Our future is tied to and interconnected with our local, state, national, and international partners. We will create and sustain partnerships that allow our research to have impact locally and globally, our education to prepare students for civic engagement and impact, and our service to create solutions for a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient world.
Since its founding in 2004, The University of Maryland’s research park has dramatically grown in size and scope. The Discovery District today features many private and governmental organizations with thousands of employees working in more than 2 million square feet of office space.
Discovery District
The Discovery District is fostering research and industry partnerships, supporting small businesses, and nurturing the growth of next-generation technology ventures. It encompasses cutting-edge startups, longstanding firms, co-working space, a public charter school, stylish eateries, a top-flight hotel, easy connections via the College Park Metro Station, and much more.
The Discovery District is also the headquarters for the Maryland Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the DOD APEX Accelerator, and the Mid-Atlantic Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC).
In addition, a transformative new mixed-use development named Aviation Landing will enable the research park to attract more ventures, startups, and small businesses to the community. This 1.3 million-square-foot project will include housing units, outdoor space, and retail and commercial research and innovation facilities.
The university is accelerating efforts to support students in Prince George’s County and Baltimore high schools seeking admission to The University of Maryland.
Welcoming Students from Prince George's and Baltimore
Enrollment Management continues to make strides in increasing access and strengthening its pipeline from Baltimore City and Prince George’s County. These efforts include expanding staff to continue the critical work in this area, enhancing the Maryland Ascent Program (MAP) and increasing contact and communication with admitted students from these areas
Long-term strategic partnerships with Prince George’s County Public Schools and the College of Education’s Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement include, among other resources:
The President’s Virtual High School Course: Calculus in PGCPS
The Learning Recovery Networked Improvement Community Initiative tackles problems of practice related to mathematics achievement, social and emotional learning, and learning recovery
The EdD in School System Leadership with cohorts of PGCPS principals, teacher leaders, and administrators studying equity, continuous improvement, and leadership in an innovative, job-embedded doctoral program
Animated by our excellence in community-engaged scholarship and learning, and responding to faculty, student, staff and community member voices who advocated for greater support and coordination of this mission-critical work, the University of Maryland will create a new Center for Community Engagement in the Division of Academic Affairs.
Center for Community Engagement
The Center will ensure that community engagement is woven into the very fabric, values, and identity of the institution. The new Center will coordinate with current units in the Division of Academic Affairs, Division of Student Affairs, Division of Administration, Office of Diversity & Inclusion, Teaching & Learning Transformation Center, and other units across campus to support existing activities as well as cultivate new opportunities for community-engaged scholarship, instruction, and service aligned with our mission as a public, land-grant, research-intensive university.
Functionally, the Center will provide strategic vision and leadership for UMD community engagement; develop and support partnerships locally and globally; offer training and development opportunities on community engagement best practices for faculty, staff, and students; integrate community engagement into reward and recognition systems; and support logistics and collaboration across units and divisions.
The MPower Professorship Program, a collaboration between The University of Maryland and the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB), is a named professorship that fosters collaborations between faculty at the two institutions working together on the nation’s most pressing issues.
MPower Professorship Program
The MPower Professorship award includes funding to support professors’ salaries or supplemental research activities and is part of the MPowering the State initiative, which leverages the unique strengths of both institutions.
The inaugural cohort of researchers was selected in November 2021 and new cohorts are announced yearly. Over $1 Million MPower funds have been disbursed. Faculty receiving the award have, so far, represented the fields of arts and humanities, behavioral and social sciences, computer science, dentistry, engineering, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health.
Goal 1
Goal 1
Expand our impact through strategic research partnerships with local, state, national, and global stakeholders.
Objectives
Goal 2
Goal 2
Catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship for inclusive economic development.
Objectives
Goal 3
Goal 3
Enhance the economy, educational outcomes, social justice, quality of life, and civic engagement of our neighbors and neighborhoods through relationship-building and ongoing commitment to partnerships.
Objectives
FEARLESSLY FORWARD IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE AND IMPACT FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD: THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND STRATEGIC PLAN is a living document and will evolve and grow as we do. Please visit this site to follow our progress as we move fearlessly forward.