For the hundreds of students poised to graduate this spring from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, commencement day is nearly here. And while the event will be virtual, our pride in and excitement for these graduates is very real.

To celebrate the accomplishments of full-time MBA students, faculty and staff, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business transformed its annual MBA End-of-Year Banquet to a virtual ceremony on May 15, 2020. Students nominated their classmates and professors for the awards, and a committee of students, faculty and administrators selected the recipients. This year’s winners: 2nd Year MBAs Smith Community Development Award: Shannon Moselle Smith Brand Champion: Erick Loyo and Frank DiGiovanni

The Center for Global Business at Maryland Smith partnered with ACell, a regenerative medicine company located in Columbia, Maryland, on the Maryland Global Export Consulting program, an opportunity that offers Maryland-based companies the chance to work with a team of the school’s MBA or undergraduate students to address challenges companies are facing in entering the international market.

Erick Loyo entered Maryland Smith’s Full-Time MBA program with an impressive five-year resume of banking and finance accomplishments. He subsequently excelled and stood out as a leader and advocate for his classmates and the program.

It began as an individual effort to donate masks to a few classmates and professors in China. From there, the idea began to grow. Maryland Smith alum Luhan Tang, MBA ’19, expanded the initiative into the UMD4Masks Campaign, wanting to help address the shortage of face masks faced by frontline medical workers as they worked to treat patients and contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even from home, Maryland Smith students know that the show must go on. On Thursday, April 23, 2020, over 70 students, faculty and staff from the full-time MBA program came together via Zoom to show off their talents outside of the classroom in this year’s Smith’s Got Talent competition.

The University of Maryland is actively monitoring the outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (termed “COVID-19”) that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Very rapidly, the virus has been detected in numerous countries including the United States.

MBA students Brandon Caracciolo, part-time MBA (Brazil program), Erin Edmunds, part-time MBA (China and Vietnam program), Tida Jarjou, full-time MBA (UAE program), Lynn Kostas, part-time MBA (Japan and Singapore program), and Dan Wurtzel, part-time MBA (South Africa program) write about their participation in the January 2020 winter term global business courses. South Africa

Marriott executive delivers keynote at Bradford Awards The theme for the evening was “Transcend the Power of Us: Our 2020 Vision,” as students, faculty members and others gathered for the 27th annual William D. Bradford Awards Reception, an event dedicated to celebrating diversity and inclusion at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. "All of us here have a role to play. Only when we live and breathe diversity will we become the school we were meant to be," Interim Dean Ritu Agarwal told the audience.

USM Ends Search, Calling Clark School Dean ‘Precisely the Right Person’ for Role By Maryland Today Staff  The University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents yesterday appointed Darryll J. Pines, dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering, as the 34th president of the University of Maryland, effective July 1.