We invest in people and communities
We invest in people, their well-being and advancement, and the conditions that support their ability to fully participate and thrive in our community, state, and world.
Fearlessly Forward Initiatives
Terrapin Commitment
Providing up to $20 Million annually for students from the state of Maryland, the Terrapin Commitment program is the largest single-year investment in need-based scholarships in The University of Maryland’s history and is a bold effort to increase affordability and accessibility to the state’s flagship institution of higher education.
Terrapin Commitment
The Terrapin Commitment program began in January 2023 and ensures that tuition and fees are fully covered for low-income in-state students, who are enrolled full-time and have unmet financial need. The program will dramatically reduce the financial barriers to obtaining a higher education for Marylanders. Enhanced financial aid awards support the recruitment and enrollment of low-income students and promote their success at UMD and beyond graduation. The program has already impacted thousands of students.
Employee Salaries
The University of Maryland is making significant investments in salaries and stipends to recognize the efforts of the talented faculty and staff who power The University of Maryland’s academic, research, and service missions.
Employee Salaries
Investments include historic increases in faculty and staff compensation. Since January 1, 2022, with support from the state, The University of Maryland boosted salary/wage outlays for employees by over $120 Million.
This effort includes:
Over 8,000 The University of Maryland employees received three cost-of-living adjustments and two merit raises, resulting in an average salary increase of over 13.5%
3,700 hourly student workers, primarily undergraduates, benefit from the campus' move to a $15 minimum wage, a 20% jump in pay taking effect several years ahead of the state's timeline
FAMILE
Faculty Advancement at Maryland for Inclusive Learning and Excellence (FAMILE) seeks to increase faculty diversity by adding over 100 new tenured or tenure-track faculty.
FAMILE
Through FAMILE, The University of Maryland will invest $40 million over 10 years to add over 100 new tenured or tenure-track faculty in departments and units across campus. The University of Maryland launched the FAMILE faculty diversity hiring initiative in March 2021. This initiative includes three hiring incentive programs.
Mental Health
Efforts are underway to increase staffing and redefine the delivery of mental health services for students, including developing a rapid access treatment team and a care management team, minimizing barriers to care for marginalized communities, implementing a unified and flexible model of treatment, and enhancing wellness resources.
Mental Health
Recent milestones include:
Increasing access and flexibility for students through remote therapy options
Implementing the student-supported counseling center fee, the T.E.R.P.S. (Training to Evaluate, Respond to, and Prevent Suicide) program, and the PHLOC (Post Higher Level of Care) case management system
Establishing the Mental Health Coalition
Continuing strong, ongoing consultations with student communities
Faculty Supports, Evaluations, and Rewards
The university seeks to align faculty workload; policies and procedures for appointment, promotion and tenure; and appointment, evaluation and promotion of professional-track faculty with its commitments to people, excellence and diversity, equity and inclusion. The recommendations gathered from hundreds of faculty members at seven Provost’s Dialogues and the work of several task forces will be written into faculty evaluation and workload policy revisions.
Investing in Staff
The University of Maryland is actively seeking to improve the work life of its staff and support an inclusive community of excellence where all can fully participate and succeed.
Investing in Staff
The University of Maryland launched staff-focused initiatives centered around recognition, career advancement and professional development.
The Terrapin Innovation Award and the MVP Impact Award recognize remarkable ideas and/or a commitment to excellence by staff.
Efforts have also been made to create new pathways and development opportunities through an Excellence in Supervision training program, a Career Pathways Work Group, and a compensation review.
Our focus in these areas is the result of feedback we heard directly from our staff through a survey, idea booths and campus conversations. The findings from community input activities are summarized in this brief.
Investing in Graduate Students
Working collaboratively with graduate student leaders, we’re making strides to improve the graduate student experience at UMD, and are investing in graduate education and graduate student life at the University of Maryland.
Investing in Graduate Students
Graduate students at the University of Maryland are a key part of our vibrant community of scholars and researchers.
We have made many new and expanded investments in our graduate students, including:
- Increases in Graduate Assistant stipends
- Expanding graduate student housing
- Introducing living-learning communities centered around grand challenges
- Expanding access to fellowships and career/professional development
- Introducing a holistic admissions program
- Requiring mentoring expectation statements and providing mentoring support for graduate faculty
Investments in graduate student education and life are developed in collaboration with the leadership of the Graduate Student Government (GSG) and the Graduate Assistant Advisory Committee (GAAC). Recognizing the value of shared governance, we are committed to working with graduate students to develop policies, structures and processes that lead to improvements and shared successes.
TerrapinSTRONG
This innovative onboarding initiative introduces all new community members to what it means to be TerrapinSTRONG: to engage diversity, acknowledge The University of Maryland’s history, show Terrapin pride and take action to advance equity, inclusion and social justice.
TerrapinSTRONG
TerrapinSTRONG is a shared vision and values for the entire campus community. TerrapinSTRONG includes a campus-wide onboarding initiative introducing all new community members to The University of Maryland’s history, values, traditions, resources, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As of February 2023, almost 30,000 people have enrolled in the program, with over 90% enrollment of new faculty, staff, and students.
In the second year of the program, TerrapinSTRONG introduced a Gallery of Trailblazers, a library of diverse & impressive alumni to explore. TerrapinSTRONG also introduced Design for Belonging workshops to help reimagine onboarding.
New Cultural Centers
Five vibrant, welcoming cultural centers are being designed to uplift, affirm and honor the diverse histories and experiences of students who identify with the Latinx, Native and Indigenous, disability, bi- and multiracial, and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American communities.
New Cultural Centers
The new cultural centers will support students' transition to university life by offering holistic learning experiences that foster a sense of belonging and connection to the communities with which they identify and to the broader campus community. These spaces will also provide students with access to tools and resources that will promote their persistence, retention, and success at The University of Maryland.
They will be located in Cole Field House, with an opening anticipated in Summer, 2024. A steering committee includes a cross-section of student leaders, faculty and staff representing the communities being served, and an advisory committee which consists of Multicultural Involvement Community Advocacy (MICA), Stamp Student Union and Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs leadership.
Employees' Family Care Needs
Providing resources for family support, child care, and elder care services is a priority for The University of Maryland.
Employees' Family Care Needs
In March 2021 University Human Resources launched a suite of family care resources for faculty, staff, and graduate assistants to assist them with balancing work and family responsibilities. The cornerstone of these resources is the Care@Work program which provides eligible faculty staff and graduate assistants with access to a free premium Care.com membership. Care@Work also provides enrolled employees with two options for subsidized backup care for children, adults, or elders when their regular care is unavailable.
Strategic Commitment Goals
Goal 1
Lead the nation in living a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in all we do.
Goal 1
Lead the nation in living a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in all we do.
Objectives
- Ensure every member of our community has access to safe and inclusive campus communities.
- Introduce every new student, faculty, and staff member to our Terrapin history, traditions, values of diversity and equity, and ongoing efforts to create a more inclusive campus where every member feels they matter and belong.
- Invest in the capacity of our students, faculty, and staff to learn, teach, work, lead, and engage in dialogue across difference, leveraging diversity and inclusion as central in all we do.
- Create an actionable and sustainable plan to tackle issues of social justice, equity, and antiracism, both locally and globally, through our research, education, and outreach.
Goal 2
Become a connected, coordinated, and effective community of care that supports the success and well-being of students, faculty, and staff.
Goal 2
Become a connected, coordinated, and effective community of care that supports the success and well-being of students, faculty, and staff.
Objectives
- Take action to ensure the financial health of students, faculty, and staff through fundraising, advocacy for additional need-based aid and better wages and benefits, and investments in career readiness and workforce development.
- Provide innovative and excellent services in areas critical to staff, faculty, and student well-being such as mental and physical health, financial planning, skill development, work-life support, language development, and housing.
- Connect all Terps locally and globally through enhanced technology, coordinated networks, and accessible communications.
Goal 3
Align evaluations, rewards, and incentives with our goals and values.
Goal 3
Align evaluations, rewards, and incentives with our goals and values.
Objectives
- Reenvision faculty promotion systems to promote and reward inclusive excellence; impactful research, service, and civic engagement; and innovative activities that advance the common good.
- Act together to create a workplace where staff thrive through new opportunities to learn, lead, and advance and are recognized for their talents and contributions.