Dear UMB Community,

Earlier today, University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay A. Perman, MD, and Board of Regents Chair Linda R. Gooden, MBA, presided over my investiture as the seventh president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). You can view the event here. I am so proud to serve as your president.

UMB is an amazing and unique place, one where students, faculty, and staff are grounded in our values, rooted in service, and committed to Maryland — and to improving the world. My vision for UMB is that we continue to inspire passionate people to apply solutions to the pressing problems facing humankind.

From providing care and delivering advice and social services to those who need it to addressing the health, social, and legal problems that fall under the category “unacceptable,” I commit to you today that we refuse to accept the unacceptable. UMB’s health care, human services, and law professionals see solutions where others see only problems. I want each person at UMB to have a passion for service and be driven to fulfill it, to understand the urgency of stepping up to be a problem solver, and to be unafraid to take risks to help those in need. That’s who we are at UMB, and that’s our commitment to Maryland.

At the inauguration, I shared that my childhood friend Lawrence Hayman has demonstrated his commitment to UMB with a pledge of about $18 million to create two endowment funds in the President’s Office. This marvelously generous gift will support a number of presidential initiatives including funding cancer research, improving health care on the Eastern Shore of Maryland through scholarships and support to Eastern Shore public school students admitted to UMB, as well as incentives to medical providers to set up their practices there. I’m proud that others also share in our commitment to the state.

We must never forget that our mission is to improve the human condition and serve the public good of Maryland and society at-large through education, research, clinical care, and service. The challenges we face today are not the same challenges that our grandchildren will face, so UMB must continue to evolve, think, and innovate.

To that end, aligned with UMB’s core values, I want to share the priorities that I believe will help UMB continue on its trajectory as Maryland’s premier human services institution.

As UMB’s seventh president, I will:

• Commit to attracting, retaining, and educating the best and brightest scholars, staff, and faculty through initiatives like the President’s Initiative on Education, scholarship programs that create opportunities for more students, and by remaining an employer of choice.  

• Commit to working for equity and justice. We have a responsibility to improve the health and well-being of underserved populations in Maryland by expanding access in areas of need across the state, supporting our Community Engagement Center, and fostering programs like CURE Scholars and Promise Heights. 

• Commit to statewide collaborations. We will focus on maintaining and growing the strong partnership between UMB and the University of Maryland Medical System, sustaining and growing the MPower collaboration with the University of Maryland, College Park, and expanding relationships with other key institutions in Maryland. 

• Commit to innovation and discovery. Being prepared for the future requires a strong focus on innovation and discovery now. We will continue to expand our $682 million research enterprise, strengthen our community-based research activities, and develop more interdisciplinary research programs and projects.

When we do these things well — as I know UMB will — we will have built a healthier, kinder, and more equitable future for generations of Marylanders to come. I am honored to be your president and look forward to all that we will accomplish together.

Sincerely,

Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS

President