LEGISLATIVE TESTIMONY

FACULTY

UMBC has approximately 460 State-supported full-time faculty who teach and conduct research, 200 full-time research faculty funded from contracts and grants, and nearly 300 part-time faculty. They are dedicated to their students and their work and are accountable through a rigorous process of review for promotion and tenure. Because of UMBC's heavy emphasis on hands-on experiences for students, our faculty work to connect their own research and teaching with students' interests, leading to substantive faculty-student interaction in labs or to student internships.

Another measure of the quality of our faculty is their impressive per capita ranking for such major awards as Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, comparing favorably with the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. (Figure 5) In fact, UMBC has recently had three Fulbright Scholars, a Mellon Research Fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellow, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentoring awardee, several NSF Career Award winners, an Optical Society of America Fellow, an IBM Faculty Award winner, and the Maryland Chemist of the Year.

As State support for higher education has fluctuated over the years, due chiefly to changes in the economy, faculty hiring has fluctuated and has not always been responsive to enrollment increases, new programs, and institutional plans and aspirations. The size and quality of UMBC's faculty will largely determine for many years our level of success as a research university. UMBC must continue to hire outstanding faculty to meet our growing enrollment, replace retiring faculty, and replace faculty we lose to other universities and corporations with whom we compete intensely. It is important not only to build our faculty complement, but also to retain faculty by providing the necessary support structure for research and teaching as well as competitive salaries. Our faculty drive the campus's research enterprise, attracting grants and contracts, producing technology transfer, and generating research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Retaining faculty is important also because of the costs associated with replacing them.

RESEARCH

UMBC helps to shape and anticipate the future by producing new knowledge through faculty research - either individually or through partnerships with corporations or public agencies. As noted, UMBC is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation in the top tier of American universities and is one of the leading recipients of federal funding in science and engineering. Our research is important not only because it addresses scientific, technological, and public-policy issues facing society, but also because it gives our undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to work with us on these issues - from AIDS and computer security to Medicaid policies and the K-12 academic achievement gap.

The Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) fosters research and technology development in optical communications, optical sensing and devices, and quantum optics. Initial resources for CASPR were provided by NASA, which enlisted UMBC faculty and graduate photonics students. The Center is led by Dr. Anthony Johnson, an internationally recognized physicist (who also is African American). The Center is becoming a major focus for photonics research in the Baltimore-Washington area.

The GEST (Goddard Earth Sciences & Technology) Center was created in 2000 with support from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). UMBC and its partners ­ Hampton University, Howard University, Caelum Research Corporation, and Northrop Grumman Corporation ­ are engaged in collaborative research programs, and the Center exists under a five-year, renewable award with GSFC. This government-university-industry consortium is not only providing a "home" for earth scientists, but also synergistically fostering new initiatives in research and technology.

The Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) operates under a 1995 cooperative agreement between UMBC and GSFC and works to develop new technologies for environmental remote sensing. JCET now includes more than two dozen research professors, a dozen research scientists, and several research associates. Its research foci include atmospheric radiation, clouds and precipitation, and interdisciplinary studies. JCET faculty are fully integrated into the academic life of the university, teaching courses and advising students in physics, geography, mathematics/statistics, and computer science/electrical engineering.

The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) conducts research on the environmental, economic, and social consequences of the urban landscape's transformation. It supports university teaching programs and assists in K-12 education. The Center was created with initial support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Housing & Urban Development.

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION, TRAINING, and SERVICE

In keeping with its mission, UMBC serves as a center of professional development, working with agencies and business and industry in the Baltimore-Washington region. Some of our major partners include school systems in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery Counties, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Maryland's Department of Business & Economic Development, and the National Security Agency.

We are especially committed to the development of effective K-16 initiatives. One such initiative is the recent multi-year, multi-million-dollar STEM Education Project involving UMBC, the Baltimore County Public Schools, and the National Science Foundation to strengthen student achievement and teacher proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in selected high-needs elementary, middle, and high schools. Other examples include our partnership with the Anne Arundel County Public Schools to provide professional development programs for scores of teachers in mathematics, science, and English, and the work of our Center for Art and Visual Culture, which works with area schools to strengthen arts education for K-16 students.

UMBC's Center for Health Program Development & Management (CHPDM) is a multi-faceted health services research organization. Under contract with Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), the Center has become nationally recognized for its work in helping Maryland control the costs and improve the quality of healthcare in the State. The Center works with DHMH and other public and private organizations in developing and evaluating healthcare programs and policies.

UMBC's nationally recognized Shriver Center continues to provide applied experiences each year for more than 1,000 students through internships, co-ps, and community service positions at hundreds of organizations in the U.S. and abroad. The Center has attracted millions of dollars in grants and contracts in recent years from national and State agencies and foundations, and is serving hundreds of youth through its nationally acclaimed Choice Program and NSF-funded Teaching Enhancement Partnership Project.

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

UMBC is a model university in terms of developing partnerships focusing on technology development and commercialization. We operate two major complexes to support these growing activities, techcenter@UMBC and bwtech@umbc, and our faculty, staff, and students work actively with business, industry, and government in combining our public responsibility with our technical expertise.

The techcenter@UMBC includes five buildings located on 30 acres and houses approximately 170,000 square feet of research, office, and conference facilities. Located on I-95, just minutes from BWI Airport and within view of thousands of north- and southbound travelers daily, the facility (UMBC's South Campus) is nearly fully occupied, leasing space to more than two dozen early-stage biotech and IT/engineering-related firms employing over 200 workers. For its incubator companies, the center provides a variety of university resources, including low-cost office/lab space, shared administrative services, access to UMBC's library and computing resources, access to faculty expertise, and availability of business, legal, marketing, and technical advice. The General Assembly, State Department of Business & Economic Development, and Baltimore County all strongly supported UMBC's efforts to acquire these facilities, which are an excellent example of UMBC's collaboration with business and government in the interest of economic development and enhancing the region's quality of life.

The 41-acre bwtech@umbc, located immediately adjacent to our central campus, now includes two major facilities. The first, a three-story, 62,500-square-foot building, houses RWD Technologies' Applied Technology Lab with its staff of 250. The second, a 60,000-square-foot building completed in fall 2004, now houses technology firms and university research centers. We also are currently negotiating with a major division of a federal agency to build a 25,000-square-foot facility and enter into a substantive scientific collaborative agreement. The research-and-technology park is encouraging technology development and transfer, collaborative R&D, training, and new employment opportunities for students and graduates.

Both the techcenter@umbc and bwtech@umbc emphasize tenant interaction with UMBC faculty, staff, and students, as well as with other research campuses in Maryland. In fact, the two complexes now house five faculty start-up companies and provide support to student businesses through the UMBC Idea Lab. Also, 90% of the companies have interactions with UMBC, currently providing part-time employment for 23 students, full-time employment for 35 UMBC graduates, and interactions with approximately 50 UMBC faculty and staff and with a dozen faculty and staff from other campuses.

Our Office of Technology Development is housed in bwtech@umbc and works closely with tenant companies. It also is playing a vital role in supporting our new ACTiVATE initiative, an applied training program for women seeking to become technology entrepreneurs. The program has received a $600,000 NSF grant and support from TEDCO and corporate sponsors. The program's goals over the next three years include training approximately 90 women to become technology entrepreneurs, evaluating 45 technologies developed by Maryland universities and federal labs, and launching six-to-nine new companies.

PRIVATE GIVING

I am delighted to report that our fundraising efforts continue to be highly successful. In fact, since completing our first-ever capital campaign less than three years ago, raising $66 million (and surpassing our five-year, $50-million goal by nearly a third), we have raised more than $27 million the past two years despite a difficult economy. And this year, even with several months still to go, we are already approaching our annual goal of $12 million. We also have begun planning for our next capital campaign, for which we have established some very ambitious goals. Major gifts by corporations, foundations, alumni, faculty, and staff both during our first campaign and since its completion have built endowment support (Figure 6) for student scholarships, faculty research, endowed professorships, faculty and staff development, and other programmatic initiatives ranging from the sciences and engineering to teacher preparation, the arts, and community service.

Because Maryland, unlike other states (e.g., Virginia, North Carolina, California), has not enjoyed a long tradition of private giving to public institutions, we have worked especially hard to surpass our goals. (In fact, before 1990, the campus had never raised a million dollars in any year.) The public now readily sees the difference that private giving and endowment make, and it takes pride in our privately supported achievements. Top-flight programmatic initiatives led by renowned faculty and superb staff attract donors.

SUMMARY OF FY 2006 BUDGET REQUEST

UMBC's FY 2006 budget request of $308.6 million reflects an increase of $11.7 million (3.9%), which includes an increase of $10.1 million in unrestricted funds and $1.6 million in restricted funds. The change in unrestricted funds is due primarily to an increase in tuition and fee revenue of $5.6 million (7.1%). The tuition revenue is generated by a budgeted enrollment of 9,350 FTE students and reflects a 5.9% undergraduate and graduate rate increase over FY 2005. Auxiliary and self-supporting operating-unit revenue increases $1.6 million (3.1%), in part through direct sales by various units, and by fee increases identified in the tuition and fee schedule. Resources will be allocated to expand summer and winter course offerings, and to continue enhancing student life outside the classroom. Restricted revenue increases 1.9% as the result of continued growth in grants and contracts.

The FY 2006 funding increases are required to meet such mandatory expenses as wages and fringe benefit increases; higher utility, insurance, library periodical, and debt service costs; financial aid responsive to increased tuition; instructional support costs related to higher enrollments; and increased technology support costs. Also, the campus will address high-priority initiatives related to the undergraduate experience, which are part of UMBC's strategic plan.

UMBC is pleased that the Governor's recommended five-year capital improvement program includes planning funds in FY 2010 for a new Fine Arts and Humanities Building on our campus. The proposed facility will provide much needed space for instruction, research, performance, and related activities involving our Departments of Dance, Music, Theater, Ancient Studies, English, and Philosophy, as well as our Center for Art & Visual Culture, Center for the Humanities, and the Shakespeare Association of America, which resides at UMBC. It should be noted that the six academic departments to be housed in the building account for nearly 15% of our undergraduate FTE enrollment. The facility will be instrumental in creating a regional and national appreciation of UMBC as a cultural destination.

RESPONSE to LEGISLATIVE ANALYST'S COMMENTS on UMBC

Campus Response:
Over the past year, several initiatives designed to increase the number of teachers completing certification programs at UMBC have been developed. There has been a restoration of funding from the National Science Foundation to increase the number of new teachers over the next three years in STEM fields (particularly in science and mathematics). The success of these program swill increase retention despite the higher tuition costs and the requirements of a one-hundred-day internship.

The program is provided by UMBC to the teachers in Professional Development Schools and through UMBC's masters' program in Education for more than 100 advanced teachers. This strategy is important in retaining teachers in the profession, which is currently a major challenge facing local school districts.

As our recent re-accreditation review by NCATE and MSDE concluded, an academic major beyond Education for all teacher candidates, a cumulative 3.0 grade point average or above, and successful completion of the specified Praxis II demonstrates the exceptional quality of our programs. Because of our more rigorous program, many of our students elect to go on to graduate school rather than directly into a teaching position.

Campus Response:
A School of Aging Studies is justified by (1) the demand for producing trained professional employees in this emerging area of need, (2) Maryland's relative shortfall of these workers in comparison to other states, (3) the increasing number of elderly Marylanders, (4) the patterns of in- and out-migration of the elderly, and (5) their behaviors related to financial dependency and the use of governmental programs, housing, and other services.

In order to launch a new program, seed money is essential. UMBC submitted a plan for the use of the $2.5 million in year-one, which is included in the analysis. Several of those expenditures, for example covering faculty and staff salaries, must be supported in future years by traditional sources, including tuition revenue, research grants, general funds, and gifts in order to sustain the program. In order to attract new students who pay tuition, to compete for research funds to support the research mission, and to attract significant private funds, the School must have faculty and staff to develop curriculum, teach, and implement other aspects of the School's mission.

A general multi-year financing plan has been developed based on a combination of the initial $5-million gift and $2.5 million in State funds. The initial $5-million gift will sustain the School's instructional program (years 2 and 3) after expending the $2.5 million (year 1) and before tuition and other gifts are sufficient to support the program. A more detailed business plan is under development; however, without the ability to begin hiring faculty and staff and to pout the School's infrastructure in place, it will be much more difficult to undertake the activities (such as gaining program approval and recruiting students) necessary to launch the School's educational program. The State's $2.5 million represents seed money that will enable UMBC to put in place the elements necessary to sustain this critical program and to support the School's mission.

ISSUES

Campus Response:
Administrative and academic efficiencies are achieved in this budget, in part, through expenses that are not contained in the budget allowance. Examples include the full cost of inflation on library journals and subscriptions; the implementation cost of the PeopleSoft Student Administration system; and maintenance contract costs to support new building coming off warranty. Additionally, there are no departmental budget increases to cover inflation on general supplies, laboratory supplies, and contractual services. The campus also will benefit from the recent renegotiations of the PeopleSoft contract for maintenance and access to modules. Over a 10-year period, UMBC will save $2.0 million on this part of our agreement. Also, the campus has begun to implement measures effective this coming fall that will contribute toward achieving academic efficiencies. We are making changes to class scheduling in order to use our facilities more efficiently and, therefore, enroll more students.

Campus Response:
UMBC's undergraduate rate increases by one-tenth of 1% more than the USM average, or approximately $33 per semester. UMBC continues to be underfunded, combining tuition, fees, and State appropriations in comparison to national peer institutions (i.e., 63% of funding guidelines). The funding situation is exacerbated by both the expensive mix of programs in science, engineering, and technology and our competitive self-supporting student-life programs at UMBC.

Campus Response:
UMBC continues to support access through aid. Many of our students receiving merit, mission-oriented, and athletic aid also qualify for need-based aid. However, the award to the student is more appealing and recognizes their hard work if it is presented as merit or mission-based. Meeting that need through merit contributes toward affordability and access. UMBC recognizes the critical importance of supporting economically disadvantaged students. State and Federal need-based aid is a significant component of financial support for helping such students. Beginning in the fall of 2004, UMBC has reduced the size and number of merit and mission-oriented awards to entering students and has increased awards for need-based grants. We will continue to monitor and adjust our awarding of institutional aid in light of affordability challenges.

Campus Response:
The executives whose salaries are cited as being above national medians are also well above the national median in "years of service" (president 4 years, chief business officer 5 years) associated with those average salaries. UMBC's president is in his 13th year in that position, and the chief business officer has been in his position for 17 years; their compensation is higher than that of individuals who have been in the same positions for fewer numbers of years. The salary of the chief of personnel, who has 13 years of service, is within one percent of that of the chiefs of personnel at comparable institutions.

The selected mid-level positions illustrate that the salaries of staff at UMBC are below regional medians. This is a concern and is a reflection on our inadequate funding. This budget does not support sufficient funds for retention increases above merit increases.

Campus Response:
During the recent period of flat funding, UMBC emphasized support of instructional personnel to minimize the impact on students. While this statistic appears to be positive, it reflects that the inverse ­ a lower percentage of administrative support personnel ­ is an issue. The other key parts of UMBC's core mission, as a research university, are research and service. These activities require administrative support for such offices as sponsored programs, grant-restricted accounting, and technology transfer, and for the greater workload on academic departments, accounting, and human resources. Our lower level of funding, when compared to that of our peers and illustrated by the funding formula, is of concern.

Campus Response:
UMBC will continue to meet current unrestricted fund balance targets set by the Board of Regents. Properly funding our facilities maintenance needs, however, will not be possible at current operating budget levels (i.e., 63% of funding guidelines) and with continued reductions in capital funding for these same purposed (i.e., capital funds of $1,096,000 in FY 2002 vs. $851,000 in FY 2005).

Audit Findings

Finding 5:
Corporate Purchasing Cards ­ the university did not always adhere to State and university policies for corporate credit card purchases.

Campus Response:
The two departments noted by the auditors as not having proper supervisory review have already amended their procedures to ensure that the situations hat led to the audit comment do not occur in the future. Written purchasing-card policy requires timely supervisory review and approval of all purchasing-card transactions. This is a critical control in the purchasing-card system and will continue to be reinforced at both the cardholder and supervisor levels.

Finding 7:
Student Accounts Receivable ­ the university did not adequately reconcile its student accounts receivable records.

Campus Response:
This item involved two different reconciliations. One was corrected as soon as the auditors noted the problem. The other reconciliation process has been strengthened, and monthly reconciliations now show variations of less than $100.