Provided by David Godfrey
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UMUC colleague Ben Hines passed away April 21, 2023 in Heidelberg, Germany. In his multiple decades with UMUC, Ben held several positions in the Heidelberg administrative office with his biggest contribution being an academic advisor.

I first had the pleasure of meeting Ben in 1988 when I joined the UMUC academic advising staff in Heidelberg.  Ben had been working at UMUC Europe since 1980; at first he was employed in the in-house IT department and then switched jobs to admin/personnel positions before he joined the academic advising staff where he stayed until he retired. 

Ben was our TDY and telephone advisor, which meant that he spent less time in the office preparing academic program plans (evaluations) for UMUC Europe students and much more on the road in places where the actual students were.  

The born traveler, Ben was able to visit locations multiple times during a year that most people visit only once in their lifetime. That meant he was at locations in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and others, not once, but often twice during the course of  any one academic year.  When at Headquarters in Heidelberg, he did mostly follow-up work for the students he had just met and only rarely was he assigned to regular telephone and evaluation work in the office.

Ben was from Jonesville, VA and had earned a first bachelor’s degree at Virginia Military Institute in 1965. He was a Captain in the US Air Force stationed in Taiwan during the Vietnam conflict. 

Subsequent to retirement from UMUC, Ben spent the following years doing what he loved doing: travelling – mostly to the Far East. Ben’s wife, Ines, a native of Heidelberg, Germany, and Ben would spend the gray period of the years (October-May) in Asia, either on land or, later, on cruise ships. There is not a country in Asia they did not visit together from Australia to Cambodia, some of which they traversed more than once. They returned to Heidelberg each year to spend the German Fest season and the joys of the warm period of the year at this latitude.

Ben will be remembered as a generous, very kind and humble colleague who would always work with staff members and others.  It was not uncommon of him to pick up the tab when meeting at a local restaurant.