GREGORY W. FOWLER, PhD, TAKES THE HELM
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND GLOBAL CAMPUS | 2022
WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL EDITION OF ACHIEVER MAGAZINE, celebrating the 75th anniversary of University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). We honor the achievements of our learners and team members who have built this remarakable institution and are excited to share the work that will lead to more success in the next 75 years.
Ours is a university born of necessity, and its pioneering spirit, its innovative heart, and its determined will to challenge the status quo are more relevant and important than ever.
No one knows better what it means to face the challenges of turbulent environments. UMGC was the first to teach classes in active war zones, and it has taught classes on all seven continents—not just in traditional settings, but in jungles, on beaches, in bunkers, and in communities across the country and around the world.
This past year, we celebrated with graduates who were as young as 19 years old and others who were octogenarians. They had earned degrees in fields as diverse as biotechnology and history, nursing and education. Some finished in record time, and some took decades, moving from state to state and country to country while completing their studies.
Like all of society, higher education continues to evolve and adapt to the pandemic, rapid advances in technology, and changing social behaviors. The vast majority of postsecondary learners are engaged in ways that do not resemble the traditional coming of age residential experience that so many think of as “college.” Recent reports note that fewer than one in six students live on campus, more than half are older than 25 years of age, and four in five are engaged in a hybrid or online experience. Yet at a time when states and businesses are struggling to develop an aligned workforce, much of the resource, attention, and political will is not directed toward tapping the nontraditional market that is the adult learner.
At the same time, for the traditional college population, the often-asked question of whether college is worth it reflects skepticism about both the purpose of college and who it is meant to serve. To be effective we must be transparent, intentional, accountable, and agile, focused on answering the question, “Do our learners get what they came for?”
To answer yes, we must create new learning ecosystems while recognizing and credentialing learning where, when, and how it happens. This means that we must integrate the realities of new student populations into the experiences we create, offering stackable microcredentials and partnering more closely with businesses, community colleges, and ed tech companies to expand our capacities and capabilities.
In higher education, we still wear gowns at graduation and hold our traditions sacred, but many of those traditions sprang
from religious orders, monasteries, and the guild system, none of which were renowned for diversity or inclusivity. In fact, exclusivity underpins some of higher education’s most respected brands and value systems.
To be true to our mission, we must reevaluate our assumptions and abandon those traditions that divide, stratify, and alienate.
In their place, we will embrace our mission of transforming lives and—as one student said recently—“empower dreams learners didn’t even know they could dream.”
As president of UMGC, I am proud to join talented colleagues who have accepted the challenge of listening to students, building for what comes next, and ultimately inspiring hope, empowering dreams, and transforming lives . . . one student at a time.
We welcome you to read and share in our journey in the pages that follow.
wishes, Gregory W. Fowler, PhD PresidentUniversity of Maryland Global Campus
BestLed by a new president, UMGC celebrates its 75th anniversary and charts a path forward. 14
Memorable excerpts from a collection of more than 150 memoirs by faculty and staff from UMGC’s overseas operations. 23
Commendations from nine sitting presidents dating back to 1959.
Institutional stakeholders reflect on the university’s legacy, reaffirm its mission, and embrace a future of challenge and opportunity. 28
UMGC President Gregory Fowler outlines his vision for UMGC and its mission of transforming lives. 32
University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay W. Perman calls UMGC’s president to “fundamentally change the way higher education works.”
In 2022, UMGC celebrates some 13,685 graduates worldwide.
With Grad Walk 2022, UMGC adjusts to COVID19—and the preferences of adult learners— by reinventing the commencement experience.
Remarkable UMGC graduates prove that “adult learner” is an increasingly broad term.
BY CHIP CASSANO
Maryland’s largest university may also be the state’s best investment, integral to its economy and future. 48
UMGC is a global institution that constantly transforms lives—and the world at large—in new and sometimes surprising ways.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Mary
Dempsey Gil Klein Menachem Wecker PRODUCTION MANAGER Scott EuryCall 301-985-7200 with comments and suggestions, or e-mail chip.cassano@umgc.edu
University of Maryland Global Campus subscribes to a policy of equal education and employment opportunities.
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In May 2021, UMGC President Gregory Fowler announced that the university would establish a new, dedicated Student Affairs unit, bringing together and helping coordinate key academic and administrative support functions from across the university, including the existing Student Affairs team, Enrollment Management, Career Services, Regional Center Operations, Student Accessibility, Resolution Management, and Student Communications.
Consistent with the university’s emphasis on fostering a student-centric culture, the new unit focuses on increasing persistence, retention,and other measures of student success.
Martina Hansen—who previously served as vice president of student retention and later as vice president of student affairs—was named senior vice president and chief student affairs officer, in charge of the new unit.
Fowler praised Hansen’s “track record of building and leading student-centric teams that create positive experiences for our learners, as well as a passion and enthusiasm for serving our students. . . . I look forward to her vision and leadership in this new role. I am also confident that our new structure will position us to be more focused and effective in supporting our students. .”
One year later, the unit is well on its way to transform-
ing the way students relate to the university.
Beth Allen, assistant director of Student Success, was
New UMGC students are assigned a success coach on Day One who supports them in every step of the student journey. closely involved with one of the unit’s first priorities— transitioning from a transactional advising structure to a relationship-based success coaching model.
“Now,” said Allen, “students are assigned a success coach the day after they enroll in classes, and that coach becomes their primary point of contact. We start with a welcome call where we answer questions and talk about goals; moving forward, we do risk outreach based on individual risk factors, and we do a lot of relationship building—checking in to see how courses are going and just letting students know that we are here.”
Students have responded enthusiastically—so enthusi-
astically, in fact, that Allen said the group had to seek out new success metrics, because in after-call surveys, “no one had anything bad to say. They all say that they have the best success coaches in the world!”
Another initiative, Jumpstart, offers a three-hour online orientation where new students can familiarize themselves with the online classroom and participate in live workshops about tuition planning, using Veterans Administration and military benefits, and more.
“I help run the New Student Success panel with Taylor Thompson,” said Allen, “and we usually have a faculty member, a success coach, and a student offering tips and tricks. It is just
the coolest thing to have students come back and to hear them talk about how their success coach affected them, and to do that on the big stage that Jumpstart offers, and to get to shine a light on the work they are doing, it’s just great.”
Like virtually every aspect of UMGC’s operation, technology is integral to the university’s ability to serve a global population, and Thompson, acting director of Student Success, points to the implementation and integration of Five9 customer experience software and Salesforce customer relationship management software—along with increased automation—as pivotal to the changes that Student Affairs is putting in place.
“We implemented Five9 at the end of last year, really to get students in touch with their success coaches more quickly,” said Thompson. “In the past, incoming calls would go to whomever was available. Now there is logic behind it, and if your success coach is available, the system can recognize your number, see that you have been assigned a success coach, and connect you.”
The new system is yielding an uptick in efficiency, as well. Sam Anderson, associate vice president of Enrollment Operations, reports that yearover-year data indicates that, since the new system was put in place, success coaches are each handling on average 10.5 percent more inbound and outbound calls.
The system has also been rolled out across UMGC’s
Stateside Military Operations, allowing incoming calls from military students to be routed directly to the appropriate Military Education Coordinator.
“Before,” said Thompson, “when someone called in, we would have to give them a phone number. This has really opened the door for a lot more collaboration. We can say, ‘Let me see if your Military Education Coordinator is available,’ and transfer them.”
Through virtual advising rooms (VARs), students also have the option to schedule one-on-one Zoom meetings
who participated in the initial VAR pilot, agreed. “The experiences have always been positive and well received,” said Koellish. “Often, students mention feeling empowered to take a more active role in their academic program after realizing that they, too, have tremendous resources at their fingertips.”
Alesha Tyson, senior director of Student Success, sees technology benefiting students and staff alike.
“When we began to introduce greater automation, some found it scary,” she said. “That often happens with
ing about. And then you make the call and maybe it goes to voicemail, maybe you get hung up on—and imagine doing that 50 times a day. The automated system has really improved staff satisfaction, because now coaches are talking to the students who want to talk to them, who need their help. It’s just a huge win for everyone.”
She points to multiterm registration as another important step forward. By coordinating with the Office of the Registrar, success coaches are now able to work with students to establish a plan across multiple semesters, select classes, and enroll.
“It’s more efficient, it gives the student a greater sense of security, knowing they have a plan in place, and it helps them think more long term and big picture,” said Tyson.
The most rewarding outcome, said Allen, is when a student succeeds—and voices appreciation for the support they received.
with their success coaches, said Thompson. “That has been such a positive experience, both for our students and for our success coaches, especially given the pandemic and the shift to remote work. Just having that human interaction and being able to put a face with a name has been so beneficial.”
Success Coach Ena Koellish,
something new, and people were like, ‘You’re going to turn us into robots. The system is just going to feed stuff to us!’ And it was bumpy the first couple of weeks, but now, everyone is a believer.
“It takes away the busy work,” Tyson explained. “When you are making calls, you have to do research first, assess what you will be talk-
“I had one student who came to us through a community college partnership, and he was trying to qualify for a Maryland Completion Scholarship,” Allen said. “He had gotten some incorrect information, but we were able to get him back on track and into the program that he wanted, and he was just a great student to work with and so grateful.
“When he graduated, he sent me an e-mail saying, ‘This is because of you.’ I’ll never forget that.”
Nina Bridgers, who has held an administrative job with the D.C. government for 14 years, dreamed of working in the tech field. But she had set that dream aside more than two decades earlier when she dropped out of community college to care for her ailing mother.
Now, Bridgers is on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the awardwinning Computer Networks and Cybersecurity Program at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). The pathway UMGC offered is the reason U.S. News & World Report has ranked the university as the nation’s friendliest for transfer students—accepting many transfer credits, providing career coaches, offering clear degree pathways, and helping students identify practical financial aid options.
“Unlike a lot of universities, we don’t require students to re-learn knowledge they already have,” said Kristophyre McCall, chief transformation officer at UMGC.
Bridgers chose UMGC because of its partnership with Maryland’s Prince George’s Community College, where she previously studied, and the wealth of support available to students. She said UMGC understands the special challenges faced by students who move from one educational institution to another.
“I’m a working professional with little time to explore every
strategic angle. UMGC takes the hard work, the guesswork, out of it. They put me on a direct path, and my studies are going great,” Bridgers said. She expects to graduate next year.
The U.S. News rankings assessed data from the fall of 2020, when UMGC enrolled more than 9,500 new transfers. The No. 2 school had 6,727. In addition, UMGC had a 100 percent acceptance rate, compared with 65 percent for the rest of higher education.
The impact on students, in terms of time and money saved, is considerable.
A 2017 report from the Government Accountability Office found that students who moved between public schools—the majority of transfer students—lost an average of 37 percent of their credits. Those transferring from private for-profit schools
gave up a whopping 94 percent of their credits.
At UMGC, an online tool, accessible from its website, assesses credits acquired in previous college study. Students can also contact the admissions office to have their transcript evaluated so that they can know with certainty,
given UMGC’s contractual relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense, which dates back to 1949. Military training and prior learning in the workplace can also count toward academic credit.
Unlike many more traditional universities, UMGC places a priority on workforce opportunities, said Vice President for Academic Quality Christopher Davis, who also teaches.
usually within 48 hours, how many credits will transfer.
In Bridgers’ case, the university accepted almost all of her community college credits, as well as 10 credits from other study, and immediately set her up with a career coach and adviser, giving her a jumpstart on her bachelor’s degree. The university’s use of open educational resources, available online, rather than costly publisher textbooks, also saved her money. And counselors connected her with financial aid information that landed her a scholarship.
UMGC’s transfer-friendly reputation owes much to the partnership alliances it maintains with every Maryland community college and some 90 more nationwide, including an agreement with the California Community Colleges system and its 116 schools. Transfer students from partner schools are guaranteed admission and put on a clear track to a degree.
The U.S. military is another source of transfer students,
The rest of higher education is beginning to recognize the importance of transfer-friendly policies, as well, as the number of traditional students—those who begin college immediately after high school—falls in tandem with a decline in U.S. population growth. McCall said the pool of traditional students will decrease about 15 percent starting in 2024 and 2025, and UMGC has anticipated and is positioned for that shift.
Davis added that while it was satisfying to be spotlighted by U.S. News & World Report , the university is not resting on its laurels.
“The recognition shows we’re doing a good job, but there’s so much more that we can do to create an even better experience for the students,” he said. “One thing we’re working on is increasing the number of agreements we have, whether with other universities or academic institutions.”
2021–2023
Each year, Dr. Blair Hayes, UMGC’s vice president, chief diversity officer, and ombudsman, greets students at commencement and helps prepare them to cross the stage. He recalls one student whose disabilities presented particular challenges.
“As the student was preparing to walk across the stage, they stopped me and said, ‘Thank you for everything you did to make this possible.’
Of course, my response was, ‘You did all the work. Thank you for allowing us to support you in this effort,’” he said.
For Hayes, who has been with UMGC for more than 12 years, that interaction underscores how rewarding it is to recognize that the university reaches and transforms the lives of unique individuals— not generic students.
“We are the face of that, but it really takes so many departments working in unison to be successful. It can never just be the Diversity and Equity office,” he said. “Everyone has a role to play in ensuring we remove every barrier for students to participate fully. When it is done right, those are the success stories.”
In March 2010, Hayes— who previously worked for Booz Allen Hamilton and holds a PhD in social psychology from Temple University— found that colleagues were still uncomfortable discussing diversity in public. Many thought of diversity conversation as punitive—the result of someone doing something wrong. A lot has changed in the interim.
“Now when we have con -
versations about diversity, it is more celebratory,” Hayes said. “It’s more about recognizing the unique backgrounds of our staff, faculty, and students, and coming at it from a learning perspective.”
With the university embracing a “shared language” of diversity, and after UMGC President Gregory Fowler appointed Hayes to the institution’s Executive Committee, there was a sense that the university was ready to work holistically on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). While the Office of Diversity and Equity had previously established its own strategic plans—and held them relatively close to the chest, sharing them only with
the president’s office—now the institution opted to lay out an organization-wide DEI strategic plan.
The plan, which covers 2021–23, came together quickly during a time of national upheaval, which included both the pandemic and the national reckoning and intense focus on racial discrimination sparked by tragedies such as the murder of George Floyd.
On June 5, 2020, more than 700 UMGC faculty and staff participated in a virtual “moment of solidarity,” during which Hayes spoke and UMGC community members shared more than 100 messages and images of family members, friends, and other sources of inspiration.
“It was the first time that the university had come together on such a grand scale,” said Hayes. “We found that everyone was really looking for an opportunity to come together. That word ‘inclusion’ that is part of the DEI strategy really showed itself, because people wanted to be included. People were looking for a way to support one another.”
That energy and momentum “propelled us forward in a way that we could not have predicted,” Hayes said. “But we saw that they needed it.”
UMGC enrolls the largest number of underrepresented students in the University System of Maryland, and its student body is 28.3 percent Black or African American. Fifty-three percent are students of color, and more than half are also the first in their families to attend college.
This aligns with the university’s unique history, which dates back to the 1940s. In 1947, the university integrated its classrooms on military bases, seven years before the Supreme Court declared segregation unconstitutional.
UMGC is now charting a new course with its DEI Strategic Plan, introduced in November 2021. The plan makes diversity, equity, and inclusion part of “the culture and fabric of the university.” Or as UMGC President Gregory Fowler put it, “diversity lies at the foundation of all that we do.”
The plan serves as a “roadmap and also as the beginning of a broader conversation,”
THE DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION DIVERSITY IN ACTION Initiatives for Change and Opportunities for Growth UMGC'snew Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan takes a holistic approach, designed to make DEI part of the culture and fabric of the university.
Just days before the COVID-19 pandemic instigated a nationwide shutdown in March 2020, University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) announced a partnership with Amazon Career Choice that has since seen about 2,000 Amazon drivers and fulfillment center employees enroll in UMGC courses. Chris Motz, UMGC’s vice president for academic and corporate partnerships, expects that number to climb significantly with Amazon’s recent decision to remove prior restrictions on what and how many courses it would fund.
“They’re in a very tough, incredibly taxing job,” says Motz of the program participants. “Amazon is smart enough to know and to embrace the fact that there is going to be a high turnover rate in those positions. It wants to help those individuals transition, whether they stay with Amazon or not.”
That aim—to help improve quality of life via education— is consistent with UMGC’s mission and lies at the core of a number of strategic partnerships that the university has already established or is pursuing with like-minded corporations. (For more on UMGC’s growing list of corporate, nonprofit, and education partners, see p. 67.)
In the past, partnerships typically offered UMGC programs to other organizations at a discount or perhaps tailored to specific organizational needs. Now, however, the university is looking to partnerships for the synergies they may offer.
“We are not in a position to develop [certain] programs right now,” said Motz, who came to UMGC in August 2020. “If we have the opportunity to provide a quality product that has rigorous requirements, produces really good outcomes, and has been successful with other partners, why wouldn’t we want to join forces and work together?”
When Motz joined the university, the Amazon partnership was already in place, but he noticed an institutional hesitancy to consider nontraditional partnerships, including with third parties and organizations that served as intermediaries between employers and academic institutions.
“When I came, that question was still very much on the table,” he said. “Was that a direction that we wanted to go?”
As Dr. Gregory Fowler assumed the UMGC presidency, he took steps to shift the institutional focus toward reaching new and more diverse students in different places and from different walks of life.
“That really shifted and took some of the questions off the table,” said Motz, “and it allowed us to be able to answer
definitively: ‘Yes. We want to be able to partner with any organization that will allow us to help serve students. Let’s structure partnerships in such a way that there are wins for everybody.’”
So, in situations where more traditional universities would look to develop their own programs—whether credit or noncredit—UMGC opted instead to seek out partnerships that met its mission goals, rather than trying to reinvent academic wheels.
Motz, who came to UMGC with extensive prior experience connecting higher educational institutions with complementary corporations, previously served as Purdue University Global’s regional vice president for partnerships and strategy.
The fact that large higher educational institutions need partnerships, rather than functioning as purely self-sufficient entities, is not intuitive, he believes. But competition for new students—and particularly adult learners, who may have credit from other institutions but no degree to show for it—and an institutional commitment to doing a better job of helping students learn and, after graduation, find jobs, has made partnerships both attractive and increasingly common.
“For many, that would come as a surprise,” Motz said.
In the past two years, Motz has helped UMGC negotiate and establish a variety of partnerships, including with Guild Education, Springboard, and Outlier, and he has supported a partnership with VictoryXR, driven by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
“It is our adopted philosophy that it is better to partner with those who are doing things and doing them well, and leverage the collaboration to access more learners and help those learners be successful, than to try to be all things to all people,” Motz says. The alternative would be to either miss significant opportunities to serve students or strain institutional resources while “duplicating things that are already being done well in the marketplace.”
Partnerships like the ones with Guild Education, Springboard, Outlier, and VictoryXR also introduce UMGC to a broader, global audience of prospective students that the university might not otherwise be able to access.
“That is where some of the most exciting partnership conversations will take us in the future—to extending our presence internationally,” said Motz. “We have taken the great work of partnerships, for which UMGC had always been known, and expanded them to other areas, which serve even more learners in a wider range of spaces.”
For the latest news and updates about UMGC, visit the Global Media Center at globalmedia.umgc.edu.
GUILD EDUCATION, a Denver, Colorado-based company, SPRINGBOARD is a San Francisco, California, company that describes itself as “an education and upskilling platform” provides “online courses to future-proof your career” by and connects employees of some of the nation’s largest way of high-quality, intensive, noncredit information companies with universities. Often, these employees are technology boot camp experiences for all sorts of learners— first-generation college students. Through the relationship including those with no prior technology background, said with Guild, UMGC courses are now available to employees Motz. The offerings help students transition to new careers of Guild partner companies such as Bon Secours Mercy in IT, and while the courses are not-for-credit, UMGC grants Health, Discover, Herschend Enterprises, and UCHealth, transfer credits to those who complete the program, should with those companies covering the cost of tuition. Said they wish to pursue a degree or certificate from UMGC. UMGC President Gregory Fowler, when announcing the partnership, “We are proud ... to provide new avenues for employees to earn credentials or degrees that help them achieve their career goals. We share a vision with Guild to unlock life-changing opportunities through education that is accessible no matter where students are.”
VICTORYXR offers “immersive classrooms and campuses through virtual reality,” which allow for interaction “in a synchronous yet virtual environment.” It is collaborating with Meta (formerly Facebook) to create digital twin replica university campuses in 2022. Through its virtual spaces, the company has seen student grades, focus, and enjoyment increase, and UMGC is partnering with the company in a pilot OUTLIER , based in New York, bills itself as the “world’s program that will offer a range of UMGC courses in virtual best online education.” It provides students with “alterna- reality. Meta will provide the virtual headsets free of charge. tive pathways for accessing academic courses,” said Motz, “It’s cutting edge,” said Motz. "It’s new ground for and the University of Pittsburgh transcripts those credits. UMGC, but it’s also paving the way for us and helping The company caters particularly to students who, for inform our subject matter experts on what learning is whatever reason, have not found their way to university, going to be like in the future.” In a May 2022 op-ed, Daniel and that often includes high school students. For lower Mintz, chair of UMGC’s department of information techtuition rates, participants can take foundational courses nology and one of the pilot’s architects, wrote that the online. “It is a stepping stone or a bridge preparing them partnership “is rooted in the university’s historic embrace for college,” Motz said. of innovative approaches to learning, which have included
A partnership with an organization like Outlier can remote instruction via mail, radio, closed-circuit television, strengthen other partnerships, as well. For example, voicemail, e-mail, and more recently, the internet and UMGC might encourage students from its Amazon part- the World Wide Web.” One specific example of the platnership who might not feel ready for UMGC courses to form’s potential involves a biology course, which replaces first complete Outlier’s College Pathway Certificate. This a required dissection kit—containing a cow’s heart and would allow them to earn some credit and develop skills eyeball—with a fully interactive virtual dissection lab that that will help them succeed later on the college level. offers added flexibility, including the opportunity to repeat the exercise multiple times.
Cont'd from page 5
Fowler added. “We are truly stronger together, and we are best equipped to navigate a world marked by increasingly complex challenges when we embrace and leverage the strengths and viewpoints of every stakeholder.”
The plan aims to position UMGC as a leader and advocate for improved learning conditions, with a particular vision for those previously underrepresented. It applies accountability—including performance metrics—and “offers transparency for individuals and groups,” the plan states. And the university has committed to building a future workforce that reflects those values.
The plan is comprehensive, and its elements include establishing student and faculty diversity advisory councils; reviewing curricula to address cultural competence, race, and society; auditing systems and programs for accessibility; expanding mental health and counseling resources; and focusing on an equitable talent pipeline.
“There’s not an endpoint when it comes to diversity,” said Hayes. “The target just shifts a little bit. There’s never a point where we are going to just stop doing this work.”
In traditional higher education, a scholarship is typically seen as the Holy Grail of achievement, often reserved for elite athletes and top-performing scholars.
At UMGC, a scholarship more often serves as a bridge
over an obstacle to student success.
“In a given year, on average, we grant around $15 million in institutionally funded scholarships and another $785,000 in donor-funded scholarships,” said Kristen Staten, assistant vice president of Financial Aid, Scholarships, and State Grants. “Nearly all of that funding goes to students with demonstrated need. The challenges that many of our students face and overcome on a daily basis are truly remarkable, and it is so rewarding to hear their stories and know that we have been able to help them continue their progress toward their education goals.”
Some awards, of course, are considerable, like the university’s flagship Pillars of Strength scholarship. Launched in 2013 in partnership with The Blewitt Foundation—founded by UMGC alumnus and U.S. Navy veteran Rich Blewitt—the program grants full scholarships to the volunteer caregivers of injured, ill, or wounded military servicemembers. Fiftynine of the awards have been granted to date and more than $710,000 disbursed.
More modest—though just as impactful, particularly in the state of Maryland—is the Maryland Completion Scholarship, available to qualifying graduates of one of Maryland’s 16 community colleges. Credits from the two-year degree transfer seamlessly to UMGC, and the scholarship reduces the additional cost to complete a bachelor’s degree
to approximately $12,000—well below the national average.
In 2021–22 alone, more than 4,400 students received scholarships valued at some $8.4 million under the program.
Similarly, the Prince George’s 3D Scholars program, which partners UMGC with Prince George’s Community College and Prince George’s County Public Schools—allows high-performing high school students to earn community college credit prior to graduation. Those who qualify for Pell Grants can effectively graduate debt free.
said UMGC President Gregory Fowler. “I love this program, and I’ve been in conversation with others about how we can expand it.”
The university’s Student Aid Fund for Emergency Relief (SAFER) , which launched in July 2020 in response to the global pandemic, granted almost 350 just-in-time awards—typically $500 each—to students facing emergencies or extenuating circumstances.
“Programs like this allow us to challenge our own thinking about the way education has to happen, reevaluating our myths about access, affordability, and debt,”
This responds to a point that UMGC’s Fowler often makes— that adult learners typically leave school, not because they can’t grasp the subject matter, but because “life happens.”
While it is too early to assess the program’s impact in depth, early signs are positive, and Darragh McNally, associate vice president of the Department of Academic Services and Quality, reports that initial data indicates students who apply for and receive SAFER awards are 8 percent more likely to re-enroll at some point and 3 percent more likely to re-enroll for the following term, when compared to similar non-applicants.
Student testimonials support those findings. Early in the pandemic, one recipient wrote, “The funds were indeed a godsend. I had budgeted for being unemployed in a functioning world. How can anyone have planned for a disaster like this?”
Another wrote, “As a single mother with two children, I have very little room in my budget for things outside of the bare necessities. Completing my degree would not only allow me to achieve one of my own personal goals, but it would also allow me to provide better opportunities for my children. I hope one day that I will be able to help struggling students reach their goals in higher education by giving back to my community. Thank you for your generosity and compassion.”
A third wrote simply, “I have been in a financial crisis due to being severely ill with COVID and out of work for the past three weeks. I cannot express enough gratitude for allotting me the SAFER scholarship. It is because of people like
you that I remain hopeful in humanity. A thousand and more thank yous.”
The Student Aid Fund for Emergency Relief (SAFER) is funded by generous donors. To offer your support to UMGC students in need, visit impact.umgc.edu
New UMGC locations stateside are offering students additional options while simultaneously opening doors to new populations that can benefit from the university’s workforce-relevant curriculum.
The National Landing Education Center is one such location, with a Scandinavianstyle décor, airy classrooms, a technology lab, meeting spaces, and glass-walled offices. The sleek design isn’t the only thing that distinguishes the massive third-floor suite in Crystal City, Virginia. Like most UMGC education centers, the National Landing location offers in-person and hybrid classes, education counseling, financial aid information, and other resources for servicemembers, veterans, and their families. But this location—convenient to a major highway, Metrorail station, and other public transit— is also designed to serve civilians working at the Pentagon, Quantico, D.C.-area commuters, and even employees from the nearby Amazon HQ2, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, and Booz Allen Hamilton.
“We’re always looking for new locations where we can plant the UMGC flag,” said Kelly Wilmeth, vice president for Stateside Military Operations. “It is part of our strategy to meet students where they are.”
Now, however, the university is taking a more synergistic approach, viewing its
global presence as a competitive advantage, and seeking to leverage that presence to reach new and underserved populations.
As recently as 2010, UMGC’s only stateside education sites were located on military facilities in Maryland and northern Virginia. A decade later, the university has learning centers in 11 states and the District of Columbia, with five new sites opening in the past two years alone, National Landing among them.
“At our locations, we are not only serving active-duty students but military-affiliated, veterans, community college, and civilian students. We’re seeing a growth in these population enrollments,” said Sevgi Rochford, assistant vice president of operations for Stateside Military Operations. UMGC
maintains a growing number of alliances with individual community colleges and community college systems, including the highly regarded Northern Virginia Community College near National Landing.
And when UMGC launched classes at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida earlier this year, it kicked off a relationship with the newest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Wilmeth said the university has since signed an agreement to provide courses at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado.
Schriever will be UMGC’s second Colorado location. Last year, the university was also invited to bring programming to the massive Army population at Fort Carson—primarily undergraduate programs that meet general education
UMGC's new National Landing location is convenient to students working at the Pentagon and at the nearby Amazon HQ2, Boeing, Raytheon, and Booz Allen Hamilton.Under the leadership of a new president, UMGC celebrates 75 years of serving adult learners in the workforce and the military—and charts a path forward in the 21st century.
BY CHIP CASSANOUniversity of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), founded in 1947, celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022. University stakeholders reflected with pride on a legacy of innovation and service while—under the leadership of a new president—looking to a future of challenge and opportunity, shaped by shifting demographics, the lingering effects of a global pandemic, and the evolving needs of adult learners in an increasingly technical and everchanging job market and U.S. military.
The way the university navigates that
future will align with its history and hinge— in the words of UMGC President Gregory W. Fowler—“on our willingness to be bold, to learn from failures, accept change, and step forward into new and sometimes uncomfortable circumstances.”
AN INSTITUTION BORN OF NECESSITY
UMGC was born of necessity in an era when both higher education and the country were facing transitional change.
In 1940, when the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking educational attainment, only 5 percent of Americans held a college degree. But demand for education—particularly among those 30 years of age or younger—was growing quickly.
At the same time, an increasing number of Black students were seeking access to the country’s still-segregated institutions of higher education.
Colleges and universities were largely unprepared to handle this increased
demand, and as the Second World War came to an end, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944—known more commonly as the G.I. Bill—precipitated a crisis, flooding classrooms with military personnel returning to civilian life and seeking opportunity for themselves and their loved ones.
The first edition of UMGC’s official history, Never an Ivory Tower, summarized the impact on Maryland’s state school system.
In 2022, with a new president at the helm, UMGC convened representatives from across the university—led by Lloyd “Milo” Miles, senior vice president, Global Military Operations, and Chuck Trierweiler, chief marketing officer and senior vice president, Admissions—to revisit and update the university’s mission and vision statements. The objective was to help sharpen and clarify focus on institutional priorities while better articulating the goals and objectives that unify and inspire institutional stakeholders. The following updated mission and vision statements are an outgrowth of that collaborative process.
To inspire hope, empower dreams, and transform lives . . . one student at a time.
UMGC will set a new global standard in higher education, defining success in terms of lives, families, and communities transformed. We will
u Meet students where they are and wrap them in the service and support they need to succeed;
u Offer tailored, workforce-relevant learning experiences that are accessible and deliver proven results; and
u Foster an agile, efficient, data-driven operation that responds swiftly to market trends and demands.
Between June and September of 1946, enrollments in College Park and Baltimore almost doubled, from a total of just over 6,000 (a peak enrollment up to that time) to more than 11,000 at the beginning of the fall semester. By the end of the 1947–48 academic year, resident collegiate enrollments would top 15,000.
[T]he University of Maryland recognized that it needed not only to increase the number of courses, classrooms, and dormitories for its full-time students on campus, but also to offer courses—both on and off campus—for the large number of “nontraditional” adult students who were working full time or part time and who wanted to take university courses on a parttime basis.
In response, university leaders established a new unit within the College of Education, christening it the College of Special and Continuation Studies (CSCS)—forerunner of today’s UMGC.
Response was immediate and enthusiastic. In its first two years, CSCS would offer more than 250 courses at 27 offcampus centers—including regional military bases and the Pentagon—and enroll 4,391 students. By 1949, it had become an independent college within the University of Maryland, separate from the College of Education.
“ David Sparks, the program’s provisional administrator and a future vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Maryland, went overseas with the caveat that if fewer than 300 students enrolled, he was to cancel the program and send everyone home.
More than 1,800 signed up.
With the rise of the Cold War, it became increasingly clear that America’s military presence overseas represented a new normal. The Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948, which precipitated the Berlin airlift, and the establishment of NATO helped drive the point home.
At the same time, new military requirements called for officers to have the equivalent of two years of college education to retain their commissions.
The logistical challenges were considerable, and when the U.S. Department of Defense invited institutions of higher education to consider offering courses in Europe, only Maryland’s CSCS responded.
In October of 1949, with just one week’s notice, seven faculty members flew to Germany to open an overseas education program.
David Sparks, the program’s provisional administrator and a future vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Maryland, went overseas with the caveat that if fewer than 300 students enrolled, he was to cancel the program and send everyone home.
More than 1,800 signed up.
The program grew from there, expanding into Asia in 1956 and the Middle East in 2005, ultimately serving students on all seven continents and in war zones in Vietnam, Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
From the first, UMGC’s growth has been driven by student demand, and the university took a pragmatic approach to course delivery, at various times offering instruction by mail, voicemail, e-mail, radio, and public and closed-circuit television—in addition to more traditional, face-to-face instruction. Over time, other student services and library resources were also made available remotely.
In 1994, when the institution piloted its first online coursework, few foresaw the popularity and explosive growth that would follow, but the university was positioned to respond quickly. UMGC became one of the first institutions to offer degree programs fully online, and within a decade, online coursework accounted for almost 80 percent of total enrollments.
It was a trend that then-USM Chancellor Donald N. Langenberg pointed out in a 1995 speech entitled, “Technology: Gateway to [UMGC’s] Future”:
[UMGC] has taken the lead in the University of Maryland System in the areas of distance learning and the educational uses of information technology. Who would have thought—even 10 years ago—that students would
be able to attend class, take a test, participate in a study group, confer with a professor, get advice on how to write a term paper, apply for financial aid, or find out about internship possibilities—all while sitting before a computer screen at a time and place that is most convenient for them?
CHARTING A COURSE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY—AND BEYOND
Today, UMGC serves some 90,000 students annually, online and at more than 175 locations in more than 20 countries and territories. It offers 125 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs online or in hybrid or face-to-face formats in high-demand fields like cybersecurity, business, data analytics, biotechnology, health care, and education.
Rising costs, shifting demographics, increasing competition, and declining enrollments present challenges across higher education—challenges that the university’s president addressed directly in his March 2022 inaugural address.
“Today,” Fowler said, “our challenge turns on meeting student needs by designing new learning experiences that align with their goals and objectives—and that rest on a foundation of service and support that is unprecedented, and perhaps unexpected, in higher education, and easily accessible 24/7 across multiple platforms.“
Fowler concluded, “My life is a testimony that in transforming lives, we transform families. And if we can transform families, we can transform communities. If we can transform communities, we can transform nations. And if we can transform nations, we can transform the world.” G
“ Today,” Fowler said, “our challenge turns on meeting student needs by designing new learning experiences that align with their goals and objectives— and that rest on a foundation of service and support that is unprecedented, and perhaps unexpected, in higher education, and easily accessible 24/7 across multiple platforms.
The Overseas Marylanders Association (OMA) is an independent organization comprising current and former faculty and staff of UMGC’s overseas operations and civilian international programs. The organization launched a Memoirs Project following the 2018 airing of a documentary on Maryland Public Television— sponsored and produced by UMGC—entitled, Over There: The Adventures of Maryland’s Traveling Faculty (The documentary can be viewed on the Maryland Public Television website: https://video.mpt.tv/video/over-there-the-adventures-of-marylandstraveling-faculty-qwxacw/)
Four members of the organization were honored in 2019 for their “longstanding meritorious service and leadership in support of the public mission of the University of Maryland Global Campus” and conferred the honorary title of vice president emerita, Overseas Programs: Joe Arden, John Golembe, Julian Jones, and Paula Harbecke.
Today, OMA’s Memoirs Project includes more than 150 entries, many of which underscore consistent themes that have united and guided the institution for 75 years—a willingness to innovate and think outside the box; flexibility and openness to change; a can-do spirit; and a commitment to students and meeting them where they are.
The following are excerpts from some of the most memorable entries.
JOE ARDEN (FACULTY, ADMINISTRATOR, 1967–2007): Upon arrival [at Long Binh, in Vietnam, then the largest Army base in the world] in 1968, the “housing” officer escorted me to my BOQ room which was in a large tent with 10–15 cots lined up/down both sides of the enclosure. There was literally no space to prepare my classes. So, I contacted the Education Service Officer (ESO), a woman named Maud Burris who had arrived in Japan in 1946 with McArthur's Occupying Forces. . . . I was hoping, of course, that she might make some suggestion for how/where I could prepare my classes.
She came, viewed the arrangement, and said, “Please come with me, young man.” So, off we went to her Education Center in a nearby Quonset hut. [H]er office was in a small space at the rear of the hut. She asked whether I would like to live in her office, and I quickly replied, “Yes, Ms. Burris, with pleasure.” So, she moved
her papers to the outer general area and requisitioned a cot from somewhere. For the ensuing eight-week term, I lived in her office. Worked out fine.
MICHAEL DENISON (FACULTY, 1986–97): I flew into Cairo from Frankfurt and was told that I would have to take a bus cross country to get to my teaching site, the North Sinai camp. Fortunately, there was a small cargo plane heading that way.
The site itself was manned by the MFO, the Multi-National Force & Observers, a consortium of UN peacekeepers, including some from France, Scotland, and the Fiji Islands, among other countries. The Scots hosted a “Bobby Burns Night” party with haggis for all who wanted to try it, and the French celebrated their Bastille Day
with a contest featuring a bottle of champagne as the prize. . . .
The soldiers from the Fiji Islands were housed in a separate area and started early each day with beautiful choral singing that was loud enough to be heard throughout the camp.
One of my students was a helicopter pilot and she said she would be absent from class one day, but if we looked out the window at exactly a certain time, she would be in the air and would “waggle” her helicopter at us, which she did. Another student, giving a demonstration speech, took the whole class inside a nearby Chinook helicopter and showed us where everything was stored. [It was] definitely the largest audio-visual aid ever used in one of my classes.
PAULINE FRY FACULTY, STAFF : After an eight-week term teaching in Tehran (January–early March 1977), I was offered an unusual assignment: meet a submarine, then teach its sailors English 102: Introduction to Literature.
The submarine was due to surface in early April, out of sync with the regularly scheduled Maryland classes, so I’d be teaching a condensed six-week course, twice a week for three hours, plus two Saturdays.
La Maddalena, one of seven islands in the archipelago off Sardinia, was home to the American Naval Support Activity (NSA)…. I would meet the submarine sailors who would be my students. Once again, University of Maryland was—literally—fulfilling its mission of going to the troops to offer them education, its initial goal when University of Maryland’s European Division was founded in 1949.
Those days of travel! If we weren’t booked on a military transport, flights were not cheap, unless one booked an inconvenient hour. On a Saturday, I flew from Paris to Rome, then took a night flight from Rome to Olbia, arriving after 9 p.m. From Olbia, I’d take a ferry to La Maddalena, find a hotel, and show up at the Education Center on Monday morning. That was my youthful plan.
On the plane to Olbia, I learned otherwise. A well-dressed Italian gentleman was in the seat next to me. Politely, he asked if I were on vacation.
“Oh no,” I replied, “I am coming to Sardinia to teach.”
He spoke careful English. “At the University of Cagliari?”
I had no idea where Cagliari was. “No, La Maddalena.”
Then it dawned on him. “You are teaching Americans at the base there? But it is very small. Perhaps you mean San Stefano?” He looked at his watch, then at me. “You can’t get to either island tonight. The ferries have stopped running. Have you booked a hotel near the airport?”
Of course I hadn’t booked a hotel. I was teaching for Maryland and had gotten used to hopping on trains—once after one had already pulled out of the station—arriving in
unknown places, and usually, finally, figuring things out.
I started to be a little suspicious. Was this well dressed Italian a travel agent? Or trying to make a move? Yet he seemed genuinely concerned.
“No, I haven’t booked a hotel yet,” I responded. Silence. What was he thinking?
“The best way,” he finally replied, “is you come home with me.”
The lights dimmed as the plane was about to land. I couldn’t speak.
“My wife and daughters will be happy to meet you,” he added.
That is how I ended up on the Costa Smeralda—The Emerald Coast—at the stunning estate of the Aga Khan. The estate manager, I’ll call him Signore Osti, lived on the same property as the Aga Khan’s Le Cerbiatte (The Fawns), a huge villa set on a wide lawn rolling down to the sea and dotted with perfectly manicured gardens.
The Ostis’ house shared the same view, which I’d appreciate the next day. It was dark when his driver left us at the front door and a lovely woman opened it as two young girls rushed out.
“Papa!” We were home.
What an introduction to Sardinia! I was shown into the luxurious guest suite, then asked to come back to the kitchen for an informal supper. Over a seafood pasta and white wine, the Ostis explained to me the Costa Smeralda. Karim Aga Khan made an initial investment in the early ʼ60s to develop the northern part of the island. He made laws on what building materials could be used for new villas, ensured that power lines were buried underground, and set up the area’s own fire brigade, rubbish collection, and security guards. He attracted established (read: rich) Italian families and developed Porto Cervo, Costa Smeralda’s central town and port.
I woke up at dawn, opened the French doors on to a private terrace and a sweeping view of green lawns and emerald water, studded by banks of flowers.
Fourteen sailors, underwater for longer than I cared to think about, were now on land, and about to embark on a new voyage: Introduction to Literature. As they came into the classroom on a Tuesday afternoon (class was held from 5:30-8 p.m. Tues./Thurs.), the textbooks hadn’t yet arrived. Cleverly, I’d xeroxed copies of a poem, which would give students an introduction to our class.
“This is a poem written by Frances Darwin Cornford,” I began. “The Guitarist Tunes Up.”
As I hoped, a lively discussion ensued. Which words stand out? We worked up to simile, “over his instrument …/as a man with a loved woman might/”
This was too much for Randy, the first of the students’ names I’d remember forever.
“Ma’am, excuse me, but this isn’t right! A guitar is a guitar. A woman is a woman, but he’s playing his guitar.” Randy didn’t go for the simile. He added, “I play the guitar; it ain’t like no woman!”
NANCY DERR FACULTY, : The most intense assignment I had in the early ‘70s was teaching aboard the USS Canopus, a ship that was moored off the west coast of Scotland. It was the mother ship for the Polaris submarine fleet which patrolled the North Atlantic and North Sea. Nuclear-powered submarines could enter Holy Loch at ocean depth and surface alongside the Canopus for repair and for R & R for the crews.
The long pier to catch the boat to get to the ship was set into a tiny community called Sandbank, where I lived. The weather in Sandbank changed dozens of times a day because of the way that the loch fit in between the mountain ranges. Winds rushed down two valleys to meet over the loch in wild confusion. It rained up your nose or in your ears, hardly ever down. . . .
Heavy fogs of deep winter meant that sailors couldn’t get shore leave, since only a boat with radar could make it to the ship, and that was the officers’ motorboat, the OMB. Sometimes I was the only passenger, and in those cases the OMB pilot helped me over to the base of the ramp.
That transit to the ship was a liminal space, a rite of passage. Hierarchies got simplified. It was beautiful in good weather, and I bought stationery with the picture of the ship, calm on a blue loch—but how rare were those quiet skies! Usually the approach was so challenging that the classes I met on the ship—escorted to them by a Marine, down many a ladder—were far more meaningful than classes on land.
In late August of 1971 I arrived in Izmir, a new employee of the
University of Maryland [Global Campus], to teach enlisted personnel at the NATO installation there. One of my students in that first class had a severe disability. A corpsman and the student’s father brought him in lying flat on a gurney and tried to position him so that he could see me. He was 19. The year before, in Texas, he had dived off a cliff into a river that turned out to be shallow: he broke his neck and damaged his spinal cord. He could not move, but he could whisper. His father listened to him and repeated what he wanted to say. His father was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force who had brought his wife and son with him to his assignment in Izmir.
I began going to this family’s quarters, in order to give my student quizzes and to include him in three-way discussions with his father and me. I learned that his father was stationed in Vietnam in ’69–70. He was bemused by President Nixon’s denial of the bombing of Cambodia, which, he said, he had personally done. To whom was he lying? He was the first of many people I would meet who had fought in Vietnam, and I was grateful for his candor. His son listened to us avidly, propped up so that he could be fed and could see us better.
The son did well in the class, yet his chances for the future were starkly limited. His airway had to be cleared often, and he suffered from contact sores. Yet the father was determined that his son know the gratification of a challenge, of studying American history in college. I’m grateful I was his teacher.
STEVEN HOLOWENZAK was the first overseas faculty member to be honored as professor emeritus by UMGC. His 32 years overseas with the university included 25 years of classroom teaching on 125 military bases in 25 countries. He called it a “marvelous experience ... and a wonderful life journey.”
ALEXANDER BOERINGA FACULTY, : Before moving to Europe, I had taught graduate, undergraduate, and medical school students, but hands down, the politest and most fun students I have encountered were those I met through [UMGC]. Whenever I congratulated a student on a good grade or paper, one of the most common responses I received was, “Well, why wouldn’t I do my best? This is my one chance to obtain an education and move ahead in life.”
AARON GEWIRTZ (FACULTY, 1985–“ : Classes at Yongsan were fairly large and were made up of a mix of American military members and dependents, civilian employees,
and some Korean local nationals. In Korea, local nationals could take Maryland classes. Many of the Korean students at Yongsan were extremely sharp and usually wound up at the top of the class. Some already had an undergraduate degree from a Korean university and were taking Maryland business courses as prerequisites for MBA degrees they would be pursuing in the U.S.
While the Korean students could speak English quite well, it was not uncommon for instructors to allow them to have a Korean/ English dictionary when taking exams. During a marketing exam, I noticed the Korean students were busy thumbing through their dictionaries. I stopped the exam and asked what the problem was; did they need a word translated that was not in their dictionary? One student raised her hand and asked, “What does ‘Chevrolet Camaroʼ mean?” None of them knew what that was, and it was not listed in their dictionaries.
Also at Yongsan, I had told the students in one of my classes that I was engaged to marry a Korean woman. One of the young Korean women took me aside after class and asked if she could meet this woman I was planning to marry, perhaps for lunch. She would not tell me why, and I thought it was a rather strange request.
I asked my wife-to-be what she thought. She was very curious and agreed to meet with her. We met for lunch and the student asked me to leave while she and Soonja talked for a while. She later explained to both of us that she wanted to be sure that I was not being taken in by one of the Korean bar girls who just wanted to marry an American to obtain U.S. citizenship. She gave me her seal of approval!
told me of my next teaching assignment in the fall of 1977, it was only mildly surprising. We would begin a program in Australia. Getting there involved one of the more memorable Maryland commutes. I would first travel by train from Misawa to Tokyo. Then I would board a plane at Yokota airbase and fly to Hawaii. In Hawaii, I would transfer to a military aircraft flying to the Samoan Islands. There an Australian military plane would fly me to Sydney. In Sydney, one boarded the Indian Pacific express for a four-day journey across Nullarbor Plain and the Australian continent to Perth. In Perth, a military C-12 would fly me 789 miles north to the Harold E. Holt. I was just another academic carpetbagger with notes for American Government 170 and American History 156 in hand.
DAVID GLASER FROM ANOTHER ENTRY: Maryland students in Vietnam showed an abundance of enthusiasm and a willingness to work. They took courses not because they wished to graduate so much as because it was a learning experience. For many, hard work and willingness to learn simply could not compensate for the situation in which they found themselves. But the best of the uniformed collegiates were a match for the finest on any campus in America.
LISA HENKEL (STAFF, ADMINISTRATOR, 1999–2022): The boardwalk was the center of off-duty life in Kandahar. Essentially it was a giant dirt field ringed with a dozen kiosks including the barber shop, a coffee stand, ATM machines, a cyber café, and a hockey rink. Off-duty Canadian forces built the rink and, while it didn’t have ice, ball hockey games were the highlight of the night.
The boardwalk had no cover, so when the ceremony started
we were sitting in the blistering hot sun. The base commander, Brigadier General [Kristin] French, gave the keynote address, and Dr. Berg handed out diplomas and shook hands with the soldiers as they crossed the stage, dusty combat boots beneath their caps and gowns, M4 rifles slung across their backs, smiling from ear to ear.
After the ceremony, as people were congratulating the graduates and filling their paper plates with sandwiches, chicken wings, and potato salad, the unmistakable sound of an alarm shrilled through the compound. People dove into bunkers, graduates holding onto their mortarboards with one hand and their lunch trays with the other.
Dr. Berg and I ended up in a bunker with about 15 others, including General French and several members of her staff. Captain Patrick Hopple, a guardsman from Miami who sang the national anthem just 40 minutes earlier, was there. It turns out he sang in an a cappella group that opened for my nephew's group six years ago in Boston. We took a picture together on my Blackberry. I met Staff Sergeant Dan Deiler in that bunker. Being from Wisconsin I had spotted his distinctive green and gold Packer themed helmet, and in the bunker that helmet was resting at his feet.
Some guys had casually resumed eating their lunch like it was just another in a cafeteria. Mine was covered with a layer of bunker dirt, but I wouldn’t have been able to eat it anyway since my stomach was in knots. Every 90 seconds or so the chatter would be briefly drowned out by the sound of incoming rockets. When the all-clear finally sounded, we grabbed our plates and caps and gowns and filed back out into the heat.
Within 30 minutes everything was back to normal, or as normal as anything ever really is in a combat zone. I will always consider it a blessing that I was in Kandahar on that May afternoon to bear witness to such a uniquely [UMGC] graduation, one where in the blink of an eye graduates turn back into soldiers, and guest speakers turn back into commanders. It was a ceremony where you don't just hear a speaker talk about heroes, but one where they surround you.
JULIAN JONES (FACULTY, ADMINISTRATOR, 1969–97): Vladimir Saunin outlined the program we developed in last night’s riotous banquet. He was careful to describe it in tentative terms, always asking me if he had understood correctly. Irkutsk and Maryland would field a dual degree program.
The question of the program’s cost came up, and I could only explain what courses cost in the military program and note that travel and administrative expenses would increase these figures. The Soviet side seemed taken aback by the dollar figure I suggested. The next day, my final full day in Irkutsk, they responded with some ideas: Would we accept iron ore and timber products to cover some of the costs? And could rubles rather than dollars be used for others?
The Russian programs survived the end of the Soviet Union, a change from face-to-face to online classes and the vicissitudes of Russian-U.S. relations. Irkutsk State University built a noted Russian-American Management Institute. I felt privileged returning to Vladivostok in 2017 to award degrees and celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary.
Two years later, University of Maryland University College changed its name to University of Maryland Global Campus. The new name encompassed both its worldwide military programs and the new international connections Joe Arden and I imagined so many years earlier.
JANE McHAN (FACULTY, ADMINISTRATOR, 1986–2021): Teaching and administrative work with [UMGC] for 25 years was an important part of my life. Without a doubt, the best part was working with and getting to know faculty. . .
We had a new art professor at Heidelberg, and she wanted permission to have a nude model for one evening class. No one was aware that this had ever been done. She agreed to permit any students who might be opposed to it to have an assignment at home that evening. To be sure, I dreaded any complaints.
The morning after, I arrived at my office and the first thing said to me was, “You have an urgent call from a student about last night’s nude model in the art class.”
I took a deep breath, called the number, and the student said, “There was a nude model in the art class in Heidelberg High School last night.”
“Yes,” I said.
He said, “Well, ma’am, we are in the math class across the hall, and we want one in our class.”
HUGO KEESING (FACULTY, ADMINISTRATOR, 1970–1991): After being deposited at Marmara Hall and leaving my luggage in my BOQ room, I went to meet the base Education Services Officer, Bill Berlin. Bill had a reputation for liking Maryland instructors and filling classes. He wasted no time explaining his methods. All incoming personnel were subject to his mandatory briefing on the values of a college education. Bill used charts and numbers to extoll promotion rates, post-military employment, and the like. Without being explicit, he also made clear to me that he expected all of “his” students to get at least passing grades.
When I met the first of my three psychology classes a day later to go over the syllabus, course requirements, etc. I encountered an unexpected problem. With the military working in the base’s “elephant cage” assigned to duty “flights,” they would miss significant class time when their work shift overlapped my teaching hours. My solution was to require that those affected would take the course as a “learning pair.” An Able flight student could pair
with either a Baker or Charlie so that one of the two was always in attendance. They were expected to work out how to divide readings, share notes, and complete assignments. They would take the open-book mid-term and final exam together, with only one answer permitted from the two of them. I briefed Bill on my unorthodox solution, explaining that as a psychologist I knew what I was doing [not really]. He had no objection, especially after I told him this would be the best way to ensure that all students could complete my classes.
Term IV went smoothly. After the midterm, students quickly concluded that two heads were not necessarily better than one. Agreeing on a single answer to a question involved trust, compromise, communication skills, and other traits required in small group work. In some ways this “fix” to a scheduling problem presaged a learning environment that would become commonplace 30 years later. This hoped for [for me] but unexpected [for them] outcome of the psychology courses was possibly the most important learning students took away. The term ended with no student incompletes or drops. I think everyone passed and student feedback was good. Bill Berlin was happy and asked to have me back Term IV, 1972–73. Therefore it was a pleasure to return to my favorite installation a year later.
BARBARA DOW NUCCI FACULTY, : I was teaching for the University of Maryland in Europe, Naples Program, and my students were primarily active-duty American military. Most of them had never been abroad before and an assignment to Naples seemed exciting, but perhaps not to all, as the city had an extremely negative reputation as being dirty and unsafe.
The schools, the hospital, the church, the PX and Commissary, and some of the office buildings were all located on a support site at Gricignano, a small town located 20 miles from the center of the city of Naples. Everything they needed was inside this walled town. The orientation class was full of warnings, such as avoid eating gelato or mozzarella as both are made with unpasteurized milk.
The first-level Italian course these students had enrolled in consisted of 16 three-hour evening classes over a period of eight weeks, not an ideal schedule for learning a language.
In-class time was important but, following my belief that language is a vehicle of culture, I knew that my students would greatly benefit by direct experience of Neapolitan life. I modified the class schedule to allow for two all-day Saturday field trips during which they could practice their growing language skills and observe Italian culture firsthand.
I handed out the itinerary and a map of the area we would be exploring. The walk from the Montesanto Station to the historic center of the city was a lively slice of Neapolitan life: narrow alleyways with cars pressing shoppers onto the already crowded sidewalks, horns honking, shops of every kind spilling their merchandise almost into the street, harried housewives yanking along large carts full of the day’s food shopping, tables of dripping whole fish, coffee bars exuding aromas of steamy espresso and freshly baked pastries, pajamas and tablecloths hanging from the doorways, shoeboxes stacked against the wall, a sample shoe on top, peddlers wheeling carts strung with socks and underwear, rainbows of fruits and vegetables piled precariously high on sidewalk tables. The cries of the vendors, the loud voices of the crowd, the frequent bursts of song were deafening!
We then made our way through the crowds to the Decumanus Maior, the main avenue of three primary streets of the ancient Greek grid plan, whose original streets, I reminded them, lie but 20 feet below the modern cobblestones. I wanted my students to FEEL the layers of history of this amazing city. Naples was founded in the 6th century B.C. to become a huge commercial port and remained Greek in language and culture long after the Romans took control. There followed a series of dynasties, each adding its own styles and traditions.
Next on the itinerary were the excavations of the Roman market of the 1st century A.D., once the Greek agora, discovered in the 1970s under the lovely 13th-century Gothic church of San Lorenzo. Down flights of steel stairways, we came upon narrow streets lined with brick-walled shops—a bakery, a dye shop, a tax office. I asked my students to imagine these underground alleys and stores just as full of vendors, shoppers, and excitement as we had found on the streets now above us.
We next visited Napoli Sotterranea, or Underground Naples. By narrow stone steps, we descended 15 stories into the earth, and came upon a tufo quarry (in English, tuff, a yellow volcanic stone) where marks of the chisels used to cut out the building blocks for the original Greek city are still evident. These huge underground quarries eventually became water cisterns and later part of the vast system of Roman aqueducts bringing fresh water into the city from the mountains to the east. This water supply was used by the city until the late 19th century, when a cholera epidemic caused its shutdown, and the cisterns were not utilized again until they became air raid shelters during the heavy bombardments by the Allied Forces in 1943.
At our next class, two students could hardly wait to tell me that they had taken their families plus some neighbors to GrecoRoman Naples on Sunday and had retraced our itinerary all the way. They had had new experiences, practiced Italian phrases, and observed Italian etiquette! I smiled to myself and thought, mission accomplished.
In January 1990, I received my new assignment from Julian Jones: Marine Biology at
Kwajalein that coming summer! I was so excited!! I was going to the largest atoll in the world!
Kwajalein Atoll is located in the Marshall Islands, approximately halfway between Honolulu and Manila. On the reef enclosing the lagoon are about 100 small islands. Kwajalein is one of the three largest islands in the atoll and the home of a large U.S. Army base.
Dr. Jones added that most of my students were working for Lincoln Lab, the prestigious lab from MIT.
My marine biology friends asked me to keep my eyes open for signs of deformity in marine animals, since Kwajalein is close to Enewetak and Bikini islands, sites of atomic bombs tests. I was happy to report that we did not see any sign of body deformity.
I flew from Kadena to Kwajalein on an Air Force 141, a big military cargo plane with seats facing the rear of the aircraft.
Madelain Westermann, UMAD representative on site, met me at the airport and took me to a trailer, my home on “Kawj.” The place was simple but had everything I needed. The most interesting feature was the toilet’s water tank. Water pumped from the ocean was used to flush the toilet since fresh water was a precious commodity brought in by ship. I taught in the evening, and I used the morning to prepare the lesson, walk the beach, and pick up ocean life to bring to class. To keep the animals alive, I placed them in the toilet tank. After class I took them back to the ocean. Often we started class with a lecture in the classroom and continued on the reef.
Kwajalein was the site of a battle during WWII. The U.S. Army won the battle and in 1944 captured the island from the Japanese. The bombing left big holes on the reef. Over the years, life settled there, and they became tidepools, teaming with life, our gorgeous aquaria!
I taught marine biology on other tropical islands, but none had such a great lab!
LUCIA WORTHINGTON FACULTY, : The First Gulf War started during our orientation in Japan. Some faculty old timers had somber looks—they heard it in the engines of planes leaving. Soon there would be no C-141s as cargo planes left the airbase for the Middle East. They would return only when the war was over the following February. Months later at another meeting at Yokota AB, Julian Jones listened and then announced to us all, “The war must be over; the planes are coming back.” He was correct.
One of the highlights of the Tokyo orientation was the grand welcome celebration at the Black Tea House—a converted grist mill outside of Tokyo.… One of the foods presented with great ceremony were tiny bite size crabs in their shell. Julian said they tasted crunchy like popcorn and encouraged us to try them. At the end of the evening, he asked who had eaten them whole. Some of us, including me, raised our hands. Julian smiled and told us that those who tried eating them whole had the adventurous spirt to meet the challenges of teaching in the Asian Division. I passed the test. It was true for me.
NICK ZOA FACULTY, : Before flying to Afghanistan, I spent a week on a U.S. Army base in Germany where I was trained on important survival skills, such as: How to put on IBA (Interceptor Body Armor), how to treat punctured lungs and arterial bleeding, what to do when one encounters an IED (Improvised Explosive Device), and how to extract oneself from an overturned MRAP (Mine
Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle. I also learned a lot of military acronyms.
I participated in workshops and simulated exercises about what to do if captured by a hostile force. Depending on who my captors were, I was instructed to wait patiently for my rescue, work covertly with other prisoners to attempt escape, or pray for a non-violent death that didn’t involve torture. I was also issued a bag of potent earplugs and told that I would need them.
Military Airlift Command (MAC) was how I travelled from base to base within Afghanistan. To prevent planes from being shot at while departing or arriving on base, there was no schedule. To go from Kabul to Sharana, I went to the airfield and put my name on a list. Then, on a day when there might be a flight to Sharana, I donned my helmet and IBA, reported to the terminal and settled in for what I was told would be a wait of between 15 minutes and 15 hours.
After several hours, my flight was ready to depart. Thankfully, I was awake enough to hear the announcement. The soldiers and I grabbed our gear and marched across the tarmac into a plane whose giant propellers were already spinning. Boarding 100 passengers took about five minutes. There were no boarding passes, seat assignments, or metal detectors. I was the only unarmed passenger. The plane started rolling as the door closed. Once in the air, I was glad to be wearing my IBA. It kept me warm in the unheated C-5.
I heard seasoned troops tell new arrivals that the best way to get through a 14-month deployment was to sleep 12 hours a day. That way, 14 months in Afghanistan would feel like seven.
More than one of my students told me that their classes with Maryland were the only thing keeping them sane.
I taught astronomy at FOB Sharana, elevation 2,237 meters. One of the benefits of being stationed on a U.S. military base in a war zone is that every light source is blacked out at night to prevent the enemy from being able to target weapons at the base. On cloudless nights, the combination of Sharana’s altitude, the cold, dry air and no light pollution enabled fabulous star gazing. I asked my students to bring to class any telescopes or binoculars that they might have. The night-vision military hardware that showed up that evening was powerful enough to see Titan orbiting Saturn and the Andromeda Galaxy. Thanks to some good timing, we started class one evening with a stunning lunar eclipse rising over the snow-capped Hindu Kush. G
Sitting presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Joe Biden commend UMGC for its service to the U.S. military and expanding role in higher education.
Over the years, University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) has received 10 letters of commendation from nine sitting presidents—beginning with Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1959, and followed by John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and—most recently—Joe Biden.
The sentiments contained in each reflect both the changing role of American higher education and UMGC’s evolution as a global institution.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1959, writing to the university’s first chancellor, Ray Ehrensberger, noted that “more than twenty thousand members of our Armed Forces are now enrolled in [UMGC’s] overseas education program,” and cited this as “further proof of Americans’ respect for higher learning and, in particular, the eagerness of the men and women of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps to take advantage of their educational opportunities.”
John F. Kennedy, in a 1962 telegram, wrote that it was “vitally important that the men and women of our Armed Forces be thoroughly trained in the many special skills now demanded of them by modern warfare.” Continuing education for military personnel, he added, “is essential to the future of our country and to our goal of peace with freedom for all peoples.”
Lyndon Johnson, in 1966, alluded to America’s rising prominence on the global stage, noting that “Our military personnel . . constitute some of our most effective ambassadors abroad and their academic work is in keeping with their mission.”
Richard Nixon, writing in 1972, noted that—as the country shifted to volunteer military service—the importance of education would increase, and it would rank high “both as a source of individual attainment and collective strength.”
Gerald Ford, in 1974, acknowledged the challenging circumstances UMGC was often called to overcome, writing, “I know that during some of these years your courses were taught amidst the tensions of cold war and under trying physical circumstances in makeshift facilities.” All who were part of this effort, he added, “deserve the nation’s gratitude for their outstanding work.”
Ronald Reagan, writing in 1982 and again in 1986, cited technological advances in weaponry and tactics as having
“placed new skill requirements and responsibilities upon our military, increasing the need for higher-level education and training.” He added, “I salute the staff, faculty and student body . . . on past achievements and offer every best wish for similar success in the years to come.”
Bill Clinton, writing in 1996, congratulated UMGC on its 50th anniversary, alluding to its impact—and the importance of education—in civilian as well as military populations.
“For fifty years,” Clinton wrote, “the faculty and staff of [UMGC] have been offering an ideal learning opportunity for their students and preparing them for the responsibilities that lie ahead. Our nation relies on schools such as yours to supply the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in the twenty-first century.”
Some 20 years later, Barack Obama would again acknowledge UMGC’s contributions, referring to America’s schools as “gateways to opportunity and engines for our Nation’s progress.” He continued, “Since your school’s founding, faculty and staff have prepared students to meet the challenges of their time. And by cultivating passion for learning, schools like yours help ensure the doors of opportunity continue to open wide for all who are willing to dream big.”
Finally, in 2022, Joe Biden wrote to congratulate UMGC on its 75th anniversary and again pointed to the increasing importance of higher education to the country’s current and future success. “Education is the one field that makes all others possible, . . . ” Biden wrote. “Institutions like yours not only educate our students—they shape our future.”
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Education is the one field that makes all others possible, . . .” Biden wrote. “Institutions like yours not only educate our students—they shape our future.”
HOUSE WASHINGTON
1,2022 mark others our and inspired educate that invest educators, school staff, and the schools that help mold and inspire our prosperity, students, leaders anniversary.
University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay Perman, in his charge to the new president, set expectations high, calling on him to “reframe who we serve, and how we serve them, and to reimagine what education and access look like in the 21st century.”
This is a major task, even for an institution with a 75-year history of innovation and flexibility, and Fowler immediately rose to accept the challenge.
“We must have the courage to stop reinventing the wheel, and, instead, build a launchpad for spaceships,” Dr. Fowler told the audience of university leaders, faculty, staff, students, alumni, guests, and representatives from across Maryland academia and government. “We dare not rest on our laurels. Just as the higher education industry and landscape changes, just as the American military continues
to evolve, so too must the ways we serve our various populations.”
A wave of change starts with a single drop of water, Fowler said. In the same way, UMGC must transform lives, one learner at a time. He spoke of new technologies that UMGC will leverage to help faculty spot those students who are struggling and provide them with additional support to get over the rough times.
These are students, he said, who fail because “life happens.” Unforeseen troubles arise and they start to lose focus on their coursework, not because they can’t comprehend the material but because other priorities and emergencies crop up. He called on the university to wrap them in a cocoon of support.
“We must help those whose voices have been heard the least, who the status quo has too often left isolated or home -
The investiture of Dr. Gregory Fowler as UMGC’s seventh president offered an opportunity for institutional stakeholders to reflect on the university’s legacy, reaffirm its mission of serving adult learners in the workforce and the military, and embrace a future marked by challenge and opportunity.
bound, unseen or unheard,” he said. “It may to provide, or the soldier in a war zone who has dreams of making a new life for her or his loved ones at home. These are the lives we
in developing innovative learning models.” be the single mother or father struggling Led by Gov. Larry Hogan, video tributes to the new president came from members of Maryland’s congressional delegation—including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, can change.” and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, as well as Prince George’s
With his parents and six of his seven siblings looking on, Fowler reflected on his parents’ reverence for education and how they encouraged their children to find ways to graduate from college and pursue professional lives.
“My life is a testimony that in transforming lives, we transform families,” he said. “And if we can transform families, we can transform communities. If we can transform communities, we can transform nations. And, if we can transform nations, we can transform the world.”
Fowler began his tenure as president on January 4, 2021, after serving most recently as president of Southern New Hampshire
University Global Campus. His investiture on March 10, 2022, formalized his leadership.
Linda Gooden, chair of the USM Board of Regents, noted that Fowler is “uniquely suited to build upon UMGC’s impressive 75-year legacy and lift this institution to even greater heights. He is a nationally recognized scholar. He is an acknowledged leader
County executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Said Hogan, “For 75 years, UMGC has served the people of Maryland and its community with a mission of bringing the dream of higher education within reach to tens of thousands of students. And with President Fowler at the helm, I have no doubt that UMGC will continue to be a shining example of all that Maryland’s world-class university system has to offer.”
Dr. Lawrence Leak, who served as interim president during the presidential search, said that—as the university’s first Black president—Fowler is leading a university “that boldly embraces diversity in all forms and touches the lives of so many individu-
als of color, both here and abroad.”
He said from their first meeting, “I was immediately impressed by his insight, his engagement, and his eagerness to tackle the challenges at hand energetically. He is a skilled administrator and distinguished scholar, and he possesses a keen sense of purpose and a passion for our mission.” G
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2022 ADELPHI, MARYLAND
Thank you, Chancellor Perman and Board Chair Gooden, and to all of you here and watching via livestream, welcome!
I am both proud and humbled to speak to you today as president of University of Maryland Global Campus, an institution dedicated from the outset to meeting students where they are and responding to their needs.
It is a special honor to welcome my colleagues who are presidents of other universities. They embody the diversity of purpose in higher education and remind us of its breadth of impact—from providing an environment where young adults can learn and come of age, to expanding the frontiers of knowledge through research, to shaping a safe and supportive haven for historically disadvantaged populations to grow and achieve.
At the same time, I am saddened to note that many of our colleagues and friends—particularly those overseas—are now living under the shadow of war as the crisis in Ukraine grinds on. Some are themselves in harm’s way, while others endure the singular pain that comes with knowing that family members and friends are in danger, their lives disrupted.
Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Here today I feel especially blessed that so many of my family members have been able to join us.
They have played a formative role in my life, shaping the way I view the world and the way I see my own role and objectives here at University of Maryland Global Campus.
I get my love of education from my mother, who for years drove 45 minutes each way down South Georgia roads to teach elementary school and also served as my Sunday school teacher.
I learned the value of service from my father, who often took me with him as he visited church members around the city.
That commitment to service has always been a recurring theme.
He and my oldest brother, Junior, are both military veterans, and others of my siblings have worked as pastors, teachers, and public servants.
My brother Michael, who appeared on the cover of TIME magazine at the height of the pandemic, is a mortician and coroner in Dougherty County, Georgia, and used his position to help track the spread of the virus, drive awareness, and encourage community health measures to limit the spread.
While many associate coroners with death, Mike expanded his mission to include saving as many lives as possible with community programs to reduce drownings and drug overdoses—a perfect example of how one life can impact so many others.
Of course, my brothers and sisters also helped teach me humility—whether I liked it or not—by never letting me forget where I came from and standing ready to remind me of my shortcomings.
Joking aside, my belief in the power of love, of laughter, and of perseverance is rooted in my relationship with my family, and again, it informs the way I view higher education and this university’s mission.
Because of my own background and the relationship I have with my family, I see myself in the courage and determination
of our students, and I recognize how the right support can change lives for generations to come.
My sister Sabrina, for instance, led by example and paved the way for many of us, first graduating from college, then moving from Albany to Atlanta, where her apartment became home for me and several of my siblings over the years as we pursued our college degrees.
Here at UMGC, when I look at our portfolio of offerings, in health professions, biotechnology, cybersecurity—and many more that members of my own family attained—and I see how it has changed their destinies, I am compelled to make those same opportunities available to as many others as possible.
And hardly a day goes by when I am not reminded of something my brother Vernon said to me when he was teaching me how to bowl.
After one particularly offensive gutter ball, he looked at me and said, “That ball went right where you threw it.”
Over the years, when my efforts have failed to produce the desired results, I have come back to that simple observation and the wisdom behind it. It has helped me grow, reflect on lessons learned, and ultimately to strive always to be better today than I was yesterday.
Of course, we are more than the sum of our experiences, but it is equally true that my experiences continue to shape the way I work and lead.
As a college student working at the Six Flags theme park, I learned the power of a coordinated team, of considering the user experience, and of treating customers as guests in your home.
Working for the National Endowment for the Humanities taught me the value of bringing new voices into our conversations and how to empower underserved populations.
These experiences combined inspired me to explore the art of the possible and motivated me to accept the role here at UMGC, aligned with a mission that has guided this university for 75 years.
Here at UMGC, the tradition of flexibility and agility and of meeting students where they are is rooted in our DNA.
“ We must have the courage to stop reinventing the wheel and, instead, build a launch pad for spaceships.
As former President Gerald Heeger noted in 1999, in his foreword to UMGC’s official history:
“From its inception, this institution has been student centered in every sense of that phrase. Few institutions can boast such a colorful record of working with students in most unusual and often adverse conditions. That ‘student centeredness’ remains at the heart of [UMGC] today; we are committed to rethinking the university to provide a new level of service to the dedicated students in the [UMGC] community.”
In 1949, as NATO was established and as deployments to Europe increased in support of the Berlin airlift, the Department of Defense sent out a directive inviting institutions to offer courses in Europe. Only one responded—the University of Maryland College of Special and Continuation Studies, precursor of today’s UMGC.
Meeting students where they are meant finding seven faculty members willing to fly to post-War Germany with one week’s notice.
As time went on, it meant being the first to venture into a war zone to teach American troops—in Vietnam, in 1963—and being the first Maryland university to desegregate.
Our teams were in the Philippines when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991.
They were on Guam in 1992 when the island was hit by five hurricanes and an earthquake—and classes continued to meet, even when that meant using flashlights.
UMGC was at the forefront of the online revolution in higher education, piloting online classes in 1994 and among the first to offer degree programs fully online.
Similarly, in 2015, we replaced publisher textbooks with digital resources in most courses, at no cost to students, saving them an estimated $17 million in the first year alone.
Risks are easily managed in hindsight, and it is worth noting that UMGC has been guided by the needs and objectives of students, even when outcomes were far from certain.
In Germany, in 1949, university leaders appointed history professor David Sparks ad hoc program administrator. He went to work with the understanding that if fewer than 300 students registered for classes, he was to shutter the program and send everyone home.
More than 1,800 enrolled in the first two weeks alone, and the program recorded more than 9,500 enrollments that first academic year, growing to almost 35,000 a decade later.
Online education was uncharted territory as well when UMGC piloted its first course in 1994.
Distance education was nothing new; the university had offered courses by mail, radio, teleconference, and even voice mail for years.
However, few foresaw the overwhelming response to online instruction.
Within three years, when the first Web-based course was offered, the university recorded 3,800 individual enrollments. A decade later, that number had grown to more than 177,000! These successes hinged on our willingness to be bold, to learn from failures, accept change, and step forward into new and sometimes uncomfortable circumstances.
Today, our challenge turns on meeting student needs by designing new learning experiences that align with their goals and objectives—and that rest on a foundation of service and support that is unprecedented, and perhaps unexpected, in higher education, and easily accessible 24/7 across multiple platforms.
Historically, education has operated as something of a black box. Learners signed up, paid tuition and fees, and immersed themselves in a learning experience without a clear understanding of what they could expect to receive in return.
We have told students repeatedly and convincingly that they
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As Nelson Mandela said, education truly is our greatest weapon for transformation, and, I would add, our greatest hope for transformation as well.
needed to go to college, and even
nity partnerships and bring their voicthat their long-term success was es and needs to the design session. contingent on earning a degree. We We will leverage those partnerships have not always been as clear about in turn, looking at partner organizations what came in the “one-size-fits-all” as assets that bring special expertise, package that we call a degree. added bandwidth, and scalability that
In response to the growing further our ability to fulfill our mission. chorus of voices asking, “Is college
Even before the pandemic struck, worth it?” we will work to ensure there were some 40 million Americans that our more traditional programs with some college and no degree. use plain terms to define the knowl- Many of those students have been to edge, skills, and abilities a student three, four, or five different instituwill gain, and how those skills and tions, and all they have to show for it abilities tie to the career and civic is debt and the reinforced belief that aspirations of each learner. they are not college material.
We will accept accountability
Yet our own statistics reveal that for our results, partnering with students typically fail or drop out, not students in the learning journey, because they cannot comprehend measuring our successes in terms or master the course content, but of their success, and leveraging because “life happens.” resources to ensure that we know
This attrition is both tragic and (Top) UMGC Interim President Lawrence Leak; (above) what they came to us for—and preventable. Today’s technologies USM Chancellor Jay W. Perman greets guests as they get what we promised them allow us to monitor student, faculty, President Gregory Fowler looks on; (opposite page, when they enrolled. from left) Frostburg State University President Ronald and staff behaviors and progress at
In a post-pandemic world where Nowaczyk; University of Maryland Eastern Shore granular levels that were unimagiVice President for Strategic Initiatives Rondall Allen; many are rethinking their priori- nable just a few decades ago. We can Towson University President Kim Schatzel; University ties, we will evaluate our assump- and must use that capacity to iden - of Maryland, Baltimore County, President Freeman tions and adjust our strategies. A. Hrabowski III; University of Maryland, Baltimore, tify those students most in need and Those who are part of the Great President Bruce Jarrell; and University of Maryland, wrap them in a cocoon of support. College Park, President Darryll Pines. Resignation will need new skills, Another 40 million adults in America and they will not be willing to drop have no credentialed postsecondary everything to attend classes full-time and face-to-face. learning experiences in a global economy that increasingly Again, this is familiar territory for UMGC. As my predecessor demands it. President Gerald Heeger wrote, Again, these are the students that we must find new ways to help succeed. And if we only operate in traditional ways, we “In our definition of ‘university,’ there are no ivy-covered builings, can only expect to get traditional results. no gated green lawns, no four-year-long interruptions in the life UMGC’s history has taught us that there will always be of a student. Most important, no barrier separates education another disruptor—another pandemic, another volcanic erupfrom people’s everyday lives. We envision the university as a tion, another tsunami, another global conflict. lifelong resource enabling all people to continue improving their While we cannot predict the future, we can and must do betskills, sharpening their minds, and achieving their goals—all ter at future-proofing our institution and its ability to meet stuwhile they continue to work, participate in their communities, and dents where they are by creating learning experiences that are enjoy their families.” designed from the start to be of high academic quality, engaging, personalized, and time-and-space agnostic.
That was more than 20 years ago, and it remains true today. With 180 locations around the world, we are fully committed to To meet students where they are, we must truly listen to them building on our long history of service to the U.S. military, leveraging and respond by creating new learning experiences, rapidly and the advantages offered by our global footprint and using our presresponsively, that do not compromise on quality. ence in these communities to reach the civilian populations as well
At the same time, we will increase our corporate and commu- who can benefit from the learning experiences we are developing.
Dr. Gregory W. Fowler, I hereby charge you to be the pioneer that this pioneering institution deserves.
I charge you to help us fundamentally change the way higher education works and how all of us work within it.
I charge you to reframe who we serve and how we serve them and to reimagine what education and access look like in the 21st century.
I charge you to meet your students where they are, literally and metaphorically, and to give them the support and flexibility and opportunities they need to get where they want to go.
I charge you to keep globalizing higher education, to remind us always of the power education has to foster understanding, to forge connections, and to find common ground. Now, more than ever, we see the humanitarian impact of our scholarship and our service.
I charge you to work for access, equity, and fairness in everything you do so that this great university is open to all, and benefits all, and cultivates equally the enormous talent that resides here.
I charge you to value the contributions of your students, your faculty, staff, and alumni, recognizing that this institutionʼs future and the future youʼre creating for higher education writ large are dependent upon the voices, the vision, and the passion of your people.
I charge you to advocate for the learners who have placed their faith and their trust in this university and in you.
I charge you to grow UMGC ʼ s prominence, expand its reach, amplify its impact, strengthen its leadership. These are weighty responsibilities, I know, but through it all, you will persevere, and through it all, the University System of Maryland will work as your partner, your backer, and your ally.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great privilege to present to you Dr. Gregory W. Fowler, president of the University of Maryland Global Campus.
At the core of every surging river, every breaking wave, is a single drop of water. We will work to create those rivers of change and those waves of progress by transforming lives— one learner at a time.
This is how we have transformed the lives and families of more than 300,000 UMGC graduates. That is how we will affect change for even more moving forward.
We can never know where circumstance, disability, or neglect has concealed a transcendent mind—another Stephen Hawking, Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder, or Ludwig von Beethoven poised to change or illuminate our world.
What we know is that we must help those whose voices have been heard the least, who the status quo has too often left isolated or homebound, unseen, and unheard.
It may well be the single mother or father struggling to provide, or the soldier in a war zone who dreams of making a new life for her or his loved ones at home.
These are the lives we can change.
From the first, UMGC has said, “Here I am. Send me.”
And we are called to do that once again.
The challenge before us today is not related to a new learning modality, but new learning experiences.
A portion of our population needs full degree programs and term-length courses.
But even more need new skills in short bursts over periods of time as they change jobs and acclimate to them.
Others need trustworthy institutions to evaluate and certify the learning they have acquired from life experience outside the classroom.
Similarly, businesses need partners who can rapidly design and develop experiences that upskill employees in alignment with the demands of a competitive, technical, and ever-changing workplace.
To succeed, we must collaborate with those businesses to ensure the workforce is competitive, partnering with community organizations to support more than the academic needs of each learner, and supporting their civic needs and personal aspirations as well.
We must have the courage to stop reinventing the wheel and, instead, build a launch pad for spaceships.
A few weeks ago, I read an article in the Washington Post that described how seemingly small obstacles are in reality almost insurmountable for many of the learners we are committed to helping—how expenses like daycare, small utility bills, or even the cost of a single bus ticket can derail hopes and dreams.
Since the pandemic started, UMGC has distributed more than $620,000 to students in need through its Student Aid Fund for Emergency Relief (SAFER) program, and since its inception, the Pillars of Strength scholarship fund—which supports the volunteer caregivers of injured, wounded, or ill
In April 2022, Maryland’s The Daily Record—which reports on business, law, and government—named UMGC President Gregory Fowler to its Power 30 Higher Education List for the second consecutive year.
“Maryland has justly earned a reputation as home to some of the finest institutions of higher education in the nation,” The Daily Record said in announcing its list. “The men and women who make up our second annual Power 30 Higher Education List are among the reasons why. They are presidents and other senior administrators leading their colleges and universities, policymakers charting a course for the future, advocates striving to improve access and equity and faculty members on the cutting edge of research and the liberal arts.”
The list—compiled by the newspaper’s editorial team with input from readers and others—explored “how these leaders view the higher education landscape, how it now exists and what it may look like in the future.” Their objective was to “provide a glimpse into the kind of people they are, what drives them to excel, to serve, to teach.”
In its profile, The Daily Record reported that Fowler described the most important aspect of his job as creating “an environment where our team members can remove barriers and create pathways for students to succeed who have not always had access to opportunity—which in turn can transform lives, communities, and our world.”
servicemembers—has awarded full scholarships to 51 caregivers and disbursed more than $700,000 in tuition and fees.
This is in addition to our normal scholarship programs—some $15 million annually—and the way we allocate these funds reflects our commitment to empowering students who have been traditionally underserved or whose voices have not been heard.
I am touched and deeply grateful to all who have contributed to the inauguration scholarship fund in my honor—already totaling more than $175,000—that will go to support students who find themselves facing these types of challenges.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing us to continue finding ways to help them. For that I applaud you.
And we dare not rest on our laurels. Just as the higher education industry and landscape changes, just as the American military continues to evolve, so too must the ways in which we serve our various populations.
Make no mistake—we will proudly maintain our identity as a public Maryland institution and our focus on serving Marylanders, partnering with our sister and brother institutions in the University System of Maryland, and with businesses operating here, to serve students in every corner of the state, regardless of their proximity to a traditional campus—and ultimately to ensure that Maryland has the skilled and competitive workforce needed to support our dynamic economy.
This is what we mean when we talk about affordability and accessibility, when we talk about transforming lives, as you have heard here today.
My life is a testimony that in transforming lives, we transform families.
And if we can transform families, we can transform communities.
If we can transform communities, we can transform nations.
And if we can transform nations, we can transform the world.
As Nelson Mandela said, education truly is our greatest weapon for transformation, and, I would add, our greatest hope for transformation as well.
Thank you for your support, for the opportunity to lead this remarkable institution, and for your shared belief in the power of education to transform lives.
Thank you! And now, let’s get to work! G
“ At the core of every surging river, every breaking wave, is a single drop of water. We will work to create those rivers of change and those waves of progress by transforming lives—one learner at a time.
UMGC celebrates the achievements of graduates Global at ceremonies in Asia, Europe, and stateside.
For an institution like UMGC, with 175-plus locations in more than 20 countries and territories, commencement is a global affair. In 2022, some 13,685 individuals graduated from UMGC, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic further complicating the already challenging logistics. G This year’s commencement season kicked off in Tokyo, Japan, with an April 9 ceremony at the U.S. Navy’s New Sanno Hotel. That was followed, on April 16, by an event in Okinawa, Japan. On April 30, the focus shifted to Kaiserslautern, Germany, where an outdoor ceremony—complete with fireworks—celebrated the achievements of graduates stationed in Europe. Some 3,300 crossed multiple stages from May 17–22 in Adelphi, Maryland, part of an innovative Grad Walk experience designed to accommodate multiple graduating classes and their guests while still helping to safeguard the health of community members (see “Graduation, Reimagined,” p. 38). Finally, the season wrapped up on June 4 with a ceremony at the clubhouse of the Army’s River Bend Golf Course in Pyeongtaek, Korea. G For UMGC, these events are often family affairs—with children cheering their parents—that borrow colorful elements from local, academic, and military cultures. One student, who earned her master’s degree, posting to LinkedIn, acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 while still managing to find the silver lining. G “Year and a half later, I finally got to walk!” she wrote. “What made it better? I got to do it with my husband who graduated this year! Thank you [UMGC] for the awesome experience.”
Always quick to embrace innovation and change, UMGC adjusts to COVID-19 —and the preferences of adult learners— by reimagining the graduation experience.
BY MENACHEM WECKERA new mom in full graduation regalia made her way through the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. She scanned her personalized barcode and a computerized voice read her name. She crossed the stage with her baby in her arms, and UMGC President Gregory Fowler handed her her diploma folder. Her family applauded and snapped photos from a reserved space just a few feet from the stage.
Smiling, she looked down at her baby and said, “We did it!”
In a typical commencement, graduates sit with classmates while friends and family members sit in the audience. They listen to speeches and watch their classmates cross the stage. When their moment arrives, it is fleeting, and loved ones often struggle to catch a glimpse of the graduate.
UMGC’s Grad Walk 2022—held May 17 to 22, 2022—offered a completely different experience, one that focused on students, their wants and needs, as well as the health and safety of graduates, guests, and community members.
Because of COVID-19, UMGC’s graduating classes of 2020 and 2021 had been unable to march, and as the pandemic ground on, the university began exploring other scenarios.
Serena Williams, associate director of Commencement Services, noticed that other schools were hosting ceremonies that allowed graduates to march individually, making it easier to social distance. With that as the starting point, she developed a concept tailored to UMGC.
“We made adjustments that really honored our university, our demographic, and our graduates,” said Angie Grant, acting director of Commencement Services.
At Grad Walk 2022, graduates and their guests arrived in Adelphi and remained together until it was time for the graduate to cross the stage. When they did, their guests enjoyed an unobstructed view of the stage. If they needed an extra moment to capture photos or videos, or if graduates wanted to march with a friend or family member, they were encouraged to do so. (Professional photographers and videographers were also onsite to ensure that each graduate would receive personalized images and footage.)
Over the course of six days, more than 3,300 graduates—from the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022—crossed the stage. Those who wanted a more traditional commencement experience could view a recorded ceremony on demand, which included a keynote address, remarks by a student speaker, and the conferral of degrees by the president. Including graduates and their guests, more than 23,000 people participated in the Grad Walk.
“ Over the course of six days, more than 3,300 graduates—from the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022— crossed the stage.
“We paid attention to what graduates really want (based on previous post-commencement surveys and other feedback),” said Grant. “They want to hear their name called, to cross the stage, receive their diploma from the president, have their family and friends be there to celebrate them, and be able to share the moment on social media. This event brings those experiences together. They get a chance to be honored and celebrated, and in a way that reduces the risk for everyone.”
The response from students was enthusiastic.
In a post to LinkedIn, student speaker Jayla Nowlin wrote of being filled with gratitude. “I finally got to walk across the stage and be celebrated with my family,” she said. “Every detail was exceptional.”
A U.S. Marine information technology professional stationed in Hawaii posted a photo with his wife and two children, one of whom wore his sailor cap. Another graduate tweeted, “Finished my degree in 2020, but got to take my UMGC Grad Walk today!”
Another post on LinkedIn thanked UMGC’s president for taking the time to meet with graduates as they exited the room.
“You make it easy for veterans to enroll and work through the required processes,” one graduate wrote. Another added, “Year and a half later, I finally got to walk! What made it better? I got to do it with my husband who graduated this year!”
THE MAGIC THAT IS UMGC
Fowler and other university leaders spent hours on site every day, distributing degrees and meeting graduates, family members, and guests as they waited in line or, afterward, in a designated “celebration zone,” along with representatives of the UMGC Alumni Association.
Graduates could take photos in front of Maryland-themed backdrops and write messages on a signature wall, which Fowler was the first to sign. During Grad Walk, he also had to the opportunity to meet graduates in person and hear their stories firsthand.
One student was homeless before finally landing a job. Another
homeschooled seven children while studying at UMGC. A third deployed while still continuing to pursue a degree. It isn’t uncommon for students to report that it has taken them a decade or more to complete their degrees, with family or military responsibilities periodically interrupting their progress.
“I think that is amazing,” Fowler said. “When you hear stories like, ‘We were out in the field with our night vision goggles, reading the book, because we wanted to get the degree done’—it is just unimaginable if you are only thinking about the traditional college coming-of-age experience.”
Stories like these make up “the magic that is UMGC,” Fowler said, adding how proud he is to be able to accommodate the unique needs of nontraditional students while bringing the university’s years of experience to bear on commencement as well.
“Do not be surprised if you see some version of this happening in a number of places where we do graduations,” he said. G
“ You make it easy for veterans to enroll and work through the required processes,” one graduate wrote. Another added, “Year and a half later, I finally got to walk! What made it better? I got to do it with my husband who graduated this year!
“Adult learner” is an increasingly broad term, as evidenced by two of UMGC’s recent— and remarkable—graduates.
BY BOB LUDWIG
FOR 75 YEARS, UMGC HAS FOCUSED ON SERVING ADULT LEARNERS—but the definition of “adult” isn’t set in stone. For UMGC, it could mean almost anyone attending school part-time while juggling competing responsibilities—jobs, families, community leadership, military service, or more.
UMGC’s recent commencement exercises shone a spotlight on this broad spectrum of learners—from 19-year-old Nailah Gibson to 82-year-old Mae Beale.
Gibson became the first student to complete a UMGC degree under the groundbreaking Prince George’s 3D Scholarship program. While a student at Flowers High School, Gibson earned dual credit at Prince George’s Community College and earned her high school diploma and community college degree at the same time in 2020, just as the pandemic was taking hold.
She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at UMGC and is setting her sights on law school— two years ahead of her peers and with no college debt.
Much of Gibson’s motivation to pursue the PG3D Scholar program came from her mom, who, she said, “didn’t want me to have any student loans.”
With that box checked, she persevered, juggling classes, working multiple jobs, and handling the many curve balls that life seemed to throw at her.
“The most challenging part was time management and just prioritizing deadlines,” she said.
Gibson had been scooping ice cream at the local Ben & Jerrys while in high school, started a second job in her senior year, and continued to work both while attending UMGC. It was all she could handle “trying to balance everything,” Gibson said.
end
right: UMGC
Nailah
Above: Gibson with (from left) Niki Adjetey, associate vice president, academic strategic operations; fellow Prince George's 3D Scholar Davion Ward; and TuMisha Alao, PG3D program coordinator for Flowers High School in Prince George's County, Maryland.
“ Also, I lost my great grandmother at the
of 2021, and that made me want to quit both of my jobs, quit school, everything. But after talking to my mom, we worked it out.
She battled through a bout of COVID-19 in December, and in February she was in and out of the hospital with a kidney infection, “so keeping up with classes the whole months of December and February was hard,” Gibson said. She crossed the stage at Grad Walk in Adelphi on May 19, 2022, with her family cheering her on.
Mae Beale, 82, also marched in Adelphi, after her in-person ceremony in 2020 was canceled because of the pandemic.
When she returned to school in her late 70s to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Business Management, she had already spent several years in a career as a licensed practical nurse (LPN). Of the decision to take on the extra work, the Howard County resident said, “I discovered that I had to be intentional about it and make it my priority.”
Beale’s dedication to putting her best into each class paid off. She made the Dean’s List several times and graduated with honors.
Even over the course of her degree program, Beale devoted much of her time to helping others, serving four years on the UMGC Student Advisory Council. She continued after graduation as an ex officio member until her term ended in December 2020.
Well into her retirement as a licensed practical nurse, and now as a community advocate with her bachelor’s degree in hand, Beale is busier than ever. She continues to run an event planning business she started in 1994 and has joined a few more local boards, including in Howard County, with Maryland Tourism and Promotion, the Restaurant Association, the Festival of the Arts, and the Columbia Bright Minds Association.
With her degree, Beale already feels a greater sense of respect. “I knew that if I had the degree, it would solidify things and make me feel more comfortable,” she said. G
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Beale’s dedication to putting her best into each class paid off. She made the Dean’s List several times and graduated with honors.(Above) Graduate Mae Beale shakes hands with UMGC President Gregory Fowler. (Right) Fowler (back left) and Beale (center) with members of Beale's family. MAE
Maryland’s largest university may also be the state’s best investment, integral to both its economy and its future.
BY CHIP CASSANOMany adult learners first encounter University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) overseas—where it serves a largely military population—or in cyberspace, via online advertising or social media. This global footprint, though, belongs to a public university that has been firmly rooted in Maryland from the start and remains central to the state’s university system, academic goals, and economy.
Said UMGC President Greg Fowler, “At UMGC, we are proud to call Maryland home, proud to fly the Maryland flag in more than 20 countries and territories globally, proud to serve as the open university of the University System of Maryland, and proud to bring learning within reach for students in every corner of the state, with an education that aligns with their unique experiences and workforce needs.”
That commitment dates to 1947, when UMGC was founded as a program within the University of Maryland College of Education, largely to serve the needs of American GIs returning to civilian life following the Second World War. To do so, it was necessary to expand the geographic boundaries of Maryland higher education, meeting students where they lived and worked.
More than 1,900 students enrolled that first year alone, taking courses at military, civilian, and corporate sites across Maryland.
Two years later, in 1949, the fledgling institution was alone in answering the call when the U.S. Department of Defense asked American schools to explore offering courses to American servicemembers stationed in postwar Europe. With just one week’s notice, seven professors flew to Germany to teach. In 1951, a North Atlantic Division was added, offering courses at military sites in Newfoundland and Labrador, and later Greenland and Iceland. In 1956, the program expanded to Asia, and in 2005, to North Africa and the Middle East.
While UMGC’s overseas program was groundbreaking and grew quickly—garnering headlines in major publications like TIME, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Reader’s Digest, and even drawing attention and praise from a series of sitting U.S. presidents (see “Hails from the Chiefs,” p. 23)—the university never lost sight of its Maryland roots.
In 1951, it adopted the motto, “The State Is Our Campus,” staffing classrooms at sites that were convenient to adult and military students—students whose lives and responsibilities made it impractical or impossible for them to attend traditional college courses.
The list of UMGC locations in Maryland and neighboring
Begins as the University of Maryland College of Special and Continuation Studies (CSCS).
Offers courses in Asia for troops, creating the Far East Division.
Constructs one of the first LEED-certified green conference centers in the country.
Becomes the first American university to send faculty overseas to teach U.S. troops in Europe.
Launches its Bachelor’s Degree-at-a-Distance program.
Provides online, hybrid, and face-to-face classes to nearly 90,000 adult learners.
states soon read like an encyclopedia of state, government, and military landmarks. Classroom locations included the Pentagon, in Arlington; Bolling Air Force Base, in the District of Columbia; the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent; the Glenn L. Martin Company, an aircraft and aerospace manufacturer in Baltimore (later part of Martin Marietta); the Holabird Signal Depot; the Bureau of Ships; the Bureau of Aeronautics; the Calvert Distillers Corporation (later acquired by Seagram); the Naval Research and Naval Ordnance laboratories; the Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation, also in Baltimore; Aberdeen Proving Ground; the Army Chemical Center at Edgewood; the U.S. Naval Academy Graduate Program in Annapolis; the outlying communities of Cambridge, Cumberland, Hagerstown, Salisbury, and Westminster; and even the Maryland State Penitentiary.
Today, UMGC serves some 90,000 students annually, and 33 percent of all degrees granted by University System of Maryland (USM) schools are conferred by UMGC. In FY2021 alone, 34,000 Marylanders took courses from UMGC and 5,600 completed a credential.
This is vital if the state is to reach its degree attainment goal of 55 percent, and other factors combine to amplify the impact on the state’s workforce and economy.
First and foremost, UMGC emphasizes workforce-relevant education, prioritizing disciplines with high employer demand and earning potential, as well as identified skills gaps. (Currently, it ranks #1 in Maryland in the number of cybersecurity and information technology degrees conferred, and #2 and #3 respectively in biotechnology and nursing degrees conferred.) It partners and consults with businesses to ensure that its learning experiences foster the knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions (KSADs) that employers need. And it is expanding its offerings to include skillbuilding and noncredit coursework, stackable certificates, and prior learning assessment to broaden the learning pathways available to employers and employees alike.
Second, the university is intentional in welcoming and supporting students from populations that have been historically underserved and underrepresented in higher education. Student surveys reveal that 57 percent of current undergraduates are first-generation college students, more than half are from minority populations, and
“
In 1951, it adopted the motto, “The State Is Our Campus.
44 percent have dependent children. The institution ranks #1 in Maryland in cybersecurity and information technology degrees conferred to women and students of color.
A third factor—affordability—also figures into the equation. Not only are UMGC’s in-state tuition and fees the second-lowest among four-year Maryland public institutions, but the university grants credit for prior learning and has adopted liberal transfercredit policies, which together serve to reduce out-of-pocket costs for students, shorten time-to-degree, and increase degree completion rates. These policies have drawn national recognition, with U.S. News and World Report recently ranking UMGC #1 in the number of transfer students accepted.
Several marquee programs at UMGC contribute to this success, including the university’s popular Maryland Completion Scholarship, available to eligible graduates of Maryland community colleges. Recipients can transfer seamlessly to UMGC and complete a bachelor’s degree for an additional $12,000 or less, well below the typical cost of in-state tuition. Since spring 2014, more than 13,400 Maryland Completion Scholarships have been awarded, and 6,230 recipients have already completed a UMGC credential.
Similarly, the innovative Prince George’s 3D Scholars program— which partners UMGC with Prince George’s Community College and Prince George County Public Schools—allows high-performing high school students to earn community college credit prior to graduation and ultimately complete a four-year degree from UMGC for $10,000 or less. Those who qualify for Pell Grants can effectively graduate debt free.
Overall, undergraduates who earn a degree leave the university owing an average of $22,500, well below the national average of $37,000.
This is predictable. Currently, the U.S. Department of Education’s
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Not only do UMGC alumni hold leadership positions in business, government, healthcare, and education, but some 900 university employees and more than 90,000 alumni call Maryland home, with the ranks of alumni increasing steadily each year.
UMGC $22,500
The university offers the second-lowest in-state tuition and fees among four-year Maryland institutions, and students graduate owing some 40 percent less than the national average.
National Center for Education Statistics estimates college tuition and fees alone at $9,400 per year for in-state students attending a four-year public institution—and a startling $37,600 per year for those attending private, nonprofit institutions. Room and board further inflate those figures.
UMGC’s embrace of open educational resources (OERs)—available at no additional cost to students—translates into further savings, as The Education Data Initiative estimates that students at other schools spend $1,230 each year on books and supplies.
Given the modest levels of state funding that UMGC receives, the return on investment for the state is remarkable.
When it first became an independent institution, UMGC received no state funding at all, and though appropriations have increased over time—along with its prominence in the higher education landscape—the university still receives less than 11 percent of its current unrestricted operating revenue, or some $44 million annually, from the state.
Against this backdrop, it would be hard to overstate UMGCʼs impact on the Maryland economy. Not only do UMGC alumni hold leadership positions in business, government, healthcare, and education, but some 900 university employees and more than 90,000 alumni call Maryland home, with the ranks of alumni increasing steadily each year.
Based on recent U.S. Census Bureau figures for state and local per capita revenue, those alumni alone can be expected to contribute more than $1 billion in general revenue to Maryland annually, including some $236 million in income tax and $153 million in property tax.
In reality—because those figures are averaged across the population, while most alumni hold at least one bachelor’s degree— they are likely much higher. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicate that an employee with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn almost $400 more per week—an additional $20,000 each year—than one with some college and no degree, and $461 more per week than a colleague with only a high school diploma.
This impact hasn’t been lost on state legislators. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan—who issued a proclamation declaring March 10, 2022, as a special day to honor the university’s 75th anniversary—sent a message of congratulations prior to UMGC President Gregory Fowlerʼs inauguration.
“For 75 years, UMGC has served the people of Maryland and its community with a mission of bringing the dream of higher education within reach to tens of thousands of students. And with President Fowler at the helm, I have no doubt that UMGC will continue to be a shining example of all that Maryland’s world-class university system has to offer.” G
In 1949, UMGC sent faculty overseas to teach U.S. troops stationed in postwar Europe. Today, that tradition continues, and the university’s global footprint positions it to transform lives—and the world at large—in new and sometimes surprising ways.
BY MARY A. DEMPSEYWhat began as a relatively straightforward mission to offer college-level instruction to military personnel deployed overseas has increased in complexity and scope in the intervening decades. Today, more than half of UMGC’s students are affiliated with the military in some way—and the university is preparing them as global citizens while also leveraging its global footprint to further expand its impact.
Later this year, the university will roll out a refreshed version of its Green Zone program, an online training module designed to help staff understand the distinctive culture that shapes militaryaffiliated students. It represents another resource—along with current academic programs, co-curricular activities, and portfolio of services—that positions the university to meet the ambitions of adult students around the world.
“UMGC now has more than 180 sites around the globe, and we put faculty and staff on the ground to allow servicemen and women to continue on their educational journey, including in conflict zones like Vietnam and Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Lloyd “Milo” Miles, UMGC’s senior vice president of Global Military Operations. “Most universities wouldn’t do what we do. The cost would be tremendous, the infrastructure would be
tremendous, the challenges would be tremendous. But UMGC has been willing to do it since the beginning.”
In military-speak, UMGC puts its boots on the ground, and its impact is felt far beyond the classroom.
In alignment with its promise to “meet students where they are,” the university continues to expand its physical footprint, both overseas and stateside. It has followed servicemembers to their assignments around the globe, in peace and in war, most recently adding a location at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, stateside, UMGC is driving an ambitious expansion that now includes Education Centers in 11 states and the District of Columbia.
This global footprint only underscores the fact that education can no longer be presented as “one size fits all,” and university stakeholders have embraced this reality.
UMGC staff who teach in far-flung regions have volunteered to help at pivotal geopolitical moments, offering support, for example—as have servicemember students—during U.S. military and civilian evacuation efforts in Afghanistan in 2021.
In fact, UMGC staff and mili- Above and right: UMGC staff and military-affiliated tary students were among the students were among the first to assist in the evacuation, first to assist in U.S. military working in Kabul or from sup- and civilian evacuation port stations in Qatar. efforts in Afghanistan in 2021.
In response to a call for assistance from the Air Force, UMGC staff at Ramstein Air Base in Germany set up cots and helped pre pare for incoming flights of evacuees. The only civilians working alongside the military, they also coordinated closely with the USO to greet arriving evacuees, distribute food and water, and support UMGC students in social work classes who were helping with chil dren and Red Cross placements.
Other UMGC servicemember-students also played key roles.
“ When Operation Allied Refugee first kicked off last year, I assisted by setting up cots and chairs, handing out food, and directing people,” said student Devon Bechtel.
In addition to for-credit courses, UMGC faculty members teach “UMGC Presents” classes—low and no-cost community services courses that also help deepen cultural understanding and engagement.
“When Operation Allied Refugee first kicked off last year, I assisted by setting up cots and chairs, handing out food, and direct ing people,” said student Devon Bechtel. Later, her company took charge of one of the living quarters for evacuees, setting up beds and directing evacuees to showers and bathrooms, distributing supplies from the Red Cross, and ensuring that refugees were fed.
Bechtel noted that, at the same time, there were concerns about the spread of COVID-19, because many of the evacuees had not been vaccinated. Nonetheless, she said, interacting with the refugees “was the best thing I did.”
Involvement like this is possible because UMGC leverages tech nology to transcend geopolitical borders and brick-and-mortar classrooms. It had developed a virtual learning infrastructure long
before the COVID-19 pandemic forced other universities online, and now—as it works to refine that infrastructure—it is poised to lead in a re-envisioned higher education landscape.
In Asia, that technology, and the agile operation it supports, recently allowed the university to expand its language offerings. Korean language courses, previously offered only onsite in South Korea, are now routinely available on the Asia-Wide Virtual sched ule, along with livestreamed and virtual Japanese-language cours es. And UMGC Asia also offers its Bridge Program, which allows Japanese nationals to study English in order to prepare them for college-level courses.
Supplementing the language instruction, UMGC Asia also offers students overseas the opportunity to develop a deeper under standing of the countries and cultures where they are stationed. One field study program, for instance, focuses on the history of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, tracing Okinawa’s evolution from the 17th century to the present.
In addition to for-credit courses, UMGC faculty members teach “UMGC Presents” classes—low and no-cost community ser vices courses that also help deepen cultural understanding and engagement. In September 2022, for example, Professor Frank Concilus marked the Chuseok holiday, sometimes referred to as Korean Thanksgiving, with a UMGC Presents lecture.
Central to all UMGC instruction is an unwavering focus on student success, and Green Zone training helps illustrate the multifaceted “The Green Zone training raises awareness of the unique
way that plays out.
“Above: Faculty (standing) and Bridge Program students (seated) share a Thanksgiving-themed meal. Right: Bridge Program students and UMGC graduates Naomi Naka (left) and Kyoko Onna (right).
ness of the military-affiliated students, the challenges they face, the really great things they bring into the classroom,” said Kelly Wilmeth, vice president for Stateside Military Operations. “The objective is to educate staff and faculty on the uniqueness of military students as they try to achieve their educational goals and career aspirations while moving all over the world.”
She added that the training helps spotlight the complexities of adult learners in the military, including their diversity, and offers an overview of the military, UMGC’s history of providing collegelevel instruction to personnel deployed overseas, and an in-depth look at the unusual personal and professional challenges that military-affiliated students may face.
“If a student e-mails their instructor to say they are being mobilized, receives permanent change-of-station orders, or is deployed overseas on short notice, that is different from the experience of other adult learners,” said Nicole DeRamus, UMGC assistant vice president of Veterans Programs. “We believe Green Zone training closes a gap in knowledge for those who may not have served in the military or who may not have a family member who served.
“We think this training helps others better understand those students, while also creating an environment where military-
connected students have a sense of belonging,” she added.
Through Green Zone training and other initiatives, UMGC is also raising awareness of the diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and accessibility issues that are part of the university’s DNA.
“It is important for UMGC to provide a global leadership voice, particularly in the areas of DEI and accessibility, given our years of experience successfully operating in a global envi ronment and serving diverse students,” said Patricia Jameson, acting associate vice president and deputy director for UMGC
“ And UMGC Asia also offers its Bridge Program, which allows Japanese nationals to study English in order to prepare them for collegelevel courses.
Above left: UMGC faculty member Naomi Itokazu (second from left) with Taeko Shimabukuro (far left) and other students at the Foster Education Center, Okinawa, Japan. Above: A classroom in the Foster Education Center in Okinawa. Left: An Aomori, Japan, newspaper ad shows UMGC faculty member Robert Walsh at an open house and information session for Bridge Program applicants.
Europe. “It is our social responsibility to share our expertise and knowledge to help educate our communities.”
Jameson directs UMGC’s overseas diversity and equity programs in Europe and Asia, and explained how, in the past year, UMGC has entrenched DEI learning through conferences, webinars, discussions, and activities.
In June, the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference: Cultivating Inclusive Competence” offered members of the UMGC Europe community the opportunity to present research linked to their undergraduate or graduate studies. The conference was held in Germany, at the Sembach Education Center, and broadcast live via Zoom.
A few months earlier, UMGC supported a Diversity Day at Ramstein Air Base and partnered with the military garrison in Stuttgart to host a webinar—also broadcast live on Zoom—on gender equality. Similar events were presented in partnership with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and Gender
Equality Committee of the U.S. European Command and U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden.
In October, a faculty event on diversity was broadcast live to American Forces Network (AFN) leadership teams at 14 satellite sites throughout Europe, helping foster a deeper understanding of how diversity and inclusion matter in the workplace. And to mark the new Juneteenth holiday in the United States, Jessica Stock—a professor of English literature and member of the university’s Diversity Council—selected Ralph Ellison’s book Juneteenth for the UMGC Europe Book Club she facilitates.
UMGC students in Europe have also taken up the torch. MBA students in the Leading in the Multicultural Global Environment course spearheaded a diversity and inclusion discussion in December focused on “Cultural Intelligence in Business Leadership.”
James Cronin, vice president and director of UMGC Asia, points out how these efforts are both necessary and a natural fit for UMGC.
“When I joined the U.S. military at 21, for the first time I worked and lived side-by-side with people from all races and backgrounds, and it really opened my eyes to what we should be,” Cronin said. “The military has always had a diverse workforce, and inclusion was a necessity—and we see that in the demographics of our student body. As diversity, equity, and inclusion is necessary for the military, it must also be for UMGC.
“Our students must be able to use our academic programs to help them succeed in this global world and diverse workforce,” he added. “It is vital that UMGC helps to deliver a positive message of inclusion from the perspective that it is essential and not optional.” G
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The Green Zone training raises awareness of the uniqueness of the military-affiliated students, the challenges they face, the really great things they bring into the classroom,” said Kelly Wilmeth, vice president for Stateside Military Operations
Tony A. Tomasello ’85 , was named town manager of Poolesville, Maryland, by the Board of Commissioners, effective August 30, 2021, after retiring from his most recent position as city manager for the City of Gaithersburg, Maryland. In a career spanning almost 25 years, he previously served as the city’s deputy city manager of economic development and program manager. He holds an MBA from Frostburg State University and a BS in finance from UMGC. He is an inductee to the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame. He holds CRISC, CISM, CISA, and CISSP certifications.
George D. Kennett ’88, of Avenue, Maryland—who retired in 2008 from Naval Air Station/Naval District Washington Fire & Emergency Services after 29 years of service, the last 12 as the installation’s fire chief and deputy fire chief for Naval District Washington—was inducted into the United States Navy Firefighter and Emergency Services Hall of Fame in May 2021. He holds a BS in public safety administration from UMGC. A graduate of the College of Southern Maryland, he also earned a master's degree from Florida Tech in 2001.
Steven Charles Woolwine ’92, of Washington D.C., was appointed chief human resources officer of Axim Geospatial. He comes to the role with more than two decades of experience, having served most recently as vice president, human resources, for Amentum in Germantown, Maryland, and before that
as senior vice president and head of HR for Apptis in Chantilly, Virginia.
Katy C. Craig ’96, ’05, ’11, & ’15, of San Diego, California, was promoted to chief of staff by the computer and network security company Aquia, Inc. She previously served as the company’s director of security architecture. In her new role, she will support the strategic, operational, and tactical priorities of Aquia’s chief executive while driving the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She also serves as an adjunct professor in the National University Department of Engineering and Computing and an associate professor at UMGC, where she teaches classes in cybersecurity, cloud security, and ethical hacking.
Christina Monaco ’98, of Alexandria, Virginia, was named vice president of programs at the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation—the leading nonprofit educational foundation for advancing the geospatial intelligence tradecraft to address global security challenges—in Herndon, Virginia. A 30-year veteran of the intelligence community and Department of Defense, Monaco most recently served as the Chief Ventures Officer (CVO) at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). She holds a BA in Russian and English from Vanderbilt University, a Master of International Management in international commerce from UMGC, and an MS in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University.
Shannon E. Long Bent ’00, of Church Hill, Maryland, was appointed by Maryland Governor
Larry Hogan in November 2021 to the Queen Anne’s County Board of Education, representing Queen Anne’s 1st District. She worked for 31 years in program and operations management for Northrop Grumman before joining Engineering Solutions, Inc. as a program manager.
Jennifer A. Stone ’00, ’06, ’09, & ’10, of Bel Air, Maryland, has been named vice president of business development for the healthcare management and technology consulting firm ARDX in Virginia. She previously served as vice president of growth, military, and veterans’ health for GovernmentCIO. She holds an AA in general studies, a BS in psychology, an MS in project management, and an MBA, all from UMGC.
Kenneth Scott Throckmorton ’00, ’09, of Huntsville, Alabama, was named Garrison Redstone Arsenal Operations Director after previously serving with the Huntsville Center, Army Corps of Engineers, Directorate of Operations, Security and Law Enforcement. He retired from active duty in 2010 after 23 years of service with the U.S. Army, then served as a government civilian employee in U.S. Africa Command, eventually rising to the position of deputy chief of the protection division, and later as chief of protection policy with the U.S. European Command’s Antiterrorism Division and as deputy chief of the antiterrorism division for the U.S. European Command Plans and Operations Center.
Stephen Lewis Deitz ’01, of Chantilly, Virginia, was named executive vice president and general manager of ManTech International’s federal civilian sector, where he will lead strategic and operational initia-
tives to address federal civilian agencies’ mission needs. He served most recently as ManTech’s senior vice president of strategic operations and division manager, Department of Justice. In addition to his MS in technology management from UMGC, he holds a BS in business administration from Shenandoah University.
Diana CopelandThomas ’01 & ’04, of Naples, Florida, is an executive coach, author, and host of the Talent Champions podcast. She published—with Stacey Boyle—Be More Strategic in Business: How to Win Through Stronger Leadership and Smarter Decisions (Mango, 2018). The book is available from major booksellers. Previously she served as vice president of U.S. training, learning, and development for the McDonald’s Corporation.
Clayton D. Schilling Jr. ’01 & ’04, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, is president and CEO of Precision Digital Forensics and has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership. He previously served as director of digital forensics for CACI International, Inc. He joined the military in 1983, serving in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment—The Old Guard—and following an intensive training and a highly selective process, was chosen to serve as a sentinel on the first relief at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington.
Mary M. PrattHenaghan ’02, of Bowie, Maryland, was named chief technology officer for WETA—the leading public broadcasting station in
GINGER MILLER ’13, of Accokeek, Maryland, is founder, president, and CEO of Women Veterans Interactive Inc. and was recently appointed by President Joe Biden to the USO Board of Governors. She also serves as an honorary commander for the 316th Operations Group at Joint Base Andrews and a member of the Advisory Board of Northwest Federal Credit Union.
A U.S. Navy veteran, Miller cared for her husband—a fellow veteran who was disabled and suffered from PTSD—for more than a decade and experienced homelessness. She worked three jobs and went to school full-time to secure a brighter future for her family.
In 2009, Miller formed the nonprofit organization John 14:2, Inc., which was instrumental in starting the first Prince George’s County Homeless Veteran Stand Down. Two years later, she started the member-based Women Veterans Interactive to meet women veterans at their points of need through advocacy, empowerment, interaction, outreach, and unification.
Miller then established the Women Veterans Interactive Foundation, which supports programs, training, and resources to equip women veterans at all stages of their military transition, all delivered through a comprehensive ecosystem.
Miller holds a BS in accounting from Hofstra University and a MS in management with a specialization in nonprofit and association management from UMGC.
Top: Ginger Miller addresses UMGC graduates. Above left: With Dr. Jill Biden, then second lady and now first lady of the United States. Above: In 2018, with members of the Women Veterans Interactive Transition Task Force.
the nation’s capital—after serving most Melissa L. Bard ’03, ’06, of State College, recently as the organization’s senior Pennsylvania, was named vice president vice president for Network & Technical and chief human resources officer of the Operations. Previously, she served for 22 University of Delaware, effective August 1, years in a variety of roles as the opera- 2021. In this role, she will provide strategic tional brand guardian for BBC America, leadership on human resources matters which she joined as part of the original to the university’s administrators, faculty, launch team in 1998. She earned her BA and staff while working to align human in English and foreign languages from resources, financial, and operational sysDeSales University, her MS in manage- tems across the university. She served ment from UMGC, and completed the most recently as vice president for human Cable Executive Management Program at resources at Frederick Community Harvard Business School. College in Frederick, Maryland, and prior
to that as vice chancellor of human resources at California State University, Long Beach. In addition to undergraduate and graduate degrees in human resources management from UMGC, she holds certifications as a senior professional in human resources from the Human Resource Certification Institute and as a senior human resource professional (SHRM-SCP) from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Mia Millette ’05, of Woodstock, Maryland, was named the first female CEO of Skyline Technology Solutions in Maryland. She previously served as the company’s chief operating officer. Earlier in her career, she held positions as vice president of strategic operations and vice president of managed services at GANTECH and as software developer, business analyst, project manager, and manager of application delivery at System Automation Corp. She holds a BS in computer science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MS in computer systems management from UMGC, as well as Project Management Professional and ITIL Expert certifications.
Ché C. Rogers ’05, of Fairfax, Virginia, was appointed as a presiding judge in the 31st Judicial District of Virginia in Prince William General District Court. He was named the General District Court Trial Attorney of the Year in 2017 by the Prince William County Bar Association. Prior to attending law school, he served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He earned a BS in aviation science from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, an MBA from UMGC, and his JD from the University of Maryland
School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as Virginia.
Shonette Gaston Hamidzada ’06 & ’09, of New York, New York, joined the law firm of Blank Rome LLP as chief operating officer, bringing more than 25 years of senior leadership experience overseeing business functions and operations at top law firms. Previously, she served as COO of Robins Kaplan LLP, and prior to that as managing director of administration, U.S. Offices and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for Covington & Burling LLP.
Sherian L. Boyd Patterson ’06, of Washington, D.C., was appointed director of business travel and luxury sales for the iconic, 335-room Willard InterContinental
hotel in Washington, D.C. She brings more than 20 years of experience to the position, having previously served as director of business travel and industry sales for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. She began her career in 2003 as a marketing manager for Amtrak.
Robert H. Ehsan ’08, of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, has been named assistant coach of the Stanford University men’s basketball team after serving for four years as head coach for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He previously served as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech under Seth Greenberg and at the University of Maryland, College Park, under Gary Williams. He holds an MBA from UMGC.
Sonia Lenise Huntley ’08, of Bowie, Maryland, was appointed senior vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Urban Land Institute. She previously served as the organization’s vice
president for global customer service, and prior to that as director of membership and marketing for the Alumni Association in the Division of University Relations at University of Maryland, College Park. She holds an MBA from UMGC.
Christopher Michael Bibbee ’09, of Woodbridge, Virginia, has been named chief program officer at Axiologic Solutions LLC in Virginia, where he will provide leadership for the company’s top programs and contracts as well as manage the programs team. A seasoned leader with more than 20 years of intelligence community and U.S. Department of Defense experience in the government technology arena, he served most recently as executive director of ManTech, after first serving as a senior network engineer, program director, and program manager.
Kristen Michele Cronin ’09, of Troy, New York, has been named first vice president and controller of Ulster Savings Bank’s Kingston, New York, headquarters. There, she will oversee the bank’s daily accounting operations, maintain the integrity of the balance sheet and income statement, provide asset/liability and liquidity management, handle budgeting and financial statement preparation, and act as the primary liaison with external and internal audit firms for financial matters. A Certified Public Accountant, she holds a BS in accounting from Boston College and an MBA from UMGC. She is also a graduate of the American Bankers Association Graduate School of Banking.
Garrett Lee Dyer ’11, of La Plata, Maryland, was appointed executive director of the Virginia Department of Fire Programs (VDFP) after serving as acting execu-
tive director since January 2021. In that role, he oversees 79 full-time employees and 300-plus adjunct instructors who deliver more than 130 courses to Virginia’s fire service. In addition, he oversees the enforcement provisions of the Statewide Fire Prevention Code. He began his career with the La Plata Volunteer Fire Department before becoming a career firefighter and National Registered Paramedic with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department. In a 30-year career, he rose through the ranks to the position of assistant fire chief before joining VDFP in 2018 as the Virginia Fire Marshal Academy Chief.
David C. Rose ’11, of Columbia, Maryland, was named director of the Alexandria Health Department after serving most recently as child welfare medical director for the Maryland Department of Human Services. He has previously served as Anne Arundel County Department of Health deputy health officer for public health; District of Columbia Department of Health senior deputy director for primary care and prevention administration; and Baltimore City Health Department assistant commissioner for communicable diseases and epidemiology. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from UMGC, and his medical degree from the Howard University College of Medicine, as well as graduate certificates in public health management and the business of healthcare from the Johns Hopkins University. He completed his residency in pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta.
Louis Garrett Winston Jr. ’11, of Dundalk, Maryland, was named fire chief in
Howard County’s Department of Fire and Rescue Services, effective September 1, 2021. He served for three decades in the department, rising to the rank of deputy chief before retiring in January 2020. He also served for more than 10 years as president of the Phoenix Sentinels, a county organization committed to improving career opportunities for people of color in the fire service. He is a past recipient of the Howard County Government’s Mentorship Award, the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks’ Shining Star Award, and the Turner Station Community Service Award.
Tawanda Marie Hanible ’12 & ’16, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was named Washingtonian of the Year in 2014 by Washingtonian magazine after founding the Virginia nonprofit Operation Heroes Connect. A retired Marine gunnery sergeant and Iraq War veteran, she was invited by Leftfield Pictures to serve as a mentor on the new FOX reality show American Grit, hosted by WWE wrestler John Cena, where she led one of the teams competing in Armythemed challenges for a $1 million prize.
Arthurlevy B. Agulto ’12, ’16, & ’21 , of Naples, Italy, was promoted to U.S. Navy logistics specialist senior chief at the Forward Deployed Repair Maintenance Center. He was assigned to Naval Supply Fleet Logistics Center in Sigonella, Italy, as the senior enlisted leader, where he advises a diverse workforce of servicemembers and civilian employees. His military awards include two Navy Commendation medals, eight Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals, and various Joint Service medals and awards.
Matthew C. “Cody” Brockelmeyer ’12, of Roseburg, Oregon, has been named CEO of the Douglas County, Oregon, YMCA, tasked with building and leading staff, improving operating performance, advocating for the vision of the organization, and managing finances. A 15-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, he previously served as assistant professor and director of operations at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a BA in English, humanities, and African American studies from UMGC; an MBA from Bushnell University; a Doctor of Business Administration from Northcentral University; and certificates in strategic leadership and executive management from the University of Notre Dame.
Sourav Ghosh ’12, of Germantown, Maryland, was appointed to the board of directors of a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp., which focuses on next-generation fashion brands. He currently serves as chief financial officer of Host Hotels and Resorts, and previously served as that company’s executive vice president of strategy and analytics. He is a board member of the U.S. Travel Association and serves on the advisory board of Widener University’s School of Business.
Monique A. Umphrey ’13, of Strongsville, Ohio, was named provost and executive vice chancellor of academic and student affairs for Austin Community College. She previously served as President–Northeast of Houston Community College and prior to that in multiple leadership roles
in Cuyahoga Community College. She holds a BBA in computer information systems, an MS in accounting and information systems from Middle Tennessee State University, and her Doctor of Management in Community College Policy & Administration from UMGC.
William “Jerry” McFarland ’14, of Waldorf, Maryland, has been promoted to head men’s basketball coach at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland. He previously served as assistant coach, helping lead the team to NAIA National Tournament appearances in 2019 and 2020, and to victories over two NCAA Division I teams— Howard University and Delaware State University—in the 2019–20 season. He holds a BS in human resource management from UMGC.
Ryan W. Behnken ’16, of Forest Hill, Maryland, has been appointed by the Y in Central Maryland—the leading provider of health and well-being, as well as social responsibility and youth development programs and services in the state—to lead the Y Community Leadership Board in Harford County, Maryland. He joined the board in 2018. A financial services professional with Worthington Financial Planners, he also serves on the board of the Fallston Swim Club.
Regina Matthews Chandler ’16, ’17, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been appointed interim director of information technology with the City of Suffolk, Virginia, where she has served as the assistant director of the city’s information technology department since 2011. In a 33-year career in public service, she has held key IT positions in Alexandria, Henrico County, James City County, Petersburg, Virginia, and the city of Hopewell, also in Virginia. She holds an MS in cybersecurity and a certificate in cybersecurity technology from UMGC
and an associate degree in accounting from St. Leo University.
Kimberly Ann Mozingo ’16, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, has been named director of federal programs for TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corp. She has supported the U.S. Department of Defense in a variety of roles, serving on active duty with the U.S. Air Force in England and Germany and working with Army Intelligence, the Naval Air Systems Command, and Navy Fleet Readiness Centers. Prior to joining TEDCO, she managed the Maryland Defense Technology Commercialization Center (DefTech), a program of the Maryland Department of Commerce. She holds a BS in business management from UMGC.
Moradeun Okeowo ’16, of Reisterstown, Maryland, has been named director of human resources at the Children’s Guild Alliance in Baltimore, Maryland. She previously served as the organization’s assistant director of human resources and as human resources manager for the NAACP national organization headquartered in Baltimore. She holds an MS in human resources from UMGC and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Covenant University in Nigeria.
Florent A. Groberg ’17, of Newcastle, Washington, is a retired U.S. Army captain and a 2015 recipient of the Medal of Honor who currently leads the Microsoft Azure Global Government M360 Mission Solution Team. In September 2021,
President Joe Biden appointed him to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Jamil Alonzo White ’17, of Bowie, Maryland, was named controller at New Energy Equity in Annapolis, Maryland. He came to the role with more than 15 years of experience in various accounting fields, including assurance, corporate accounting, financial reporting, and tax compliance, working with companies like Ernst & Young and Washington Gas. He served most recently as senior director of accounting for Howard University in Washington, D.C. He holds an MBA from UMGC.
Jennifer J. Stubblefield ’18, ’20, of Valdez, Alaska, was named Alaska’s 2021 Coast Guard Reserve Enlisted Person of the Year. A boat officer at Coast Guard Station Valdez, she holds the rank of chief petty officer and captains a 45-foot Response Boat–Medium. In her civilian job, she serves as a fire captain at the Alyeska Pipeline Valdez Marine Terminal, an EMT, a rope rescue master, a training officer, and a first aid instructor. In August 2021, she was among the presidentially appointed personnel supporting vulnerable Afghan refugees as a member of the Critical Resource Unit at the Unified Coordination Group, Operation Allies Welcome. She holds an MS in cybersecurity technologies and an MBA from UMGC and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Information Technology degree from Capella University, specializing in information assurance and cybersecurity.
Marilu QuevedoGalvez ’18, ’21, of North Arlington, New Jersey, an Emmy Awardwinning journalist, was named president and general manager of WABC-TV, assuming overall management responsibility for ABC7/WABC-TV and its ancillary businesses. She has been part of WABC-TV for some 20 years, serving most recently as vice president of community engagement and development. She is an active member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and was named one of the Top 10 Latina Corporate Executives of the Year by LATINA Style in 2019. She serves on the board of the American Red Cross and the nonprofit STOMP OUT Bullying.
Robert Harrison Tate ’18, of Fort Washington, Maryland, has been named senior account manager, technology–digital advertising sales at Google. Before joining Google, he served as a sales and marketing specialist for the U.S. Postal Service. He holds an MBA from UMGC.
Mallory Lawrence ’19, of Augusta, Georgia, received a Presidential Management Fellowship to work as an IT specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Selena Ramkeesoon ’19, of Silver Spring, Maryland, has been named co-president of the Washington, D.C., chapter for the Ellevate Network. She is the CEO and founder of DualStar, LLC, and recently accepted a position as chief staff officer, communications, with the American
Speech-LanguageHearing Association in Rockville, Maryland. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at UMGC. She holds an MLS in library and information science and a Doctor of Management in business administration and management from UMGC, and an MBA from the Carey Business School at the Johns Hopkins University.
Ronald Michael Dixon ’20, of Goldsboro, Maryland, was sworn in as chief of police for Chestertown, Maryland, in September 2021, after retiring with the rank of lieutenant from the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office. He holds a BS in criminal justice from UMGC and has 27 years of experience as a patrol deputy and in supervisory, administrative, and command positions.
Amy Kremenek ’21, of Syracuse, New York, was named president of Tompkins Cortland Community College, in Dryden, New York. She comes to the role with almost 20 years of higher education experience, having served most recently as vice president of enrollment, development, and communications for Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York, and before that as the school’s vice president of human resources and external relations. In addition to a Doctor of Management in Community College Policy and Administration from UMGC, she holds an MPA from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs and Citizenship and a BS from the Newhouse School of Public Communications, both at Syracuse University. G
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requirements, including management studies, business administration, cybersecurity, criminal justice, psychology, accounting, and history.
In California, meanwhile, UMGC’s contract at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield has made the university a presence on the busiest military cargo and passenger base in the country, with more than 7,000 active-duty servicemembers, 4,000 Air Force Reserve members, and some 4,000 civilians.
Education centers are especially important for veteran populations, who need inperson or hybrid courses to qualify for VA education and housing benefits. The sites also allow servicemembers who began their studies with UMGC overseas to seamlessly continue their studies stateside.
This ongoing shift has not been without challenges. The opening of an off-base site in San Antonio, Texas—near Lackland Air Force Base, the Army post at Fort Sam Houston, and Randolph Air Force Base—was held up for nearly two years by pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and military base closures.
“UMGC acquired the space in March 2020, right before we went into lockdown,” said Military Education Coordinator Olga Rodriguez. “We did not start receiving furniture, computers, or anything else we needed to set up until December, which was well into the pandemic, and we weren't able to offer courses until the spring of 2022.”
Back at National Landing, Military Education Coordinator Sydney Darden Easley said the facility is now working to differentiate itself, driven as always by a focus on student needs. It has a counselor assigned exclusively to work with veterans, and other UMGC advisers are on hand Monday through Friday for in-person meetings. In 2023, National Landing will begin to offer graduate-level courses and is currently exploring the possibility of hosting conferences.
“Because we’re not on a [military] base, we have more flexibility,” said National Landing Military Education Coordinator Madeleine Fahlbusch. G
Mohammad Bajwa, collegiate professor in global health services and administration in the School of Business, serves as chair of the Education Committee for the Maryland Health Information Management Association (MDHIMA). In October 2021, his article “Mobile Health (mHealth) Security Matters and Mitigation” was published in the Journal of AHIMA, the official publication of the American Health Information Management Association.
Sherri Braxton, an associate adjunct professor stateside, received a Higher Education Leadership Award from 1EdTech at its Learning Impact Conference June 15, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Barbara Brooks-Worrell, an adjunct professor stateside, published (with others) “Islet Autoimmunity Is Highly Prevalent and Associated with Diminished β-cell Function in Patients with Type 2 diabetes in the GRADE Study,” in Diabetes, Vol. 71 (2022), and “Islet Autoimmunity in Adults with Impaired Glucose Tolerance and Recently Diagnosed, Treatment Naïve Type 2 Diabetes in the Restoring Insulin SEcretion (RISE) Study,” in the April 26, 2021, issue of Frontiers in Immunology
Cherie Butts, an adjunct professor stateside, published (with Y. Zhao, O. Mokliatchouk, N. F. Ramia, and M. L. Naylor) “Pharmacokinetics/ Pharmacodynamics by Race: Analysis of a Peginterferon β-1a Phase 1 Study,” in Med, Vol. 3 (August 12, 2022). She currently serves as chair of the Board of Trustees of Salem State University and treasurer of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Cheryl R. Carter, an associate adjunct professor stateside, wrote a chapter, entitled “Homeschooling: A Prayerful Act of Protest,” in the first scholarly book on
BIPOC homeschooling, Homeschooling Black Children in the U.S.: Theory, Practice, and Popular Culture, K. Z. Ali-Coleman and C. Fields-Smith, eds. (Information Age Publishing, 2022).
Andrew Cavanaugh, collegiate professor in Writing Across the Curriculum in the School of Arts and Sciences, had an article—“Screencasting for Technical Writing Students: An Opportunity to Improve Feedback and Prepare Students for the Workplace”—accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of Writing & Pedagogy
Heather Chandler, an assistant adjunct professor stateside, published “Selfies, New Media, and an Icebreaker that Gets Students Right into Content,” in the spring 2022 issue of the National Organization for Student Success’ Practitioner to Practitioner, Vol. 11, No. 1.
Ellen R. Cohn, an adjunct professor stateside, published (with N. Hall, J. Juengling-Sudkamp, & M. L. Gutmann, eds.) Fundamentals of AAC: A Case-Based Approach to Enhancing Communication (Plural Publishing, 2023).
Karen Cook-Bell, an adjunct professor stateside, published Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America (Cambridge University Press, 2021), a 2022 finalist for the Pauli Murray Book Prize for Best Book in African American Intellectual History by the African American Intellectual History Society. She received an $82,600 National Endowment for the Humanities Dialogues on the Experience of War grant in 2022.
Maryann P. DiEdwardo, an adjunct professor stateside, published “Hermeneutics and Metacognition” in Vol. 7, No. 7, of Advances in Social Sciences Research (2020). She is the editor of Hermeneutics, Metacognition, and Writing (Vernon Press, 2020).
Kathleen F. “Kay” Edwards, an adjunct professor stateside, published (with J. F. Liebman), “Paradigms and Paradoxes: Fractional and Other Non-Integer Charges in Chemistry—An Understanding of Aromaticity” in Structural Chemistry, Vol. 33 (2022). She published (with M. Ponikvar-Svet and J. F. Liebman) “Paradoxes and Paradigms: On Ambisaline Ions of Oxygen, Fluorine, and Related Oxyfluorides,” in Structural Chemistry, Vol. 32 (2021).
Tom Fallows, an associate adjunct professor stateside, released an academic monograph, George A. Romero’s Independent Cinema: Horror, Industry, Economics (Edinburgh University Press, 2022).
Sarah Felber, program director in Writing Across the Curriculum in the School of Arts and Sciences, is co-editor of the Journal of College Reading and Learning In November 2021, she presented “Writing for the Future: Advice from the JCRL Editorial Team” and “Enhancing Equity and Inclusivity in Course Documents, Materials, and Practices” at the College Reading and Learning Association Annual Conference.
Sabrina Fu’s editorial, “Local Leaders Have A Part to Play in Fighting Climate Change,” appeared in the August 12, 2021, edition of the Baltimore Sun She is program director for environmental science and management in the School of Arts and Sciences and in 2022 received the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Public Service.
Rossano Gerald, an adjunct professor stateside, published “The Supply Chain Trends in Digitizing Supply Chain Platforms with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System” in the International Journal of Latest Engineering Research and Applications, Vol. 7, No. 7 (July 2022).
George Guthridge, overseas collegiate professor (Europe), authored a book of nine short stories, A3: Controversial Tales of the Fantastic from Alaska, Africa, and Asia (ReAnimus Press, 2021). His science fiction short story, “The Quiet,” (Dutch translation) was published in Speculatief Magazine in February 2022, and his crime fiction short story, “Concrete,” appeared in Mystery Magazine in July 2022.
Jeffrey Hall, a collegiate professor in educational technology in the School of Arts and Sciences, co-presented “Making an Impact: Dispositions, Mindsets, and Instructional Practices of Rockstar Online First-Year Experience Instructors” at the 2021 OLC Accelerate Conference.
Richard Heiens, an adjunct professor stateside, published “Finding the Optimal Social Media Marketing Mix to Drive Customer Attraction and Sales Performance: An Exploratory Study,” in Vol. 13, No. 1, of the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing (2022).
Dory Hoffman, an adjunct professor stateside, was invited to publish a research summary, “Supporting Students in Recovery: Why Every Campus Needs a Collegiate Recovery Program (CRP) and Sober Housing,” in the May 2022 issue of Oklahoma State’s The Scholar-Practitioner
Damien Horigan, overseas collegiate professor (Asia), presented “International Legal Frameworks for Enforcing Arbitral Awards, Mediation Agreements, Forum Selection Clauses, and Foreign Judgments with Special Reference to Asia,” at the 18th Asian Law Institute Conference in September 2021. His essay, “What Can A Dramedy Teach Us About America’s Longest War?” was published in Joel R. Campbell’s Politics Go to the Movies: International Relations and Politics in Genre Films and Television (Lexington, 2022).
Anne-Marie Hubbell, collegiate professor in Writing Across the Curriculum in the School of Arts and Sciences, led a webinar in May 2022 for Maryland Online, “Rethinking Writing Assessment: Piloting Labor-Based Grading in Online Writing Courses.”
Aaron Jasny, overseas collegiate assistant professor (Asia), presented “Exploring Yarigatake: Alpine Adventure and Imperial Ideology in Meiji-Period Mountain Literature of the Spear Peak,” in November 2021 at the Alpine Archipelago: Surveying Japan from the Timberline virtual conference, hosted by the University of California, Irvine, and sponsored by the Japan Foundation.
Bruno Kamdem, an adjunct professor stateside, presented “Tradable Carbon Permit Auctions Under Regulation and Competition,” at the Peter Carr Memorial Conference at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, June 4, 2022.
Todd Kane, an adjunct instructor stateside, published (with J. E. Dahlvig) “Traditional Faculty Resistance to Online Higher Education,” in Vol. 6, No. 2, of the American Journal of Qualitative Research (2022).
Michael J. Kopanic Jr., an adjunct professor stateside, published “World War I in Slovakia, 1914–1915,” in the journal of the Czechoslovak Geneological Society, Naše Rodina, Vol. 34, No. 2 (2022).
David Leasure, collegiate professor for First-Term Experience, has served as director of research for the Academy of Process Educators for several years, coordinating research efforts of members, implementing collaborative tools, and delivering training in conducting research in educational design research, grounded theory development, action research, and more.
In May 2022, he co-presented “Applying Educational Design Research to Process Education” at the Process Education Conference at Virginia State University.
Stacey Malinowski, an associate adjunct professor stateside, published (with E. Keiser and M. Sotelo) “Higher Education in Nursing: Keys to Success in Online Learning,” in Vol. 52, No. 6, of Nursing (2022).
Julie Mehan, an associate adjunct professor stateside, published Artificial Intelligence: Ethical, Social, and Security Impact (IT Governance Publishing, 2022).
Christopher Miller, an associate adjunct professor stateside, published The Coast Guard in Hampton Roads (Arcadia Publishing, 2022), which explores the Coast Guard’s history of saving lives and addressing threats in the Hampton Roads area dating back to the Revolutionary War era.
Susan Mythen, an adjunct professor stateside, served a term as president of the American Library Association’s Library Instruction Round Table.
Shizuka Nakamura, an assistant adjunct professor in Asia, presented (with K. Wasaki) “The Development of Japanese Language e-Learning System Focusing on CLIL (Content Language Integrated Learning) Suitable for DX Education,” at the 33rd Annual Conference of The Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education in San Diego, California.
Adam Nichols, an associate adjunct professor stateside, published a chapter entitled “The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson” in Mario Klarer, ed., Barbary Captives: An Anthology of Early Modern Slave Memoirs by Europeans in North Africa (Columbia University Press, 2022).
Danielle O’Neill, an adjunct professor stateside, served as president and chair of the Chesapeake Bay Division of the International Association for Identification and hosted a fall conference for forensic professionals and students.
William Oettinger, an associate adjunct professor stateside, published Learn Computer Forensics: Your One-Stop Guide to Searching, Analyzing, Acquiring, and Securing Digital Evidence, 2nd Ed. (Packt Publishing, 2022).
Karon Phillips, an associate adjunct professor stateside, was named a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, where she also serves on the Board of Directors.
Brian Powers, program director for homeland security, intelligence, and emergency management in the School of Arts and Sciences, served as a panelist and presenter in June 2022 on the “Future of Professional Development in Emergency Management” at the Maryland Homeland Security and Emergency Management Symposium.
Ronald Premuroso, an adjunct professor stateside, published (with G. J. Barone and C. J. McNellis) “A Critical Analysis of Calculations of Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) at Dynamic Corporation” in Vol. 37, No. 2, of Issues in Accounting Education (2022).
David Purnell, an associate adjunct professor stateside, co-edited (with Lisa P. Z. Spinazola), Narrating Estrangement: Autoethnographies of Writing Of(f) Family (Routledge, 2022).
Mahesh Raisinghani, an adjunct professor stateside, coauthored (with F. AlcocerLoredo and R. Chacko) “The Future of Cloud Computing: Implications for
Theory and Practice,” for the Association of Business Information Systems (ABIS) 2022 and Federation of Business Disciplines (FBD) 2022 conferences, March 2–5, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The paper won the ABIS 2022 Distinguished Paper Award. He published (with M. P. Kantipudi, R. Aluvalu, and U. V. Maheswari) “Insights on Implications of Cognitive Computing in Leveraging Online Education Systems,” in Vol. 12, No. 1, of the International Journal of Online Pedagogy (2022).
Selena A. Ramkeesoon, an assistant adjunct professor stateside, coauthored (with D. Overton, K. Kirkpatrick, A. Byron, and E. S. Pak, eds.) “Lessons from COVID-19 on Executing Communications and Engagement at the Community Level During a Health Crisis,” published December 2021 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Liliya Roberts, program director for global health services and administration in the School of Business, serves on the editorial board, planning committee, and certification review team for the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). She presented at the Minority Business Pandemic Recovery Academy for CEOs, a partnership between the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council (CRMSDC) and UMGC.
Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, an adjunct professor stateside, published Making Space for Women: Stories from Trailblazing Women of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (Texas A&M, 2022).
Cord Scott, overseas collegiate professor (Asia), had his book The Mud and the Mirth: Marine Corps Cartoonists of WWI published by Marine Corps University Press (2022).
R. Diane Schmallegger, an assistant adjunct professor stateside, presented a white paper, “How Do We Ensure Course Quality When No One Seems to Care?” at the OLC (Online Learning Consortium) Innovate 2022 conference in Dallas, Texas.
Christopher Schultz, a collegiate professor in data analytics in the School of Cybersecurity and Information Technology, is a senior editorial board member for the Journal of Information Systems Education.
Brandon Schweitzer, collegiate associate professor in accounting in the School of Business, serves as vice president of academic outreach for the Institute of Management Accountants—Nation’s Capital Chapter. He is also a member of the Carroll Workforce Development Board for Carroll County, Maryland.
Brandie Shatto, program director for educational technology in the School of Arts and Sciences, is president-elect of the Maryland Society for Educational Technology (MSET).
Jessica Sheetz-Nguyen, an adjunct professor stateside, has a chapter forthcoming, “Lessons for Women: From The Good Earth to Leftover Women,” in Crossing Boundaries and Confounding Identity: Chinese Women in Literature, Art, and Film, C. D. Hughes, ed. (SUNY Press, 2023). She authored “The English Poor Laws” and “Josephine Butler” for the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women Writers (Palgrave Springer, 2022). She presented “British Women Teachers and Preachers During the Age of Suffragettes: 1870–1930” and “Historical Overview of Women as Preachers: From Biblical Times to 1930,” at Marshall University’s Sermon Studies Conference and Workshop, September 2022 and October 2021 respectively. She presented, “Why
For more than 75 years, UMGC has helped students pursue their dream of higher education so they can achieve their personal and professional goals. You can help. Support the Student Aid Fund for Emergency Relief (SAFER), which was established to
• Assist UMGC students worldwide who are experiencing financial hardship because of an unforeseen emergency
• Offer help in several areas of need, including housing, course materials, technology and childcare
GREGORY VON LEHMEN, PhD , who previously served as UMGC’s provost and chief academic officer, is special assistant to the president for cybersecurity and university liaison to the Cyber Center for Education and Innovation, an initiative of the National Cryptologic Museum Foundation. In March 2022, he received the inaugural Individual Excellence in Support of the NCF Education Program Award from the National Cryptologic Foundation (NCF) in Glen Burnie, Maryland. The citation credited von Lehmen with being the catalyst for two major conferences and two nationwide webinars that showcased cybersecurity, and went on to note that “Dr. von Lehmen is the backbone of the Cyber Education Program Advisory Board (CEPAB) that brings together senior members of the NCF, UMGC, and industry partners to advise on all aspects of NCF’s Education Program. . . . [He] supports the Maryland Cybersecurity Council, a statutory entity chaired by the state’s attorney general. . . . His exceptional proactive support of NCF’s activities elevates the quality and professionalism of our processes and programs, [and] his commitment to excellence reflects great credit upon himself, the University of Maryland Global Campus, and the National Cryptologic Foundation.”
Should We Teach the Letter to George III from the Qianlong Emperor in 1793?” to the American Society for EighteenthCentury Studies in March 2022, and “Art and the Life of Leftover Women,” to the Asian Studies Development Program Conference in March 2022.
Kathleen Sindell , program director for finance and economics in the School of Business, presented “Innovative Ways to Market Your Registered CFP Program” at the 2022 CFP Board Conference in Washington, D.C. She serves as a pro bono committee
member for the Financial Planning Association, a Workforce Advisory Committee member for the CFP Board of Standards, Inc., and an editorial advisory board member for the Journal of Financial Planning .
J. Woody Stanley, an assistant adjunct professor, presented preliminary research results, entitled “Comparative Analysis of Agency Strategic Plans in Three Presidential Administrations,” at Suffolk University’s Marc Holzer Public Performance Symposium, April 22, 2022.
Michael Tisher, overseas collegiate associate professor (Asia), hosted and performed at the Yokota Youth Center piano recital on May 15, performed at the Akiruno Chamber Orchestra concert on May 29, and performed at the Akishima Orchestra concert on July 3.
Tony Vrba, collegiate professor in management foundations and nonprofit management in the School of Business, co-chaired a roundtable presentation, “Engaging Discussions: Exploration and Review of Constructing Online Discussion Boards,” at the 2022 Society of Business, Industry, and Economics Conference.
Sherry L. Ward, an adjunct professor stateside, published (with P. Osenkowski) “Dog as the Experimental Model: Laboratory Uses of Dogs in the United States,” in the April 2022 online edition of ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation.
Vanessa Young, an adjunct instructor stateside, published “How Effective and Safe are Non-Drug Treatments for Spatial Neglect Following NonProgressive Brain Injury? A Cochrane Review Summary with Commentary,” June 14, 2022, in the pre-press volume of NeuroRehabilitation.
Tricia Zunker, an assistant adjunct professor stateside, was reelected to a third term as an associate justice on the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court. She presented, “An Indigenous Perspective on Equity and Opportunity in Wisconsin Public Education,” October 28, 2021, for Disproportionality Technical Assistance Network, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and a keynote address, “Sovereignty Through Education: Planting Seeds In Our Youth,” May 14, 2022, at the Wisconsin Indian Education Association 2022 Annual Conference. G
A growing number of corporate, nonprofit, and academic entities are partnering with UMGC, either directly or through education and tuition-management platforms like Guild Education (whose partner companies include Bon Secours Mercy Health, Discover, Herschend Enterprises, UCHealth, and more) and EdAssist (which represents T-Mobile, Papa John's, Capital One, New York Presbyterian, Roche, and others). One partner organization—the not-for-profit health system OhioHealth— offers upfront, low- to no-cost degree programs in critical need clinical programs for all full- and some part-time associates, starting on the day they are hired.
In addition, large higher education systems—including the California Community Colleges system (the largest in the United States, with 115 accredited colleges serving 2.1 million students), the Colorado Community College System (with 13 institutions serving some 163,000 students annually), and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (with 16 community and technical colleges and more than 70 campuses)—have established robust articulation agreements with UMGC that allow graduates of their member institutions to transfer credit seamlessly to UMGC and continue their progress toward a four-year degree or other credential.
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