Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, pledges to advance UMB’s transformative work during his inauguration as the University’s seventh president.
After detailing the many ways in which the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) improves the human condition and serves the public good, Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, spoke during his inauguration Nov. 5 about how UMB would meet the challenges of the future. With his six grandchildren sitting beside him as he concluded his speech, the forward-looking message hit home.
“These are my grandchildren, but I don’t just see my grandchildren,” Jarrell said, patting one of the children on her shoulder. “I see your grandchildren. I see grandchildren in West Baltimore. I see grandchildren on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. And I wonder, ‘What will their future be 50 years from now?’ I can’t answer that question, but I can ask this: ‘What can we do today to make their futures bright?’
“Programs at UMB have made a big impact on our world today, and that will continue in the future. We’ve done a lot, but there’s always more that we can do.”
With that, Jarrell announced that his lifelong friend, Lawrence Hayman, chairman of H&M Bay, Inc., a logistics and storage company based on the Eastern Shore, where they both grew up, had stepped up to brighten those futures with a pledge of nearly $18 million to create two endowments at UMB.
“Eighteen million dollars. That is a wonderful gift. How about that?” Jarrell said as the crowd of about 400 invited guests stood and applauded. “That’s a commitment to UMB. That’s a commitment to Maryland.”
“Commitment to Maryland,” in fact, was the theme of Jarrell’s inauguration, which came 14 months after the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents selected him as UMB’s seventh president, succeeding Jay A. Perman, MD.
Watch a video recap below.