In the News: Herald-Mail interviews Dr. Jacob Ashby

Dr. Jacob Ashby

New USMH leader wants you to know how the center works — and where it's going 

Tamela Baker, The Herald-Mail

The University System of Maryland at Hagerstown's new executive director is still acclimating himself to the position. But he's already focused on where the university center is headed in the future.

"There's a lot of opportunity here," Jacob Ashby told Herald-Mail Media in an interview in mid-May.

One day, he'd like to see USMH "be the hub for social mobility for Washington County," he said.

"I always tell people higher education is the only guarantee of social mobility," he said. "And I know there's some people that question the value of higher education because you can get out with your degree and not find a job immediately. But there's been tons of studies that demonstrate that if you have a college degree, you will earn more across your life.

"Higher education is the only guarantee, based off research, where you're going to move up the ladder socio-economically. So that's really what I want us to be, is the place that people look — when they talk about socio-economic mobility — is to come to USMH."

But for starters, he wants the community to have a better grasp of how USMH works.

He's "working to get our name recognized in the community and to help people understand what we do," he said, as many seem to think the center is a subsidiary of Frostburg State University, one of the five Maryland universities offering programming here.

"I don't think people fully understand what we do here; that we're a regional campus," he said, "and we're basically the facility, the technology, the foundation for the instruction that our partners provide. We offer classes for five institutions. We're hoping to expand the number of institutions we have here as well."

Local ties and local commitments

Originally from Falling Waters, W.Va., Ashby began his higher education at Hagerstown Community College before completing a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing from Shippensburg University, a master's degree in integrated marketing communication from West Virginia University and a doctorate in organizational leadership from Shenandoah University. He came to USMH from Frederick Community College, where he was serving as assistant dean of academic assessment and articulation.

He served in various other roles at FCC, and as an adjunct instructor and lecturer at HCC. He lives in Myersville with his wife, who also works in Hagerstown, and two children.

"We're a part of the community," he said. "We're looking forward to being involved."

Ashby has been on the job at USMH since early April. Mark Halsey, USMH's previous executive director, retired last year.

One point Ashby hopes to drive home to the community is the opportunity USMH offers its students to pursue their higher education at a lower cost.

"I got out of my bachelor's degree with no debt," he said, "and it set me up for a completely different foundation than a lot of my friends."

Pursuing a degree through USMH saves local students the housing costs they'd have to pay at the home campuses of the universities represented, he noted.

Degree programs offered at USMH range from business and management programs to education, nursing, social work and hospitality. Graduate programs in elementary education and social work also are available, as is a popular physician assistant program.

The MBA program formerly offered at USMH has now gone online, but Ashby hopes to bring it back to campus.

"Business administration is applicable to any business in the area," he said, "and so it's just something that I think would be successful."

Local partners could help shape USMH's future offerings

Ashby's also exploring added partnerships and examining area workforce needs.

The number of distribution centers in the Hagerstown area has him thinking about supply-chain management, and the establishment of a new osteopathic medical school by Meritus Health has him visualizing a pathway for students to take HCC courses while in high school so that they graduate with both a diploma and an associate degree, and spend the next two years earning a bachelor's degree through USMH while applying for the medical school.

"There's a lot of opportunities," he repeated, "it's just giving myself the grace to take it day by day."

But as he's floated these ideas to other leaders in the community, the response has been enthusiastic.

"So far, I think people are just generally excited about the energy; about the opportunity," he said. "And this is not a statement on the previous leadership — the pandemic hit higher education very, very hard. There was a two- or three-year lull where there wasn't an opportunity to really do much other than just survive.

"And so for me, the reception is just excitement about the opportunities that are moving forward and the energies that we're starting to reinvigorate here."

Some of the most successful programs at USMH right now are social work, psychology and education, he said. The nursing program declined a bit during the pandemic, but he expects that will bounce back.

"I think (the pandemic) is really the culprit; I don't think it's the specifics of the program or anything like that," he said.

Many USMH students are non-traditional, but HCC is a major feeder for the center. Changes in education and career paths, however, means looking at changes in the way USMH recruits students, he said.

Dual enrollment programs between HCC and Washington County Public Schools will result in USMH focusing more attention to recruiting students directly from high school for its upper-level courses, Ashby said, so he's talking with WCPS Superintendent David Sovine about how to accomplish that.

"I'm out in the community all the time," Ashby said. "I'm meeting with all kinds of people."

And those people are "very supportive," he added. "I think folks still look at us as relatively new, even though 2025 is actually 20 years. I think the biggest kind of hurdle is just helping people recognize what USMH is."

What's next for the USMH campus?

They do recognize the center's impact on downtown projects, he said, which include housing and classroom space in addition to the main campus facility in the renovated Baldwin House Hotel on West Washington Street.

And now he's got his eye on further development of the building USMH rents across the street, which currently houses the hospitality program. He'd like to see biology and chemistry labs on the upper floors.

He's also looking at growing computer science and technology programs. USMH is a partner in the BüroBox collaborative workspace center across University Plaza from USMH, which caters to new businesses. Ashby envisions the three buildings becoming a "hub of USMH."

(Source: Herald-Mail, June 1 2023)