Hogan Says He Will Include $1 Million in Proposed Budget for Director Position to Honor Miller at Washington College
Two weeks into the current fiscal year, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan (R) announced plans for $1 million in spending in the state’s 2023 fiscal year budget.
Washington College would receive $1 million to set up a directorship in honor of the late Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. as part of a proposal from Hogan, the administration announced Thursday.
The Miller Director of Civic Engagement within Washington College’s Starr Center for Study of the American Experience in Chestertown will “oversee programs that utilize history to address contemporary challenges” and promote civic responsibility, according to a release. Miller, a longtime supporter of Washington College and the longest-serving state senate president in U.S. history, died earlier this year.
“The programs that this endowment makes possible will instill in future generations the same civic mindedness, appreciation of history, and love for our state that made President Miller a giant in Maryland politics for so many decades,” Hogan, a Republican, said in the release praising Miller, a Democrat.
The Miller Director of Civic Engagement will lead and support a wide range of programs, according to the release, including internships, collaborations with local nonprofits on history and civic engagement-related projects, the Chesapeake Heartland Project and a program promoting ethics and civic engagement through “hands-on programs that bring them into communities on the Eastern Shore.”
“I am delighted that Governor Hogan has taken this opportunity to celebrate the enormous scope of Mike Miller’s contributions to the State of Maryland through the establishment of the Miller Director of Civic Engagement,” Jack S. Griswold, the chair of the Board of Visitors and Governors and former president of Washington College, said in the release. “Mike was a great friend to the college and to me personally, and I am overwhelmed that his heritage of leadership and public service will be preserved through this important work, engaging our students with our communities, state, and nation.”
The state budget is subject to approval by the legislature, which is controlled by Democrats.