The
University of Maryland, College Park (often
referred to as The University of Maryland,
UMD, UMCP, or
Maryland) is a public research university located
in the city of College Park
in Prince George's County
, Maryland
, just
outside Washington,
D.C.
Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland
is the flagship institution of the
University System of Maryland.
With a total enrollment of 36,014 students, Maryland is the largest
university in the state and the largest in the
Washington Metropolitan Area.
It is a member of the
Association of American
Universities and a founding member of the
Atlantic Coast Conference athletic
league.
The University of Maryland's proximity to the nation's capital has
resulted in strong research partnerships with the
Federal government.
Many
members of the faculty receive research funding and institutional
support from agencies such as the National
Institutes of Health
, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
(NASA) and the Department of Homeland Security
.
As of
fiscal year 2009, the University
of Maryland, College Park's operating budget was projected to be
approximately
$1.531 billion.
For the same fiscal year, the University of Maryland received a
total of $518 million in research funding, surpassing its 2008 mark
by $117 million. As of October 31, 2009, the university's "Great
Expectations" campaign has also raised $664 million in private
donations.
History
Early history
On
March 6,
1856, the
forerunner of today's University of Maryland was chartered as the
Maryland Agricultural College (MAC). Two years later,
Charles Benedict Calvert, a
descendant of the
Barons Baltimore
and a future U.S.
Congressman, purchased 420 acres
(1.7 km²) of the Riverdale Plantation
in College Park for $21,000. Calvert founded
the school later that year with money earned by the sale of stock
certificates. On
October 5,
1859, the first 34 students entered the Maryland
Agricultural College, including four of Charles Calvert's sons,
George, Charles, William and Eugene. The keynote speaker on opening
day was Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution.
In July 1862, the same month that the MAC awarded its first
degrees,
President Lincoln signed
the
Morrill Land Grant Act.
The legislation provided federal funds to schools that taught
agriculture or engineering, or provided military training. Taking
advantage of the opportunity, the school became a
land grant college in February 1864 after
the Maryland legislature voted to approve the Morrill Act.
Civil War
A few months after accepting the grant, the Maryland Agricultural
College proved to be an important site in the
Civil War. In April 1864, General
Ambrose E. Burnside and 6,000 soldiers of the Union's
Ninth Army Corps camped on the MAC campus. The troops were en route
to reinforce General
Ulysses S.
Grant's forces in Virginia
.
Later that summer, around 400 Confederate soldiers led by General
Bradley T. Johnson stayed on the grounds while
preparing to take part in a raid against Washington. In local
legend, it is told that the soldiers were warmly welcomed by
university President
Henry
Onderdonk, a Confederate sympathizer, and that the cavalrymen
were thrown a party on the campus nicknamed "The Old South Ball."
The next morning the soldiers rode off to cut the lines of
communication between Washington and Baltimore.
Financial problems forced the increasingly desperate administrators
to sell off of land, and the continuing decline in student
enrollment sent the Maryland Agricultural College into bankruptcy.
For the next two years the campus was used as a boys preparatory
school.
Following the Civil War, the Maryland legislature pulled the
college out of
bankruptcy, and in
February 1866 assumed half ownership of the school. The college
thus became in part a state institution.
George Washington Custis Lee,
son of Confederate General
Robert E.
Lee, was appointed president of the
college by the Board of Trustees, but due to public outcry declined
the position. By October 1867, the school reopened with 11
students. In the next six years, enrollment continued to grow, and
the school's debt was finally paid off. Twenty years later, the
school's reputation as a research institution began, as the
federally funded Agricultural Experiment Station was established
there. During the same period, a number of state laws granted the
college regulatory powers in several areas—including controlling
farm disease, inspecting feed, establishing a state weather bureau
and geological survey, and housing the board of forestry.
In 1888,
the college began its first official intercollegiate baseball games against rivals St. John's College and the United States
Naval Academy
. Baseball, however, had been played at the
college for decades before the first "official" games were
recorded. The first fraternity at Maryland, Phi Sigma Kappa, was
established in 1897, and Morrill Hall (the oldest instructional
building still in use on campus) was built the following
year.
The Great Fire of 1912
The remains of the administration
building.
On
November 29,
1912, around 10:30 p.m., a fire, probably due to faulty
electric wiring, broke out in the attic of the newest
administration building, where a
Thanksgiving dance was being held. The
approximately eighty students on the premises evacuated themselves
safely, and then formed a makeshift bucket brigade.
The fire departments
summoned from nearby Hyattsville
and Washington, D.C. arrived too late. Fanned by a strong
southwest wind, the fire destroyed the barracks where the students
were housed, all the school's records, and most of the academic
buildings, leaving only Morrill Hall untouched. The loss was
estimated at $250,000 (about $5.5 million in 2007 U.S. dollars)
despite no injuries or fatalities. The devastation was so great
that many never expected the university to reopen. University
President Richard Silvester resigned, brokenhearted.
However, the students refused to give up. All but two returned to
the university after the break and insisted on classes continuing
as usual. Students were housed by families in neighboring towns who
were compensated by the university until housing could be rebuilt,
although a new administration building was not built until the
1940s.
A large brick and concrete compass inlaid in the ground designates
the former center of campus as it existed in 1912. Lines engraved
in the compass point to each building that was destroyed in the
Thanksgiving Day fire. The only building not marked on the compass
is Morrill Hall, which was spared by the blaze.
Recent history
McKeldin Library
The state took complete control of the school in 1916, and
consequently the institution was renamed Maryland State College.
Also that year, the first female students enrolled at the school.
On
April 9,
1920, the
college merged with the established professional schools in
Baltimore to form
the University of Maryland. The graduate school on the College Park
campus awarded its first Ph.D. degrees, and the University's
enrollment reached 500 students in the same year. In 1925 the
University was accredited by the
Association of American
Universities.
By the time the first black students enrolled at the University in
1951, enrollment had grown to nearly 10,000 students—4,000 of whom
were women. In 1957 President Wilson H. Elkins made a push to
increase academic standards at the University. His efforts resulted
in the creation of one of the first Academic Probation Plans. The
first year the plan went into effect, 1,550 students (18% of the
total student body) faced expulsion. Since then, academic standards
at the school have steadily risen. Recognizing the improvement in
academics,
Phi Beta Kappa established
a chapter at the university in 1964. In 1969, the university was
elected to the Association of American Universities. The school
continued to grow, and by the fall of 1985 reached an enrollment of
38,679.
Memorial Chapel
On
September 24,
2001, a
tornado struck the
College Park campus, killing two female students and causing $15
million in damage to 12 buildings.
In a massive 1988 restructuring of the state higher education
system, the school was designated as the flagship campus of the
newly formed
University
System of Maryland and was formally named University of
Maryland, College Park. However, in 1997 the
Maryland General Assembly passed
legislation allowing the University of Maryland, College Park to be
known simply as the University of Maryland, recognizing the campus'
role as the flagship institution of the University System of
Maryland.
The other University System of Maryland institutions with the name
"University of Maryland" are not satellite campuses of the
University of Maryland, College Park, and are not referred to as
such. The
University
of Maryland, Baltimore is the only other school permitted to
confer certain degrees that state, simply "University of Maryland".
This is because the Baltimore school offers primarily graduate
degrees in disciplines not taught at College Park, such as Nursing,
Dentistry, Law and Medicine. The relationship between the
University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of
Maryland, Baltimore is akin to the relationship of the University
of California, Berkeley to the University of California, San
Francisco (UCSF), which also primarily offers graduate programs
that Berkeley does not provide.
Academics
Profile
The University of Maryland offers 127 undergraduate degrees and 112
graduate degrees in 13 different colleges and schools, which
include:
- College of Arts and Humanities
- College of Education
- College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences
- Philip Merrill
College of Journalism
- College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
- College of Chemical and Life Sciences
|
|
HJ Patterson Hall
Programs
The university hosts "Living and Learning" programs which allow
students with similar academic interests to live in the same
residential community, take specialized courses, and perform
research. An example is the University Honors Program, which is
geared towards students with exceptional academic talents. The
Honors Program welcomes students into a community of faculty and
intellectually gifted undergraduates committed to acquiring a broad
and balanced education.
The Gemstone Program at the University of Maryland is a
multidisciplinary four-year research program for select
undergraduate honors students of all majors. Under guidance of
faculty mentors and Gemstone staff, teams of students design,
direct and conduct research, often but not exclusively exploring
the interdependence of science and technology with society.
Winter scene along McKeldin Mall
Honors Humanities is the University of Maryland’s honors program
for talented beginning undergraduates with interests in the
humanities and creative arts. The selective two-year
living-learning program combines a small
liberal arts college environment with
the dynamic resources of a large
research university.
The College Park Scholars programs are two-year living-learning
programs for first- and second-year students. Students are selected
to enroll in one of 12 thematic programs: Advocates for Children;
Arts; Business, Society, and the Economy; Cultures of the Americas;
Earth, Life, and Time; Environmental Studies; International
Studies; Life Sciences; Media, Self, and Society; Public
Leadership; Science, Discovery, and the Universe; Science,
Technology, and Society.
The nation's first living-learning entrepreneurship program, Hinman
CEOs, is geared toward students who are interested in starting
their own business. Students from all academic disciplines live
together and are provided the resources to explore new business
ventures.
The QUEST (Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams) Honors Fellows
Program engages undergraduate students from business, engineering,
and computer, mathematical, and physical sciences. QUEST Students
participate in courses focused on cross-functional collaboration,
innovation, quality management, and teamwork.
Other living-learning programs include: CIVICUS, a two year program
in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences based on the five
principles of civil society; Global Communities, a program that
immerses students in a diverse culture (students from all over the
world live in a community), and the Language House, which allows
students pursuing language courses to live and practice with other
students learning the same language.
Faculty
The university's faculty has included four
Nobel Prize laureates. The earliest recipient,
Juan Ramón Jiménez, was
a professor of Spanish language and literature and won the 1956
prize for literature. Four decades later, physics professor
William Daniel Phillips won
the prize in physics for his contributions to
laser cooling, a technique to slow the
movement of gaseous atoms in 1997. In 2005, professor emeritus of
economics and public policy
Thomas
Schelling was awarded the prize in economics for his
contributions to
game theory.
In 2006,
adjunct professor of physics and senior astrophysicist at NASA
John C. Mather was awarded the prize in physics
alongside
George Smoot for their work
in the discovery of blackbody form and
anisotropy of the
cosmic microwave
background radiation. In addition, two University of Maryland
alumni are Nobel Prize laureates;
Herbert Hauptman won the 1985 prize in
chemistry and
Raymond Davis Jr.
won the 2002 prize in physics.
The University also has many notable academics in other field of
science. Professor of mathematics
Sergei Petrovich Novikov won the
Fields Medal in 1970 followed by
alumnus
Charles Fefferman in 1978.
Alumnus
George Dantzig won the 1975
National Medal of Science
for his work in the field of linear programming. Professor of
physics
Michael Fisher won the
Wolf Prize in 1980 (together with
Kenneth G. Wilson and
Leo
Kadanoff) and the
IUPAP Boltzmann Medal in 1983.
James A. Yorke,
a Distinguished University Professor of Mathematics and Physics and
chair of the Mathematics Department won the 2003
Japan Prize for his work in
chaotic systems.
Research
In
October 14, 2004, the
university added 150 acres (607,030 m²) in an attempt to
create the largest research park inside the Washington,
D.C., Capital Beltway, known as
"M Square." The university completed construction on a new
Bioscience Research Building on campus in May 2007. The
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is presently constructing
the new
National Center
for Weather and Climate Prediction on site in M Square. It is
scheduled to be completed in early 2009.
The University of Maryland's location near Washington, D.C. has
created strong research partnerships, especially with government
agencies.
Many of the faculty members have funding
from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the
National
Institutes of Health, NASA, the Department of Homeland
Security, and the National Security Agency
. These relationships have created numerous
research opportunities for the university including:
Another view of the Chapel
- taking the lead in the nationwide research initiative into the
transmission and prevention of human and avian influenza
- creating a new research center to study the behavioral and
social foundations of terrorism with
funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security
- launching the joint NASA-University
of Maryland Deep Impact
spacecraft in early January 2005.
The
University of
Maryland Libraries provide access to and assistance in the use
of the scholarly information resources required to meet the
education, research and service missions of the University.
The
Center
for American Politics and Citizenship provides citizens and
policy-makers with research on critical issues related to the
United States' political institutions, processes, and policies.
CAPC is a non-partisan, non-profit research institution within the
Department of Government and Politics in the College of Behavioral
and Social Sciences.
The
Space
Systems Laboratory
researches human-robotic interaction for astronautics applications, and includes the
only neutral buoyancy facility at a
university.
The
Center
for Technology and Systems Management (
CTSM) has the mission to advance the state of the art
of technology and systems analysis for the benefit of people and
the environment. The focus has been always on enhancing safety,
efficiency and effectiveness by performing reliability, risk,
uncertainty or decision analysis studies.
The
Joint Global Change Research
Institute
was formed in 2001 by the University of Maryland
and the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory
. The institute focuses on multidisciplinary
approaches of climate change research.
Rankings
The University is ranked 53rd in the latest 2009
U.S. News and World Report rankings of
"National Universities" across the United States, and it is ranked
18th nationally among public universities. 29 undergraduate and
graduate programs are ranked in the top 10 and 90 programs are in
the top 25.
The
Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by the Shanghai
Jiao Tong University
ranked Maryland as 37th in the world as well as 8th
among public flagship universities in the United States.
Newsweek ranked the University of Maryland
as 45th in their ranking "global universities."
Webometrics, a leading web collegiate ranking
site, ranked Maryland 18th on its "Top 6000 Universities" list.
Times Higher Education ranked the University of Maryland 79th on
its top 100 universities in the world in 2007.
Student life
The Diamondback
Administration building, seen from end
of reflecting pool
The Diamondback is the independent
student newspaper of the University of
Maryland. It was founded in 1910 as
The Triangle and
renamed in 1921 in honor of a local reptile, the
Diamondback terrapin, which became the
official school mascot in 1933. The newspaper is published daily
Monday through Friday during the Spring and Fall semesters, with a
print circulation of 17,000 and annual advertising revenues of over
$1 million.
The newspaper consists of six sections: News, Opinion, Features,
Classified, Diversions and Sports.
For the 2005-2006 school year,
The Diamondback received a
Mark of Excellence award from the
Society of Professional
Journalists, placing 3rd nationally for Best All-Around Daily
Student Newspaper and placing first in its region in the same
category.
Notable journalists who have been with
The Diamondback
include
David Simon of HBO's
The Wire and NBC's
Homicide: Life on the Street,
disgraced
Jayson Blair, who was
editor-in-chief in 1996 (Blair did
not graduate, instead taking a job with
The New York Times);
Norman Chad, who was editor-in-chief in 1978;
cartoonists
Aaron McGruder, who first
published his cartoon
The
Boondocks in
The Diamondback; and
Frank Cho, who began his career with the popular
"University Squared" for The Diamondback.
Greek life
Currently, about 10% of Maryland's student body are involved in
Greek Life. Many of the fraternities and sororities at the school
are located on Fraternity Row and the Graham Cracker, which are
partially controlled by the University. Fraternity Row is the
background of several recently produced films.
Greek recruitment rates fell sharply after the death of a Phi Sigma
Kappa pledge (19-year-old Daniel Reardon) in 2002, but have picked
back up to earlier levels in 2006.
The 2007–2008 academic year saw renewed discussions over hazing in
fraternity and sorority life at Maryland.
Delta Tau Delta and
Zeta Beta Tau were criticized by the
university administration over hazing incidents. Delta Tau Delta's
Maryland chapter was disbanded after the university administration
determined that pledges had been hazed "physically, mentally and
emotionally" from 2005–2008.
Athletics
The school's sports teams are called the Terrapins, and the mascot
of the University (picturedright) is a
diamondback terrapin named
Testudo, which is
Latin for
"protective shell." The Terrapins sports teams participate in the
NCAA's
Division I, and the school is a founding member of the
Atlantic Coast Conference. For
years the school colors were black and gold. After World War One,
new coach Clark Shaughnessy came to Maryland from Stanford, and
brought a supply of that school's uniforms with him. Combining
those colors with the old black and gold, the university's official
colors were expanded to match those that appear on the
Maryland state flag: black, gold, red, and
white. Red and white are now the most used team colors, and gold is
almost strictly used as an accent color. "Fear the Turtle," a
slogan born during the basketball team's national championship run
in 2002, has since been associated with other Maryland teams.
The Maryland
football program owns
nine Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, third most in the
conference behind Clemson and Florida State. Maryland was
successful from 1949 to 1955, as the team's overall record during
this time was 60–9–2. After winning the 1949 Gator Bowl, the team
went undefeated in 1951, and defeated heavily favored Tennessee in
the Sugar Bowl. This was followed by the school's only National
Championship in 1953. 1955 also saw the team go undefeated in the
regular season, before falling to Oklahoma in the Orange
Bowl.
The years from 1973 to 1985 were also some of the most successful
in the history of Maryland football, and saw a total of six
Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. The 1976 team completed
the regular season undefeated and finished with an 11–1 record. In
the 1984 season the Terrapins, down 31–0 at halftime in the Orange
Bowl against the defending National Champion Miami Hurricanes,
completed an unprobable comeback to win 42–40 in thrilling fashion.
After a fifteen-year period that saw only one trip to a bowl game,
former Maryland player and coach Ralph Friedgen was hired as Head
Coach in 2001. He reversed the fortunes of Terrapin football in his
first three seasons, leading the team to 31 wins, an appearance in
the
BCS Orange Bowl, commanding victories in the
Peach Bowl, the
Gator Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl,
consecutive top-3 finishes in conference, and one ACC regular
season title. These promising seasons were followed up by two
disappointing 5–6 seasons. However, in 2006, Friedgen returned the
Terrapins to bowl status, where they defeated the Purdue
Boilermakers in dominating fashion, 24–7 in the
Champs Sports Bowl, in Orlando, FL. This
was followed by a losing appearance in the 2007
Emerald Bowl and a victory in the
Roady's Humanitarian Bowl in
2008.
Maryland has produced numerous NFL standouts, including
Boomer Esiason,
Randy White,
Stan Jones,
Shawne Merriman, and
Neal Olkewicz.
Men's
basketball is also a very popular
sport at Maryland and is under the guidance of another Maryland
graduate,
Gary Williams of the class
of 1968. Williams, who returned to his
alma
mater in 1989 after successful head coaching stints at
Lafayette College, American University, Boston College, and Ohio
State, inherited a once-successful program that was suffering the
aftereffects of the death of
Len Bias as
well as NCAA rules infractions under Williams's predecessor.
Williams led Maryland to eleven consecutive NCAA tournament
appearances (1993–2004) and eight consecutive seasons with 20 or
more wins (1996–2004). In addition, he has taken the Terps to the
tournament's Regional Semifinals (Sweet Sixteen) seven times, to
the
Final
Four twice, and led the school to its first NCAA title in men's
basketball in 2002. With one of the youngest teams in the nation,
Williams led his team to his first ACC Tournament title in 2004.
With a win over the Virginia Cavaliers on February 7, 2006, Gary
Williams became Maryland's all-time leader in basketball wins with
349, beating the previous record of
Lefty
Driesell, who attended the record-breaking game. The 2008-2009
Maryland squad exceeded pre-season expectations by advancing to the
2nd round of the NCAA tournament and winning 21 games. It was the
program's 13th NCAA appearance in the past 16 years.
Beyond these primary "revenue sports," Maryland excels in other
areas as well. Women's basketball began a resurgence in 2002, and
has reached the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament for four
consecutive years under Coach
Brenda
Frese. The Lady Terps beat Duke in 2006 to bring Maryland its
first NCAA title in women's basketball. In 2009, with a 25-4
overall record and 12-2 in conference, the Lady Terps won their
first regular season ACC title and conference tournament in 20
years.
Coach
Sasho Cirovski has taken the
men's
soccer team to five Final
Fours since 1997, including four straight. In 2005, the squad
claimed the
NCAA College Cup National Championship with a 1–0 win
over New Mexico. On December 14, 2008 Sasho's squad again lifted
the College Cup after defeating University of North Carolina
1–0.
Although the Maryland
wrestling
team is not usually considered a powerhouse, they had a break out
performance in 2007-2008 winning the ACC Conference title and were
ranked as high as 17th by NCAA polls. Moreover, the school had its
second
All-American in the sport in
three decades, Hudson Taylor(197lb), who placed 3rd at the NCAA
tournament. The program continued its surge in the 2008-2009 season
by winning a 2nd consecutive ACC championship and finishing 10th
place at the NCAA championships—the 2nd best finish in school
history. Three Terrapins earned all American status, including
Hudson Taylor who became only the fourth repeat all-American in
Maryland history.
The recent success of the wrestling program
as come from heavy recruiting of high school graduates from top
local and national teams such as athletes from Mount Saint
Joseph College
and Blair
Academy
.
The
field hockey team has made eleven
Final Four appearances (through 2006) and won the 1987, 1993, 1999,
2005, 2006, and 2008 national titles. The
volleyball team won the ACC tournament in 2003
and qualified for the NCAA tournament.
The
women's lacrosse team has won a
total of nine NCAA championships, eight of which came under the
direction of Cindy Timchal, including a run of seven straight (1995
through 2001). Additionally, the
women's lacrosse team has been an NCAA
finalist in eleven of the last fourteen years, and produced more
All-Americans in the sport than any
other school.
Two of Maryland's outstanding All-Americans,
Cathy Nelson-Reese and Jen Adams, became coach and co-coach of the
team in 2006–2007 when Timchal took over the new program at the
United
States Naval Academy.
The men's
lacrosse program is often ranked
among the top programs nationally and won the NCAA Championship in
1973 and 1975. Maryland's men's lacrosse team has reached the NCAA
semifinals three of the past six years—2003, 2005, and 2006.
For 31 years the women's gymnastics team has been under the
guidance of head coach Robert 'Duke' Nelligan, the longest career
of any coach at the university.
Cole Field House
The
Mighty Sound
of Maryland Marching Band attends all home football games and
at least one away game each season. The band provides pre-game
performances that have remained largely unchanged for several
years. A video of the pre-game show can be viewed at the band's Web
site. The band also plays at halftime during home games, with a
different show every game.
During the basketball season, the marching band converts into the
University of Maryland
Pep Band. The pep band provides energetic music and cheers in
the stands at men's and women's home games. The pep band's
repertoire (more than 300 songs, as of the 2006–2007 season) is
compiled from past marching band shows and some special
arrangements. The Pep Band also travels with the basketball teams
during tournament play.
Sustainability
The four-person Office of Sustainability was created in summer 2007
after University President Dan Mote became charter signatory of the
American College and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment
(ACUPCC) with the goal of campus climate neutrality. The Climate
Action Plan Work Group completed an inventory of campus emissions
from 2002 to 2007, and will finalize a Climate Action Plan by
September 2009. All new constructions and major renovations must
satisfy
LEED-Silver
certification requirements. The office has promoted several
initiatives, including an increase in the recycling rate from 37%
to a 54% recycling rate in 2008, due in part to the "Feed the
Turtle" program for home football games. A spring 2007 student
referendum passed to raise student fees by $12 per year, which is
still pending approval from the Board of Regents.
Power Shift, a national youth climate activism
summit, was held at the University of Maryland in November 2007
with 6,000 individuals in attendance.
Testudo
Diamondback Terrapin
In 1932,
Curley Byrd, who served both as
the school's football coach and president, proposed adopting the
Maryland
diamondback terrapin
as a mascot. The first statue of Testudo cast in bronze was donated
by the Class of 1933 and was displayed on
Baltimore Avenue in front of
Ritchie Coliseum. However, the 300
pound mascot was subjected to vandalism by visiting college
athletic teams.
One
such incident occurred 1947 when students from
Johns Hopkins University stole the
bronze statue and moved it to their campus. Maryland students
traveled to Baltimore to retrieve it, which resulted in a siege of
the house where it was hidden. Over 200
city police responded to quell
the riot. In 1949, University President Byrd was awakened by a
phone call from a University of Virginia fraternity requesting that
Testudo be removed from their lawn. Testudo was later filled with
700 pounds of cement and fastened to his pedestal to prevent future
removals, but students at rival schools continued to vandalize it.
It was
moved to Byrd
Stadium
in 1951. In the 1960s, Testudo was again
moved to a spot in front of McKeldin Library, where it has since
become a good luck charm for some students who rub his nose during
finals week.
In 1992 a duplicate statue was placed at Byrd Stadium, where the
football team touch it for good luck as they pass by before games.
Another
statue now sits outside of the Gossett Team House nera the stadium,
and in 2002, another was placed in front of Comcast
Center
, the school's basketball arena, and in 2005, a
fifth statue was placed in front of the new Riggs Alumni
Center. A sixth and newest Testudo was placed in the lobby
of Adele H. Stamp student union building in the fall of 2008. In
1994, the
Maryland General
Assembly approved legislation to name the diamondback terrapin
(
malaclemys terrapin terrapin) as the official state
reptile and the legally-codified mascot of the University of
Maryland.
At the time, it was only the second
university mascot in the nation to receive such a statutory
designation (after the University of Florida
's).
The university has promoted the slogan, "Fear the Turtle" as a
rallying cry for school pride.
Controversies
Pornographic film
On April 6, 2009, the University screened about a half hour
excerpts from an X rated film in a campus lecture hall. Originally,
the entire two and a half hour film was scheduled to be shown in
the Univerisity Union building, but that performance drew protests
from State Senator
Andrew P.
Harris, who threated to withhold
the campus' $424 million annual appropriation if the film was
shown. Harris advocated that it was the University administration's
responsibility to limit the types of films shown in university
facilities, while his opponents claim that the right to show X
rated films was a free speech issue. The state legislature
ultimately approved the appropriation.
The same film was
shown at other colleges including University
of California Davis
, University of California Los
Angeles
and Carnegie Mellon University
without controversy.
Diversity Coordinator
On November 5, 2009, several hundred students protested the removal
of a popular diversity official and a drop in African-American
enrollment at the campus. It was the largest student demonstration
on campus since 1975.
Notable people
University attendees have achieved fame or notability across a
variety of disciplines. Famous alumni include current
House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer,
Google co-founder
Sergey Brin,
The
Muppets creator
Jim Henson, and
Seinfeld producer
Larry David. Prominent alumni in business
include
Jim Walton, President and CEO of
CNN;
Kevin Plank
founder of the athletic apparel company
Under Armour;
Chris
Kubasik, president of
Lockheed
Martin; and
Carly Fiorina, former
CEO of
Hewlett-Packard.
Television
personality Connie Chung and ESPN reporters Bonnie
Bernstein, Tim Kurkjian, and
Scott Van Pelt all graduated from the
Philip Merrill College of
Journalism. Well-known journalist
Carl Bernstein, who won the
Pulitzer Prize for Public
Service for his coverage of the
Watergate scandal, attended the University
but did not graduate.
Kiran Chetry,
co-host of CNN's
American Morning,
graduated with a bachelors of arts in broadcast journalism.
Heidi Collins of
CNN Newsroom also graduated with a bachelors of
science. Former Maryland governor
Harry
R. Hughes also attended.
Within the fields of science and mathematics, Nobel Laureates
Raymond Davis Jr., 2002 winner in
Physics;
Herbert Hauptman, 1985
winner in Chemistry, and
Fields Medal
winner
Charles Fefferman attended
the University.
Other alumni include George Dantzig, considered the father of
linear programming; late NASA astronaut Judith
Resnik, who died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger during the
launch of mission STS-51-L; and NASA
Administrator Michael D.
Griffin.
Several donors have distinguished themselves for their sizable
gifts to the University. Businessman
Robert H. Smith, who graduated from the university in
1950 with a degree in
accounting, has
given over $45 million to the business school that now bears his
name, and to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which bears
his wife's name. Construction entrepreneur
A. James Clark,
who graduated with an engineering degree in 1950, has also donated
over $45 million to the college of engineering, which also bears
his name. Another engineering donor,
Jeong
H. Kim, earned his Ph.D. from the
university in 1991 and gave $5 million for the construction of a
state-of-the-art engineering building.
Philip Merrill, a media figure, donated $10
million to the College of Journalism..
Filmography
The University of Maryland, College Park Campus has been featured
in several films.
See also
References
- http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_225.asp
Enrollment of the 120 largest degree-granting college and
university campuses
- University of Maryland, College Park
Budget
-
http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1981
- Great Expectations, The Campaign for Maryland
- University of Maryland Timeline
- Morill Land Grand College Act
- Durgin, Teddy Well-schooled:What you may not know about
Maryland's colleges and universities The Baltimore
Sun. September 30, 2003.
- Prince George's Historical Society Civil War 1996.
- Tornado kills two, damages University of
Maryland
- University of Maryland Identity Guide
(PDF)
- UMD Honors - About - Overview
- About Gemstone, Clark School of Engineering, Engineering,
University of Maryland
- Honors Humanities :: Home
- College Park Scholars
- QUEST - Robert H. Smith School of Business - University of
Maryland, College Park
- Civicus :: Home
- Global Communities
- Language House :: Home
- M Square
Research Park, University of Maryland
- Maryland Wins NIH Training Grant :: University
Communications Newsdesk, University of Maryland
- Clark School Leads NASA Project
- START
| About START
- UM to Head National Avian Flu Research Project ::
University Communications Newsdesk, University of Maryland
- National Universities: Top Schools
- University of Maryland Facts and Figures: 2007
University Rankings
- Webometrics
- Times Higher Education - QS World University
Rankings 2007 - Top 100 Universities
- Case No. 02-1326
- Society
of Professional Journalists: Mark of Excellence Awards
- College Board profile of the University of
Maryland, College Park
- Block, Ben. 2006 best year for Greek recruitment in at least a
decade. The Diamondback. September 15,
2006.
- Robillard, Kevin. Fraternity sanctioned in hazing.
The
Diamondback. December 11, 2007.
- Robillard, Kevin. Details of systematic abuse emerge in investigative
documents. The Diamondback. April 11, 2008.
- Robillard, Kevin. Officials disband Delta Tau Delta.
The
Diamondback. March 13, 2008.
- Fear the Turtle! University of Maryland
-
http://www.umterps.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/030809aaa.html
-
http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-wrestl/recaps/032109aac.html
- http://www.ncaa.com/history/w-lacrosse-d1.html
- http://www.ncaa.com/history/m-lacrosse-d1.html
- "Mighty Sound of Maryland" Marching Band
- Pregame Show
- Basketball Pep Band
- Testudo: Tale of the Top Shell, University of
Maryland, retrieved June 8, 2009.
- Hopkins-Maryland series has turbulent history,
The Baltimore Sun, April 11, 2009.
- Robert H. Smith School of Business to Share in
University of Maryland Gifts Totaling $60 Million
- Economic Recycling Enlarges U-Md.'s Engineering
School
- Phil Merrill and the Vanishing Iconoclastic
Publishers the drummer for body by fisher, Mike Goodman also
attended the university where he played in the marching band
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