It was a celebratory atmosphere on Monday as University of Maryland Eastern Shore President Heidi M. Anderson opened the 2023-24 school year with her annual University Opening Institute event.
And there was a lot to celebrate.
Anderson, now in her sixth year at the helm of UMES, opened the event addressing the mix of new and returning administration, staff, and faculty members about some of the recent accomplishments and upcoming initiatives at the institution geared towards offering students greater opportunities to succeed.
“That’s what our mission is; bringing students in and getting them across the finish line so that they can soar above and beyond,” she said. “We cannot do that without the help of all of you here, and that, to me, is reason enough to celebrate.”
Anderson shared information on some of the highlights focused on expanding the university’s reach, including the announcement of international initiatives such as the CIEE Frederick Douglas Global Scholars Grant, pipeline initiatives such as the NASA MUREP Program as well as a partnership with Ohio-based Educational Solutions Charter School, legislative initiatives at the federal and state level, and the arrival of the first cohort of the STEM STARS program.
Focusing on academics, Dr. Rondall Allen, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, announced initiatives involving the onboarding of new chairs and faculty, the hiring of new retention specialists for each of the four undergraduate schools, and new academic programs set to begin at this fall, including new online modalities.
Allen also discussed the implementation of a One Stop on-call program that offers support to students and their parents to address questions centered on admissions, financial aid, student accounts, and the registrar’s office.
“We want our staff to be able to focus on some of those more complex issues,” he said. “This is what we do best because we’re a family and we are able to get those things done.”
Anastasia Rodriguez, the Vice President of Administration and Finance, presented information on the latest infrastructure, auxiliary, and facilities projects, including a focus on sustainability initiatives. She also shared information on the completion of a massive IT project centered on improving bandwidth speeds.
“Our campus connectivity has been greatly enhanced,” she said.
Other reasons for celebration included the announcement of UMES’s third consecutive year of increased new student enrollment. So far, more than 825 freshmen and 176 transfer students have been admitted ahead of the start of classes. The final enrollment numbers will be confirmed following the end of the add/drop period in mid-September.
“We are now at 2,400 students enrolled and counting,” said Latoya Jenkins, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Experience. “We know we have some work to do, and we will make this a bigger class than last year.”
The event concluded with featured guest speaker Dr. Mildred Garcia, former president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and incoming president at California State University, who stressed the importance of serving what she referred to as “the new majority” of students of color; the first in their families to attend college, in order to ensure their success.
“I know I was one of those, as I was a first-generation college student coming from a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn,” she said. “I know you serve these students well. These students, like you, are my North Star. They have been my passion, and they have been my life’s work.”
Anderson said the collaborative nature she has emphasized since her arrival in 2018 has helped UMES achieve its status of being a Top 10 public HBCU. “This is a team effort. When I came here six years ago, I told everyone, ‘Together in excellence affirming our mission,’” she said. “All the things we’re celebrating and that we do day-in and day-out involves teamwork, and it’s more prevalent today.”
