Inaugural President's Distinguished Scholar
To the UMB Community:
For some time, I鈥檝e been talking with colleagues about establishing a visiting scholar program, each year inviting a thought leader to campus to engage with our University community on issues important to our work and integral to our growth. We鈥檙e enormously fortunate to have relationships with some of the country鈥檚 most influential leaders鈥攍eaders who can supplement our own scholarly expertise and contribute a new perspective to the challenges we face as an institution with a weighty mission and millions of people reliant upon it.
I couldn鈥檛 be happier to announce that UMB鈥檚 inaugural President鈥檚 Distinguished Scholar is Norman R. Augustine, MSE, retired chair and CEO of the nation鈥檚 largest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, and former undersecretary of the Army. Mr. Augustine has chaired several notable commissions, including the National Academies 鈥淕athering Storm鈥� committee鈥攐ne of the first groups to sound the alarm on America鈥檚 slipping STEM competitiveness鈥攁nd the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program. He was a member of the advisory board to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a member of the Hart/Rudman Commission on National Security, and he served for 16 years on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Closer to home, Mr. Augustine served on the USM Board of Regents and chaired the Maryland Economic Development and Business Climate Commission, whose 2015 report offered 32 recommendations for making Maryland friendlier to business. When state and U.S. leaders need solutions to problems of grave consequence, they turn to Mr. Augustine. And, in fact, we were quick to turn to him as well; he was the second lecturer in our Core Values Speaker Series, discussing leadership, a trait he鈥檚 demonstrated over his long and distinguished career better than virtually anyone else I know.
Mr. Augustine is volunteering a lot of his time to us. He鈥檚 agreed to give lectures and workshops on crisis management and organizational effectiveness, to engage his friends and associates for conversations about what it means to succeed and what we gain from failure, and to help guide UMB鈥檚 progress using the most salient lessons he鈥檚 learned over a lifetime of business leadership. He鈥檒l also work with our 2019-20 President's Fellows, who are exploring how to institutionalize our Core Values, so that they remain durable even as UMB and its people change. In fact, Mr. Augustine will help the fellows their White Paper Project this Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 4 p.m. (If you鈥檇 like to contribute to the fellows鈥� work this year, contact Courtney Jones-Carney.)
You鈥檒l be seeing information soon on opportunities to interact with Mr. Augustine throughout the academic year. I鈥檓 deeply indebted to him for serving as our first President鈥檚 Distinguished Scholar, and I鈥檓 delighted to welcome him more fully into the UMB family.
Sincerely,
Jay A. Perman, MD
President