I hope summer is giving you an opportunity to recharge after an eventful spring semester. Here at the Smith School, we just wrapped up another record-breaking fundraising year, raising $30.2 million. I am thrilled that David Bruce Smith committed $5 million over the next five years to support innovation and create a new endowed professorship and an endowed faculty fellowship, named for his father, our benefactor. His investment will accelerate curriculum innovation across our undergraduate and MBA programs, expand co-curricular experiences, and strengthen our ability to prepare students to leverage AI and lead in a rapidly changing global business environment.
Another longtime benefactor, Bill Longbrake, continues to invest in Smith. His latest gift supports interdisciplinary research and entrepreneurship, launched the undergraduate Strategy Design Fellows program, and supports new sports analytics and financial wellness programs.
We are planning for a fall semester that includes the launch of a new online MS in Information Systems and AI and robust undergraduate enrollment, exceeding campus projections and reflecting the strength of our academic programs, experiential learning opportunities and career outcomes. We have a new program in space commerce, a statewide banking fellows program, experiential learning with top companies, peer mentoring opportunities and strong student outcomes at business competitions, detailed below.
We recently hosted leaders from more than 150 business schools for the Mid-Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration (MAACBA) Conference. I appreciated the chance to speak candidly with many of you about challenges and opportunities as we figure out how to navigate the future of business education.
I look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead.
Prabhudev C. Konana
Dean, Robert H. Smith School of Business
1. SMITH LAUNCHES SPACE PROGRAM TO TEACH STUDENTS TO LEAD IN NEW FRONTIERS
The Smith School launched its first undergraduate space commerce course this spring, giving students firsthand exposure to the rapidly growing aerospace industry. Through industry speakers and career connections, the course advances the school’s broader Space at Smith initiative and workforce-development efforts. The initiative is dedicated to developing undergraduate and graduate programs focused on the rapidly growing commercial space industry. READ MORE
2. SMITH UNDERGRADS HELP PEERS WITH PERSONAL FINANCE AT NEW FINANCIAL WELLNESS HUB
The University of Maryland's new Financial Wellness Hub opened May 4, for students to get help with budgeting, investing and financial planning. An outpost of the Smith School's Financial Wellness Center, the hub is located on the first floor of McKeldin Library. It will reach students across campus with peer mentoring, classes and events on personal finance. A partnership with the Division of Student Affairs and University Libraries, it was made possible with financial support from Maryland’s State Employees Credit Union (SECU) as part of Forward: The University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, UMD’s $2.5 billion fundraising effort. READ MORE
3. STUDENTS GET HANDS-ON LEARNING, INTERNSHIPS THROUGH MARYLAND BANKERS ASSOCIATION PARTNERSHIP
Students now have access to professional development and internships through a new statewide Smith Banking Fellows Program, in partnership with the Maryland Bankers Association. The program offers a coordinated academic, experiential and professional development initiative to prepare high-achieving undergraduates for careers in Maryland’s banking industry. The Smith School also recently joined the American Bankers Association Partner Network, expanding industry-aligned coursework, boosting career readiness and connecting students with banking employers through credentials, expert insights and greater visibility to recruiters seeking job-ready finance graduates. READ MORE
4. STUDENTS USE CUTTING-EDGE ANALYTICS WITH TOP COMPANIES
Undergraduate students in the Computational Finance minor participated in a capstone project sponsored by Google. They examined the growing intersection between U.S. banks and the rapidly expanding private credit market. MS in Finance and Quantitative Finance students partnered with the World Bank and T. Rowe Price to examine how homeowners insurance data can serve as a signal of natural hazard risk—and how those signals affect mortgage default, prepayment behavior, and valuation for mortgage-backed securities and credit investors. MS in Information Systems & AI students designed AI-enabled systems for Microsoft, Brookings the Maryland Department of General Services, and 11 other government agencies, corporations and nonprofits. READ MORE
5. STUDENTS TAKE TOP HONORS IN BUSINESS COMPETITIONS
PITCH DINGMAN COMPETITION
Body butter brand Abiara Skin and its founder Mathea Abiara, Class of ’28, won the $15,000 top prize in the Main Street track of the 2026 Pitch Dingman Competition, hosted by the Dingman-Lamone Center for Entrepreneurship. The university-wide competition, in its 11th year, had UMD students and alumni entrepreneurs pitching their companies “Shark Tank”-style, competing in four tracks to receive thousands of dollars in prize money, venture-development resources and professional coaching. READ MORE
DATATHON
Students from across the University of Maryland and American University used AI and data skills to address the transportation needs of Marylanders during the 7th Annual Smith Analytics Consortium Datathon Finale on Friday, April 10. This year’s iteration of the Datathon was sponsored by the Maryland Department of Information Technology (DoIT), marking the state's first sponsorship of the competition, and was hosted in collaboration with AU and Deloitte. READ MORE
GLOBAL BUSINESS ETHICS COMPETITION
A team of University of Maryland undergraduates, which included a Smith student, placed first in all three competition categories of the International Business Ethics and Sustainability Competition, hosted by Loyola Marymount University. The UMD team earned a rare clean sweep, winning the business analysis, ethics presentation and sustainability elevator pitch portions of the competition against 59 undergraduate and graduate student teams from 41 universities worldwide. READ MORE
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CASE COMPETITION
Four students from the QUEST Honors Program traveled to the University of Pittsburgh for the FreeMarkets Race to the Case Supply Chain Management Case Competition, where they won first place. The case involved looking at how to best optimize supply chain practices for a manufacturing company to cut costs while still innovating and maintaining part production. READ MORE
AGENTIC AI CHALLENGE
At Smith’s Agentic AI Challenge, 67 student teams, comprised of 330 students from across campus, developed solutions to industry problems using advanced AI systems, with finalists presenting prototypes judged by industry experts, highlighting cross-disciplinary participation, real-world collaboration and evolving applications of artificial intelligence. READ MORE
Media Contact
Greg Muraski
Media Relations Manager
301-405-5283
301-892-0973 Mobile
gmuraski@umd.edu
About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.