USG Executive Director, Dr. Stewart Edelstein

Dear USG Community,

A warm welcome to students, faculty, and staff and especially those new to USG! With nine universities on site, over 80 degree programs and a very diverse student body of more than 4000 students, USG is a unique campus.

We pride ourselves on the full range of academic and student services we offer and the many activities available to enrich your educational experience, support teaching and learning and assist in personal and career development. Follow USG on social media, our website and reading USG Weekly.

Look forward to an easier way to stay connected with a new phone app, USG Mobile, launching later this fall. I encourage you to get connected to your fellow classmates by reading and commenting on the Around the Grove student blog.  We also feature guest bloggers (faculty, staff and students) on this blog.

Please follow and participate in the Town Hall meetings of our Student Council and Graduate Student Advisory Council. Their advocacy efforts directly benefit you. The Priddy Library is now open until 3:00am most nights of the week.  And a new Market was installed in the library so you can have access to food and drinks on the late nights and weekends. Also, a new All-Gender bathroom was added outside of the Priddy Library. I encourage you to get involved and be a part of campus life.  Your experiences and feedback only make us stronger.

USG is committed to fostering a culture that embraces diversity and rejects senseless acts of hate and violence.  In light of the recent hate-driven events that have taken place around the country and in our own region, students, faculty and staff will be devoted this year to a campus-wide effort to fully explore, understand and fortify our commitment to free speech, diversity, inclusion and respect.  Watch for information about these activities from our newly formed Diversity and Culture committee.  I urge you to participate actively in these events.

I am sure everyone can see the progress of the new Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Education (BSE) Facility. The concrete structure continues to advance and is currently completed through the fifth and final floor. The BSE will provide state-of-the-art science and engineering laboratories, clinical training facilities, active learning classrooms, academic offices, and an expanded level of student services necessary to support almost doubling the number of students who enroll in degree programs on campus. The completion is on track for January 2019.

Over the summer there was also a prodigious amount of construction in Building I, which houses our health sciences degree programs.  All of the healthcare sciences labs were renovated and new simulation facilities were built.  The renovation made room for the expansion of the University of Maryland School of Nursing bachelor programs and the introduction of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. Welcome new DNP students!  Stop in Building I to check out the new facilities including the auditorium that transformed to provide a venue for collaborative learning and special events.

Since we were established in 2000, more than 10,000 students have received bachelors, graduate and professional degrees from programs offered at USG.  I hope you share my pride in all that we have accomplished and my resolve to make USG even more impactful as we begin the new academic year. Please join me in welcoming our new community members and in continuing the progress we have made together. Here’s to a wonderful year!

Stew