O’Malley appoints new higher education official

Although future federal funding for higher education remains uncertain, state officials said they are raising the bar for the quality of state universities by appointing a new senior education official.

Danette Howard, the newly appointed interim secretary for the Maryland Higher Education Commission, is now tasked with facilitating statewide institutional partnerships and maintaining Gov. Martin O'Malley's college completion program — initiatives state and university officials said will be key to moving forward in the coming months, despite possible federal budget cuts.

Howard, who earned her doctorate from this university, said one of the keys to success in post-secondary education is schools working together to promote first-rate education standards that O'Malley has pledged to continue.

"I think that my job and the job of the staff at the commission is really to facilitate and coordinate that high level of collaboration across institutions throughout the state," Howard said.

A key example of Howard's goal is already in motion at this university, officials said, given the possible merger of this institution and the University of Maryland, Baltimore currently being studied by the Board of Regents.

These kinds of initiatives, Howard said, will encourage learning in new environments and improve the overall quality of education.

While details of a possible merger have not been released, Provost Ann Wylie said the university is committed to fostering partnerships with other state institutions.

"Partnerships among and between universities help broaden the intellectual base and expand the reach of each partner," Wylie wrote in an email. "For partnerships to work, the partners must each bring something distinctive to the effort."

Howard will also deal with financial stability in the coming months, although she said this state is in a much better position than others. Within the state's 2012 projections, post-secondary institutions will be seeing million-dollar increases, according to the General and Higher Education Investment Fund. This includes state-funded financial aid, totaling more than $100 million.

"I think that if students are concerned about whether or not higher education is in jeopardy, they should just really look at … the continued commitment and support even in dire economic times that has been given to the state colleges and universities," Howard said, citing a previous statewide four-year tuition freeze that occurred nowhere else in the country.

And though state funding for higher education seems safe for the time being, Howard said there is no shortage of tasks to complete in the coming months.

O'Malley's college completion goal — 55 percent of state residents obtaining post-secondary degrees by 2025 — requires innovative solutions to improving graduation rates throughout the state. Howard previously served as the commission's director of research analysis and said she found that colleges are often unsuccessful in helping students fulfill the fundamental math requirement, which can directly contribute to not graduating on time.

"We're really redividing and transforming the way that [fundamental math courses] are delivered so that more students can successfully get through those courses and then move on toward earning their degree," Howard said.

Although her title lists her as an interim secretary, Howard said there is no active search underway to find a replacement and she will hold the position indefinitely. As Howard assumes her new multifaceted position at MHEC, some officials offered their support of her work in improving higher education experiences in the state.

"We're very confident that she's fully capable of meeting the expectations of overseeing all of the system colleges and universities particularly as we're preparing students for a lot of the newer challenges that they're going to have to meet in the new economy," Gov. O'Malley's spokesman Raquel Guillory said.

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