<p>April 9, 2013</p>
<p>Dear University of Maryland community:</p>
<p>The newly minted state budget holds quite good news for our campus next year.<br>
Students, faculty, and staff will all see benefits, including a cap on in-state
undergraduate tuition; cost-of-living and merit salary increases; and new
funding for educational excellence, research, and innovation.</p>
<p>Once again, our "Education Governor," Martin O'Malley, and the General Assembly
have shown remarkable vision and leadership in supporting higher education.<br>
They increased our state appropriations by more than $30M (to $447M), a 7.3%
increase. In many other states, public universities face stagnant or declining
funding and double-digit tuition increases. The State also approved all of our
requests for capital investments.</p>
<p>With these new resources, we can pursue our most important goals, as set forth
in my state-of-the-campus address last fall. </p>
<p>Tuition: Our elected officials provided funding to keep college affordable by
holding the resident undergraduate tuition to a 3% increase. Maryland is at the
bottom of all states in tuition growth. In this case, the bottom is where we
want to be. </p>
<p>Pay raises: Next April, there will be a 2.5% merit increase, the first such
raise in four years. Next January, for the second year in a row, there will be a
cost-of-living increase, this time of 3%. We cannot expect to attract and keep
the best faculty and staff if we do not offer competitive salaries.<br>
Compensation is related to educational quality and institutional reputation.</p>
<p>Growth in STEM majors: Over the next three years, we will fund the enrollment
of about 350 additional science and engineering majors. For several years, we
have had to turn away outstanding STEM students because we did not have the
faculty and facilities to accommodate them. Now we can grow without
compromising educational quality.</p>
<p>Transforming education with "blended" learning: We will be able to expand the
number of courses that "blend" online and face-to-face pedagogy. Such
redesigned courses have been shown to improve learning outcomes. They also help
narrow the achievement gap. </p>
<p>Partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB): The State
provided new resources for our partnership with UMB, known as "Mpowering
Maryland," which joins our campus' scientific and engineering expertise with the
biomedical and public health opportunities at our sister institution. The
results will include a Collaborative School of Public Health and increased
bio-informatics research. </p>
<p>Innovation and entrepreneurship: We received funding to integrate our
technology commercialization operations with those of UMB in order to grow the
number of start-up companies and thereby drive state economic development. Our
new Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship will be able to sponsor more
courses in this area for all students in all majors. </p>
<p>Revitalization of College Park: Working with local officials to develop the
city into a top-20 college town is vital for the future of our University. It
will help us recruit the best students, faculty, and staff. There is start-up
funding to enable the College Park Academy -- a new charter school that is a
partnership between the city, the University, and our College of Education -- to
open this fall with 300 students. The State's transportation funding plan makes
possible continued work on the Purple Line that will run through campus, as well
as efforts to revitalize Route 1.</p>
<p>New and renovated buildings: We received planning funds for the new Edward St.
John Learning and Teaching Center and the new bioengineering building. We also
got funding for the new remote library storage facility, the renovation of H. J.
Patterson, and equipment for the new Physical Sciences Complex.</p>
<p>New regional medical center in Prince George's County: The legislature
appropriated $20 million as a down payment on a new hospital. It inserted
budget language designating that our University and UMB work together to
maximize the impact of this hospital by undertaking joint research, education,
and economic development activities. </p>
<p>We are most grateful to our elected officials for their investment in the future
of the University of Maryland and our State. And, my heartfelt thanks to
everyone -- Chancellor Kirwan, SGA leaders, other students, faculty, staff, and
administrators -- who worked so diligently in Annapolis to make possible these
new opportunities.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Wallace D. Loh
President, University of Maryland</p>