The third annual University of Maryland, Baltimore Faculty Convocation honored the 2024 Distinguished University Professors, and featured three TED Talk-style speeches by faculty to inspire their colleagues.The remarks included:Sydnee Chavis, DMD, MS, clinical assistant professor in the Special Care and Geriatrics Clinic at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry: “Seeing Recognize-Ability”Andrew Coop, PhD, MA, professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs, Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy: “Public Trust in Experts: It’s on Us to Be the Solution”Kimberly Lumpkins, MD, MBA, Dr. J. Laurance Hill Endowed Professorship in Pediatric Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine: “The Will to Fail”

University of Maryland, Baltimore Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, joined officials from Montgomery County Government, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and state and federal leaders on July 29, 2024, celebrating a memorandum of understanding and federal funding for developing a building and space that will not only house the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing, but a new north entrance for the North Bethesda Metro stop.The University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing opened in 2024 in temporary office and lab space in North Bethesda near its future permanent home. The Institute is a strategic initiative that aims to improve well-being, quality of life, diminish disease, and enhance health outcomes for all citizens of Maryland and beyond.The UM-IHC is a partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park, as well as the University of Maryland Medical System under the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State.Learn more about the UM-IHC: https://mpower.maryland.edu/initiatives/13449/

Professor Mark A. Graber held a faculty position in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, from 1993 to 2007 and taught at the University of Maryland School of Law as an adjunct professor beginning in the fall of 2002. In 2004, he was appointed Professor of Government and Law at Maryland Carey Law, a title he held until May 1, 2015, at which time he received an appointment as the Jacob A. France Professor of Constitutionalism.In 2016, he was named Regents Professor, one of only seven Regents Professors in the history of the University System of Maryland and the only Regents Professor on the UMB campus. He served as associate dean for research and faculty development from 2010 to 2013. He has also been one of the organizers of the annual Constitutional Law "Schmooze," which attracts scholars from across the country to the law school. Professor Graber is recognized as one of the leading scholars in the country on constitutional law and politics.He is the author of A New Introduction to American Constitutionalism (Oxford 2013), Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil (Cambridge, 2006), and co-editor (with Keith Whittington and Howard Gillman) of American Constitutionalism: Structures and Powers and American Constitutionalism: Rights and Powers, both also from Oxford University Press, and co-editor with Mark Tushnet and Sandy Levinson of Constitutional Democracy in Crisis (Oxford 2018).His most recent book is Punish Treason, Reward Loyalty: The Forgotten Goals of Constitutional Reform After the Civil War (Kansas, 2023). Professor Graber is also the author of over 100 articles, including "The Non-Majoritarian Problem: Legislative Deference to the Judiciary" in Studies in American Political Development, "Naked Land Transfers and American Constitutional Development," published in the Vanderbilt Law Review and "Resolving Political Questions into Judicial Questions: Tocqueville’s Aphorism Revisited," published by Constitutional Commentary. He has been a visiting faculty member at Harvard University, Yale Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Toronto, the University of Oregon School of Law, and Simon Reichman University.For interview requests, please contact the Office of Communications and Public Affairs: https://www.umaryland.edu/news/for-the-mediaThis information was last updated February 19, 2024.

Kenneth H. Wong, PhD Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate SchoolKenneth Wong became vice provost for graduate education and dean of the University of Maryland Graduate School in August 2023 after a national search. In this role, Wong reports to the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) provost and serves as the principal academic and administrative officer of the Graduate School, leading faculty and staff who are committed to providing UMB graduate students with an exceptional educational experience.Wong also serves on the provost’s Leadership Council, works cooperatively with partners across UMB and the geographic region to strengthen graduate and professional education, and is a catalyst for the development and launch of self-sustaining programs that are in alignment with the University’s strategic goals.Wong joined UMB after serving 11 years — nine as associate dean and two as senior associate dean — of the Virginia Tech Graduate School for the National Capital Region and director of the Northern Virginia Center (NVC) in Falls Church, Va., which was founded as a shared facility with the University of Virginia.In his Virginia Tech role, Wong supported a wide range of graduate degree and certificate programs tailored to the Washington, D.C., region’s economic and professional development needs. Under his leadership, his team successfully launched affinity groups that foster small peer mentoring communities and play a vital role in advising the Graduate School leadership on the needs of a diverse student body.Additionally, as director of NVC, Wong was responsible for overseeing the infrastructure and operations of the building, which is the home of several academic departments, research labs, a library/makerspace, and more than 30 classrooms.In 2016, he was instrumental in creating the Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab, which combines career exploration and instruction in electronics, coding, engineering, and artistic design. The curriculum is primarily aimed at middle school students, but the lab is open to all ages and hosts more than 4,000 unique visitors each year.As a research professor in the Department of Physics at Virginia Tech, Wong studied medical imaging, radiation therapy, image-guided interventions, and applications of machine learning in these fields. He also worked extensively in the field of combat casualty care, developing smartphone and communications systems for delivering medical aid to the point of injury and along the evacuation chain.Wong holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brandeis University and a PhD in bioengineering from the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley. His postdoctoral training was in the radiology department at Georgetown University.For interview requests, please contact the Office of Communications and Public Affairs: https://www.umaryland.edu/news/for-the-media

The University of Maryland, Baltimore Community Engagement Center celebrated its fourth annual Juneteenth Jubilee, welcoming West Baltimore residents and the UMB community to a free festival filled with entertainment, food and games, on Thursday, June 13, 2024. The Juneteenth celebrations at UMB were made possible by the the University of Maryland School of Social Work, in collaboration with the UMB Office of Community Engagement and Intercultural Center#juneteenth #WestBaltimore