Mark Ginsberg inaugurated as TU’s 15th president

By Jayden Gonsalves, contributing writer 

Mark R. Ginsberg was inaugurated as Towson University’s 15th president Friday afternoon.  

About 1,100 people attended the ceremony, including faculty, staff, current students and alumni. 

Linda Gooden, who chairs the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, and USM Chancellor Jay Perman swore Ginsberg into presidency.   

“President Ginsberg is characterized by listening, and people can always appreciate it when they feel listened to –– doesn’t mean he will always agree with you, but he always listens,” Perman told The Towerlight. 

The Board of Regents led a nationwide search for former president Kim Schatzel’s successor after she left Towson last February, The Towerlight reported.  

It announced in August that Ginsberg would take the position, leaving his role as provost and executive vice president of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia.

He started at Towson at the end of October. 

“The moment I met President Ginsberg he already had incredible leadership,” Provost Melanie Perreault said. 

Ginsberg’s colleague, GMU President Gregory Washington, gave remarks alongside Gooden, Student Government Association President Jordan Colquitt and Ginsberg’s sons, Andrew and Robert. 

“I can see his presence on campus allowing the student body to improve through giving students frequent access to him through events,” Colquitt said in an interview.  

In Ginsberg’s speech, which opened with a moment of silence for the victims of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, he mentioned his efforts to converse with current students at academic, athletic and artistic events. 

“I got to learn how fabulous and energized these students are,” he said. “They truly teach us as much as we teach them.” 

Ginsberg and his wife, Elaine, live in the Residences at 10 West Burke Avenue, the university’s off-campus, apartment-style housing option for students. In a recent interview with The Towerlight, Ginsberg said they plan to stay there.

He said he wants to make Towson’s great campus “even greater” through his four Cs: “caring, communication, collaboration and community.” 

Towson will be the last stop of his decades-long career. 

“My biggest regret is that I didn’t find the university 10 years ago,” Ginsberg said.