Republican Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday nominated Baltimore author Wes Moore for the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.
The 17-member board oversees the academic and financial operations of the system, such as setting policy and tuition and appointing university presidents. The system comprises the University of Maryland and 11 other state institutions.
The Maryland Senate must approve Moore’s nomination for him to take on the role.
[READ MORE: The USM Board of Regents has eliminated bonus pay for future chancellors]
“The appointments we submitted today represent our administration’s continued commitment to the people of Maryland to provide the most responsive, competent, and well-qualified representatives that Marylanders deserve and expect,” Hogan said in Friday’s news release.
Moore, a Democrat who considered entering the Baltimore mayoral race in 2015, is an Army veteran and a Rhodes scholar who rose to prominence for his 2010 book, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates.” The story is about another boy with the same name as Moore who was born a block away in Baltimore. The book explores how the two boy’s paths diverged.
He also recently produced a PBS program called “All the Difference” about two African-American teens from the south side of Chicago who become the first in their families to graduate college.
Moore has dipped his feet into the education realm as well, running BridgeEdU, a company that works with first-year students at universities to improve retention rates through services such as financial aid consulting and academic support.
Thirty-two percent of the submitted names to the state Senate will fill economic development and education roles, the release stated. Moore’s nomination was one of 189 “Green Bag” appointments for different boards and commissions in the Maryland government.
