Perman Lauds ‘Watershed Year’ In State of University Address
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
In the past year, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has faced challenges unlike most in its 209-year history. But through perseverance, teamwork, and community engagement, UMB today stands stronger as an anchor institution that is an integral part of Baltimore's rebirth from the unrest of spring 2015.
Such was the message that UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, delivered in his third annual State of the University Address on May 4.
“It’s been a busy year — to me, a deeply rewarding year — and, I believe, a watershed year for uniting around the cause that has come to define UMB: improve the human condition and serve the public good,” Perman said to roughly 300 people in the School of Nursing Auditorium.
Following a tradition dating to Perman’s inauguration ceremony in 2010, the program featured a student orchestra from a local partner school — this time students from Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School. After their song, Perman, a pediatric gastroenterologist, pointed out that Franklin Square students recently had taken two medals in the statewide Science Olympiad as part of UMB’s CURE Scholars Program, a pipeline initiative that prepares middle school children for health and research careers.