Dear Friends and Colleagues:

This spring has proved to be quite productive for the Foundation. On May 6, we held a Leadership Summit at Hidden Waters for the board chairs of our affiliated foundations, as well as the vice presidents for advancement from across the USM. The Summit was very well attended and it was a nice opportunity for networking. Topics covered included: (1) building and maintaining a strong board, with special attention to the nomination process, qualities of a successful board member, and board expectations; (2) key issues and trends, with a focus on congressional inquiries into endowments and FOIA/threats to donor privacy; and (3) best practices in foundation management, with an emphasis on spending policies (including UPMIFA), accountability and stewardship, and governance. A special thank you to Regent Barry Gossett for his participation, and also to Brodie Remington, vice president for university relations at University of Maryland, who pinch hit for us when our keynote speaker had to cancel.

The next full Board meeting will be on June 4 from 10 until noon at the University of Baltimore. We have a number of interesting topics planned, as well as updates from our committees who work so hard to support our efforts. The speaker will be Stuart Moulthrop, Liberal Arts Advisory Council Distinguished Professor and director of the simulation and digital entertainment bachelor’s degree program at UB. A well known writer, artist, and critic, Professor Moulthrop will demonstrate a 3-D arcade game developed in XNA, built on a PC, and exported to X-Box 360. The current game reflects upgrades and improvements made by Moulthrop and his Computer Science 315 students.

As always, please contact me with any questions or suggestions at raley@usmd.edu. With warm regards,

Leonard R. Raley
President and CEO

Tags: May 2009

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pm