2012: It seems so long ago, doesn't it? Before the year just past recedes and we can't recall all that much about it, let's take a look at some highlights of the growth and change that occurred at the University of Baltimore in 2012. Here we go—the Top 12 from '12:
1. Moving up: In its 2013 America’s Best Colleges guide, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Baltimore among the top 25 public universities in the northern region.
2. Money matters: Uniquely UBalt: The Campaign for the University of Baltimore raised $45 million, shattering the institution's previous record for fundraising and nearly doubling the amount of funds raised by the institution in a single, distinct capital campaign. The effort, which began in 2009 and wrapped up last May, exceeded its $40 million goal by 12 percent. It led to substantial new funding to support scholarships for deserving students, to attract and retain first-rate teachers and scholars and to allow the institution to improve its facilities and technology.
3. Welcome to our new deans and faculty: Laura Bryan, former professor of psychology and director of the School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, was named dean of UBalt’s Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences in June. Ronald Weich, former assistant attorney general for legislative affairs in the U.S. Department of Justice and former chief counsel to both U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was named dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in April. The University also welcomed 19 new faculty members in the fall.
4. Grow, UBalt, grow!: The University set a new record for enrollment growth last year, welcoming 6,569 students to campus, including 3,426 undergraduates, 2,031 graduate students and 1,112 law students. Double-digit growth was seen in the freshmen class, which grew by 38 percent from the previous year to 264 students.
5. Student success impresses: As always, UBalt students did quite a lot of world traveling this year. One group from the Helen P. Denit Honors Program journeyed to Guatemala to help improve the lives of local families by constructing safe and permanent cooking stoves using locally procured building materials in partnership with area masons. Other students participated in an intensive playwriting residency in Armagh, the oldest city in Northern Ireland, as part of the John Hewitt International Creative Writing Festival. Spotlight UBalt, the University's performing arts series, hosted a production of the students' plays and poetry in the fall. Read more about these trips in the article "Our Wandering Minds" in the latest edition of the University of Baltimore Magazine . And learn more about our students who are aiming higher!
6. Crafting a digital future: Go Daddy Executive Chairman and Founder Bob Parsons , B.S. '75, D.H.L. '08, provided a $1 million donation to the University last June to establish a new professorship specializing in digital communication—a burgeoning field that brings together computer science, graphic design, entrepreneurship and related skills across several sectors of the 21st-century global economy. In October, Sean Carton, D.C.D. '05, director of UBalt’s Center for Digital Communication, Commerce and Culture and professor of the practice in marketing in the Merrick School of Business, was given the Bob "Go Daddy" Parsons Professorship of Digital Communication, Commerce and Culture for UBalt’s business school. As part of his donation, Parsons returned to his alma mater on Nov. 12 to deliver a talk to UBalt students who represent the next generation of digital designers, writers, leaders, scholars, innovators and entrepreneurs.
7. A focus on outcomes: In December, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences began an ongoing community dialogue about the future of arts and sciences education. In a keynote speech kicking off the initiative, Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, credited the college with developing new academic programs designed to help graduates adapt and integrate their potential for learning as their careers evolve.
8. Attention—AG on campus: In November, the School of Law hosted a conversation with United States Attorney General Eric Holder on public service, federal law enforcement, civil rights and other subjects of interest to the legal community. The event received national media coverage.
9. A sign of good health: The Association for University Programs in Health Administration recertified the B.S. in Health Systems Management program in the School of Health and Human Services in the College of Public Affairs. The program, highly commended by the association in its review, earned the maximum six-year recertification.
10. Bring out your best ideas: In September, budding entrepreneurs from across UBalt had a unique opportunity to share their ideas and concepts for new businesses with several successful business leaders, when Startup Maryland's "Pitch Across Maryland" bus tour stopped for a rally at the business school.
11. Our centers shine: UBalt's centers and institutes applied the University's official slogan, Knowledge That Works, in a number of cool and interesting ways in 2012. Some examples: The Truancy Court Program in the Center for Families, Children and the Courts was recognized by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as a Bright Idea. The program also received a $300,000 AT&T Aspire grant to help bring it to more children in Baltimore. The Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics hosted both the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ethics Bowl and the 10th annual Community College Ethics Bowl. The latter is one of the longest-running collegiate-level ethics competitions in the country. The Schaefer Center for Public Policy enrolled its inaugural cohort of 25 nonprofit managers and supervisors for its newly established Certified Public Manager Program. Finally, the Jacob France Institute issued several reports and assessments that explored key parts of the local and state economy, including the 10th edition of Vital Signs, t he Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute study that examines several quality of life indicators for city neighborhoods.
12. Untold history ... gets told: Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter Kuznick visited UBalt in November, as part of a screening at the nearby Charles Theater of an episode of Showtime's series Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States, which takes a critical look at American foreign policy during the 20th and early 21st centuries. After the screening, a panel discussion inspired by the show was moderated by UBalt faculty member and historian Eric Singer, principal researcher of the series.