Notre Dame of Maryland names new president amid enrollment decline
Notre Dame of Maryland is changing presidents as enrollment has fallen from 2,612 to 1,788, a shift that could ripple through Baltimore’s small private college landscape.
Notre Dame of Maryland University is turning to a new president as the North Baltimore campus confronts a shrinking student body and a tighter financial picture. The board unanimously chose Abagail “Abby” Van Vlerah to become the 15th president, effective July 6, 2026, as Marylou Yam prepares to retire June 30 after 12 years leading the university.
The change comes with hard numbers attached. Notre Dame’s enrollment trend data show the university had 2,612 students in 2015-16 and 1,788 in 2024-25, a decline of 824 students over the decade. Undergraduate enrollment fell from 1,013 to 709 during that span, while graduate enrollment dropped from 1,599 to 1,079. The university’s fall 2025 fact sheet listed 2,393 total students, including 1,089 full-time and 1,304 part-time students.
For Baltimore, the stakes are local as well as institutional. Notre Dame is at 4701 N Charles St. in North Baltimore, and Baltimore City remained its second-largest Maryland feeder market in fall 2025, accounting for 10.8% of enrollment behind Baltimore County. The same fact sheet shows 69.1% of students came from Maryland, while 27.6% came from 47 other states and 2.4% arrived from 16 countries. That mix matters for a small private university trying to keep classes full, preserve academic programs and support campus life even as costs rise nationwide.
Van Vlerah inherits a school that has already tried to widen its reach. In 2023, Notre Dame opened all undergraduate programs to men after more than 125 years as a women’s college. The board said her selection was intended to strengthen enrollment, retention, institutional growth and fiscal responsibility, a clear signal that the next phase will be measured not just by head count but by whether the university can stabilize its academic model.
The balance sheet shows why the challenge is larger than a single year’s loss. Nonprofit filings for 2024 put Notre Dame at about $63.2 million in revenue and $63.3 million in expenses, with roughly $160.2 million in assets and $36.6 million in liabilities. Founded in 1873 by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, approved in 1895 for four-year baccalaureate instruction and chartered in 1896 to grant degrees, the university has endured for more than a century. Van Vlerah now takes over at a moment when Baltimore’s small-college ecosystem is under pressure to prove it can still serve the city, the region and the students who depend on it.
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