From the President
Dear Friends,
As you know, I have announced my retirement as president of the University of Baltimore, effective next August. I want to thank you for your ongoing and unwavering support, which has continued to enhance the University’s ability to provide a truly excellent and accessible education to a growing student body over the past 11 years.
During this decade plus, we have seen immense changes in our UB Midtown community, and I am proud to acknowledge what an integral role the University has played in these improvements. We have brought $275 million of capital investment to the area, and together, we’ve turned this campus into the vibrant, energetic heart of a community. We’ve built the University’s first-ever student center; developed innovative private-public partnerships that have resulted in residential and retail opportunities for the neighborhood; and welcomed privately owned and operated student-focused housing. Most recently, we opened the landmark John and Frances Angelos Law Center, which has irrevocably altered the city’s skyline and has become a benchmark for sustainable architecture in higher education.
But, as always, we have more to do. This coming year, look for enhancements in streetscaping, upgrades of existing buildings and, most significantly, the first stages of a major renovation of Langsdale Library, something that has been in the queue for more than 30 years. This is also an opportunity for us to understand the changing role that libraries play in 21st-century communities.
A perfect example is the partnership between the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts in the UB School of Law and the B.A. in Integrated Arts program in the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences (testament to UB’s ongoing commitment to interdisciplinary learning) to provide an internship for two students in the bachelor’s program during the spring 2013 semester. The students helped develop and coordinate a theater- and arts-based curriculum, the Kids and the Arts program, as part of the center’s effort to re-engage truant students at two Baltimore City Public Schools. At one school, the students undertook an advocacy program to rebuild a community playground; at the other, they created a 15-minute podcast version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The center saw substantial differences in attendance between those once-truant students who participated in the Kids and the Arts program and those who did not.
Upon completion of the program, one of the UB interns was asked by administrators to continue teaching the students who participated in the Kids and the Arts program, and the other noted that he “learned how to better work as a teaching artist through time management and mentoring.” (He also added, “I also really got into teaching improv to the kids; it gave me so much energy!”) For their part, the public school students said that their experiences underscored their ability to “make a difference” in their community and helped them “to [see] things from a different point of view.”
I know that UB has done the same for generations of its own students—changing perspectives, making an impact on their neighborhoods—largely through the support of generous and committed donors like you. And for that, I thank you again.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Bogomolny
UB President
From the Board Chair
Dear Friends,
The University of Baltimore Foundation is fortunate to have the generous support of alumni, friends, foundations and businesses that understand the level of commitment required to provide an exceptional yet accessible education to our students.
The evolution of the University’s campus and our impact on the UB Midtown community over the past several years is nothing short of amazing, and it’s your commitment to UB that has made many of these accomplishments possible. Thanks to your support, scholarship aid, campus improvements and faculty development continue to flourish.
June 30, 2013, marked the end of my tenure as board chairman; however, I will remain an active member of the University of Baltimore Foundation Board of Directors and of the UB community. I am exceptionally pleased with what we have accomplished over the past year, and I feel confident in and proud of the direction we are moving as an institution.
I am also honored to welcome Stuart J. Silberg, B.S. ’71, as the new chair of the board. Stu is a longtime supporter and champion of UB and is certain to bring a vast breadth of knowledge and critical experience to the position.
On behalf of the entire board, thank you for all you do to sustain and promote the mission of the University of Baltimore Foundation.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Curry, B.S. ’77
Chair, UB Foundation Board of Directors