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>>Brandy Hall: Good evening, everyone. Good evening. It's a
honor and a pleasure to be here tonight to introduce Towson
University's 13th marvelous president Dr. Maravene
Loeschke. President Loeschke is more than a president to the
students, faculty, and staff of Towson University. She's a
loving mother, wife, mentor, friend, and confidant,
supporter, and someone who is willing to listen to your story,
and most importantly, your Towson story. Students are more
than thankful for such an involved and personable
president that's ready to take on our student concerns head on.
My experiences with President Loeschke have been some of the
most honest and memorable experiences of my life. I will
forever be grateful for her mentorship and constant support
in my future endeavors. This woman is a woman with a plan and
I know that we are all excited to hear about it tonight. So,
without further ado will everyone please help me in
welcoming Doctor and President Maravene Loeschke.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: Now there goes one of the finest student
government president's this institution's ever had. She is
fabulous.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: Thank you, and I want to start off by
thanking Justin Taylor on piano and Chris Young and Daniel
Chanowski (ph.) from our music department. Young musicians,
thank you guys. I think you must be out there.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: And I would like to begin by welcoming
our new Provost Dr. Tim Chandler, who joined us from
Kent State University in January after a national search last
semester -- an extremely strong search. Dr. Chandler brings 30
years of experience as a leader, scholar, and administrator in
higher education, and although he's only been here a couple of
weeks it's as if he is been here a long time. He hit the ground
running, he knew us inside and out, he is everywhere. Working
with him is as if we've been working together all of our
lives and even maybe most importantly of all, he wants to
stay a long time. Dr. Tim Chandler.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: And I'd also like to recognize our
interim Provost who did such a fantastic job for us, Dr. Jim
DiLisio. Thank you for a beautiful job, Jim.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: As I begin, I would like to do a
couple of -- what I call success snapshots. Hot off the press is
that in the 34th annual TELLY Awards they have named Towson's
emergency preparedness video as a bronze winner. This is a
national award. This was put together by Ron Santana and
Samantha Knight and stars our very own Marina Cooper. So
congratulations to all of you.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: In Kiplinger we were named the
personal finance list of 100 best values in public colleges
for 2012 and '13. We were ranked 44th among public regional
universities in the North in the US News and World Report best
colleges. In addition, TU ranks in the top five in the same
region for its efficiency in managing financial resources,
and don't think I won't be using that in Annapolis over the next
couple of weeks. And Towson was named to the 200 -- 2013
military friendly schools, as published by G.I. Jobs magazine.
Education Trust named us third among the nation's public
institutions as a top gainer in black student graduation rates.
Cook Library was selected to receive the Muslim Journey's
Bookshelf, a project of the National Endowment for the
Humanities, bringing books and films focusing on Muslim
culture. The incoming honors class of 2012 enjoyed a record
average high grade point average of 4.07 -- as well as a record
high average SAT score. Our Greek alliance project received
the Best Diversity Initiative Award at the Association of
Fraternity Advisors Conference. Now, this is the highest award
in the country, given to a university that has an
outstanding diversity initiative program. Our Adult Autism Center
continues to gain national attention, and tonight I want to
thank our basketball team the other night for hosting the
whole entire game and everything around it, working with our
Center for Autism. Now you see, this is one of those beautiful
connections between and among different parts of the
University. You have our health college -- Science of College
and Health Professions, and then you have our basketball team.
This is the interconnectedness that is so Towson. For the third
consecutive year, Towson University is one of the
country's most environmentally responsible campuses according
to the Princeton Review Guide of 2012. Our debate team is
consistently ranked in the top 25 in the nation. Our dance team
has won the NCAA dance championship an unprecedented 14
times in a row.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: Amazing. And we have an enhanced new
vibrancy and leadership in our Hillel, our Jewish campus life
program is yet another opportunity for all students to
experience diversity and leadership. Our new transfer
orientation program gained national recognition for
excellence by the National Association Student Personnel.
And our development office project Towsonopoly raised
$102,000 in one night for the Institute of Well-Being.
Employers continue to tell us over and over again that good
writing is one of the most important tools a graduate can
possess, and our College of Liberal Arts places
strengthening student writing among its most important
objectives. The Writing Center is making major contributions to
this effort, and in case you didn't know, we expect to hit
6,000 individual writing consultations during this
academic year. Thank you, College of Liberal Arts.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>President Loeschke: Now in Annapolis, starting tomorrow,
I'm going to be spending the next couple weeks mostly in
Annapolis being an advocate for all of the things I've talked
about as I've visited the different colleges the last
couple of weeks. The governor's budget for this year includes a
significant increase for public higher education. This is the
best budget coming out of the governor's office we have had in
a very long time. USM, the University System of Maryland's
operating budget is reflected an increase of 59.6 million for
continuing operations. This also includes a COLA of 3% effective
in January of 2014, and a Merit Allowance of 2.5 effective April
of 2014. The governor's budget also includes something very
special for the system schools, and that is a $38 million
program initiative fund related to the support of course
redesign, STEM, enrollment growth in STEM and health
professions, closing the achievement gap, college
completion, and technology transfer. Towson is designated
for 2 million in this enhancement. Now the governor's
budget, as exciting as it is, moves on to the legislature
where there will be a battle to keep it. My job and the job of
all the presidents and all of us and to with whom anyone we speak
is -- let us keep these program initiatives so we can serve the
needs of the state, the governor's priorities and
because they're all in line with our own mission, ourselves. As
new dollars or reallocated on going dollars become available
we are going to prioritize anything we can do to help with
salary compression and related salary issues. Now this is not
going to be easy without new funding, designated for this
purpose, but it will remain at the top of the list whenever
funding opens up in any form. Now I would like to spend a
little bit of time on the strategic plan. When I arrived
there was a strategic plan for 2016 which had five themes and
46 action items under it. It's a very beautiful document in terms
of visioning for the future, but it does not provide priorities
for the future. So what the President's Counsel has been
doing over the last couple of months is taking the 46 action
items, channeling them into 10 University priorities -- which
cover the five themes and include almost all of the 46
action items -- are aligned with where we are fairly certain
there are going to be resources and then we will develop
measures to determine how we are going -- how we are progressing
over time. I have been visiting the college's TUSK, the Senate,
I will go to student government next week and talk about these
10 priorities and as we receive feedback, we make shifts here
and there but today I want to go over where this is now because
it is very, very close to being complete. I still welcome any
input anyone wants to send me, but here is where we are now so
everyone's on the same page. There are several assumptions
underlining these priorities which I'll get to in just a
second. First of all, all of the priorities are rooted in the
importance of the liberal arts education as the base for our
undergraduate programs. There is an assumption that all of these
10 priorities are fed by the undergraduate and graduate
programs. They assume the value of faculty producing excellent
teaching, appropriate scholarship and research for
their discipline and service, and it assumes the commitment
and talent and development of the staff. The priorities are
supported by the importance of outside grant funded and
volunteer outreach in the community, region and state.
They are dependent on the service of our great library,
and maybe most importantly, for a fresh view to our future, is
that throughout the 10 is threaded the desire to blossom
interdisciplinary studies in everything from academic
programs and courses to connections with noncredit
experiences -- now a couple of examples. Our Departments of
Electronic Media and Film and Anthropology have gotten a grant
to do some work together in forensics. There was a one-day
event in the College of Health Professions which just shook me
to the roots with excitement is for interdisciplinary education.
It involved about 300 students and 25 faculty and the students
were divided -- a lot of big tables of eight students each.
And every student at the table was from a different discipline
within the health professions or related to it. Nursing, OT, HR,
psychology, counseling, all of these different pieces they
studied one case, they worked at it at the table, they divided
into different pieces to do this, and all of the students
left there saying "Oh my gosh, I hope the world works like this
because this was a wonderful way to learn," and we assured them
that the world did work like that. COFAC also has created a
space in the Fine Arts building for a Center for
Interdisciplinary Interactions. So you can just see where we're
really going with this, because the world, as we all know is not
viewed through these individual lenses of our majors, it is very
important that our students know how to connect all of these
marvelous pieces into a reflection of the world. I have
asked the Provost office to begin a major initiative to
examine the obstacles to interdisciplinary studies here
at Towson. The resources needed and the program needs itself --
they're going to strengthen to you in this mission. There are a
number of reasons why this is not easy to do here, but the
Provost office is going to break that down probably by next
Monday or Tuesday. Just kidding, Tim. Now, the first priority
that we're working with -- and remember now all of these are
aligned with where we are fairly certain there are potential new
resources -- is academic excellence and student success.
This reflects our commitment to teaching and mentorship by the
faculty and the staff, and its addition to our academic
undergraduate and graduate programs, this priority includes
retention, graduation completion, undergraduate
research, as well as graduate research, closing the
achievement gap for minority students, seamless transfer,
financial aid, and scholarship. Now there is a category in this
enhancement funding from the governor for graduation
completion, and so we would be able to apply that to this
particular priority. Academic excellence also includes our
commitment to academic transformation and course
redesign in appropriate curriculum. And the new Office
of Academic Innovation and Academic Affairs, which by the
way is the first one in the system, and we have been very
much recognized its system for this, is primed to support
faculty in this work. The second is innovation in teaching and
preparation is -- evolved around our ability to be a part and
lead the national discussion on the mandate for innovation in
K-12 education. Towson has almost 150 year history and
distinguished reputation for excellence in teacher
preparation, and that is threaded throughout the fabric
of the University under multiple disciplines and several
colleges. Now, who better, not only to participate but lead
this national conversation in response to this mandate? Our
excellence in innovation in STEM, course redesign, academic
transformation, arts integration, special education,
and educational leadership is going to transform the future of
pre K-12 in this country and we are going to be up front. We are
very fortunate to have Nancy Grasmick here as a presidential
scholar to guide this work and especially onto the national
level. And under Dr. Grasmick's guidance, we launched a speaker
series a few weeks ago, it's called the Signature Forums, to
provide educators and experts on and off campus -- we served as
many people as we could probably get in the room to access to the
national experts. We started with the science of learning.
The first speaker was Dr. Ben Carson professor of neurology --
neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Martha Denckla,
Director of Development Cognitive Neurology at Kennedy
Krieger Institute, and we had 450 people in the room. If we
had a room for 800 there would've been 800 people there
from across the state. That really moves Towson forward for
the things that we do well, and I thank Doctor Grasmick for this
vision, for this speaker series, but I also want to thank, most
deeply and sincerely, our College of Education, our
teacher preparation faculty across the campus, and the
deans, for moving this initiative so very quickly and
effectively statewide and already into this national
arena. The College of Fine Arts is developing a Master's in Arts
Integration for teachers of non-art subjects. So for
example, personally, how would you use mime to teach math? Now,
that may be silly, but in a conference we had here this
summer, there was a performance and a lecture on that, and it
was one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen. I wish
I'd known that when I was teaching. Kennedy Krieger is
developing a fellowship program for aspiring leaders in special
education, partnering up with Towson; we have been identified
as one of their primary partners by offering administrative
certificates. This is absolutely unique in the country, and here
we are again, right in the middle of it. Towson
University's elementary education program was selected
by Stanford University as a pilot site for a national study
of the teacher's performance assessment. Since 2004, the
College of Education has received nearly $12 million in
external funding. The third priority is STEM, our nation has
a critical need for STEM graduates, we all know that, and
an equally critical need for tens of thousands of new science
and math teachers. Towson University is responding to both
of these needs and Towson is the first and only institution in
Maryland to step forward to replicate the successful You
Teach model for preparing math and science teachers. We are
doing this with the help of a $2 million grant from the Maryland
State Department of Education and the National Math and
Science Initiative, and we are committed to place 251 You Teach
STEM teachers in schools by 2017. We raised $2 million --
not including the 2 million You Teach money, in addition --
system has included $300,000 a year enhancement for our You
Teach work. We just received a $50,000 planning grant that will
prepare our teachers to provide advanced placement STEM teaching
and that is the only such program in the country. There's
a second part of our priority for STEM, and that is workforce
development. We are meeting the need for more STEM graduates, in
double digits now, increasing in STEM majors significantly,
including those critical workforce areas such as cyber
security, information technology, and forensic
science. And, Towson University is the recipient of a $2 million
National Science Foundation Scholarship grant, which
provides scholarships for students pursuing studies in
computer science with a concentration in computer
security. Wow. Fourth, is our commitment to innovation,
entrepreneurship, and applied research. DECO, new name -- the
Division of Innovation and Applied Research --
unfortunately with the acronym of DIAR, which we can't do too
much about. This reinforces a renewed partnership -- a
magnificent partnership between the former DECO, which is the
new DIAR and academic affairs. Towson's applied research
commitment facilitates collaborations and strategic
partnerships that fulfill our mission to educate students
while serving and meeting the needs of the state and the
region, and we will continue to support and connect our faculty,
our staff, and our students to applied research in innovation,
entrepreneurship through that partnership. The fifth priority
is to increase internships and experiential learning
opportunities, and this goal is for full-time students --every
single one of them to have at least one internship. In order
to accomplish this, Towson's going to need to expand its
emphasis on developing partnerships with educational
institutions, government, healthcare, everywhere across
the spectrum in this city we have a much larger number of
interns than we thought we did. But one of the most special
things for me being out and about this year is that once
somebody has a Towson intern, they want as many more as we can
give them. This speaks volumes for our faculty and our quality
of our faculty and our students. Sixth, we will be a model for
leadership development, building upon Towson's excellent work and
civic engagement. We will be nationally known for our
emphasis on leadership development for our students,
and we are going to increase credit and noncredit
opportunities for our students to develop those leadership
skills. We're also going to provide leadership development
for faculty and staff. One of the things that I realized over
the year is that what student affairs is doing,
non-curricularly, in leadership development really is some of
the best in the country. I worked in this area a long time.
There are people benchmarking us. The rest of the country
should be benchmarking us in what they are doing. We want to
unite that work with as much curricular development as is
appropriate as well. For example, we have now, going
through the curriculum committee, a new minor in
leadership. So all of that is very exciting. Seventh, we will
continue to support the arts and the reputation it has gained on
the national and international level. With Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,
and Tony award-winning nominations and awards, Towson
is well known for its development of talented artists
and communication professionals. We will continue to expand our
national and international reputation in the arts in
communication, with the dance department performing not once,
often at the Kennedy Center, with music programs in Germany,
with a theater all throughout Baltimore. I thought it was all
but one, but every single theater company in Baltimore is
somehow connected to Towson or Towson alumni. Towson is
connected to many theaters throughout the world. We will
continue to support the arts representing Towson at the
National Dance. Eighth is to strive to be a model for
conversation and the strategy regarding issues of bias,
discrimination, and bullying. We have continuous national
recognition for closing the minority achievement gap. We
should be very, very proud of that, with our minority students
graduating at the same rate as nonminority students, but we're
going to further strengthen our commitment to diversity to
provide a safe, inclusive, welcoming, and peaceful
community that is respectful of all. Through the use of the new
president's task force on bias discrimination, and bullying and
the new student task force on bias, discrimination, and
bullying, with cross representation, we have created
platforms in which we can discuss, we can disagree, we can
strategize, we can identify issues, and then we can set ways
that we can continue to apply those discussions to our campus.
As difficult as it was last year, when we had a situation on
campus where we wanted to ensure freedom of speech, while at the
same time having to deal with the fact and grapple so strongly
with the fact that that freedom of speech was against
practically every core value we have in the University, what it
taught us is how to live in a world that has freedom of
speech, while at the same time holding onto your values, and
that's what these two platforms are allowing us to continue to
do. Ninth is the focus on the well-being of students in the
community and the state. The College of Health Professions
significantly contributes to workforce development and to the
county and to the state. We do provide, I think, you know, the
second largest amount of nurses in the state. There is, in this
budget of the governor's, growth money for the health professions
in the governor's budget. We haven't had growth of money in a
long time. Now, remember this has to stay in the budget, but
so far, so good. Second, the College of Health Professions
serves as a major contributor in partnership with Student Affairs
and all of us in the room, to the overall health and
well-being of students, faculty, and staff. I just want to remind
us that we lost six precious students this year. We need to
take very, very good care of our students. Towson is dedicated to
the education of the whole person, we know that, mind and
body, but we will seek to help guide our students, faculty, and
community to make healthy choices for themselves and for
the well-being of others, and tenth is excellence in
athletics. Our athletic program has two components of which I am
extremely proud, among many. One is, they never ever lose sight
of the fact that it's academics first. I can remember watching a
basketball game at some point, and I turned to Mike Waddell and
I said, "So, why isn't 22 playing?" and he said, "Because
he missed a quiz." I like that. That's a have to achieve
academically first, and the other is that there is service
in our athletic programs do. I don't know if we are all aware
that. It is incredibly significant service, our student
athletes provide. Towson University is committed to
financial sustainability for the athletic program, compliance
with Title IX, federal law and gender equity, and being able to
remain competitive in our division. Please remember, that
no state funds go into athletics, and so when some of
us do so freely say, "We shouldn't be spending money on
athletics when we need other things," we don't spend money on
athletics. They have to raise it themselves, as students pay for
this in their fees, and then there's the money that they
raise. Now, wrapping up the strategic plan, I wanted to say
I would ask us to look at these priorities that we've developed,
these 10, and not so much figure out what category belongs to you
or your college, but rather how does each college, how does each
faculty member and staff member weave itself throughout all 10.
That's how we develop interdisciplinary education.
That's how we develop a collective vision for our
students. I'd like to spend a moment on graduate education,
because I'm concerned about this factor that I want to talk about
right now. I ask that we, as an academic community, work to
attempt to shift Towson's the long-term perception of itself
as an undergraduate school with some graduate programs. We must
recognize that Towson has 46 graduate programs, 4 doctoral
programs. If we are to succeed in meeting workforce needs, we
need to recognize that the Towson culture is no longer made
out of graduate add-ons. We need to recognize the full body place
and needs of our graduate programs in this University. So
we will invigorate a conversation about how to
achieve a refreshed vision of ourselves and the expansion and
recognition of our undergraduate and graduate portfolio. We are
in the midst of a three-year pilot program that gives
colleges -- college deans the authority, with the Provost's
approval, to determine expectations and workload for
departments, so long as credit hour production is met.
International education, we have 603 international students from
73 countries. We are focusing on their welfare by developing a
team of faculty and staff, which has produced a Towson University
strategic plan for international education. We have plans to
bring on board, in the coming year, a director for
international education, and I remind you, that we have that
beautiful walkway in front of liberal arts, where we are
flying the flags of our international students, and so
for any of you who would wish to give to a scholarship or see
your flag flying, how about helping us to build that right
on up to the ends of the sidewalk. Harford County. We're
going to break ground this month and open in the fall of 2014 and
for some months now, a committee of primarily faculty from all of
the colleges has been meeting with the Provost to develop the
programs that will be out there. Phase one will include
Bachelor's degrees in early childhood education, elementary
and special education, information technology,
psychology, sociology, anthropology, criminal justice
concentration, and business administration and management.
Phase two will likely include family studies, communication
studies, middle school education programs, nursing and Allied
health. Now, we need to understand that these are Towson
students on our Harford County campus. They are not Harford
County students that we are servicing, so we need to all
pull together to make Harford County work. The marketing and
communications, I think many of you have probably noticed that
we have undergone some significant changes there. They
have aligned their talent and resources to provide better
service for all University colleges, departments, and
divisions, working alongside OTS. They have completely
refreshed our website, which they launched in January. One of
the most recent examples of this was highlighted in a new
advertising campaign that we'll see more of this spring. We're
not going to abandon our commitment to the city or our
realization that we live around it and in it, or outside
partnerships, but thinking outside and a Metropolitan
University are no longer going to be our logos. Our focus will
be on student success with quality faculty. Towson is a
place where our students' greatest expectations can be
realized and its unique significance as a large
university with a small university feel. This is going
to be the focal point in our marketing -- challenges ahead.
We will continue to have challenges from the past in the
two years of growth without growth funding. But we're
beginning to catch up a bit. In a couple of years, I don't think
we're going to have to talk about that. It is important to
understand that during those years of no official growth
funding, we at Towson increased faculty and staff positions by
178 positions since 2007. So, there has been some very fine
attention to the needs that some of that growth has brought, and
although future minimal growth is necessary for a number of
reasons, there will be no further significant growth jumps
without Growth Funding. That is my position, but do remember
that the governor's budget this year includes money for growth
in the health professions and STEM. We will have to continue
to grapple with salary issues and how to solve them without
additional funds. The Harford County project is going to be a
challenge this year. We need to find more and more ways of
increasing funDr.aising goals in an uncertain economy. We are
setting annual, very aggressive, annual goals and we will meet
them. We also need to work on our long-term strategies for
athletics. I would like to talk about my personal highlights of
this first year that I've had. First of all, the inauguration.
I know that hunDr.eds of people worked on the inauguration and I
cannot thank you enough for the beauty of that, in my life.
Second, was hearing Dr. Ben Carson at the first speakers'
series in the Innovation for Teacher Preparation Speaker
Forum. He's from Baltimore. He has done his work in Baltimore.
He's a role model for young people in Baltimore, and he came
here to Towson and in my brief comments with him, his respect
for Towson is very, very high and he was able to articulate
why. It was a beautiful thing to hear from Ben Carson. Another
highlight for me in the year are any student government meetings.
They are so fabulously run. Efficient, start on time, end on
time, they get things done, good discussion. I just like to watch
them operate. The Japanese Tea Ceremony with the students in
the Fine Arts building. Watching the student cyber security team
at work. This is probably the first time in a while that I
have been in a room for any length of time and had not the
slightest idea what was going on. It just is the most
mind-boggling thing; you all should just go see them at work.
Attending a meeting for students for Honduras. Now as if the
students don't have enough to do with all the pressures they
experience, there's a group of our students who are passionate
about building schools in Honduras. They don't just raise
the money for it; they go down there and build the schools.
This is so the Towson student. Being at an overnight with the
Leadershape Program way up in the mountains someplace without
cell phones. It was just great to be with the students and talk
about leadership and watch this young leadership at work.
Performing Love Letters, the play, with -- my with my husband
*** Gillespie. The opening of a T.Rowe Price Finance Lab. Just
imagine our business students being able to have a duplicate
of Wall Street across the hall here. My visit to the Object Lab
in the art department, an absolute wonder. The production
of the Glass Menagerie in the theater department, and the
dance department's Aerial Ballet performance. Attending Fisher
College's faculty awards event, where faculty are recognized in
a whole lot of categories, giving time for us all to digest
what each of us as faculty do. Our basketball season this year
is quite exciting -- each game. And the 60 Minutes story about
football and the Louisiana State University game, which was
supposed to be a story about why these small schools play these
big schools when in actuality, the whole 60 Minutes Story had
to change because we almost beat them. So how exciting was that?
Reading the books of the number of our faculty that I've been
able to do recently. This is a small one, but it tickles me to
pieces, which is being given a thumbs up by a basketball player
after he made a fabulous 3 basket, 3-point basket. You
know, the athletes are running down there and they turn around
and they go -- it's as good as being a president gets probably.
And visiting Dr. Kollmann and Dr. Durington's students' work
in the Forensic and Anthropology Lab, fabulous. Watching the
military appreciation ceremony. Our student government wished to
honor our faculty, staff, student and alumni veterans.
This was their idea. They wanted to have a garden, a flag, a
plaque, and a ceremony to do that. They planned this whole
thing. So when you walked into the room, there were veterans
from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, all the way through up
to Afghanistan, in the room at the same time. Meeting each
other, sitting there in absolute delight that these young people
would care enough about what they had done with their lives
to do this event and have this garden. That again, is that
beautiful Towson student. The opening of the Institute for
Well-Being. The dedication of the International Walkway. Now,
here's a great story. So, I'm looking here at a student whose
taking pictures of the flag of, I think, Kenya. And she said, I
was sitting on the second floor of the liberal arts building,
listening to the lecture and as I looked out the window, my
Kenyan flag was coming up past the window. She said I didn't
have any idea why the Kenyan flag would be in the window
while I was in class. The teacher let her go down and see
what was going on, and then she, within a couple of seconds it
was tweeted-twittered over to Kenya, and everybody in Kenya
saw it. So, that was exciting. And watching the Yell, the
Madness competition of the Greek life and the BSU. You know, a
lot of times our Greek life gets a bad rep because they have
parties and they can misbehave, and we hope they don't, but they
do. And so, this was an event that they all got together and
had dance competitions. There wasn't an unruly part of it,
there was absolutely nothing but comradely and support of each
other. And the last two would be, any day in the president's
office with our administrative team. What a blessing for me to
be able to work with them. And then my very favorite is playing
tambourine and sometimes the Dr.ums with the pep band at the
games. Now, I'd like to end my remarks with three student
stories because I think it'll make the point better than I
could ever make it myself about why we're here and the beauty of
the work we get to do actually for a living. I'm going to tell
you the story of Verlando Brown. Now Verlando, I'm going to ask
you to come on up, and if we could have some more lights so
people don't trip on the stairs. Just thank you. Now, Verlando if
you would come, just walk up here and stand right by me. I
would appreciate that. Here ya come. Verlando came to Towson
after growing up in a very challenging environment in west
Baltimore's intercity. Come right on over here, Verlando.
Where he was raised by his single mom, who provided strong
encouragement. He was surrounded in his neighborhood by Dr.ugs,
shootings, violence, gangs, but he had his mom. As a first
generation college student, it wasn't an easy journey. He chose
Towson because he wanted diversity. He didn't want an
easy route. He spent many hours commuting by bus, sometimes
several transfers every single day in all kinds of weather. He
struggled with adjusting to this new environment, here in Towson,
he had a very difficult first year. But then he found faculty,
staff, and even alumni board mentors. And he graduated in the
Fall 2011, with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a
concentration in Psychology, against all odds. He is
currently enrolled at University of Baltimore where he's working
towards his Master degree in Human Services Administration.
He plans to pursue a PhD in Social Psychology and become a
college administrator, where he can provide support to students
just like himself, so they can Dr.eam and live out that Dr.eam
like he did. His ultimate goal is to return to Towson to serve
this institution, which he loves, and young people who
experienced the same challenges that he did. Verlando says,
"Towson University liberated me to know what my capabilities
were despite the adversities in my life, he also helped me -- it
also helped me to realize that I do have a purpose on this
earth." This is Verlando Brown.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>Dr. Loeschke: Now I'm going to ask Samantha Lasano to come up.
Take your time, don't trip. Sam was born in the Philippines and
immigrated to Towson in 2002 with her mom. She was raised in
East Baltimore and struggled with English as her new primary
language. She enrolled in Towson intending to become a nurse, but
a great experience in mass communication class that she
took lead her to find her career passion. During her time at
Towson, she participated in numerous internships, she worked
20 to 25 hours per week the entire time she was in school,
and has contributed hunDr.eds of hours of community service. In
March 2011, Sam lost her beloved mom and mentor and guide, very
suddenly and unexpectedly. And though she was advised to take
time off, she completed the semester -- was determined to,
for herself and her mom, got on the dean's list and she's going
to graduate in May, which also happens to be the date of her
mom's birthday. She plans to remain in the Baltimore area so
that she can continue to give back to the community that she
says has given her so much. And Sam says, "Towson has helped
broaden my perspectives through travel, volunteer work, and
leadership in a way that represents everything my mom
ever Dr.eamed her daughter would do, to be a Dr.iven, savvy, and
well-educated young woman, eager to connect the world." I give
you Sam Lasano.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>Dr. Loeschke: And lastly, Matthew Jeffers who's going to
graduate in May. Come on up, Matt. After Matt was diagnosed
as a child with an uncommon condition resulting in short
stature, he is 4'2," he endured over 20 surgeries and medical
procedures during his young life. Despite the challenges of
his childhood, Matt knew that he wanted to attend Towson and be a
theatre major. He was determined that his short stature was not
going to stop him from pursuing his Dr.eams to become an actor.
Matt recently won the regional Irene Ryan Scholarship and is a
national finalist. This is an extremely prestigious award. I
can vouch for his talent as an actor as can anyone who saw his
remarkable performance in Glass Menagerie, here on the campus.
Now, Matt has always been a Ravens fan. So when the Ravens
lost three games, and if I'm not mistaken, they were about to
play Denver and everyone said they didn't have a chance, Matt
wrote the Ravens and said, basically I'm paraphrasing, "But
if I can overcome 20 surgeries by the time I'm 20, you can win
this game." It was much more beautiful than that, but Coach
Harbaugh loved that. He called Matt. He had Matt come down; he
shared it with the team. The team wanted to meet him; he went
down and did that. And then ESPN wanted to film him reading that
letter, but from heart as if he's acting it, on our main
stage theatre, and it was played on ESPN four times in the three
days leading up to the Super Bowl. Just so you know, Towson
was mentioned prominently in it. Millions and millions of people
have seen that, and despite that his acting in it was
magnificent. Matt is going to graduate with a degree in
Acting, and Matt says, "Towson has a special place in my heart
and has proven that the words 'big world and community' can
coexist to make a beautiful, inspiring, and genuine
atmosphere." I introduce you to Matthew Jeffers.
>>: APPLAUSE.
>>Dr. Loeschke: Now colleagues, this is what we do, this is what
we do well, this is what current students and alumni say we do
well, it's why we're here. How fortunate are we to be doing
this important work? Let us continue to enjoy and respect
our students, our mission, and each other. Thank you.
>>: APPLAUSE.