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
Source: https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/high-five-july-2026