Dear UB Alumni and Friends,

This fall, the University of Baltimore welcomed 6,265 students to campus, the largest enrollment in our history. And for the third consecutive year, UB led all public universities in Maryland in percentage enrollment growth. It’s clear that our professionally focused education is as relevant today as it has been at any other time in the University’s history.

This transformational chapter in the UB story comes at a time when higher education faces increased social responsibilities and unprecedented economic challenges. Universities must extend the promise of higher education to more diverse populations while ensuring that no one is denied this promise because of rising tuitions or overcrowded classrooms. To be truly successful, universities must anticipate and innovate by meeting future student and workforce needs with creative, forward-thinking academic offerings. In short, we must be ahead of our time.

In fundamental ways, the University of Baltimore has always been ahead of its time. UB’s founding mission statement in 1925—“to provide opportunities for employed men and women to obtain a practical type of college education at night”—preceded the G.I. Bill by decades. That sweeping and revolutionary act forced the nation’s colleges and universities to open their doors in a way that UB’s already were.

Since becoming a public university in 1975, UB—then an upper-division institution—recognized the importance of completing a baccalaureate degree and focused on transfer students’ success. Today, transfer students are part of every university’s enrollment strategy. Through educating working adults and part-time students, UB served a nontraditional student population as a leader in evening and weekend classes and in online education. Today, alternative schedules and delivery systems are an established part of the educational landscape.

The University’s return to four-year undergraduate education in 2007 reaffirmed our institution’s historical mission of providing access to quality, affordable higher education. Today, there are 739 freshmen and sophomores at UB, almost a quarter of our total undergraduate population.

How will the University of Baltimore remain ahead of its time? Our collective answers to that question will shape the UB of the coming decade. Some of the answers are already underway: Next fall, we will launch a part-time, evening freshman program for adults who have not yet started their college careers.

Some answers are forthcoming: We are currently evaluating proposals to construct student residences in UB Midtown.

The most essential question is ongoing: How do we ensure that our educational offerings provide students with the skills they need to achieve rewarding careers and fulfilling lives?

Everyone in the UB community has a stake in the answers to these and other critical questions. As always, I invite alumni, faculty, staff, students and our larger community to participate in the discussions that will inform and shape our future. With your support and guidance, the future University of Baltimore will remain true to its past by being ahead of its time.

Best regards,

Robert L. Bogomolny
President, University of Baltimore