I hope you are all enjoying your summer. Perhaps you are viewing this edition of LeaderNotes from a favorite vacation spot. I probably speak for most of you when I say that I am glad to have warmer (or more accurately, hotter) weather after last winter’s snows!

I am happy to report that, despite the economy, our institutions are currently 83% ($1.45 billion) of the way toward our federated goal of $1.7 billion. Donors have continued to be very generous and staff have worked hard to close gifts. Thank you to all who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment toward higher education in these challenging times.

With the beginning of the new fiscal year, there are a number of personnel changes here in Adelphi. Most notably:

Joyce Marx has retired after 20 years of dedicated service to the Foundation, many of which she served as CFO and Vice President for Finance. Joyce’s experience and long hours of work were invaluable to the organization. We thank Joyce and wish her only the best in her retirement. In the interim, Pamela Purcell (ppurcell@usmd.edu), Vice President and General Counsel, and Jay Wang (jwang@usmd.edu), Comptroller, are managing our daily business operations and answering questions for our clients and staff. Please feel free to contact them at any time.

David Balcom, USMF Associate Vice President and USM Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement, is serving as a loaned executive for a temporary six-month assignment as Interim Vice President for Advancement at Coppin State University. David has significant experience in both fundraising and board relations, and I am certain that he will be of great assistance to the university while they search for a new vice president.

Marianne Horrigan has been promoted to Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement and Chief of Staff. In her new position, she will continue to oversee the Advancement Office’s events program, professional development conferences, and communications, and she will continue to work with the Regents Committee on Advancement and Vice Presidents Council. She will now also manage the prospect research area and work closely with me in developing plans and communications related to the USM Foundation. As Chief of Staff, Marianne will streamline communications among our staff and our clients and help to prioritize and complete critical projects.

The USM Foundation Endowment performed well on both an absolute and relative basis for fiscal year 2010 (see chart below). The endowment returned 13.6%, which compares favorably to its composite benchmark return of 8.8%. During the recent turmoil in the financial markets over the April-June period, the endowment performed very well on a relative basis, only declining 1.5% compared to many global equity markets that experienced sell-offs anywhere from -12% to -15%. Relative to traditional stocks & bonds strategies, the endowment continues to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns, i.e. about the same level of return but with considerably less volatility and less downside. Over the past five years, the endowment has annualized at 3.5% vs. 0.4% for the composite benchmark and -0.8% for the S&P 500.

As always, please contact me at raley@usmd.edu with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Leonard R. Raley

Endowment

S&P 500

Composite Benchmark

80/20

60/40

13.6%

14.4%

8.8%

13.8%

12.9%

-5.1%

-9.8%

-8.9%

-6.1%

-2.5%

3.5%

-0.8%

0.4%

0.7%

2.1%

Institution

Announced

Goal

6/30/10

11/08

$15M

  $7.3M

10/07

$15M

$5.4M

10/08

$15M

$13.3M

6/06

$35M

$35.1M

11/06

$50M

$45.1M

3/09

$40M

$35.9M

10/07

$650M

$402.7M

9/06

$100M

$107.2M

11/07

$8M

$5.7M

10/06

$1B

$746.4M

9/06

$14M

$11.1M

2/08

$26M

$21.6M

$1.46B

Harriet E. Cooperman joined Saul Ewing LLP in 1994 and chairs the firm’s labor and employment department. From 1992 until 1996, she served as an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore Law School. Ms. Cooperman was a partner at Kaplan, Heyman, Greenberg, Engelman & Belgrad from 1986 until 1994 and an associate from 1978 until 1986. She was part of the three-member executive committee that, in 1998, steered the merger between Saul Ewing and Weinberg & Green LLC.

Ms. Cooperman has served on The Daily Record’s Editorial Advisory Board; University of Maryland School of Law Board of Visitors; Fellow, Maryland Bar Foundation; Vice-Chair, Employer-Employee Relations Committee, TIP Section, American Bar Association; Chair, Judicial Administration Committee, Bar Association of Baltimore City.

She has also served on various civic and nonprofit organizations, including: State Higher Education Labor Relations Board (2001-present); Chair, Legal Subcommittee, Baltimore Business Community’s Management and Efficiency Review of the Department of Personnel of Baltimore City, Greater Baltimore Committee; Co-Chair Lawyers Campaign for College Bound; Executive Committee, Lawyers Campaign for College Bound; Board member, The Living Classrooms Foundation and Prologue, Inc. Ms. Cooperman has been named to the Best Lawyers in America list every year since 1993; to The Daily Record, Maryland’s Top 100 Women, three times, making her a member of the Circle of Excellence; Baltimore Business Journal, “Who’s Who in Law,” and honored at the 10th anniversary dinner of Baltimore Women’s Bar Association.

Ms. Cooperman received a B.S. degree from Cornell University in 1975 and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1978.

“This is a truly philanthropic gift,” said Darryll Pines, dean of the Clark School. “L-3 has taken a broad look at how they can enhance our programs without asking anything in return. We hope this gift sets the tone for future corporate support for the Clark School.”

The gift, with a minimum of $300,000 going to the Clark School in the first year, establishes L-3 Graduate Research Fellowships and L-3 Undergraduate Scholarships in addition to supporting diversity programs, student organizations and competitions and the Clark School Corporate Partners Program.

“L-3’s partnership with the University of Maryland enhances our internal research and development and recruiting efforts by aligning us with a world-class engineering school,” said Michael T. Strianese, chairman, president and CEO of L-3 Communications. “This atmosphere of innovation and technology attracts promising and talented students who, we hope, will look to L-3 for career opportunities.”

L-3 Graduate Research Fellowships will support five Ph.D. candidates in the last three years of a Clark School Ph.D. program conducting research at the either Institute for Systems Research, the UM Robotics Center, the UM Energy Research Center, the Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory, the UM Rotorcraft Center, the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering or research in cybersecurity.

Eight merit-based L-3 Undergraduate Scholarships will be made available to students in the departments of electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering and aerospace engineering.

The gift also supports diversity initiatives at the Clark School through the Women in Engineering Program and the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering and student competition teams such as Robotics@Maryland and TerpsRacing.

In additin, L-3 Communications has also become a Clark School Corporate Partner.

On June 4, the University of Maryland, in partnership with the Prince George’s Arts Council, hosted a benefit concert at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center featuring the Colours Arts in Education Program. Colours is an ensemble performing arts program designed to strengthen a student’s academic, leadership, interpersonal, and artistic skills. Students do not need to audition in order to be a part of the experience.

More than 85 people, as well as three Prince George’s County Council members, attended, including Chairman Thomas Dernoga, Will Campos, and Eric Olson. Over $1,300 from ticket sales and another $200 in private gifts were raised from alumni and friends to support the University of Maryland Incentive Awards Program/Gossett Family Challenge Endowment.

The Gossett Family Challenge creates an opportunity for select graduates of Northwestern High School in Prince George’s County to attend the University of Maryland for four years through the Incentive Awards Program. This wonderful initiative was funded by a $1 million matching gift by Regent Barry P. Gossett, a Northwestern alumnus who attended the University of Maryland. Barry hopes to see his gift inspire a collective effort by graduates of both institutions to raise another $1 million to build a perpetual fund for the Incentive Awards Program.

Colours was directed by Class of 1992 Terp Jason Cook.

For more info please go to www.colours.org.

Research centers previously aligned with the former University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) have officially begun their realignment with other institutions within the USM. For details, see the news release.

President Barack Obama has appointed Dr. Donald F. Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and USM vice chancellor for environmental sustainability, to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. See article for more information.

In late July, the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center (CBAPC) released The College Competition Agenda 2010 Progress Report. The report points to challenges across the pipeline that impact America’s ability to compete, and outlines 10 recommendations to meet these challenges. Chancellor Kirwan chairs the CBAPC advisory committee. To view the press release, which includes links to the report, click here.

Stacey Franklin Jones was named Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bowie State University beginning July 1, 2010. She comes to Bowie State from Benedict College, where she was Senior Vice President. A magna cum laude graduate of Howard University, Dr. Jones received two master’s degrees in engineering and applied science from The Johns Hopkins University: one in numerical science and one. in technical management. She holds her doctorate in computer science from the George Washington University.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Salisbury University were among 97 institutions of higher education to be included on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of “Great Colleges to Work For.”

The USM Board of Regents has approved two new academic programs for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore: a Professional Science Master’s Degree in quantitative fisheries and resource economics and a Bachelor of Science in urban forestry, both residing in the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.

University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is taking applications for its new bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in cybersecurity, which launch this fall. The programs were designed — with direct input from a team of industry leaders — to provide the practical and theoretical training needed to fill the tens of thousands of new positions projected to open in cybersecurity in both the public and private sectors. The new UMUC offerings include a Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity and Master of Science programs in cybersecurity and cybersecurity policy.

Four-time Grammy Award winner, consummate folk song collector, TV personality, storyteller and acclaimed musician David Holt will perform the capstone concert for the fifth annual Frostburg State University Appalachian Festival on Saturday, Sept. 18, at 8 p.m. at the Palace Theatre in downtown Frostburg. Sharing the bill is Laura Boosinger, an Asheville, N.C., recording artist with a long list of recordings and performances to her credit. Their performance will complete a full day of regional music, workshops, and activities featured as part of the annual FSU Appalachian Festival. To learn more about the event, visit www.frostburg.edu/events/afestival.

Gary Neal, who broke 14 Towson records during his two-year career with the Tigers, has signed a three-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs following an eye-opening NBA Summer League performance last week, when he led the Spurs to a 5-0 record in the Las Vegas session. Neal becomes the second Tiger to play in the NBA. Kurk Lee, who led the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance 20 years ago, played one season with the New Jersey Nets before enjoying a successful career overseas.

Bernadette Mannone has joined the USM Foundation in the position of Gift Administrator. Bernadette previously worked as a vendor administrator in the legal department of U.S. Foodservice at its Columbia, Md., headquarters. This office was recently relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. She joined the Foundation after training the new team in Arizona for her former employer. Prior to her position with US Foodservice, she worked for Signet Bank (now Wachovia) for over ten years. Bernadette has been married to her husband, Michael R. Mannone, for 35 years. She lives in Catonsville and has 4 daughters and 1 son, as well as five grandchildren. Their son graduated this year from UMBC.

Paula Kircher has retired from her position as Accounts Payable Associate at the USM Foundation. We are grateful to Paula for the more than 16 years of loyal service she provided to the Foundation. Paula always had a kind word and a smile when we would chat. In particular, I enjoyed hearing her talk about her family, including her son the photographer and her grandson, who was a manager with the Maryland Terrapins men’s basketball team. We thank Paula and wish her only the best as she begins her life anew in retirement.

Michael Barry, Foundation Chief Investment Officer, and his wife, Katie, are the proud parents of a new baby daughter. Their first child, Keating Grace Barry was born on April 28, 2010. She was 5lbs, 11oz.

Prior to its expiration on Dec. 31, 2009, the IRA charitable rollover allowed taxpayers age 70 ½ or older to direct up to $100,000 annually from their individual retirement accounts to eligible charities, including colleges, universities and independent schools, without having to count the distribution as income for tax purposes. If enacted, H.R. 4213 would retroactively extend the IRA charitable rollover for one year-from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010.

The overall cost of H.R. 4213, combined with the fact that a significant portion of the bill is not revenue-neutral, is making it difficult for Democratic leaders to secure the votes needed in the Senate. Though the IRA charitable rollover extension would be paid for, the bill also includes an extension of unemployment and health benefits and a provision to prevent a significant cut in doctors’ reimbursement rates under Medicare that are not offset.

On June 16, an attempt in the Senate to proceed to a final vote on the bill failed to get the necessary 60 votes. In response, Senate Democratic leaders have scaled back some of the bill’s high cost provisions in the hopes of securing passage of H.R. 4213 by June 18.

Though the House already passed H.R. 4213 on May 28, Senate amendments to the bill would mean that the House would have to vote once again on the bill if it passes the Senate. It is unclear if the House would accept the Senate changes.

CASE strongly supports the IRA charitable rollover and will continue to urge lawmakers to pass a retroactive extension of the incentive as soon as possible.

Updated June 17, 2010