Kurt Schmoke plans to retire from University of Baltimore in 2027

Kurt Schmoke’s planned retirement in 2027 opened a crucial transition at the University of Baltimore just as the downtown institution was trying to steady enrollment and control costs. Schmoke, 76, told the University System of Maryland Board of Regents he intended to step down and said it was time for new leadership to “drive UBalt forward.”

Schmoke has led the university since July 7, 2014, when he became UBalt’s eighth president. His departure will carry unusual weight in Baltimore because his public career long predated the president’s office: he served as Baltimore’s State’s Attorney from 1982 to 1987 and then as the city’s 46th mayor from 1987 to 1999.

The retirement comes after a milestone year for the school. UBalt marked its 100th anniversary in 2025 and planned a Centennial Grand Celebration for Nov. 13, 2025, a symbolic close to a year-long look back even as the university kept pushing ahead on its future. The school’s recruitment and enrollment strategic plan now aims to grow to at least 3,425 students by Fall 2034, or 3,675 with dual enrollment, while its mission and strategic plan page says the strategy has been extended through 2026.

That long-range target sits against a harder near-term reality. University System of Maryland budget materials showed UBalt had the largest percentage decline in undergraduate enrollment among USM institutions in fall 2024, down 7.2 percent, or 91 students. The system’s IRIS dashboard put UBalt at 3,168 students in fall 2025, alongside 797 degrees awarded in 2025 and 2,715 applications that year. The same dashboard listed $54,576,632 in total financial aid provided in fiscal 2025.

The pressure has already reached the budget. In June 2025, UBalt said it would impose an 8 percent budget cut because of falling enrollment, trimming both personnel and non-personnel spending. That makes the choice of Schmoke’s successor more than a ceremonial handoff. The next president will have to protect the university’s public mission, stabilize finances, rebuild enrollment and keep UBalt visible in downtown Baltimore’s workforce, legal and public-service pipeline.

For Baltimore, the stakes are broader than one campus. UBalt sits in the city’s institutional core, and the next leader will help decide how aggressively the university competes for students, how it balances tuition pressure with aid, and how firmly it anchors itself in the civic life of downtown over the next two years and beyond.