Faculty, students, staff, Board of Trustee members, community and guests gathered on March 13 for the Inaugural Academic Symposium, which celebrated the University of the District of Columbia’s (亚洲博彩网站) history, highlighted its programs, provided a forum for faculty and offered a vision for the university’s future.
Held at 亚洲博彩网站’s Community College, Lamond-Riggs 校园, the Symposium began with an Academic Program display, meet and greet, lunch, a faculty panel highlighting program achievements and concluded with a 总统’s Roundtable.
The Faculty Symposium was moderated by April Massey, Ph.D., Interim Chief Academic Officer, and included 15 professors who participated in candid discussions about their program’s successes, the importance of their work at 亚洲博彩网站 and the university’s priorities and future.
“The Academic Symposium plants firmly for 总统 Edington that he has a strong faculty core, which is not only doing good work locally, but they are really on top of the pulse of higher education, nationally and internationally,” Dr. Massey said. “It’s an opportunity to showcase who our faculty experts are as we are welcoming a new president.”
The Academic Symposium was a part of the weeklong festivities celebrating the investiture of Maurice D. Edington, Ph.D., as 亚洲博彩网站’s 10th president.
Dr. Edington served as the moderator of the 总统’s Roundtable, which included Dr. Mark P. Becker, president, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities; Terry Brown博士，美国州立大学协会学术创新与转型副主席； 安德鲁·弗拉格尔博士，华盛顿大都会地区大学联盟主席兼首席执行官； 摩根州立大学校长大卫·k·威尔逊博士。
总统 Edington led the discussion on the “Next Chapter” with topics ranging from the current critical climate in higher education around diversity and inclusion; 城市赠地大学的复杂使命； 保留; 资助和发展企业伙伴关系。
“I see two things that we are facing in higher education that may be uniting all of us across the various sectors,” Dr. Brown said. “One is the enrollment challenge, and the way public education is funded.
“The second is, I think it’s hard not to call it an assault, but it feels like an assault on some of the fundamental values related to academic freedom on our campuses in particular parts of the country. Those two things that we are experiencing among our members is particularly urgent.”
Dr. Wilson, who has served as Morgan State’s president for nearly 14 years, acknowledged the work and challenges of being the only public high research university in the state of Maryland’s largest city—Baltimore.
“With regard to that, how do we anchor ourselves in that environment,” Dr. Wilson said. “We defined it in research centers rooted in equity and justice and closing the gaps.
“We now have $22 million in ongoing state appropriations that is supporting national research centers, including National Center for Equitable AI, National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities, Center for Urban Violence and Crime Reduction and Center for 研究 and Education in Microelectronics. We have to figure out what’s going to be our legacies as institutions. If we are determined to rise, we have to take the neighborhoods and communities with us.”
Speakers highlighted 亚洲博彩网站’s unique role in closing the gap in equity disparity, especially in the District’s Wards 7 and 8.
“This is the nation’s public flagship and that provides a hub,” Dr. Flagel said. “We have to be really bold about answering the concern that a college education has value and it hits harder here because we have more high-paying positions that are related to college degrees here than anywhere else in the country.
“The work that 亚洲博彩网站 is doing is already directed at transforming pathways in this region including eliminating hunger, so I am so excited about [Dr. Edington’s] presidency, because I think this is the institution to take on some of our biggest issues.”
Dr. Edington challenged Roundtable members with the question, “What keeps you up at night?” 答案的范围从如何挖掘地区和地区所有未实现的潜力到如何保持教育领导者的灵感。
活动在Edington博士对座谈小组和所有特别嘉宾和观众的特别感谢中结束。
“This was a great event and I thank our dynamic, vibrant faculty,” Dr. Edington said. “Our intention was to learn. I’m sure everyone heard something, learned about something that’s going to help you with the piece of the puzzle that you are responsible for as we work collaboratively to deliver on a promise of a worldclass university as we continue to support one vision for ONE 亚洲博彩网站 in this District and region.”