FROM: Philip Rous, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
TO: The UMBC Community
RE: Warm Support for the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation
I am delighted to share news of the tremendous support we have received from alumni and friends, the local community and businesses, and state and national leaders as we launch the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation.
Over the last few months, hundreds of people across the state and nation have given of their time, talents, and resources, including about $5.5 million in gifts honoring President Hrabowski’s 20 years of dynamic leadership. Of that amount, more than $3 million was given in support of the Innovation Fund.
As Tim Nohe, President of the Faculty Senate, shared: “The community support that lifted the Innovation Fund to such heights also makes it clear that people and businesses believe in the vision and mission of our university, and I am grateful that faculty and students have been supported with such extraordinary generosity … Freeman has involved each of us in a great and growing university that we make, day by day, with extraordinary effort and a little bit of magic.”
Indeed, the outpouring of support recognizes the lasting contributions of UMBC’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni to the social fabric of our region, to Maryland’s economy, and to advancing public education nationwide. It also shows our supporters’ enthusiasm for the impact UMBC has had as a national model for excellence in teaching and learning across the disciplines.
Mayo Shattuck, Chair of the Board of Visitors, had this to say: “It is wonderful to see such a warm and generous response to the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation. It demonstrates just how many people know what my wife, Molly, and I have known for some time—that the faculty and staff at UMBC are focused on finding ways to help students from all backgrounds be at their best.”
As many of you know, the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation will enable the University to invest in initiatives that reimagine what it means to teach and learn; challenge students to take an active role in their education; fuel creativity and enterprise; and transform classrooms into laboratories of the mind.
The first Hrabowski Fund for Innovation Competition is focused on faculty initiatives, such as course redesigns, and is already underway. We received 19 applications for the spring awards, and a committee will select the inaugural recipients from that strong group by the end of this semester. As this next phase of our work gets underway, I hope you will join me in reflecting on how far we’ve already come and on the incredible appreciation the broader community has shown.
All faculty, staff, students, and alumni should be proud of the contributions they’ve made to this gem of a university we call our UMBC.
