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January 2015 Investment Office Update
2015 started on a volatile note, due in part to the continued decline in oil prices, the Swiss National Bank's decision to abandon its exchange rate cap against the Euro, and concerns about a potential Greek exit from the Eurozone. Global equity indices declined in January, with the MSCI ACWI Index finishing 1.6% lower (including reinvested net dividends). U.S. equity markets also started 2015 with a loss. The S&P 500 declined 3.0% (including reinvested dividends). Additionally, the impact of low oil prices continued to ripple across emerging markets, with oil-producing countries such as Russia, Malaysia and Mexico suffering declines and oil-importing countries (e.g., India and China) benefitting.
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Maryland's Senior Senator, Barbara A. Mikulski, Announces Retirement
 Last month, United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski announced that she would retire when her term ends in 2017. Mikulski rose from being a Baltimore-based community organizer to the longest-serving woman in Congress. She was one of only two women in the Senate when she took office in 1987, and worked her way to becoming the first woman to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2012. Mikulski is also an alumna of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's School of Social Work, and has retained close ties with both UMB and the System.
Senator Mikulski has been a great friend to the USM and a tireless advocate for her constituents and we wish her the best as she embarks on her next adventure.
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In Memoriam: A. James Clark
 A. James Clark, a 1950 graduate in civil engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park passed away on March 20, 2015. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Clark Enterprises, Inc., but was also known for being an engineer, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. In 1994, he established a $15 million endowment to name UMCP's School of Engineering, now known as the A. James Clark School of Engineering. In 2005, he established a new $30 million A. James Clark Scholarship Endowment to provide financial support for Clark School undergraduate engineering students. He also served as a member of the University of Maryland's Board of Regents and was an honorary Trustee of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation. Clark set a tremendous precedent for leadership and philanthropy in Maryland, and he will most certainly be missed. In his honor, The Clark School of Engineering has set up a tribute page.
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Historic $1.5 Million Gift Establishes First Endowed Professorship at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry
The University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD) received the largest one-time gift in the school's 175-year history: a $1.5 million donation from alumni Frederick G. Smith, MS, DDS '78, and Venice K. Paterakis, DDS '81. The grant will establish the school's first endowed professorship and enable the professor to pursue new areas of research and innovative teaching methods within dental education. It will also allow the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery to further enhance their surgical training programs and pursue new research endeavors.
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