KURT SCHMOKE, 72, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE

In December, the

University of Baltimore awarded a diploma to the first graduate of its

Second Chance College Program, an education initiative inside Jessup Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison for men.

The experimental program began in 2016 because the university believed “it was part of our responsibility that people coming out of the prison system would be better equipped” to reenter society, said Kurt Schmoke, the university’s president.

The program, Schmoke said, is an example of his ongoing effort — and that of others at the public university — to not only help students pursue careers, but to engage with the community on socially relevant issues.

“We do a lot of work in the community, working with community organizations,” said Schmoke, 72.

“We are civic-minded,” he said.

Schmoke was the city’s first elected Black mayor. The former Baltimore state’s attorney was elected mayor three times, beginning in 1987.

Under Schmoke’s guidance, the university federally designated as a “minority-serving institution” because of its diverse student body — often taps into pressing social issues. The university’s Second Chance program came as Congress sought to minimize warehousing of prisoners and make it easier for inmates to succeed once released.

In 2020, the city’s police academy moved from Northwest Baltimore to the University of Baltimore’s campus. “There are no walls between our campus and the dozens of neighborhoods that make up Baltimore,” the university said in a statement as the move began. “With the arrival of the BPD Education and Training Center, a new era of engagement and support are underway.”

The relocation came as law enforcement practices were being questioned nationwide following the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a Black man who died on Memorial

Day when an officer pinned him down. In 2017, Baltimore entered into a consent decree with the

U.S. Justice Department after a federal investigation found city police officers routinely violated residents’ rights.

“That’s been kind of a significant move for us, to partner with the police department in trying to improve the quality of those they recruit and retain,” Schmoke said. “They had been in a dilapidated middle school.”

In 2017, Schmoke announced his choice of Betsy DeVos — the U.S. education secretary under then-President Donald Trump — as commencement speaker, prompting protests from some students, who said DeVos’ views on public education contradicted their own.

“The university stands for freedom of speech,” Schmoke replied.

Schmoke is focused on “seeing students track toward careers and making sure they get experience along the way,” said Roger E. Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs.

As the DeVos speech illustrates, he is also “very passionate about civil public debate — and people respecting all sides,” Hartley said.