Daily Record - Febuary 27, 2002
Md. likely to elevate UMBC; research key
 
February 27, 2002
By AMY L. BERNSTEIN, Daily Record Business Writer

The University of Maryland Baltimore County is poised to receive a boost in matching funds from the state legislature — though precisely when the promised funds will be made available depends on the health of the state budget and UMBC’s fundraising prowess. The University of Maryland Baltimore County appears poised to join the top tier of Maryland’s matching-fund categories, due in large part to its surging reputation as a research institution. A 2000 Carnegie Foundation report ranked UMBC as a top-tier research university.

The House of Delegates has passed a measure (HB 93) increasing the amount UMBC is eligible to receive from state matching funds through the Private Donations Incentive Program from $750,000 to $1.25 million — a $500,000 annual increase in all. The Senate has not yet taken action on the bill.
The initiative, if it wins final approval, will push UMBC for the first time into the state’s top-tiermatching fund category, alongside College Park and the University of Maryland Baltimore. Supporters say the move is warranted by UMBC’s emergence as a fast-growing research institution.

It’s a validation, a recognition of the fact that UMBC is becoming a major research institution and winning major research contracts,” said state Treasurer Nancy Kopp, a former Montgomery County delegate and former member of the Appropriations Committee, which oversees spending on higher education.

UMBC’s reclassification ought to have occurred a year ago, university officials said. But there was a perceived conflict with a 2001 bill altering the matching fund formula for the state’s historically black colleges and universities.
“We didn’t want to keep them from getting theirs,” said Sheldon Caplis, UMBC’s vice president of institutional affairs. “We didn’t want to rock the boat.”

Now, however, UMBC wants both the funding and the recognition of its status as a research facility — a claim borne out by a 2000 Carnegie Foundation report ranking UMBC as a top-tier research university.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve gone from under $10 million in grants and research contracts to over $80 million,” said Caplis. UMBC’s rank among universities receiving federal research dollars also has jumped in recent years, from 200th to 151st place among 300 schools, he said.

UMBC recently invested more than $50 million to renovate its chemistry and biology laboratories and is constructing a $40 million information technology and engineering building.

“We’re bringing millions of dollars into the state, creating jobs and creating in some cases patents and licensing opportunities,” Caplis said.

The $500,000 increase in state matching funds will help UMBC raise an additional $1.5 million privately, Caplis said.

“There’s a sense, particularly among larger donors, that clearly they’re getting a bigger bang for the buck,” he said. “The state recognizes the value of this philanthropy.”

But Del. Howard “Pete” Rawlings, D-Baltimore City, the House Appropriations Committee chairman, warns that the state money may not be readily available to match private donations made as far back as a year ago, as envisioned by the proposed bill.

“In the priority of things, it is not the highest [and] depends on availability of general funds,” said Rawlings. “If College Park gets deferred [on its state match], the whole system gets deferred.”
That has happened in the past and could happen again, he said.
Kopp held out hope that a deferral would not be necessary during this or the next fiscal year.

“I do think it’s important that when we’re requesting private citizens to raise money for a state institution on the promise that we will match it, that [deferring the match] ought to be one of the last things to do,” she said. “After all, we made a promise.”
 
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