“From Excellence to Eminence”

UMES’ 14-to-1 student-instructor ratio fosters a vibrant, interpersonal learning environment.

A recent (2013) national study of “return-on-investment” in education found that when compared to tuition, the average starting salary for UMES graduates ranked among the nation’s top 10 HBCUs.

Two-thirds of UMES’ student body is African-American, which places the university in the top 10 most-diverse institutions among peer HBCUs.

UMES is the nation’s lone historically black institution that offers a bachelor’s degree in PGA golf management through its hospitality and tourism department. It has attracted national attention in the form of generous gifts to support scholarships, including donations from Lexus, golfer Tiger Woods, the PGATour and Baltimore’s Caves Valley Golf Club.

UMES is the nation’s first higher education institution to sponsor a collegiate chapter of the Executive Women’s Golf Association.

The Association of Public Land-grant Universities named UMES a co-winner of its “1890 University of the Year” award in 2014 for overall excellence.

A recognized leader in course redesign, UMES has been supported by National Science Foundation funding to do cutting-edge n curriculum modifications while forging new strategies to encourage women of color to study and teach science, technology, engineering and math.

UMES is part of a consortium of mid-Atlantic institutions working on ways to utilize unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for domestic purposes. The research focus on the UMES campus is using these remote-controlled aircraft to help farmers be more efficient and productive – also known as precision agriculture.

UMES has been recognized as the nation’s best public historically black institution for its “green” efforts in utilizing alternative energy.

The university’s 17-acre solar-energy collection system on the east side of campus reduces UMES’ reliance on commercially produced electricity and provides engineering students hands-on learning opportunities as well as peers in other disciplines.

UMES is not standing pat with its solar farm. It recently accepted a solar powered car as a donation, and other “green” initiative also are being explored.

UMES is the nation’s lone historically black institution (and among just a handful of colleges and universities) that sponsors a spelling competition that sends the winner to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. each May.

Many of the university nearly 13,000 living alumni live within a day’s drive of campus.

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is and will remain one of the best universities in the nation and a great place to learn and work. I am beginning my fourth year as president more excited and energized than ever.

My vision for UMES is moving it “From Excellence to Eminence” – striving for distinction, fame and recognized superiority. “From Excellence to Eminence” is more than a slogan or mantra. It is a state of mind, a way of life – a statement of expectation. It is this university declaring to the world that we expect to start with excellence as the baseline. We expect to engage in continuous improvement.

At the 1963 March on Washington, the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about “the fierce urgency of now” as a way to describe the need for “immediate, vigorous and positive action” on civil rights. I believe UMES has arrived at a “fierce urgency of now.”

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

And President Obama, among others, said, “If not now, when? If not me, who?”

Our students have choices. As a historically black institution, our competitive advantages of access, affordability and a vibrant, interpersonal learning environment will be irrelevant if we in higher education do not place greater emphasis on student success. You want a good outcome when you go in for surgery and our students want a good outcome when they go to college. It is imperative that we ensure excellence in our student success outcomes.

Ensuring excellence is the baseline for everything we do at UMES. We cannot be mediocre, average or even good. We must begin with a baseline of excellence. Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

Some things we need to continue doing. Some things we need to start doing. And some things we need to stop doing. By ensuring excellence, we are committed to identifying what to continue, what to start and what to stop.

I have challenged every person at UMES to “Be the One.”

The One to show up.

The One to realize his or her unique value contribution.

The One to be creatively non-routine.

The One to make a difference.

We must be “The Ones” to “ensure excellence” for our students.

We must do a better job in improving student success outcomes. While the needs and expectations of our students are important, state and federal accountability standards also demand improvement.

Creating a positive campus climate built on trust is critical to our success.

We must ensure the pillars of what we like to call “Hawkspitality” – the I-CARE core values of Integrity, Commitment, Accountability, Respect and Excellence - are enforced and reinforced campus wide. Those core values undergird everything we do.

We also are committed to continuing initiatives to improve working conditions for faculty and staff.

And we are committed to providing resources to support a strong learning environment. We are in the process of developing a new 10-year facilities master plan, which will chart the footprint for an ever expanding campus.

Later this academic year, we will occupy a new state-of-the-art engineering and aviation sciences building. At 163,500 square feet, it will be the university’s largest classroom building, and will feature a geothermal energy system. Soon, we will be focusing our attention on securing funds to build a new pharmacy classroom building and 21st century library.

It takes all of us at UMES, giving our best efforts, every day, to ensure excellence. UMES is important and impactful to the lives of everyone on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, in the entire state, the nation, and the world. How we do our job here matters.

As this new academic year gets underway, I am ready to create the future for UMES I know we can reach.

I have challenged the UMES community to believe that we can be “The Ones” who will make a difference – for our students and our university by “ensuring excellence.”