The faculty, staff, and students of the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health (MIAEH) are present in solidarity with people of color around the world as we witness the culmination of centuries of injustice and discrimination. We have seen the disproportionate impacts on persons of color from the recent novel coronavirus pandemic. We have also witnessed the injustices and horrific racial violence against historically disadvantaged and minority communities.

Dear HPM Students and Alumni,

For months,  I have struggled with the daily news of pain and suffering.  Now, we’ve lost more than 100,000 from COVID-19, and millions have lost their jobs.  Yet today, I am writing with an even heavier heart.  Over the past week, we have witnessed the pain and anger stimulated by our centuries old and unresolved struggle against racism and its devastating impact on African Americans.  We saw it raise its ugly head in the latest killing of George Floyd, along with the deaths of so many others in the weeks and years before.  We see and hear the fear of every Bl

We, the faculty of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, stand in solidarity with Black students, faculty, and staff to end long-standing racial injustice and stop the dehumanization of Black people. We insist that Black lives matter. We condemn the ongoing racism and violence against Black people and communities, and stand by our students and colleagues who are grieving and angry right now in response to the brutal killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, McKinsley Lincoln, Nina Pop, and so many others.

We, the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Maryland Department of Behavioral and Community Health, strongly condemn anti-black violence that has resulted in the recent murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, and many others. We extend our thoughts, anguish, and sympathies to their families, friends, and the broader black community. Unequivocally, we stand against the persistent and systemic racism that continues to disproportionately impact black people.

Dear SPH community,

We are all grieving the tragic killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and too many other Black men, women, children and transgender persons, named and unnamed, we have lost to violence fueled by racism, inhumanity and injustice. We have also been mourning the disproportionate and preventable loss of black and brown lives from COVID-19 as the pandemic has laid bare the structural inequities of our society and hit the most vulnerable among us hardest. 

The University of Maryland School of Public Health awarded its highest honor, the Distinguished Terrapin Award, to four outstanding members of the SPH community on April 12, 2019. Each honoree was selected for their outstanding professional achievements and their unique relationship to the School of Public Health.