Thank You for an Incredible First Year!

Wed, 31 May 2023 12:02:49 -0400

Dear Colleagues,

Last week's Commencement was a joyous culmination of our students' UMBC journeys, and I know that you shared in that joy because you played important roles in their journeys. Now, with the spring semester, final exams, Inauguration, and Commencement in our rear-view mirror, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all we have accomplished and express my gratitude to each of you for this extraordinary and wonderful first year we have spent together.

It has been a whirlwind, an adventure, and a homecoming all at once for me. I have learned so much from you about UMBC -- its character and its caring community, as well as its excellence and ambition. And I have seen you adjust and adapt to significant change and transition with grace and thoughtfulness for both your colleagues and the institution.

To have joined this beloved community that holds the same values and sense of higher education's purpose that have long inspired and driven me is to have found a home among you. It is an extraordinary privilege to serve in leadership to this community.

As we grow and evolve together, I know we will do so with those shared values as our North Star. This was evident time and again in our UMBC Bold: Campus Conversations this spring. I have now received the summaries and reflections on those conversations from our co-chairs, and I look forward to carrying the ideas and aspirations we heard into strategic planning this fall. You will hear more from me about the process and structure for that work, but for now, I wanted to extend my thanks once more to all who participated in the Campus Conversations and, especially, to those faculty, staff, alumni, and students who helped lead them.

I know our campus will remain alive with activity through the summer and that for many of you, the months ahead will be as busy as the ones that have just passed. But I do hope that all of you find time for rest, rejuvenation, and reflection. And I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for welcoming me so warmly to UMBC, for making this first year as your president so incredible, and for embracing the work we will do together to create UMBC's exciting future.

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby