For three days in May, the center of the university universe was in College Park.
UMD hosted the Universitas 21 annual general meeting, convening the presidents and senior administrators of 27 prominent universities around the globe.
The theme was “Globalization, Isolationism and the Response in Higher Education,” with the aim of increasing collaborations to support progress on the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman led a brainstorming discussion with university presidents on how to achieve greater impact through global partnership. Guests saw demonstrations of UMD’s research in augmented and virtual reality and from the Do Good Institute, with the aim of inspiring similar innovative work abroad.
