The chancellor is stepping down. After 50 years in education, and 12 years as Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, William English “Brit” Kirwan is retiring. He will leave office after his replacement is selected by the Board of Regents.
During his tenure, Kirwan was hailed for his strategic spending; his “Effectiveness and Efficiency Initiative,” started in 2003-04, has saved the system upwards of $462 million to date. He was also partly responsible for the tuition freezes after the recession. Under him, enrollment in Maryland’s 11 institutions of higher learning increased by 24 percent.
Chancellors are responsible for what the system calls “the overarching leadership and management of the entire USM.” They’re the public face of the system that is expected to provide focus and strategic vision.
Kirwan has often spoken on Maryland education and frequently hyped the launch of new efforts by the system.
Chancellors also dig into the weeds of tenure policies for professors and providing internal services, like compensation guidelines.
The next chancellor will face difficult challenges, some of which Kirwan has wrestled with for years:
Desegregating Institutions
The treatment of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) by the system has been, at best, problematic. U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake ruled last year that schools like Towson University and the University of Baltimore had “undermined preliminary gains in desegregation” by unnecessarily duplicating HBCU academic programs.
That, plus concerns that the schools have been chronically underfunded, mean the system will need to provide greater financial support to make HBCUs more competitive while also “ensuring the traditionally white universities aren't harmed by being denied the chance to create competitive new programs,” according to The Baltimore Sun.
During his tenure, Kirwan created a committee for the evaluation of Coppin State University that waspretty controversial.
Whatever path the new chancellor chooses-- what HBCUDigest.com editor Jarrett Carter calls “policy reform and program realignment” or something else--it will have an impact on the relationship between the system and the traditionally African American schools.
Holding on to STEM growth
Kirwan encouraged the development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs, increasing STEM course enrollment by 72 percent over the past eight years.
He emphasized the growing cyber security industry, on which he convened a task force, and pushed course redesigns that drove more technology into classrooms.
STEM courses have consistently been linked to economic growth and projections show that the fields are poised to grow even more. So, the next chancellor will have to continue Kirwan’s emphasis on the courses that will continue the growth.
Stemming the loss of students
Enrollment is another challenge. March 2014 projections showed that it’s down system-wide, by about 2,000 students, and will continue to be down next year.
That puts at risk Governor Martin O’Malley's goal that 55 percent of Marylanders will hold college degrees by 2025. University officials have suggested a number of strategies, including accepting more transfer students and working to retain more minorities.
Kirwan’s departure leaves “big shoes to fill,” James Shea, chairman of the system’s Board of Regents, said. “It’s hard to find his combination of political skills — state and federal — plus being a bona fide academic.”
University of Maryland Baltimore County President Freeman Hrabowski III has gotten some buzz, but insists he doesn’t want the job. But there are plenty of other leaders in education that the system can reach out to.