First Day, First (and Many) Steps
Pines Begins Presidency Masked, Motivated and on the Move
Photos by John T. Consoli
Yesterday afternoon at University House, Darryll J. Pines presides over his first physically distanced President’s Cabinet meeting and lays out his ambitious agenda to advance the University of Maryland.
The University of Maryland’s new president, Darryll J. Pines, spent his first day on the job on the go, greeting staff, faculty and student-athletes; Zooming with state and federal lawmakers; visiting labs; and meeting with administrators. Phew!
High-energy university photographer John T. Consoli was just the person to keep up with Pines’ pace:
It’s thumbs up for Maryland as university President Darryll J. Pines zips across campus via golf cart early Wednesday with Assistant to the President Cornelia Kennedy (driving) and Assistant President and Chief of Staff Michele Eastman.
Despite masks and physical distancing, Pines seeks to make connections with staff at the Stamp Student Union.
Pines chats with Cpl. Garfield Kelly (far right) and Cpl. Minkyu Pak while University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell (left) gives the new university president a tour of the police station. Pines committed yesterday to enhancing community policing, examining practices and procedures related use of force and racial bias, and divesting from a federal program providing military gear to local police.
Stopping by his new office, Pines participates in a video call with U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer ’63. Other congratulations came from officials including U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland House Majority Leader Adrienne Jones, state Senate President Bill Ferguson and John Slaughter, the first African American to lead the university, as chancellor (1982-88).
Outside the Gossett Football Team House, Pines and Head Football Coach Mike Locksley greet each other with an elbow bump for virus safety before a staffer checks the new president’s temperature and the two proceed into Maryland Stadium.
In the stadium, Pines meets with Athletic Director Damon Evans (in light blue shirt) and members of the football team, who are doing voluntary, socially distanced outdoor workouts.
Pines, shown in University House en route to a meeting, said yesterday that he and his wife, Sylvia, plan to feature artwork there by late Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Art David C. Driskell, an artist and scholar of African American art.
In the School of Public Health Aerobiology, Virology, and Exhaled Biomarker Laboratory (PHAB) late Wednesday, Professor Don Milton, M.D. (left), a leading expert on airborne transmission of respiratory diseases, explains his groundbreaking research into COVID-19 to Pines while other researchers look on.
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