Appointment as a Student Regent of USM’s Board of Regents is an awesome, two-year responsibility and time-consuming commitment. Every effort must be made to remove financial barriers that can dissuade qualified and worthy students from applying for this honor. While in their second year of service, the Student Regent has full voting rights and receives a tuition waiver from their home institution.
Established in 2023 with generous gifts from Jo Boughman on her retirement as USM Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, the Student Voice Legacy Fund is an endowment, the income from which provides support for the First-Year Student Regent. Previously, this student—who has the voice, if no vote—was prohibited by Maryland law from receiving any financial support in exchange for this leadership role.
Jo’s memorialized her commitment to openness, inclusion, and the support of students to assure that the “Student Voice” is heard, and that any qualified student seeks the appointment no matter what their situation is.
Please join Jo by making a gift to the Student Voice Legacy Fund*, in recognition of the essential contribution that student leaders make to the success of Board of Regents and, ultimately, to the entire University System of Maryland.
Listening to students’ perspectives, needs, plans, and hopes is essential to optimize the policies and procedures of the University System of Maryland (USM). The “Student Voice” is personified in the students who serve as members of the USM Board of Regents. As the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for the University System of Maryland from 2012 until 2023, Dr. Joann A. Boughman (Jo) worked diligently to support and elevate the student perspective. From her own experience as a student leader so many decades ago, to establishing a new graduate program in Human Genetics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), and eventually becoming Dean of the UMB Graduate School, she was focused on the needs of the students. In the decade she led her own professional research society, the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), her proudest accomplishment was the initiation of a fellowship in Genetics and Public Policy that celebrates its 21st fellow this year (2023). And as she departed ASHG, Jo was graced with a leadership award that thanked her for “leading ASHG into the next generation”.
Jo knew that academic support for students was essential. She also keenly understood that providing services to enhance students’ life skills and physical and mental wellbeing is critical to assuring students’ success as they matriculate at a USM institution and beyond. Therefore, when appointed to the position of Senior Vice Chancellor, Dr. Boughman made sure that “Student Affairs” became a major part of the role and commitment, and she focused on mentoring incredible student leaders across the system, as well as supporting all USM students.
