The Universities at Shady Grove's Board of Advisors Launches New ACES Scholarship Fund to Honor Retiring USM Chancellor Kirwan

Students enrolled in the “Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success” (ACES) program, will soon be eligible to apply for tuition assistance through a new scholarship fund at The Universities at Shady Grove (USG). The scholarship was created and launched with the financial support of USG’s Board of Advisors, in honor of retiring University System of Maryland (USM) Chancellor William E. “Brit” Kirwan.

ACES is a collaborative program of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), Montgomery College (MC), and The Universities at Shady Grove. The program seeks to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion and focuses on identifying and supporting students who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in higher education. ACES was launched in fall 2013 and a number of students from the first cohort – who have been attending Montgomery College since that time – are expected to continue their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree as transfer students to The Universities at Shady Grove next fall.

The launch of the William E. Kirwan ACES Scholarship Fund was announced earlier this month at a special reception hosted by the USG Board of Advisors, an event which also included tributes to the retiring chancellor by Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and the County Council, and members of Montgomery County’s delegation in the Maryland state legislature.

“Dr. Kirwan’s incredible 51-year career in higher education – including the last 13 years as chancellor of the University System of Maryland – has left an indelible mark on the quality of public higher education in Maryland and, most importantly, on the lives of thousands and thousands of students served at USG and at all of our state universities,” said Susan Bateson, outgoing Chair of the USG Board of Advisors. “With the creation of the William E. Kirwan ACES Scholarship, we are able to honor him for his service and for his commitment to the success and growth of The Universities at Shady Grove.”

Also at the reception, the USG Board presented a USG Founders Vision Award to The Honorable Gene Counihan, a former Maryland state delegate and a founding member of the USG Board of Advisors. As part of the tribute, USM and USG officials announced that they will be creating a new Gene Counihan Legislative Internship, to enable a USG student to serve as a legislative intern for the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis.

USG has only honored one previous recipient with the Founders award: the late Earle Palmer Brown, a respected advertising agency executive who was among the early pioneers of the community effort to create USG, which opened in 2000 as a full-time institution of higher education in Montgomery County. USG has grown rapidly since that time and this year, it celebrated the graduation of more than 800 students from the nine universities that offer their degree programs at the campus.

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About The Universities at Shady Grove

The Universities at Shady Grove is an innovative model for delivering top-quality college degree programs. USG is not one university; it is a collaboration of nine leading public universities in Maryland offering 80+ undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Montgomery County. Established in 2000, USG serves more than 4,000 students. Participating USG partners include: Bowie State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; University of Baltimore; University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and University of Maryland University College. More information on all of the undergraduate and graduate programs is available at www.shadygrove.umd.edu.