This has come up before, but now there is a bill that is being considered. This goes beyond MPower. Apparently UMD is the only Big Ten university without a medical or law school. Seems like a good idea to me.
http://www.dbknews.com/2016/02/19/umd-university-of-maryland-baltimore-combine-merger-umb-umcp/
Makes perfect sense. New Jersey finally merged most of UMDNJ into Rutgers giving the university 2 medical schools and a dental school.
I vaguely remember a proposal a few years ago to merge UMBC and UMBaltimore.
If it passes, how long would it take to implement?
In reading the bill the president of each institution would come up with a timeline. http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2016RS/bills/sb/sb1052f.pdf
I have mixed feelings since I am Baltimore-centric. It has always been an interesting relationship. UMB is the “first campus” and holds a special place in the state university system. Interestingly, the graduate medical, law and dental schools (and others based in Baltimore I presume) confer diplomas that read “University of Maryland School of Medicine” and so on. The hesitation in my endorsement is the fear that UMB will slowly but surely lose its independence and the two president model will fade. I would just like to make sure that Baltimore remains firmly a part of any merger. The other interesting piece to this is that UMBC ( a fine institution) is left on its own.
An update to the story. It is no longer being called a merger. Each university would have there own president…
http://www.dbknews.com/2016/04/01/strategic-partnership-plan-maryland-senate-hogan-umd-umb/