issued an executive order on "Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People's Republic of China."

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., once said that: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy."

Now that the State and USM have provided the green light to begin planning for reopening, the University leadership team is making plans for a safe and gradual process for the resumption of in-person operations. There will not be a single date for the full reopening of the physical campus. Like the statewide plan, our transition will be guided by public health expertise.

I write with heartbreaking news, the loss of the first University staff member from complications due to COVID-19. I share this information with the family's permission.

I write to share the heart-breaking information of the first known death, on April 1, 2020, of a member of our University community due to complications related to COVID-19. I do so with the consent of the family. He is Distinguished University Professor David C. Driskell, a renowned artist, art historian, collector, and curator.

Under the Governor's directive, all Maryland residents must now shelter at home, except to leave for "an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine ... or other necessary purpose." Over one-half of the states are under a similar order. 

On Wednesday, March 25, at 1:30 AM, the U.S. Senate and House leadership, together with the White House, agreed to inject $2 trillion into the economy -- the largest stimulus package in our nation's history.