Chancellor's Report to the Board of Regents on December 12
Report to the Board of Regents
Chancellor Jay A. Perman
Coppin State University | December 12, 2025
Thank you, Madame Chair. Good morning, everyone. Regent Edwards, welcome. I look forward to our work together.
I also welcome Tim Minor, vice chancellor for advancement and president & CEO of the USM Foundation. Tim actually joined us in September—but this is his first Board meeting. Tim, we’re thrilled to have you in the USM family.
I also want to share two pieces of exciting news. First, it was announced yesterday that President Darryll Pines has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a rare distinction and so well-deserved. Congratulations, Darryll.
And, second, one of Dr. Pines’s students, whom we call Regent Dhruvak Mirani, has won a Marshall Scholarship, one of the world’s most prestigious academic honors. Regent Mirani plans to study global security at the University of Glasgow, and then cybersecurity at King’s College London. Dhruvak, well done.
WHAT WE DO WITH WHAT WE GET
As we close out the calendar year, you all know how often, and how loudly, I’m sounding the alarm about untenable pressures on our revenues—pressures that imperil the work we do. And so I’ll start my report with gratitude to the philanthropists and friends who’ve stepped into the breach.
In what’s becoming something of a tradition at these Board meetings, I get to congratulate another of our universities on a landmark gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Ms. Scott’s $50 million unrestricted gift to Bowie State University is the largest single gift in the university’s history, and brings Ms. Scott’s total giving to BSU to $75 million. I know you’ll make meaningful use of it, President Breaux.
A $50 million gift from civic leader Tom Golisano will fund pediatric care at the University of Maryland Medical Center and at UMB’s School of Medicine, the largest gift in their history. The money will support breakthrough science, education, and equitable, compassionate care for Maryland’s children.
At the University of Maryland, College Park, a $52 million gift from the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation will dramatically expand scholarships for engineering students and deepen collaborations with the world’s top engineering schools. This gift, and many more, seed College Park’s new $2.5 billion fundraising campaign, its most ambitious yet, in support of a scholarly community united in doing good. Congratulations, President Pines.
WHOM WE WELCOME
Of course, doing good is the whole point of it—the whole point of us, our University System. And every year, we welcome into this community more people who want to do good with us.
With its newest graduates crossing the stage this winter, UMGC is celebrating a record-breaking Class of 2025. Not only did 18,000 students earn credentials over this last year, they earned them more quickly than ever before. UMGC’s average time-to-degree-completion dropped below three years for the very first time. Congratulations, Dr. Whitehead.
A couple of months ago, we celebrated our host, Coppin State University, for defying national trends with a surge in enrollment among men. Today, Coppin is celebrating growth in Hispanic learners, with dually enrolled Hispanic students climbing five-fold and transfers tripling. And, in fact, the Baltimore Business Journal just recognized Coppin as Greater Baltimore’s fastest growing college. The people who need to know about Coppin State know about Coppin State, President Jenkins. An incredible endorsement.
Towson University and the University of Baltimore have been named to Phi Theta Kappa’s 2025 Transfer Honor Roll, celebrated for the care and planning they put into pathways for transfer students—not just opening doors, but walking students through them. Congratulations, President Ginsberg, Ms. Aughenbaugh.
And I should note that Towson earns accolades on the other end of the student experience, as well. The university’s career center ranks in the top 2% of schools nationwide for connecting students to meaningful career opportunities.
WHAT WE TEACH THEM
And when these students entrust their education to us, here’s what they’re getting.
Salisbury University is launching the System’s first music therapy major, training students to use music within a therapeutic relationship to foster patients’ emotional, developmental, and physical health. Congratulations, Mr. Modlin.
UMB’s Rural–MD Scholars program will prepare medical students who are intentionally trained in rural medicine, and who will spend at least four years of post-training practice in underserved Shore communities. I know this means the world to you, President Jarrell. Congratulations.
With its sights set on launching Maryland’s only school for veterinary medicine, UMES has begun preparing for next year’s accreditation site visit by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It’s a huge deal, President Anderson. I know your plans and your team will shine.
With an agreement signed last month, students at Frostburg State now have a smoother pathway into the professional schools at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, closing critical provider gaps in Western Maryland. Well done, President Smith.
All of these students are part of a bigger community—a community of ideas, of inquiry and curiosity, a community not only of scholarship, but of solutions.
UMCES was just honored with the Coastal Stewardship Award by the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation, recognizing 100 years of advancing scientific knowledge, public education, and solutions in coastal-zone health worldwide. Congratulations, President Miralles-Wilhelm.
A team of researchers from UMBC debuted an environmental sensor made out of simple balsa wood—inexpensive, sustainable—a sensor cheap enough to be deployed in high numbers, giving us a more comprehensive read on the pollutants causing us harm. Science and service. Thank you, President Sheares Ashby.
As part of NIH’s new research program to understand the human virome—the viruses that live in and on our bodies—UMB will use a $15 million grant to build a cutting-edge data center that closes the knowledge gap in this little-understood area of bioscience.
A new NSF-funded study at Towson, with national and international partners, is redefining the way scientists think about how living creatures influence the planet, exploring “earth system engineering” across geologic time.
WHAT THEY MAKE
Of course, at the USM, we nurture not only thinkers but doers, not only scholars but makers, creators of new knowledge and of new things.
Salisbury’s Shore Hatchery has long invested in campus and community entrepreneurs. Taking top prize in the student competition this year was Leah Osmon and her SAT/ACT prep company, MathBridge.
Bowie State brought together 117 colleges and universities for the fifth annual HBCU+ Entrepreneurship Conference, this one focused on deep tech, AI, and innovation.
The Universities at Shady Grove launched its Bernard Series for Entrepreneurship, sharing lessons in creating opportunities, navigating setbacks, and staying curious—in business and in life. I know it’s a philosophy you live by, Dr. Khademian.
College Park earned a No. 7 spot in the national ranking of best schools for undergraduate entrepreneurship, reflecting its commitment to developing design skills, in all disciplines, that solve our most complex challenges.
HOW WE SERVE
Those challenges are global, of course. But they’re local, too. And for our universities, engagement is the currency that matters.
At the USM at Southern Maryland, Dr. Nesbary joined the presidents of the College of Southern Maryland and St. Mary’s College to discuss with up-and-coming leaders how pathways and partnerships not only prepare students for meaningful careers, but strengthen the economic and social fabric of the region. Thank you, Dr. Nesbary.
The USM at Hagerstown leans into its role not only as a leader but as a neighbor. The center ushered in the holiday season coordinating toy drives, food drives, winter coat drives; holiday meals for families in need, sponsored gift-giving for local children. Dr. Ashby, your people are the neighbors that your neighbors deserve. Thank you.
WHAT WE GIVE—AND WHY
I know this has been a challenging year. Support we’ve long relied on is drying up. People on our campuses and in our communities feel vulnerable. Values we’ve long held close are being questioned.
But we haven’t withdrawn. We haven’t shrunk. We’ve opened up. We’ve expanded. We’ve supported those who need us, who rely on us. We’ve affirmed—through our actions that matter more than our words—what we believe, and who and what we stand for.
In a year when international study and scholarship were targeted, UMBC sent more students abroad than ever before. When federal research dollars were threatened, UMB and College Park established bridge funding to safeguard critical research capabilities and support affected scholars. When federal workers were laid off, several of our universities created pathways to help them pivot to new careers, new fields, new degrees. When U.S. service members and veterans needed help pivoting themselves, we harnessed resources and programs to serve those who serve us.
We’re not made to be timid. We’re not made to shrink. We’re made to be of service, and through that service, to change lives. Sometimes it feels equal parts important and impossible. But as we look to a new year with hope, with optimism, I thank you for doing the impossible, every single day.
Madame Chair, this concludes my report.
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Contact: Michael Sandler
Phone: 410.576.5749
Email: msandler@usmd.edu
