An unforgettable first week at Towson University

Tigers —

It was a busy and wonderful first week as your 15^th president. 

When I arrived to campus last Monday morning, it immediately felt like home. That feeling has only grown stronger in the days since. I want to thank each of you for giving me that – and for so much more. 

I was truly heartened by the more than 500 Tigers who turned out for my official campus welcome event last Wednesday at the University Union. I’m so thankful to our colleagues who planned it, to Chancellor Jay A. Perman and the TU search committee for attending, and to Provost Melanie Perreault for not only her welcoming remarks, but also for her support as I joined our university community. She is an inspiring leader and was awesome for TU as Interim President. I look forward to partnering with her as together, and in collaboration with our entire community, we lead TU into its next era of greatness.  

My first official meeting in office was an interview with The Baltimore Banner, and I ended the week by interviewing with a TU alum now reporting for The Baltimore Sun. Being able to share why Towson University was the right fit for me is a naturally easy story to tell. Throughout the week, we also welcomed numerous national, state and local leaders to our campus, including United States Senator, Ben Cardin; United States Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona; and United States Domestic Policy Advisor, Neera Tandem – demonstrating first-hand that TU is truly an engine of excellence, innovation and opportunity for Greater Baltimore, the state of Maryland and the entire Mid-Atlantic region.

In between, and perhaps most importantly, I had the opportunity to meet with dozens of students, faculty and staff across campus, hearing directly from the members of our community about their vision for our great university. Among the many, many highlights from the week included the pleasure of sitting down at some of our dining halls to eat and chat with our students — something that will be a regular occurrence for me. I’ve found you can learn so much from taking a moment to not only listen to our students, but to hear them and understand their perspectives. And that’s what I’m dedicating my first weeks in this job to doing: understanding the context of TU. 

Many “Listening Tour” events are already on my calendar, and we’ll be sharing more opportunities in the coming weeks to engage and share your thoughts about the TU of today, so that we together can imagine and build the TU of tomorrow. Your input is invaluable to that effort. Whether you are already on my calendar, you’re planning to attend events in the future, or you simply prefer to share feedback anonymously, I invite everyone to offer their thoughts by contributing to our online input form, which officially launched this week. 

I sincerely thank each of you for welcoming me to TU during such a busy time. I look forward to listening, hearing and understanding more from our many amazing Tigers in the weeks and months to come. 

Let’s “roar together” as we make a great university even greater.

Mark R. Ginsberg, Ph.D.
President