![Three individuals in regalia stand behind of a display of flowers and in front of the UMBC seal](https://umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/VSA-Inauguration-Investiture23-6834-scaled.jpg)
Inauguration Highlights
![Students pose for a selfie with President Sheares Ashby at the post-inauguration celebration on the Quad.](https://umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/umbc-president-valerie-shears-ashby-1200x601.jpg)
![Members of the platform party laugh and clap on the stage](https://umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/155-VSA-Inauguration-Investiture23-6678-1200x800.jpg)
![President Sheares Ashby greets students at the campus celebration after the investiture.](https://umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/VSA-Inauguration-Celebration23-7408-1200x800.jpg)
Surrounded by lush displays of Maryland’s black and gold flower, black-eyed Susans, and state and campus leaders at her investiture ceremony, President Valerie Sheares Ashby made a promise to the campus community and beyond.
“We look at our students as if we are looking at our own children. And so, I say to you, students: By our words and through our actions, we want you to feel that you belong and know that you are welcomed.”
![](https://umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Event-Center18-3212-scaled.jpg)