The Key, September 2021 Edition

A newsletter for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends

September 2021

UMES ranked 17th among peers Fourth consecutive year in U.S. News & World Report’s Top 20 HBCUs 1 Spelman College (GA) 2 Howard University (DC) 3 Xavier University of Louisiana 4 Hampton University (VA) Morehouse College (GA) Tuskegee University (AL) 7 Florida A&M University 8 North Carolina A&T State Univ.

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore moved a step closer to meeting President Heidi M. Anderson’s goal of being a “Top 10” historically Black institution in the latest Best Colleges survey released on Founders’ Day by U.S. News and World Report.

UMES came in at 17 in the publication’s 2022 rankings, one notch higher than a year ago and equaling the highest peer rating since the publication created a category in 2007 focusing exclusively on historically Black colleges and universities as a group.

This new ranking marks the second year in a row the university’s ranking improved one position. When Dr. Anderson took office in September 2018, she challenged faculty, staff, alumni and supporters to intentionally work towards moving the university into the upper tier.

Anderson states, “as most people in higher education will tell you, retention is everyone’s business, but what does that really mean and what does it look like at UMES? For us, retention is exercising leadership. It is being willing to go the extra mile for students and with students to see that they are heard and their issues are addressed in a timely and courteous manner. It is being confident in one’s own role at the university and willing to speak up and step up to share new ideas, fresh approaches and to create new networks to solve new and old problems together.”

UMES offers bachelor’s degrees in 37 areas, including such fields of study as engineering, golf management, hospitality studies, kinesiology, marine science education, mathematics, information technology and humanities. Cybersecurity and pharmaceutical sciences are among 15 master’s degree programs in UMES’ graduate school, which also offers eight doctoral degrees, including pharmacy, physical therapy and toxicology.

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Trigg Hall Renovation

Freshman Pilot

Faculty, Staff & Student News Clean Slate for Students

Founders’ Week 2021: UMES’ 135th Anniversary

9 Fisk University (TN) 10 Claflin University (SC) Delaware State University 12 Morgan State University (MD) 13 North Carolina Central Univ.

14 Dillard University (LA) 15 Tougaloo College (MS) 16 Winston-Salem State Univ. (NC) 17 Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore 18 Clark Atlanta University Jackson State University (MS) 20 Norfolk State University (VA) Southern Univ. and A&M College (LA) TOP 20 / continued on page 4

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UMES Partnerships: NASA & Wor-Wic Community College

Art Restoration

Student Profile: DeAndre Diggs

Page 12 Alum’s Art Collection Gift

2 The Key / September 2021

School News

Trigg Hall to get $1.49 million renovation Trigg Hall, an iconic structure on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s original campus footprint, has qualified for a $500,000 federal grant to pay for modernization of the seven-decadeold building.

The university received confirmation in August it will receive the money through the ”Historically Black Colleges and Universities grant program funded by the Historic Preservation Fund, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Park Service.”

UMES is one of 20 HBCUs across the country to share some $9.7 million in funding in the latest round of grants from the federal program.

The grant will be combined with $989,020 from academic revenue bonds to pay for “repair or replacement of doors, windows, roof, foundation, floor, siding and all the components such as structural masonry and insulation,” according to Lester Primus, UMES’ vice president of administration and finance. Installation of energy-efficient lighting and updated mechanical heating and cooling systems are also part of the plan. ”As the headquarters for the (university’s) Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences, Trigg Hall is vital to our core mission of educating the workforce of the future,” said Dr. Moses Kairo, dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. ”The proposed upgrades will create an environment conducive to

the effective delivery of academic programs. Furthermore, minimizing the frequent failure of critical systems in the building will ensure that research activities proceed without interruption,” Kairo said. “We are truly grateful to the National Park Service for facilitating upgrades to such a beautiful building.”

Trigg Hall is among 13 buildings that define UMES’ historic Academic Oval, which holds National Register of Historic Places status – a well-known U.S. Department of Interior / National Parks Service program.

Here’s an excerpt of how a Department of Interior evaluator described the structure in a 2005 report endorsing the university’s application for historic place status: “Completed in 1954, Trigg Hall is sited atop an artificial terrace with a bold Ionic (column) portico dominating the center block. (The two-story structure) is spanned by a broad hip roof, covered with slate, with brick chimneys. The roof and portico are enriched with a modillion block cornice. Flanking the main (section) are long twostory, five-bay hip roofed wings finished in similar, but less intricate, Colonial Revival details.”

Projects funded by these grants, the Department of Interior said, will support “the physical preservation of National Register listed sites on HBCU campuses to include historic districts, buildings, sites, structures, and objects.”

School News

The Key / September 2021

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Freshman, Hawk, & Pilot

Izaiah Brown earns pilot’s license as freshman in UMES’ aviation science program The COVID-19 pandemic was no match for the perseverance of Izaiah Brown, who as a freshman at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore a year ago earned his professional pilot’s license.

His interest in flight was influenced by his mother, who used to take him to a playground near the BaltimoreWashington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), where he watched planes taking off and landing.

UMES’ aviation science program, the only aviation bachelor’s degree program in Maryland, was a significant factor that attracted the Baltimore native to the university to pursue his goals.

“It takes a lot of dedication. There’s a lot of studying,” Brown said. “It’s not one of those things you can do just to do it. You have to really be interested in it or you’re not going to be able to do it.”

Chris Hartman, aviation science assistant professor and program coordinator, said the path to earning a pilot’s license is intense.

“In order to become a private pilot, a student must complete the ground school course, pass a (Federal Aviation Administration) knowledge test, complete 40 hours of flight training and then pass a practical exam in the airplane with an FAA designated examiner,” Hartman said.

“A professional pilot student at UMES begins flight training in the first semester of their freshman year,” Hartman said. “This makes for an intense experience as the student must balance flight training with

the normal freshman experience of classes.”

Because of COVID-19 contact restrictions, Brown was unable to start flight training in the Fall of 2020, so he completed all 40 hours of flight training and the private pilot certification in the Spring 2021 semester.

“Izaiah has shown exceptional dedication in his time here,” Hartman said.

Brown acknowledged the importance of the UMES environment and support during this process -especially from faculty.

He received praise on social media from a leader of a mentoring program, Next One Up, which he participated in as a middle and high school student.

“A scrappy kid from East Baltimore applied to Next One Up in 7th grade. He never stopped showing up,” said Matt Hanna, Next One Up’s founder and chief executive officer.

“A kid (who) had never been to the airport told us he wanted to be a pilot. Now, after just his freshman year at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, he has his pilot’s license,” Hanna wrote.

“He never complained, never missed a day and does what he says he will do. Your family is proud, Baltimore is proud. Well done my friend.

Thank you for inspiring others, Izaiah, you are living your dream,” Hanna’s post said.

This past summer, Brown worked with Boutique Air at BWI in a non-flight position. In the future, he looks forward to gaining flight experience in the U.S. military.

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Faculty, Staff and Student News

Photo courtesy of: Joe Andrucyk, Chief Photographer - Office of the Governor In August, President Heidi M. Anderson was recognized as the recipient of the 2021 Lower Shore Distinguished Citizen Award by the Boy Scouts of America, Delmarva Council. Congratulations Dr. Anderson!

Dr. Kathryn Barrett-Gaines was elected as corresponding secretary of the Executive Council of the University System of Maryland Women’s Forum for fiscal year 2021-2022.

A clean slate for UMES students The University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Office of Administration and Finance provided the following details on wiping out debt for over 400 students: “As part of the university of Maryland Eastern Shore’s continued effort to support its students during the COVID-19 pandemic, the university has provided a portion of its Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III (HEERF III) institutional funding to students with outstanding balances incurred after March 13, 2020.

The university had an unprecedented opportunity to join other HBCUs in making history of “forgiving outstanding balances.” This ”clean slate” will truly make a positive impact on the lives of our students. With help from the HEERF III funding, the university has been able to assist approximately 466 students with debts totaling over $1,833,010. By removing ”back bill” barriers, students that had a desire to enroll, but were financially struggling, now have the opportunity.”

TOP 20 / continued from cover

UMES is the only HBCU to offer eight health professions programs, producing graduates to combat the rural health care disparities that exist in medically underserved areas throughout the country. UMES is one of 15 HBCUs with Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology credentials.

U.S. News asks senior administrators - presidents, senior academic policymakers and admissions directors - to rate the academic quality of peer institutions. Graduation and retention rates, alumni giving and faculty resources also carry a lot of weight in the ranking equation.

Other factors taken into consideration include the number of full-time faculty, student selectivity based on test scores and high school class standing, the institution’s financial resources and how large classes are. UMES’ student-to-faculty ratio is 10-to-1, and 70 percent of classes the university offers average fewer than 20 students.

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education recognizes UMES as a “high-research activity” doctoral institution where seven current faculty members hold a combined 14 U.S. and international patents.

Faculty, Staff and Student News

UMES Employees of the Month Leigh Ann Vreeland was selected as UMES’ Employee of the Month for June 2021, in the category of “Outstanding Service to Students.”

Although she has been working on campus since 2010, “Mrs. V” has been the administrative assistant in the Human Ecology Department since 2018. She is always willing to help students, faculty, and administrators no matter what department they are in. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, she was able to convert many administrative processes to a digital format for ease of use. She implemented an electronic filing system for all faculty to be able to access documents in a quick and efficient manner. Leigh Ann helped with the department’s branding project and provided outstanding support for the department in order to achieve AAFCS accreditation. Her supervisor noted, “the faculty and students in the Department of Human Ecology are grateful.…and are very proud to have her as one of us.”

Eric Williams was selected as UMES’ Employee of the Month for July 2021. He was nominated in the category of “Exceptional Contribution to the Institution.”

Having worked in the Information Technology (IT) department for 10+ years, Eric is excellent at diagnosing and resolving computer issues, among his long list of duties. His nominators cited his accessibility to employees and students and his quick to response time. He is the “go to” IT person for many on campus.

He also never makes anyone feel as though they, “asked something silly.” One nominator wrote, “He is somebody you would want to go to for help as he is pleasant to work with.” He was also praised as “being very customer service oriented and always goes above and beyond.”

Congratulations Eric!

The Key / September 2021

TENURE AND PROMOTIONS School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences • Dr. Victoria Volkis - Natural Sciences - Promotion to Full Professor (in lieu of post-tenure review) • Dr. Meng Xia - Natural Sciences - Promotion to Full Professor (in lieu of post-tenure review)

School of Business and Technology • Willie Brown - Engineering and Aviation Sciences Early Promotion & Tenure to Associate Professor • Kyung Joo Lee - Business, Management and Accounting - Promotion to Full Professor

School of Pharmacy and Health Professions • Dr. Nkem Nonyel Pharmacy Practice and Administration - NonTenure Track Promotion to Associate Professor

Congratulations Hawks! (L-R) Tre Davis, Kiyah Brown-Samuels, Alyssa Mitchell, and Darian Curtis (pictured with President Heidi M. Anderson in the center) completed their degree requirements this summer earning their bachelor of science degrees in exercise science on August 13.

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Founders’ Week

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Celebrating the 135th Anniversary

of the

FOUNDERS’ ”I would hope that if our Founders were here today, for our 135th anniversary, they would be as proud as I am to see this flourishing HBCU. I wish they could see how we are taking our 1890-land-grant roots to heart and conquering issues across the land, the sea and the sky. From nine students in 1886 to 558 freshmen this fall who have joined the Hawk Family, I hope to continue growing for another 135 years!”

Dr. Heidi M. Anderson, UMES President

”Her interest in the students never ceased” Remembering Principal Portia L. Bird on UMES’ 135th anniversary

Portia L. Bird seated (front row, second from left) next to her husband, Principal Benjamin O. Bird at Princess Anne Academy in the mid-1890s.

Portia E. Lovett Bird of Clarke County, Va. was the first female leader of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Evidence suggests Bird might be the first Black woman to lead an HBCU after taking on the leadership role at then Princess Anne Academy after her husband, the late Benjamin O. Bird, died in 1897. She would lead the institution for two years until her death at the age of 40 in 1899.

“No one in Princess Anne mourns her loss quite as much as the aged and the poor. Her well filled basket was often at the door of someone in need,” wrote Jacob Dunn, an instructor at the school during the Birds’ years of leadership.

A 1900 obituary in the Annual Minutes of the Delaware Conference detailed the reverence people had for Principal Bird, a soprano singer and mother of nine children: “As a teacher, she excelled, always making clear the subject in hand. As an instructor in special subjects, as physiology and elocution, her equal is rare. She will always be remembered for her work in these departments.” ”What impressed her pupils most was the sincerity of her character and the dignity of her womanhood. She was born a queen, withal a woman. Her interest in the students never ceased.” ”She was their personal friend all of the time. No human power can estimate the influence which this queenly little woman has wielded and now wields in the homes, school houses, and churches within the bounds of this Conference.”

1886

1890

1936

1948

1970

Delaware Conference Academy

Princess Anne Academy

Princess Anne College

Maryland State College

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Sept. 13

Founders’ Week

The Key / September 2021

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University of Maryland Eastern Shore WEEK 2021 “September 13, 1886, is a day that I will forever be grateful for because what we now know as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore was created. One hundred thirty-five years later, we are still standing tall and proud to be in the top 20 HBCUs. UMES means a lot to me, and being a part of its legacy is a blessing.

I hope that my university continues to shine and be a phenomenal institution.

I am proud to be a member of the Hawk family, and I want to continue spreading that hawk pride now and forever.”

Princess Sarah Bentil, Miss UMES Senior, Major: Marketing “Founders’ Day, September 13, is a monumental day for us. I’m extremely proud of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the Hawk family for continuing the education for an abundance of minorities throughout the world. As we stamp our university in history, I hope to see our university flourish in more ways than one. In this vision, I see the incorporation of diverse majors that adhere to the different career goals our current and future students may have. The 70+ organizations will be able to continue to be successful and allow for every student to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

Lastly, we are able to provide all the necessary resources and policies to increase our graduation rate and ensure our future alumni have an opportunity to be successful in their fields. With the current progress I see, this vision is coming to life and I can’t wait to see it first-hand. Hawk Pride!”

James Webb, Mr. UMES Senior, Major: Criminal Justice

“Hawks, it’s our 135th anniversary, an institution where the roots run deep.

As a proud Hawk, it brings me great pleasure to know that my alma mater served me for eight years. With great honor, I am proud to serve the alumni community. My most vital hope for my alma mater is to see alumni return home to the nest to invest their treasure, time, or talent. Our university’s longevity is truly remarkable. I hope all alumni walk around with a great sense of pride.”

Kadeem Turnbull, Director of Alumni Relations

Founders’ Week 2021 began with Sunday service at Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Princess Anne

Photo: Kadeem Turnbull

L-R: Mr. UMES James Webb, Miss UMES Princess Sarah Bentil, President Heidi M. Anderson, Sydney Carr, Taylor Brown and Lloyd Dunbar.

8 The Key / September 2021

UMES Partnerships

Wor-Wic graduates eligible for UMES tuition break

New scholarship fund is inaugural project supported by historic Scott gift The University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Wor-Wic Community College announced an agreement in early June creating a financial incentive for recent graduates of the two-year school in Salisbury to continue their studies 17 miles south in Princess Anne.

Dr. Ray Hoy, Wor-Wic’s president, and UMES President Heidi M. Anderson signed a “memorandum of understanding” that initially commits the university to providing nearly $260,000 in financial aid to Wor-Wic alumni enrolled at UMES starting this fall.

UMES will invest some of the $20 million philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated to the university to establish the scholarship fund, fulfilling a pledge Anderson made in December 2020 when the gift was announced. ”The journey to achieve the dream of a college education often begins at the community college level,” Anderson said. “This scholarship will help those students who wish to continue that learning path earning a broader four-year degree.

“By transferring from Wor-Wic to UMES,” she said, “students can deepen their passion for what they really want to do, while saving time and money reaching their ultimate goal.”

Wor-Wic alumni who graduated in the past 18 months, including those currently enrolled at UMES, are eligible. They will receive $3,500 annually toward their in-state tuition bill for up to six semesters.

Hoy, Wor-Wic’s president, called “this … an exciting partnership between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Wor-Wic

Community College that will benefit the citizens of the Lower Shore.”

“We’re signing an agreement today to provide a more affordable pathway for college completion for Wor-Wic graduates transferring to UMES,” he said.

Three Wor-Wic applicants will qualify for a full-ride financial aid package known as a “presidential scholarship” worth $8,585 annually.

“Recipients will be evaluated based on the information submitted with their application,” said Latoya Jackson, UMES’ Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Experience. “This information includes but is not limited to transcripts, personal narrative, and recommendations.”

In May, the University System of Maryland’s governing board set UMES’ in-state tuition rate at $5,526 - or $2,763 per semester - for the 2021-22 academic year.

Both Lower Shore colleges offer instruction in such fields as hospitality / hotel-motel-restaurant management, early childhood education, business and criminal justice that could ease the transfer path for scholarship recipients to earn a bachelor’s degree.

There is no minimum grade point average requirement and as an added incentive, a standard application fee will be waived for Wor-Wic alumni who apply.

Both institutions will revisit the incentive program in a year to decide if it will be extended and offered to spring 2022 Wor-Wic graduates.

(L-R) Dr. Kristin Mallory, Dr. Ray Hoy, President Heidi M. Anderson, and Dr. Nancy Niemi sign the memorandum of understanding that will incentivize recent graduates of Wor-Wic Community College to continue their studies at UMES.

UMES Partnerships

The Key / September 2021

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UMES + STEM disciplines = NASA possibilities President Heidi M. Anderson and NASA Goddard Flight Facility Director Dennis Andrucyk (seated) sign the Space Act Agreement in UMES’ Engineering and Aviation Science Complex.

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the nation’s space agency reaffirmed a four-decade-old relationship Sept. 7 with a formal agreement pledging to develop opportunities for student internships, faculty research, and diversifying the aeronautics industry.

The Space Act Agreement calls for “collaborative education, workforce development, research and development, commercialization and testing opportunities on topic of mutual interest to enable a sustained pipeline of diverse talent for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

The signing ceremony culminated months of talks between UMES and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on ways the university can partner with the Wallops Flight Facility in nearby Chincoteague, Va. The goal, according to the agreement, is “to advance the understanding of suborbital and aeronautical science, research and development projects involving NASA’s research range and other space systems, research and development, to further advance NASA’s mission.”

Dennis Andrucyk, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., was on hand to affirm his agency’s commitment to the agreement.

With a decommissioned sounding rocket on loan from Wallops as a backdrop, Andrucyk and UMES President Heidi M. Anderson signed three copies of the document in a ceremony staged in the atrium of the university’s Engineering and Aviation Science Complex.

“What this will allow us to do,” Anderson told WMDT, “is have students get hands on experience while they are in school” as well

as “internships that will hopefully lead them to jobs here right on …

Wallops Island.” ”UMES (is) about making sure our institution has more people of color in all sciences,” Anderson said in a post-ceremony interview with WRDE. “And we are a major footprint in this particular community for doing that.”

This new partnership, NASA noted, will benefit UMES students through opportunities leveraging academic studies with hands on experience through internships, on-site project engagement activities and opportunities to support mission work alongside Wallops professionals.

“NASA Wallops and UMES have a 40-year partnership in providing educational opportunities for students,” Wallops Director David Pierce said. “We see the signing of this agreement as renewal of this long-standing partnership to develop the next generation of aerospace professionals that are going to carry our country forward in the next 20 years.”

As UMES has put greater emphasis on its engineering and aviation science instruction over the past decade or so, graduates have found work with NASA as well as private contractors at the Wallops Flight Facility. ”So many students struggle getting internships throughout the summer and end up having to work somewhere,” UMES senior Kenny Davis told WRDE, “so this opens up a lot of opportunities. Right now the plan (for me) is to go full-time and to actually be a NASA employee in January.”

10 The Key / September 2021

School News

From RUFFLES® to restoration University of Delaware restores treasured Jimmie Mosely painting

A new / old painting now hangs outside the secondfloor office of the dean of the School of Education, Social Sciences and the Arts in Hazel Hall.

“New” in the sense it was placed there this summer -- for first the time -- after a three-year restoration slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Old” in that the oil-on-canvas painting is an original work by Jimmie Mosely Sr., the late faculty member after whom the campus art gallery in the Thomas & Briggs Arts and Technology Center is named.

“Korean War Scene,” painted in 1953, depicts a wounded American soldier being carried to safety by what appears to be Korean peasants. Mosely’s work was inspired by a black-and-white photo taken by the late David Douglas Duncan that is housed at the University of Texas.

Duncan’s pictures were widely published in American print media because they captured the horrors of the conflict the Korean peninsula was experiencing just a decade following World War II. Mosely’s 41-by-59 inch piece was stored in an archive room when a torrential rainstorm rolled across the lower Eastern Shore in mid-May 2018. The storm dumped nearly three inches of rain on Princess Anne, exposing an aging roof that subsequently allowed water to leak in.

The following day, Mosely gallery Director Susan Holt discovered “extensive water damage,” and sprang into action by “calling museum contacts.”

That led to the University of Delaware, which takes on such projects to give hands-on experience to students training to be art conservators.

Restoration was overseen by Dr. Joyce Hill Stoner, director of the university’s Preservation Studies Doctoral Program.

The flaked paint – Stoner described as the “potato chip” effect – was typical of water damage.

The Mosely painting took a painstaking 229 hours to restore, including 28 hours in a special humidity chamber, consolidating the raised “potato chip” curls, which took 65 hours, and another 60 hours of paint retouching.

Storer said Delaware has an interest in helping preserve and restore works by Black artists and is looking to recruit students of color to help diversify the profession. In addition to a humanities background, graduate students need to have a grasp of chemistry, too.

The conservators did not charge for the work. By this past March, restoration was complete.

Holt received a 15-page report with “detailed color photos.”

“The UDel program is one of the best in the country,” Holt said. “We were so lucky.”

Marshall Stevenson, a historian and dean of the School of Education, Social Sciences and the Arts, said the Mosley painting resonated with him for several reasons; it reflects the creativity of a talented artist who captured an image from the Cold War’s early days that justified preservation.

The original black and white image that inspired this painting is in the archives of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Student Profile

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‘We lost everything – twice’

By Jamie Handy, PGATOUR.COM

Broken home. Low income. High crime in the neighborhood.

DeAndre Diggs grew up in Baltimore and was faced with these harsh realities from an early age. Many families and kids could relate to the challenges of overcoming financial hardships and crime-ridden neighborhoods.

When things seemed as though they couldn’t get harder, Diggs’ home was broken into. His family had to rebuild all that had been taken, which was not a lot to begin with.

“My story is similar to others in Baltimore,” said Diggs, a UMES senior, “but my family made sacrifices. At the end of the day, it’s not where you were born, but how you were raised.”

Just as hope began to be restored, a fire destroyed their family home.

“We lost everything – twice,” Diggs said. “My family was poor, going further into debt and … still tried to keep me in private school. It just kept pushing us further back.”

Although he and his family felt like they were in a dark tunnel with no light,

Diggs always kept pushing forward to “see something.”

While he may not have realized it then, that light he saw at the end of the tunnel was Caves Valley Golf Club.

Caves Valley is where Diggs took his first job, and the club has rallied around him and his story ever since.

Diggs had been part of the First Tee – Baltimore since age eight, his first exposure to golf, and Caves Valley helped to stir his passion for the sport.

He set his sights on higher education, driving himself to do his best in the classroom as well as learn as much as possible from leaders at Caves Valley.

He started to chip away at the college application process. He worried about the cost of higher education and exploring financial aid and student loan options.

To Diggs’ surprise, he learned he had been selected as the recipient of a $100,000 scholarship from the Caves Valley Golf Club Foundation.

Diggs continued to work hard and enrolled at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, the only HBCU that has a professional golf management program.

“I found there to be a lot of students with similar stories to mine, but at the same time, embraced that we all are unique,” Diggs said.

UMES golf management students must complete 16 months of internships as a graduation requirement. His first internship was at Caves Valley. The second was at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

He then became an assistant intern at Congressional Country Club working in the pro shop, serving as a marshal and overseeing the employees in the cart barn and driving range.

Eager for more golf experience, Diggs decided to work at Arundel Golf Park in Glen Burnie, where he helped increase sales 20-30 percent, despite the pandemic.

Currently, Diggs works at Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta as an intern in food and beverage, where he continues to pave his way toward a career as a general manager at a club.

Though Diggs’ story started similarly to those growing up in the tough neighborhoods of Baltimore, he’s determined to make sure it inspires others in the end.

This article is excerpted from a version published on the PGATour.com website and is reproduced here with that organization’s permission.

Junior Tranita Barnett, left, and Dr. Arlisha Norwood, the UMES history professor who curated the Africare art collection donated to the university on behalf of 1959 alum C. Payne Lucas Sr., were among the first to view the pieces during a reception Sept. 15 in the Jessie Cottman-Smith room of the Frederick Douglass Library.

The Key / September 2021 The Key is published by the Office of Public Relations umesnews@umes.edu, 410-651-7580 An archive is available at www.umes.edu/TheKey

Submissions to The KEY are preferred via email. All copy is subject to editing.

The Key is written according to the Associated Press stylebook.

University Relations 30665 Student Services Center Lane Princess Anne, MD 21853

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, disability, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Inquiries regarding the application of Federal laws and non-discrimination policies to University programs and activities may be referred to the Office of Equity & Compliance/Title IX Coordinator by telephone (410) 651-7848 or e-mail (titleix@umes.edu).