[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 44 (Thursday, April 18, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2942-S2943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE OF DONALD LANGENBERG

    Mr. SARBANES. Madam President, as the end of the 200-2002 
academic year approaches, I rise to pay tribute to Dr. Donald N. 
Langenberg, who at the end of this month will retire as Chancellor of 
the University System of Maryland, which for the past twelve years he 
has served with great distinction.
  In 1990, when Dr. Langenberg came to Maryland from the University of 
Illinois-Chicago, the University System of Maryland was still in the 
earliest stages of its formation. It was established in 1988 to bring 
together thirteen diverse institutions, each with a distinctive and 
distinguished history, into a ``family'' dedicated to ``nurturing 
minds, advancing knowledge, elevating the human spirit and applying 
(our) talents to the needs of the citizens of Maryland.'' The purpose 
of the new system was to be nothing less than to ``achieve and sustain 
national eminence and become a model for American higher education and 
a source of pride'' for all the people of my State.
  In short, Dr. Langenberg had his work cut out for him, but no one 
could have been better suited to the challenge, by both temperament and 
experience, than he. It was his task as the first Chancellor of the 
University of Illinois at Chicago, established in the 1980s to bring 
together existing undergraduate, research and medical institutions, to 
guide the new university through its formative years; and he came to 
that position from the National Science Foundation, where he had served 
as acting and deputy director.
  Dr. Langenberg's academic background, however, was not in 
administration but rather in physics. With degrees from Iowa State 
University, the University of California at Los Angeles and the 
University of California at Berkeley, he taught at the University of 
Pennsylvania, where he also directed the Laboratory for Research on the 
Structure of Matter and served as Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and 
Research. He has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions in 
this country and abroad; his work on superconductivity has resulted in 
the development of a new type of voltage standard, which is in use 
worldwide, and it led to the publication of a paper so frequently cited 
in other papers and journals that it is known as a ``citation 
classic.'' Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Langenberg has also 
maintained the highest level of engagement in numerous professional 
associations, for example as president and chairman of the board of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS, chairman of 
the board of National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant 
Colleges,

[[Page S2943]]

NASULGC, President of the American Physical Society, APS, chairman of 
the President's Council of the Association of Governing Boards of 
Universities and Colleges, AGB. He recently completed a decade's 
service as a member of the University of Pennsylvania's Board of 
Trustees.
  For the past twelve years the University System of Maryland has been 
the beneficiary of the great breadth and depth of Dr. Langenberg's 
experience, and above all from his abiding commitment to make our state 
system a model for higher education everywhere. The University System's 
campuses have never been more vigorous than they are today. The schools 
of medicine and law are thriving, and so are programs designed for 
adults wishing to resume or continue their education. Under Dr. 
Langenberg's leadership the University System has developed new 
measures of accountability and productivity, which are in use not only 
in Maryland but at universities around the Nation. The K 16 Partnership 
for Teaching and Learning, of which Dr. Langenberg was a founding 
member, works to ensure continuity and coherence in Marylanders' 
education, from kindergarten through the B.A. And in a State whose 
extraordinary diversity of human and natural resources is reflected in 
its public institutions of higher education, among them a major 
research university that is also one of the earliest land-grant 
colleges, three historically black colleges, professional schools and 
independent research institutes, he has played a leading role in 
building the University System family. Each of its thirteen very 
different member campuses determines its own focus and honors its own 
traditions, while at the same time all collaborate to offer better 
opportunities for higher education to Marylanders of all backgrounds, 
talents and persuasion.
  Behind the formidable intelligence, zest for hard work, success in 
academic administration and distinction as a scholar that Dr. 
Langenberg brought to his position as Chancellor of the University 
System of Maryland there has always been a clear and steady vision, 
which he himself has most eloquently described. First, he remarked in a 
speech not long ago, ``As a Midwesterner, I have always had tremendous 
admiration for great public universities because I know that they 
provide opportunities that might not otherwise exist.'' And then, he 
observed, ``much of his long and distinguished career ``has been about 
creating linkages and partnerships, between our citizens and higher 
education, between and among campuses, between higher education and 
public schools, and between higher education and the business 
community.'' For this he offered a compelling and moving explanation: 
``as the only child of deaf parents, I became my parents' translator 
and their link to the hearing and speak world.''
  Maryland has been deeply fortunate to have Dr. Donald Langenberg at 
the helm of its University System. I want to express my gratitude for 
all that he has accomplished, my congratulations on his retirement, my 
delight in the decision he and his wife have made to stay in Maryland, 
and my best wishes for the years ahead.

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