Colleagues,
It is with mixed emotions that I announce the retirement of Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Barbara Gill. Barbara has been a dedicated and trusted colleague to all those she’s worked with throughout her four decades of service to the University of Maryland, and an invaluable member of my senior staff. Her devotion to cultivating and welcoming every new generation of Terps for nearly 40 years is inspiring, and her leadership has played a major role in the diverse campus community we see and value today.
Barbara is recognized as a preeminent national leader in college admissions who began her Terp journey as an undergraduate student. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Maryland. She began her career at UMD as an admission counselor in 1986, and worked her way up to director of undergraduate admissions in 2001 and to associate vice president of enrollment management in 2014. She worked with the provost at the time to create a centralized enrollment management structure to support the university’s vision for an integrated enrollment management system to improve student support and outcomes, and increase operational efficiency. Her team of 150 includes professionals in undergraduate admissions, student financial aid, the university registrar’s office, visitor experience and external relations, assessment and technology, administrative services, as well as a central support office.
She has led the enrollment management team through some of the most seminal times in higher education. More than 20 years ago, she and campus partners designed and implemented our holistic application review process, which is widely recognized as a gold standard for college admissions nationwide. Under Barbara’s leadership, the academic profile, racial and ethnic diversity, and student success outcomes of our incoming classes have increased dramatically, and she provided outstanding oversight during a time of transition in college admissions criteria over the past year. She also oversaw the major transition of the university’s Visitor Center to the Hotel, which hosts more than 75,000 prospective student, family, and educator visitors annually.
Barbara has shown a steadfast commitment to supporting students from the state of Maryland, including redesigning the university’s need-based financial aid strategy to direct funding to the lowest income Maryland residents. She helped launch the Terrapin Commitment, the university’s largest single investment in need-based financial aid, for students in our state; and oversaw the implementation of the Maryland Promise Program scholarships for low-income students from Maryland and D.C. She also collaborated with the chief enrollment officers at 15 of the nation’s most prominent universities to create the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) Network to make college accessible to students who might not otherwise recognize the full range of educational opportunities available to them. Committed to ensuring the best possible educational outcomes for our students, Barbara has overseen the Office of the University Registrar in its continued ascent in national reputation as the stewards of our student’s records.
Her impact and value goes well beyond her job. Among other roles, she served as the co-founder and vice chair of Coalition for College, a non-profit designed to improve access to college, as chair of the Board of Trustees of the College Board, and as a member of the U.S. Higher Education Advisory Committee of the University of Cambridge. She also earned UMD’s President’s Distinguished Service Award in 2013.
Barbara will continue in her role through the end of December. We will begin a national search for a new AVP early next semester, and I am grateful that Shannon Gundy has agreed to serve in the role on an interim basis through that process. As a nationally-recognized expert in undergraduate recruitment and admissions, Shannon’s more than 30 years of experience on our campus will be invaluable during this time of transition. Shannon has demonstrated exceptional leadership at UMD, and I’m confident that Enrollment Management will continue to thrive.
It’s hard to express how much Barbara will be missed because the impact of her work is so widespread—felt by the colleagues she works with every day, to the students who may never meet her, but benefit and thrive because of her tremendous leadership and heart. Please join me in congratulating Barbara on this new chapter, and wishing her well in retirement!
Sincerely,
Jennifer King Rice
Senior Vice President and Provost
She/Her/Hers