Dean Ball Leads Flagship 2020 Working Group

President Wallace Loh recently announced the creation of the Flagship 2020 Commission, which has been charged to create a road map to competitive excellence for the University. Ultimately, the goal of the Commission is to help the University become a top 10 flagship institution.

The Commission, which will make periodic recommendations that the University could act upon, is composed of faculty, students and staff. Its chair is Dr. Rajshree Agarwal, the Rudolph Lamone Chair in the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

BSOS Dean Gregory F. Ball has been named chair of the Commission’s Innovations and Efficiencies in Education and Research Working Group. This group’s charge is to recommend improved ways to learn and teach, conduct research, and translate ideas into social and/or economic ventures. It will consider collaborations, mergers and shared services across units, within and between colleges. It also will focus on enhancing excellence and cost-savings.

“I hope the Committee will be able to identify ways to serve our students better in all aspects of their educational experience, both for practical issues such as course selection and registration as well as how they learn. We will also explore how we support our faculty in pursuing their goal of research excellence,” Dean Ball said. “There is very valuable infrastructure already in place at UMD, but we want to ensure that it is consistently available to all members of our community. We also want to ensure that we are pursuing at least the best practice available, if not pushing the edge of the envelope.”

This is one of five working groups on the 2020 Commission; the other groups will focus on a UMD Strategic Plan Update, 2015-2020; Strategic Budgeting and Finance; Innovations and Efficiencies in Administrative Services; and Revenue Development.

To learn more—and to contribute your ideas via the Commission’s electronic suggestion box—visit www.umd.edu/flagship2020.

Published on Thu, Feb 19, 2015 - 2:00PM