Shadow Robinson will be Frostburg State University’s 17th president.

Robinson, who currently serves as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, will lead the Western Maryland university starting July 1.

The pick was announced on Friday morning, during a meeting of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, who approved the selection unanimously.

Chancellor Jay Perman, who leads the system, said Robinson was “a scholar, a visionary and a mirror reflecting the very qualities that the Frostburg community identified as essential to leadership.”

Robinson has served as provost at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, since July 2022. He previously held leadership roles at the University of Tennessee at Martin and Millsaps College in Mississippi. Robinson earned his two bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Kentucky in 1997 and his Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from Rutgers University in 2002.

On Jan. 22, Robinson was named a finalist to become president of Southwest Minnesota State University before he was chosen to lead Frostburg State.

Frostburg, nestled in the Appalachian highlands of Allegany County, educates just over 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Robinson was born and raised in rural eastern Kentucky, the son of a coal mine engineer and educator, and has a deep appreciation for Appalachian culture, according to Perman.

Since January last year, Darlene Brannigan Smith, former provost at the University of Baltimore, has led the public university on an interim basis. Frostburg’s president of nine years, Ronald Nowaczyk, had stepped down suddenly and died just one day after leaving office.

The university has tried to stem enrollment losses over the past few years; according to publicly available data, its student body has shrunk by about 28%, to 4,065 from 5,645. The university is now working to expand its partnerships in China.

Last year, the university faced a $7.7 million deficit, which led officials to eliminate teaching positions, close buildings and cut funding for athletics.

Perman noted that Robinson helped the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, increase first-year enrollment by 20% and transfer student enrollment by 30% since 2022. He also oversaw a $5 million reduction in the university’s structural deficit, launched engineering and health care programs, and secured nearly $8 million in competitive state grants.

The search committee started with a pool of 200 potential candidates for the presidential position, and narrowed the group to 10 semifinalists and four finalists.

Robinson “brings, in our view, not only the résumé Frostburg State needs, but clearly the lived experience, the Appalachian commitment that makes him uniquely prepared to lead and serve mountain Maryland,” Perman said.

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