Brandon Enriquez ‘17, economics and mathematics, has been named student regent for the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, effective July 1, 2016.
Enriquez was among three new members appointed to the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents by Governor Larry Hogan for the upcoming fiscal year. The Board of Regents oversees USM’s academic, administrative, and financial operations.
As student regent, Enriquez represents more than 168,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 12 institutions across the state, including UMBC. As a voting member of the board, he will work fellow regents members and USM institutions to address a wide variety of issues that impact students, faculty, and staff.
“I am very excited to be named student regent,” said Enriquez. “I look forward to applying some of the insights I’ve gained in my research to help students across the state.”
During his one-year term, Enriquez plans to focus on college affordability and student success. His ongoing undergraduate research focuses on the economics of education and policies surrounding remediation and student employment on academic performance. “I not only care about making sure college is affordable for students, but also about helping them succeed academically—both for undergraduate and graduate students,” he says.
Enriquez is the fourth UMBC student to be appointed to the USM Board of Regents in the past decade. He joins Collin Wojciechowski ’13, political science and media & communication studies (2011-12); Josh Michael ’10, political science (2008-09); and Phil Shockley ’04, information systems and political science, ’09, M.P.P. (2003-04).
“It’s a great honor when one of our students is selected to serve on the USM Board of Regents,” says President Freeman Hrabowski. “I was delighted to learn of Brandon’s appointment. He represents the very best of our university, and we look forward to seeing him learn and grow with this new opportunity.”
This summer Enriquez is working as a research assistant at MIT on a project to evaluate the effects of randomly awarded student scholarships. From this study, researchers hope to examine the potential causal effect of financial aid on enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of poor and working-class students. Last year, he spent the summer at Harvard University analyzing the impact of limiting postsecondary remediation to two-year community colleges.
Enriquez is a Meyerhoff NSA Scholar and member of the Honors College. He has served as president and co-president of the UMBC College Democrats, and has participated in UMBC’s STRiVE Leadership Retreat.
Media coverage:
Three new regents join USM Board (The Daily Record)
Images, top-bottom: UMBC Administration Building, courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. Brandon Enriquez head shot, courtesy of Brandon Enriquez.
Tags: Economics, HonorsCollege, MathStat, MeyerhoffScholars, Undergraduate Research
