University President
’Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions. Here are my top 10 for 2014.
10. Get myself named an honorary captain of the Terrapins football team for the first Big Ten home game, which will be against Ohio State. The most deafening sound from a sold-out Byrd Stadium crowd will come from Buckeyes fans when they learn to fear the turtle.
9. Enlist more Twitter followers so that I get more interactions beyond pleas to close the campus whenever it snows.
8. Lose weight. Stop reaching mindlessly into the glass jar for my 20-a-day Hershey’s Kisses, the fix that keeps me awake through nonstop meetings.
7. Continue to lobby Congress to end the budget sequester. It has reduced funding for scientific research and student financial aid over the past year, to the great detriment of our nation.
6. Work with local officials so the thousands of university students who reside in College Park are able to have representation and a voice in the affairs of their city.
5. Promote a safer learning and work environment by implementing the recommendations of the new sexual misconduct policy — including mandatory training for all faculty members, staff and students — that was recently mandated by the University Senate.
4. Shovel dirt for the construction of new facilities: a four-star hotel and conference center, with innovation incubators for student-led start-ups and the Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center with state-of-the-art classrooms for online and on-site education, serving 8,000 students a day.
3. Cut the ribbon at the inauguration of new facilities, including Prince Frederick Hall, a wonderful dorm with expanded living-learning communities; the world-class Physical Science Complex, where faculty and student research might produce transformative innovations such as quantum computing; and the Data Center that houses a new supercomputer, one of the fastest of its kind on a U.S. college campus.
2. Finalize an educational and artistic partnership between this university and the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design. It would elevate the arts to new distinction; create synergies between art, design, media and technology; and give our university a prominent footprint in our nation’s capital.
1. Continue to advocate in the upcoming legislative session in support of funding educational excellence, keeping tuition affordable and increasing salaries for faculty and staff members. This month, Kiplinger’s Magazine again ranked this university in the top 10 U.S. public colleges and universities, based on quality and affordability. This is a winning combination that our governor and the General Assembly have made possible.
According to one study, only about one in 10 New Year’s resolutions succeeds. But with your support — and can-do Terps attitude — I expect many of these resolutions will be achieved.
I wish everyone happy holidays. And may you fulfill your New Year’s resolutions, too.
Wallace Loh is the president of this university. He can be reached at president@umd.edu or on Twitter @presidentloh.
