When Valerie Sheares Ashby first visited University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2012, she had no idea, nor intention, to be the campus’s next president. But Freeman Hrabowski, a president who took the university to new heights, knew Sheares Ashby was destined to do the same thing. After chairing a chemistry department, becoming a college dean and overcoming imposter syndrome, Sheares Ashby will be inaugurated Thursday — in front of the campus community and Gov. Wes Moore — as the sixth president of UMBC following Hrabowski’s 30-year leadership.
