University of Baltimore Testimony

Senate Budget and Taxation Committee
Senate Subcommittee on Education, Business and Administration

March 11, 2005
By Robert L. Bogomolny, president

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to share with you some recent accomplishments, current growth and future plans that show the clear value of the state’s investment in the University of Baltimore.

First, I would like to acknowledge both the legislature and the governor for recognizing the critical importance of public higher education and acting to restore much-needed funding to Maryland’s colleges and universities. With the continued collaborative leadership of our elected officials, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents and the chancellor, we must find the means to assure access to affordable, quality education to all in our state who seek it. This year’s budget is an important first step toward achieving that goal.

With your support, the University of Baltimore has met the challenges of the past three years, as have our fellow institutions in the University System of Maryland. UB continues to occupy a unique position in the USM in terms of the students we serve, the manner in which we serve them and the impact our graduates have on the economic, civic and social vitality of Maryland.

The UB Student

Our fall 2004 enrollment of 5,045 is the highest total in a decade, as UB’s professionally oriented programs increasingly meet workforce and student demand. The University remains the most diverse in the USM: 40 percent of those enrolled are minorities, of which 28 percent are African-American. [Figure 1] Of the total student population, 89 percent are Maryland residents.

Since its beginnings, UB has focused on serving nontraditional students: working adults with families, career-changers and those who attend part time. That focus remains in force, as the average age of our current student is approximately 32. Beyond that simple statistic is an important story: The University of Baltimore creates a welcoming, supportive academic environment for those who, for many reasons, have not followed a more traditional educational path. As costs for public higher education continue to escalate, increasing numbers of students—through both choice and circumstance—will look for alternative ways to attain their educational and career goals. Many will enroll in community colleges; many will pursue degrees while employed. For these growing numbers of students, institutions such as the University of Baltimore serve an essential function.

Our campus life reflects the unique nature of our educational mission. Space utilization at UB differs from that at more traditional USM institutions, as our hallways and classrooms come to full life at 5:30 p.m. Alternative, flexible course scheduling is essential for the working adult student, and the University of Baltimore has been a committed leader in such areas as online education and weekend classes. Students come to our midtown location from all across Maryland. Figure 2 depicts UB students and alumni by county of residence and origin. As the chart indicates, University of Baltimore students or alumni can be found in every county in the state. Over 30,000 UB alumni currently reside in the state, contributing to Maryland’s economic and social vitality.

The Engaged Urban University

I would like to share just a few of the many faculty and student accomplishments that have taken place this past year. These achievements highlight select areas of excellence at UB that have attained national recognition.

This year the clinical program at the University of Baltimore’s School of Law was ranked 23rd by U.S. News & World Report. As impressive as that accomplishment is for a school of its size, more important is what our clinics accomplish in the community as they achieve national prominence. During the past year, the Civil Advocacy Clinic handled multiple, successful public benefits cases, argued two circuit court appeals and initiated district court reform efforts. Family Law Clinic students represented indigent clients in domestic violence, child support, custody and divorce matters. Students in the Community Development Clinic provided services for local start-up businesses, while students in the Tax Clinic represented low-income clients on tax issues. Under expert faculty supervision, these students received hands-on experience, affected change in the community and developed career commitments to responsible, service-oriented legal advocacy.

With professional and graduate programs in law, business and applied liberal arts, the University of Baltimore is uniquely positioned to offer multidisciplinary approaches that impact our classrooms and our community. For the past two years, professors from the School of Communications Design and the Robert G. Merrick School of Business have coordinated the Baltimore Community Wealth Collaborative, a program involving more than 50 students with Community Wealth Ventures. The project, developed to assist Baltimore’s not-for-profit organizations in developing new, sustainable revenue streams, was funded by leaders of Baltimore’s philanthropic community: the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Open Society Institute, The Goldseker Foundation, the Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation, the Aaron & Lillie Strauss Foundation and the Baltimore Community Foundation.

The students researched the selected organizations and their target markets; created business and marketing plans; and ultimately designed identity programs, Web sites and collateral materials for a number of nonprofit agencies. Clients have included Goodwill, Vehicles for Change, Parks & People, the BioTechnical Institute of Maryland, the Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation, the Patterson Park Community Development Corp. and the Chesapeake Center for Youth Development. Based on the success of this continuing project, New York-based Goldman Sachs Community Capital Group approached the University about co-hosting a regional/national conference on social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and high-impact philanthropy. That conference will take place at UB on March 30, 2005.

The University’s centers and institutes perform key services in areas of city and state need while offering students additional service-learning opportunities. This past year, the School of Law’s Center for Families, Children and the Courts—in partnership with the judicial system, public school system and city government—created the Truancy Court Program. Judges, counselors and education specialists are paired with truant students, service providers, their parents, teachers and principals in an enhanced effort to improve overall school attendance. The program addresses one of the most pressing problems facing Baltimore, and can serve as a model for city school systems nationwide.

Other University efforts also recognize the key role that Baltimore’s public school system plays in our future. UB’s City Fellows Program, now successfully entering its third year, will expand to include the public school system. Every year, the University offers six full scholarships to city employees for graduate study in public administration, criminal justice or business administration. In return, the recipients commit to remain in city employment for at least two years. Based on the program’s initial success, the University has secured continuing corporate sponsorship: The Old Mutual Financial Network, a life and annuity insurer headquartered in Baltimore, has committed to supporting the program.

This year, the Schaefer Center for Public Policy celebrates its 20th anniversary. The center, named after UB alumnus and former governor William Donald Schaefer, LL.M. ’51, serves Maryland’s public sector by bringing UB academic expertise to bear in solving problems faced by government and nonprofit organizations. The center recently provided its Master Manager Training Program to 55 senior managers in the Baltimore City Public School System. Many of the center’s principal researchers are faculty members in the Public Administration program; U.S News & World Report recently ranked UB’s Master of Public Administration specialization in public management 34th among the approximately 300 such programs nationwide.

The University will continue to expand on its mission of urban engagement and its commitment to meet the region’s workforce needs. UB’s Forensic Studies program, the first such program in the state, works in partnership with the Baltimore Police Department to train students in forensics and criminal investigation. Currently, UB students complete a portion of their course work in the BPD’s Crime Laboratory. The University, in partnership with the BPD, is seeking federal funding to establish a forensic science laboratory at UB that will serve as a reserve crime lab for the city. The lab proposal will further strengthen this experiential program, producing “field-ready” graduates at a time when Maryland’s law enforcement agencies are experiencing a chronic shortage of trained forensic scientists.

A Commitment to Effectiveness and Efficiency

As you are aware, the USM Board of Regents has initiated a comprehensive, USM-wide effort—the Effectiveness and Efficiency (E&E) Project—to enhance campus operations statewide. The University of Baltimore will continually examine how to better serve students, maximize the state’s investment in our institution and create innovative ways to enhance revenue generation.

In terms of student service, no single issue is of more importance than rising tuitions, as students and their families assume more and more of the cost of public education. The University is fully examining all financial aid practices to assure that no student is denied a UB education because of cost. Our review of current practices is centered on meeting the distinct needs of the UB student population, which includes significant numbers of transfer and part-time students. In addition, a growing segment of the population no longer qualifies for federal assistance, yet cannot meet the rising costs of public education. UB is committed to developing a financial aid strategy that enables these students to achieve their educational goals.

During the past year, the University has undertaken a number of specific measures to contain costs and increase operational efficiencies. In the area of enrollment services, enhancements have been implemented for students in Web applications, grades, billing and credit card payments. UB has targeted savings in energy costs by joining a purchasing consortium. Web timesheets for faculty and staff have been incorporated to streamline HR processes and reduce associated expense. UB has also recently agreed to partner with the University of Maryland University College to realize cost savings and delivery efficiencies in distance learning. From these efforts and others, the University anticipates controlling or reducing costs through E & E efforts in the range of $300,000 - $600,000 in FY 06.

An area of growing concern throughout the state is the need for facility enhancement and renewal. As our infrastructures age, we face mounting costs to simply maintain the current physical environment. At the same time, there is a competitive need to provide the modern facilities central to a quality educational experience. We cannot rely on state dollars alone to meet these challenges. During the past year, the University received a substantial challenge grant from the France-Merrick Foundation to support classroom renovation in the School of Business; enhancements included wiring every seat for electricity and Internet capability. The School of Law received a generous pledge from Stephen L. Snyder, J. D. ’70, for the renovation of the Venable Baetjer Howard Moot Court Room. These improvements, achieved without state dollars, provide direct, tangible benefits to the UB student experience.

Last fall, UB issued a Request for Proposals for four University-owned surface lots. The project, know as UB Midtown, aims to create strategic public-private partnerships to provide the University with needed facilities and alternative revenue streams at no added dollar cost. The project can potentially add mixed-use retail and residential development worth $100 million to the city’s core while meeting a pressing University need not funded by the state: additional parking. This partnership expands on the previously successful redevelopment of the 1200 block of North Charles Street and the current Maryland Plaza project, which add market-rate housing and retail options for students and area residents. By forming innovative alliances with the private sector, the University can supplement existing state support.

Central to the E&E Project is a commitment to effectively manage resources to meet increasing enrollment demand. The Maryland Higher Education Commission estimates that undergraduate enrollment in USM institutions will increase by more than 8,000 students by 2008. Put in perspective, this amount is greater than the current undergraduate enrollment at all but three of the system’s campuses. The USM has recognized a need to direct that enrollment to low-cost alternatives within the system. As part of the response to this pressing need, the Board of Regents has instructed the University of Baltimore to explore the feasibility of:

• admitting lower-division (freshman and sophomore) students
• forming a partnership with University of Maryland University College or another USM institution to create a lower-division curriculum taught both online and onsite
• expanding collaborations and alliances with other USM institutions.

The University is complying with these requests. UB currently utilizes its classroom space as fully as any area institution; as mentioned previously, that maximized use occurs during evening and weekend hours, when more traditional campuses are less crowded. With the guidance of the Board of Regents, we will continue to explore ways to help meet system capacity needs and fully serve future demand.

One way to better serve students is through strategic partnerships. UB has proposed a joint M.B.A. degree with Towson University that will build on the existing strengths at both institutions, including faculty expertise and physical resources, to provide greater offerings than either institution can deliver separately. The proposal is now being reviewed by MHEC; its approval will increase affordable educational opportunities for all area students. We have also reached an agreement in principle to use the UMUC platform for all our online teaching, learning and technical support. We believe this is an excellent example of using technology and processes developed at one USM institution across the entire system.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to emphasize the University of Baltimore’s commitment to being part of the solution to the challenge we collectively face: providing access to quality, affordable higher education in Maryland. Today’s UB is a vital, exciting place to learn, teach and work. We are engaged in our classrooms, our community, our city and our region. By most measures, the University of Baltimore in 2005 is the strongest it has been in a decade.

Our new energy and continued achievement has been generated despite considerable constraints. When I arrived at UB in FY 02, the University’s general fund support was $24, 473, 622; in FY 06, general fund support will be $22, 258, 639. This reflects a decline of $2,214,983, or 9.1 percent. During this same timeframe, mandatory pass-through expenses have increased an additional $11 million, so that the total reduction for the University of Baltimore during this four-year period is more than $13 million—more than half of FY 02’s general fund allowance. To offset these actions, the University reduced staff, cut operating expenses and raised tuition. As previously mentioned, we are now beginning to reverse these trends through the dedication of this body and of all of our elected and public higher-education officials.

With your support, we look forward to meeting our collective challenges with new ideas—both in how we provide education and how we, as a state, can adequately fund it. Thank you for recognizing that an investment in education—for our current students and the many who will follow—is the smartest and most important investment we can make.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert L. Bogomolny

Contact us at govrelations@ubalt.edu

Anita Thomas
Associate Vice President of Government Relations
1420 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201-5779
410.837.4533

Page last updated: 1/27/05