A first-generation college student who rose to lead one of Maryland’s storied historically Black universities, Heidi M. Anderson became the 16th president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in September 2018. A three-time Purdue University graduate, Anderson holds a doctorate in pharmacy administration, a master’s in education and a Bachelor of Science in pharmacy.

She previously served as provost at Texas A&M University-Kingsville and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. She is the first Black person to serve as president of the Accreditation Council on Pharmaceutical Education, a role she held twice.

A chemist by training, Valerie Sheares Ashby has served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since August 2022, becoming the institution’s sixth president and its first woman to hold the role. She holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Sheares Ashby joined UMBC after seven years as dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University, preceded by 12 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — her undergraduate and graduate alma mater — including a term as chemistry department chair from 2012 to 2015. She launched her academic career in 1996 as an assistant professor of chemistry at Iowa State University.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

Higher education is at a crossroads for deciding how learning and technology will exist together. At UMBC, we think about technology not in the sense of what to adopt but what to design. We ask ourselves: What experience do we want every student to have? What kinds of thinkers and creators and citizens are we trying to develop? And then we evaluate each new advance in technology and how it is impacting teaching and research and discovery, while asking ourselves: Does this technology allow us to accomplish that mission even better? We question if and how a particular technology can help us do what we are doing as a public institution better.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

My Ph.D. adviser said to me many times, “You learn the most from the people with whom you have the least in common.” He told me that as a synthetic organic polymer chemist, I would be able to do the best, most innovative scholarship by having a team of graduate students, undergraduates and colleagues who come from diverse backgrounds, not just interdisciplinary backgrounds but literally diverse backgrounds. Because where you grow up, how you are raised, the environment in which you’ve learned to solve problems as you move through your life changes how you approach challenges.

How do you define success?

Success is only meaningful if it is shared broadly, and I am incredibly proud of our record of inclusive excellence at UMBC. We welcome knowledge seekers from all backgrounds and with wide-ranging abilities, and we believe deeply in them and their capacity to succeed. Our shared accomplishment is in helping them to do just that. Like many others who are called to roles leading educational institutions, I am inspired by and driven to advance our public-serving mission. Our success as UMBC is in the opportunities we provide for students and families, the contributions we make to the health and vitality of the state of Maryland, and the knowledge we create for society broadly.

A 1991 graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science in oceanography, Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte was designated a Naval Aviator in September 1993 and built a decorated career spanning combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, including command of HMLA-367 during the Battle for Marjah.

He holds a Master of Arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College and completed Stanford University’s executive leadership course. Borgschulte accumulated 3,800 flight hours, including 700-plus combat hours. He assumed duties as the 66th Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy in August 2025.

A doctorate in counseling psychology from Temple University and more than 35 years of higher education leadership experience inform the work of Aminta H. Breaux, president of Bowie State University. Since taking the helm in July 2017 as the institution’s 10th president, Breaux has championed entrepreneurship education across disciplines at Maryland’s oldest historically Black university, an initiative that led to the opening of an Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community in fall 2021.

She serves as chair of the University System of Maryland Council of University System Presidents and on the boards of the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable and University of Maryland Capital Region Health.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

While tuition and fees are very modest at Bowie State University, affordability remains our number one concern. The cost of living continues to rise, and for many of our students, they depend on financial aid. We are thankful for the record level of private donations, helping to fill the gap for financial aid for our students, but the need is rapidly growing due to economic conditions and policy changes.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

My father, who was an educator and also a coach of Olympic athletes, would remind his children: “Poor planning prevents precision performance.” That saying helps me to remember to always show up as my best self, prepared and ready to achieve.

How do you define success?

Success is about setting clear goals and expectations and showing up each day with a commitment to excellence, holding myself accountable while serving others with purpose and integrity.

A law and economics scholar, Ronald J. Daniels has served as the 14th president of the Johns Hopkins University since 2009, guiding one of the nation’s premier research institutions through a period of sustained transformation. Under his leadership, Hopkins has remained the top recipient of competitively allocated federal research funding for more than four decades.

Daniels secured a $1.8 billion gift enabling the university to become permanently need-blind and no-loan for undergraduates. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he previously served as provost at the University of Pennsylvania and dean of law at the University of Toronto.

A composer, director and arts educator, Kent Devereaux serves as the 12th president of Goucher College, a position he assumed in July 2019. He previously served as president of the New Hampshire Institute of Art, a private nonprofit college of arts and design in Manchester, N.H.

Earlier in his career, Devereaux was senior vice president of editorial worldwide at Encyclopaedia Britannica, where he helped transform the publisher from print to digital in the late 1990s. He earned a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

The single biggest challenge facing higher education is the growing crisis of public confidence and perceived value, which is inextricably linked to the issues of affordability and student debt. While external headwinds, such as demographic shifts and federal funding volatility, are significant, they all contribute to this core erosion of trust.

We need to counter the false narrative that college is an exclusive, expensive and potentially unnecessary hurdle, rather than a crucial foundation for civic life and economic mobility. Over a third of our students are the first in their families to attend college, and more than 40% come from low-income families. We need to make the value proposition of a liberal arts education — developing critical thinking, adaptability and a global perspective — like never before, and we must do so by demonstrating true financial accessibility and a clear path to career success. Maryland’s economy, and indeed, the future of our nation, depends on restoring and earning the public’s trust in the transformative power of higher education.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Before making any decision, identify who needs to be involved and gather all relevant facts and options. Additional perspective ensures better decision-making with clarity and context.

How do you define success?

In my business, the measure of success is straightforward: happy faculty, happy staff and happy students. Recognizing that all three are interconnected helps everyone feel valued and appreciated, even if achieving the trifecta is not always easy.