Creating Cycles of Generosity and Student Achievement
BY SHARON REED
ILLUSTRATION BY KOTRYNA ZUAUSKAITE
At its core, public service is about supporting communities, serving others and protecting the rights and interests of the public. Across state and party lines, these values are shared by both civil servants and elected officials. These also happen to be values many University of Baltimore alumni working in the public sector have in common.
Strategic giving helps UBalt thrive, and our alumni donors are at the heart of that effort. Their generosity and belief in the University’s mission have helped make the school what it is today and prepared us to tackle the next century.
UNLEASH YOUR GENEROSITY
Blair T. Lee B.A. ’17, MPA ’21, credits the University of Baltimore as the key to his professional success as an award-winning higher education creative strategist. In addition to earning back-to-back degrees, he got his first hands-on job experience in brand marketing as a student worker in the Office of Student Support.
“Everything I learned about damage control, reputation management, digital communications—I learned at the University of Baltimore,” he said. “I’ve never had to look for a job. Jobs have found me since I graduated.”
Lee currently finds himself at Colorado State University, where he works as director of marketing and communications while simultaneously pursuing his Ph.D. in Media Communication. But even with a full plate, he makes time to give back to UBalt—both as a donor and University of Baltimore Foundation board member.
Though his family is still young, with two small children and a wife in academia who “lives, breathes, eats, sleeps and drinks higher ed” right alongside him, Lee is already imagining what their legacy will look like.
“In this day and age, when higher education is under attack and federal funding cuts are happening, it’s important to look back at a place that gave you an opportunity and, if you have the means, unleash your generosity,” he said.
For Lee, this means exploring planned giving options. While he’s considering everything from endowing professorships to establishing centers of study for public policy, he feels particularly committed to supporting students who want to pursue post-graduate studies.
A scholarship helped Lee attend UBalt, and he knows there are others in need. “Most employers will pay for you to get a bachelor’s degree, but they won’t pay for you to get a master’s degree or Ph.D.,” he said.
Meanwhile, his participation on the board gives him a way to leverage his professional expertise in support of his alma mater. “My background is strategic marketing and communications,” he said. “I’m excited to use my higher ed experience in branding and storytelling to help position and serve an institution that I love.”
VERY, VERY BLESSED
An Army veteran, Cynthia Campise, J.D. ’12, was eager to start work on her degree. “I convinced myself I needed to be enrolled in law school by age 40; otherwise I’d be paying my school loans out of my estate,” she said. But she had a bumpy entry, with multiple military deployments delaying her start.
“I started at the School of Law a month after I got home, and that was after spending 15 months in a combat zone,” she said. Like many other UBalt students and graduates, the single mother of two put in a full day before going to class until 10 p.m. each night, all while serving as a reservist.
Thankfully, she received plenty of support from the University of Baltimore: emotional support from her cohort, who propped each other up, semester after semester; and financial support from the Peter F. Fedak Scholarship, which took care of residual costs after her G.I. Bill benefits covered tuition.
“I felt very, very blessed,” she said. “I swore at that time that if I ever made ‘lawyer money,’ I was going to help somebody else.”
“You just start where you can, and you try to add a little bit very year.”
CYNTHIA CAMPISE, J.D. ’12
Campise has kept that oath for over a decade. Her degree enabled her to transition from paralegal to law practitioner, and she’s now been an attorney for the Department of Transportation for 12 years. During those 12 years, she has made regular gifts in support of the same scholarship that saw her through law school.
Taking a lesson from church tithing, she started out making small donations of whatever she could spare. And as she earned more, she was able to increase her giving.
“I think people get discouraged if they can’t write a thousand-dollar check every year, but maybe you can afford $25 or $50 a paycheck. You just start where you can, and you try to add a little bit every year,” she said. “If there are a hundred of us doing that, that’s a lot of money for students. I hope that my giving encourages others to do the same.”
I JUST BELIEVE IN THE PLACE
Barry Chasen, J.D. ’80, has been deeply engaged with the University of Baltimore for decades, serving on the Law Dean’s Development Circle, the President’s Council, and the board of the University’s Foundation. In 2021, he received the Dean’s Award at the UBalt Law Distinguished Alumni Awards.
“Law school changed my life, and I give UBalt a lot of credit for that,” he said.
Prior to law school, Chasen had already made a significant impact, winning the Bronze Star twice as a military intelligence officer during the Vietnam War. After returning, he graduated magna cum laude from University of Maryland, University College, before enrolling in UBalt’s School of Law.
Chasen attended classes in the evening and completed his coursework in just three and a half years. This allowed him to pass the bar exam in February before he accepted his diploma in May. Chasen found work with the government and a private firm, but didn’t find satisfaction until he established his own practice. On March 5, 2026, ChasenBoscolo Injury Lawyers celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The success of his firm has enabled Chasen to provide significant financial support to his alma mater over the years. While he and his wife, Lyn, started donating out of a desire to invest in their community, support for UBalt continued because, as he put it, “I just believe in the place.”
Most significantly, Chasen established the James “Kit” Sfekas Memorial Scholarship in memory of his friend and fellow alum who lost his battle with cancer in 2002. Sfekas was a district court judge in Howard County, and the fund provides deserving law students with educational opportunities.
More recently, the Lyn and Barry Chasen Fund for Racial and Social Justice was established in 2020 as a tool for the School of Law to fight injustice in the community. The fund provides endowed support for administrative and operational costs of the School’s Clinical Law Program, ranked 4th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
The killing of George Floyd “spurred me to think about some things,” he said. “It’s unpopular now to talk about DEI and white privilege, but I came to realize that part of my success is that I had some advantages that helped me. I was not held back by the color of my skin,” he said. “I want people to have opportunity, regardless of race, age, sexual orientation. None of that should matter.”
FOCUSED ON WORKING-CLASS, FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS
Julius Green, B.S. ’83, MBA ’89, started college at Towson State University, where he “bombed” freshman year. When he joined the Air Force, he promised his mom he’d keep studying, and he did, eventually earning not just his B.S. but also an MBA at UBalt.
Since retiring in 2019 from a successful career in tax consulting, Green has focused on giving back. “I’m on three different nonprofit boards. I’m a Business Fellow at Villanova, where I mentor students in the accounting department—primarily Black, brown, and Asian students,” he said.
He’s a board member with the National Philanthropic Trust, and at UBalt he established the Threshold, Inc. Barbara A. and Julius Green Scholarship, honoring his parents with an endowed scholarship supporting Baltimore city high school graduates. “My mother was a fighter. She would fight for people that didn’t really feel like they had their own voice,” he said.
“Do whatever you think you can afford. Just give back.”
JULIUS GREEN, B.S. ’83, MBA ’89
UBalt opened doors for Green. He and his sisters were the first in the family to go to college, “and the University of Baltimore was really focused on working-class, first-generation students,” he said. That made him want to give back to the school, “and the cherry on top was Kurt Schmoke being appointed president. My mother helped Kurt win his first mayoral election, and we’ve been family friends ever since.”
Giving back to UBalt has been a true team effort. With support from his wife Sheila, sons Kendall and Cameron, and his sisters, Michelle Woodson, Rosalyn Barnes and Karen Kupa, Green has led fundraising efforts for his family’s scholarship fund, seeing it grow to around 500 donors over the past decade.
His philanthropic advice to others: “Find an organization like University of Baltimore that you feel passionate about—and it doesn’t have to be major dollars. Do whatever you think you can afford,” he said. “Just give back.”
THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE
For Oveta Popjoy, MBA ’84, CERT ’84, UBalt has been a career constant. “I was a faculty member before I was a student. Then I was a student, and then I was a faculty member again,” she said.
“I was hired the first time in 1977 on the strength of my master’s degree from the American University: I started teaching management information systems,” she said. One of the few women in her field at the time, Popjoy loved sharing her knowledge of computer systems (“I was really always meant to be a teacher”), but one of her most impactful legacies at the school was securing the University a coveted Department of Education grant in 1979 for UBalt’s first micro-computer.
She moved on to the private sector for a while, but found career options were limited for women without a doctorate in her field. So Popjoy returned to UBalt, this time as a student. She earned her MBA along with a certificate in Women’s Management. After graduating, she returned again in 1998 to teach, finally retiring in 2006.
Between her education and her employment, “I have two reasons to be grateful,” said Popjoy, and she continues to express her gratitude through exceptional and meaningful giving.
Inspired by her late husband, Drew, an alumnus and supporter of Penn State, she has funded numerous UBalt programs, mostly through the Merrick School of Business, but has also made major gifts that have helped grow the NextGen Leaders for Public Service program at the College of Public Affairs.
Popjoy dedicates a substantial annuity gift that supports the business school and Robert L. Bogomolny Library. She is also a member of the Turner Society, which recognizes those who support the University through planned gifts, thanks to her fondness for H. Mebane “Meb” Turner, who happened to be president both times she was hired, 20 years apart.
“I not only spent the best years of my career at University of Baltimore; I spent the best years of my life there,” she said. “I probably don’t have enough time left to spend all the money I have left, so I’m giving it away now. And I’m glad that I can do it. It makes me feel good.”