[Pages H1748-H1749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PAYING TRIBUTE TO DR. WILLIAM E. ``BRIT'' KIRWAN UPON HIS RETIREMENT AS
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND

(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

[[Page H1749]]

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to one of our Nation's
greatest higher education leaders and a great advocate for accessible
quality higher education. He is a dear friend and a colleague of mine
for the last 40 years.
On June 30, Dr. William E. ``Brit'' Kirwan will retire after 12 years
as chancellor of the University System of Maryland. Under his
leadership, the University System has transformed from being a national
leader in public higher education into a national model in several
areas; these include campus diversity, academic innovation, and efforts
to close the achievement gap.
There is, of course, a lot I could say, Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues
about Dr. Kirwan's distinguished career and commitment to improving
higher education across the country.

Mr. Speaker, on June 30, Dr. William E. ``Brit'' Kirwan,
who has served as chancellor of the University System of
Maryland (USM) for more than twelve years, will retire after
a career dedicated to advancing higher education.
Dr. Kirwan has left his mark on academia and the State of
Maryland in a way few others have. After a quarter-century as
an educator and administrator at the University of Maryland,
he was President of the University of Maryland, College Park,
before serving as President of The Ohio State University.
Later, he returned to Maryland to assume the position of USM
Chancellor. Common threads throughout his fifty-one-year
career in public higher education include an unwavering
commitment to affordability, a passion for excellence, and a
drive to increase access, especially for underrepresented
minorities and low-income students.
Mr. Speaker, Dr. Kirwan's leadership has helped move the
USM from a national leader in public higher education to a
national model in several areas. The USM's groundbreaking
Effectiveness and Efficiency (E&E) initiative--a
reengineering of administrative and academic processes to cut
costs and improve quality--has been profiled in national
publications and specifically cited by President Obama. The
``Closing the Achievement Gap'' Initiative, which USM
launched in 2007, targets the gap in college participation,
retention, and graduation rates between low-income students,
first-generation college students, and underrepresented
minorities, on one hand, and the general student population
on the other. With this enhanced focus, these gaps in
diversity have been narrowed--and even eliminated--on some
USM campuses.
As President of the University of Maryland, College Park,
Dr. Kirwan helped make that institution one of the most
diverse public research universities in the United States. As
President of The Ohio State University, he made diversity a
centerpiece of the University's Academic Plan. When he left
Ohio State in 2002, the University added his name to its
interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to
understanding racial and ethnic disparities worldwide, now
known as the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and
Ethnicity.
Dr. Kirwan's effort to establish a productive working
relationship with Maryland's elected officials is another
testament to his leadership. By aligning higher education
goals with state priorities, the USM has ushered in an era of
academic and research excellence, targeted workforce
development, greater economic impact, and improved
affordability. In fact, the average tuition for undergraduate
in-state students at USM institutions, once the nation's
seventh highest, has now dropped to twenty-sixth.
With the launch of its Course Redesign Initiative in 2006,
the USM became the first university system in the nation to
use innovative new technology to redesign entire courses. To
facilitate academic transformation and excellence even
further, in 2012 the USM established the Center for Academic
Innovation (CAI) to develop, apply, and evaluate more ways to
deliver high-quality courses optimizing technology and other
resources system-wide. Today the USM is recognized as a
national leader in the burgeoning academic innovation
movement.
Mr. Speaker, Dr. Kirwan's impact has also been felt beyond
Maryland's borders. He currently serves or has served as Co-
Chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics;
Chair of the College Board's Commission on Access,
Admissions, and Success in Higher Education; a member of the
Business-Higher Education Forum, and Chair of the National
Research Council Board of Higher Education and the Workforce.
Dr. Kirwan has also been called upon by U.S. Presidents from
both parties to advise on national higher education efforts.
His impact on higher education has been honored with two of
the most prestigious awards in the field: the TIAA-CREF
Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership (2010) and the
Carnegie Corporation Leadership Award (2009).
Under Dr. Kirwan's leadership the USM has flourished, and
his lifetime of achievement and service will be celebrated on
April 18 at a special retirement gala that will raise
endowment funds for the Center for Academic Innovation, which
promises to continue exploring the themes of access,
affordability, and excellence in higher education that have
been hallmarks of his career.
I hope my colleagues in the House will join me in thanking
Dr. Kirwan for fifty-one years of service to higher education
in our country and congratulating him on his retirement.

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