Breaking the M.O.L.D. Program
YEAR 2
OPENING EVENTAugust 15-16, 2023
University of Maryland College Park
Guest Speakers
Dr. Philip RousAs Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Philip Rous was responsible for the delivery of the academic programs, including instruction, research, academic support services, and enrollment management, including admissions and financial aid.
Dr. Rous served as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at UMBC from 2012-2023. He joined the UMBC community in 1990 and holds the rank of professor in the Department of Physics. Prior to his appointment as Provost, Dr. Rous served as Dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. As Dean, he provided leadership in creating the College’s Active Science Teaching and Learning Environment (CASTLE), which is focused on new pedagogical models for actively engaged student learning. Dr. Rous played a leadership role in shared governance on campus as Faculty Senate Vice President and then as Faculty Senate President.
Dr. Rous was granted a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Imperial College of Science & Technology in the United Kingdom and conducted postdoctoral research at Imperial College, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Cambridge. His research is in the field of theoretical condensed matter physics, and he has contributed to the fundamental understanding of the crystallography of surfaces, the dynamics and structure of negative ion states at surfaces, and nanophysics. Dr. Rous has a strong interdisciplinary background and the results of his research have been published extensively in materials science, physics and chemistry journals. Most recently, Dr. Rous has played a leadership role in supporting research into innovative models supporting student success, through the HHMI National Experiment in Undergraduate Science (NEXUS), the NSF Innovation Through Institutional Integration award, and a planning grant from the Gates Foundation.
Dr. Jennifer King RiceJennifer King Rice was appointed as Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Maryland in July 2021. She was previously dean of the College of Education, where she focused her efforts to align educational resources with initiatives to advance excellence, equity and social justice in preschool through graduate school. Rice has served on the faculty and in college leadership roles at UMD for more than 25 years, and has been recognized as a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. Before coming to Maryland, she was a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Rice’s scholarship draws on the disciplines of economics and philosophy to study policy questions concerning excellence and equity in K-12 education systems. An expert on school finance and teacher policy, she regularly advises state and federal agencies. A prolific scholar, she has served on the editorial boards of American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and Education Finance and Policy. She is a fellow of the American Education Research Association, and has been a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellow and a visiting fellow at the Urban Institute. She is a past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy. She completed her B.S. in Mathematics and English at Marquette University and earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Social Foundations from Cornell University.
Dr. Phyllis Y. KeysDr. Phyllis Y. Keys is the newly appointed Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Morgan State University. As the Professor of Finance at Morgan State, she has served as a director for the Academy of Economics and Finance, is on the editorial board of the Africa Journal of Management, and is an active faculty participant in the PhD Project Finance Doctoral Association. She is involved in community and university activities related to financial literacy having volunteered with Junior Achievement of Delaware, Junior Achievement of Central Maryland, and the Green Dollars Project. Her research interests are corporate governance, executive compensation, and the relationship between diversity and organizational performance. Examples of research awards: best paper (co-authored) of the year in the Journal of Financial Research, a gold prize in a summer case writing competition (co-authored) from the Institute of Management Accountants, and a conference award for the best presentation (sole-authored) on teaching innovations from StockTrak and the Academy of Economics & Finance. She has a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Mississippi, an MBA from Jackson State University, and a Ph.D. (Finance) from Florida State University.
