A panel of university and University of Maryland Baltimore officials spoke on the strategic alliance between the campuses before more than 100 people yesterday.

Although officials are still hammering out the details for a strategic alliance between this university and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, university community members got their first glimpse of these plans at a town hall forum yesterday.

A panel of administrators from both universities described several initiatives for the MPowering the State partnership, including a joint public health school and joint bioinformatics center – plans they said would provide greater opportunities for students and faculty at the two campuses. Many deans and administrators, but few students, made up the more than 100-member audience that packed into the Grand Ballroom Lounge in the Stamp Student Union, raising questions about funding issues and the benefits to be gained from the partnership.

University President Wallace Loh said at the forum that entrepreneurship and innovation will be one of the alliance’s primary initiatives, along with expanding interdisciplinary work and globalization.

“We have to focus on converting ideas into impact,” Loh said. “As President Obama has said, we are facing a Sputnik moment.”

Officials estimated the full cost of implementing the partnership would be about $43.7 million over the next decade, but when the question of funding was brought up at the forum, panelists stressed that the alliance will expand programs, not cut them.

“We’ve worked under the assumption that the vast majority of these things will require new funding of different sources,” UMB Chief Academic and Research Officer Bruce Jarrell said. “We’re not talking about dismantling current programs; we’re talking about adding to the current programs on both campuses.”

Vice President for Research Patrick O’Shea added the alliance will likely attract more grants, noting that the combined research dollars brought in by the university and UMB would make the alliance No. 5 in the nation for research funding – a ranking he said will only improve through increased collaboration.

Public health school Dean Robert Gold said a joint public health school would allow students to capitalize on the resources of both campuses. Provost Ann Wylie said the universities would share administrative responsibility for the school; one possibility would be to have the dean reside in College Park while an associate dean works at the Baltimore campus, she added.

“We certainly envision that students will benefit,” Jarrell said. “Programs will remain intact on both campuses, so students won’t have to move. … In the long run, interaction, we certainly hope, will be close not only in education, but in research.”

Another initiative would be to establish a center for biomedical informatics and imaging, which would be geared toward studying problems in health care and working toward solutions.

Panelists said this type of collaboration would not only benefit students, but society as a whole.

“It’s about how do we attack problems as a society, not just relating to health, but law, social services, social work, anything relating to the human condition,” Jarrell said.

Student Government Association President Kaiyi Xie, who was not able to attend the forum, said after the meeting that students should be more involved in the discussions as the alliance could significantly affect their educational experience. He added the administration should continue reaching out to students to hear what they want from the partnership as well.

“It was a lot of people who were decision makers there at the forum, so I definitely think students should be more involved, and I hope the administration opens up pathways for students to be involved,” he said.

kirkwood@umdbk.com