The Shriver Center was dedicated at UMBC on December 14, 1993. It is named in honor of Sargent Shriver, founder of VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), Head Start, the Job Corps, and the first director of the Peace Corps and the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver,…Read More
Shriver Center Board, l-r: Provost Arthur Johnson, Shriver. Center Director John Martello, Timothy Shriver, Sargent Shriver, Freeman Hrabowski, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, UARC 2013-013-14-0564.
The creation of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program was made possible at UMBC in 1988 through a grant from the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Foundation. The nationally-renowned program funded students pursuing doctoral studies in the sciences and engineering with an interest in the advancement of minorities in related fields. Emphasizing mentoring,…Read More
Alumni prepare to light the bonfire that was part of MindFest in 1995. University Photographs, gelatin silver prints; black-and-white photographs, 5 x 7.
In 1996, the UMBC Chess Team won the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship and nine more times between 1998 and 2012. The team also has the distinction of qualifying for The President’s Cup (also known as the Final Four of College Chess) every year since the competition was founded in…Read More
The first URCAD featured work from students across all disciplines, from Ancient Studies and Social Work to Mechanical Engineering and Biochemistry. Presentations included an exhibit on the history of Cowdensville, a project on the experience of Alzheimer’s caregivers, and research exploring wavelength modulation in bottlenose dolphin visual pigments. University Publications,…Read More
In 1994, UMBC was awarded a teaching grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The funding was directed towards the HHMI Scholars Program, an educational program that works with students from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Michael Summers was named an HHMI investigator in 1994, and his groundbreaking research at UMBC…Read More
Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. In 1998, UMBC was among only seven colleges and universities in the United states to be offered Phi Beta Kappa chartership (selected from 47 that applied). The…Read More
The Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award was established in 1988 to honor an alumnus or alumna who had achieved national recognition in his or her field. The first award was presented to Dr. Winston Griner ‘74, biological sciences, for his innovations in home health care. After graduating from Meharry…Read More
Quadmania in 1998 was almost “Quad”-less. The festival was originally scheduled to be held in Parking Lot 16 due to construction in the area of the RAC and Commons; only a few weeks prior were the students informed that Quadmania would be held on the eponymous Quad. Quadmania did eventually…Read More
Each Fall semester, UMBC holds an opening ceremony known as Convocation. Faculty, staff, and students are all invited to attend. The incoming freshman participate in a processional along Academic Row to the Retriever Activities Center (RAC) for the ceremony. The faculty form a receiving line at the doors to the…Read More
In 1995, UMBC entered a cooperative agreement with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and formed a multidisciplinary program called the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET). Through this agreement, JCET faculty members held joint appointments with Goddard and UMBC, conducted original research, and also taught UMBC courses. University Publications,…Read More
The first edition of the UMBC Review was published in 2000 under student editors Victoria Crane and Stanford Ward. As an extension of the goal of URCAD, the publication seeks to exhibit the academic and creative talents at the university. The first journal featured ten pieces of work, from an…Read More
In 2000, UMBC received its largest research contract in the university’s history when it was selected to lead a group of universities and private sector companies in a $70 million, five-year cooperative agreement with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop the Goddard Earth Science and Technology (GEST) Center. The…Read More
In 2001, UMBC held a Sweetheart Swing, a Valentine’s Day celebration and dance to honor UMBC couples who had met and fell in love at UMBC. The dance was hosted by UMBC alumni couples, including Bob and Mimi (Haw) Dietrich who were both part of UMBC’s first graduating class in…Read More
The Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park was established at UMBC in April 2001 as part of a Baltimore-wide tree-planting effort. Designer and project coordinator for the Fine Arts Gallery (now the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture) Renee van der Stelt developed a partnership with The Baltimore Museum of Art…Read More
Even as the UC was opening, there was a clear need for additional space for student life at UMBC. Student needs seemed to outgrow the UC even before everyone had moved into the building, although it would be almost 20 years before the Commons opened to provide any relief. The…Read More
UMBC’s student body continued to grow throughout the 1980s, and by 1990 it had outgrown the University Center as the main student activity space. The administration decided to build the Commons—a collaboration between Perry Dean Rogers and Design Collective architectural firms. The new location, on the foundation of Gym I,…Read More
On September 18, 2001, the front page of The Retriever Weekly chronicled student life in the week after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The paper described the confusion and heightened emotions in the aftermath, but also chose to focus on the unity of the campus through the many events held…Read More
The first homecoming celebration at UMBC was held in February 1976, after several false starts in the years preceding. The 1976 event included the Almost Anything Goes tournament, where student organizations competed against each other for prizes; a club volleyball tournament; a pep rally; and a basketball game against the…Read More
In addition to the new space for student activities, the Commons also featured many new dining options such as the Retriever Grill, Pete’s Arena Pizza, MeinBowl, and more. The UMBC Bookstore and OTC Shop (both previously and now known as the Yum Shoppe), were slated to open in March.Student Affairs…Read More
On November 12, 2002, Maryland Governor Parris Glendening and Senator Paul Sarbanes dedicated a time capsule at the nearly-finished Public Policy building. State Delegate Jim Malone and Maryland Secretary of Higher Education Karen Johnson were also present. The capsule includes items that represented the political and social climate of the…Read More
In February 2004, the men’s swimming and diving team made school history by becoming the first Retriever team to win an American East Conference Championship. The women’s team captured second place. The Retriever’s 901-point score was well ahead of second place Binghamton’s 574 points, and the score also was greater…Read More
In April 2004, the Erickson School of Aging Studies was established with support from John Erickson, who gave a $5 million commitment to the school. The goal of the Erickson School is to “become the preeminent resource for education, research, and policy on services for the mid-life and older population.”…Read More
The Women’s Center was founded in 1991. The Women’s Center “advances gender equity from an intersectional feminist perspective through co-curricular programming, support services, and advocacy for marginalized individuals and communities.” The Center’s first location was Room 207 in Gym I and it moved several times from September 1999 until 2004,…Read More
The third and final phase of the Library was the construction of the Library Tower, completed in 1995. The tower serves as an emblem of the university, completing the vision of the campus master plan from 1965 that stated that “the building will be viewed on axis from the main…Read More
Originally, UMBC set up a system of academic divisions instead of colleges, including the Divisions of Humanities, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences. A Dean of Arts and Sciences replaced the Dean of Faculty in 1980, and the the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering were set up…Read More
The 2006 women’s volleyball team saw a 16-15 winning season, made their first trip to the America East Conference Championship, and kicked off a decade of final and semi-final appearances for the Retrievers. Since then the team has reached the Championship finals two more times and have had 5 players…Read More
In 2007, UMBC Athletics reached a major milestone when the women’s basketball team won the America East Conference basketball championship and earned a spot in the NCAA Division I Basketball championship series. Seeded seventh in AEC, the Retrievers defeated the first seed Hartford Hawks (University of Hartford) 48-46 in front…Read More
On April 4-5, 2008, hundreds of alumni, faculty and supporters joined to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program. The gathering centered around a scientific symposium including oral and poster presentations, panel discussions, and video recording booths for alumni to talk about their experiences in the program. Director…Read More
The original UMBC Magazine replaced the UMBC Review newsletter in Fall 1994. This iteration was only published a handful of times and ceased publication in 1998. The first edition of the alumni magazine as it is known today, also called UMBC Magazine, was published in Winter 2009 under the direction…Read More
One unique campus tradition that is often overlooked is Free Hour, an hour on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when classes are not scheduled. Free hour was planned by a group called the Student Union in 1970; this student organization advocated for direct action and responsibility outside of the set system…Read More
UMBC’s 500 acres have seen significant development in the last 50 years. The footprint varies from original master plan but much of the same design elements are present – the loop road, academic and residential areas intersecting at the Library and Commons, and a modern aesthetic unlike the traditional white…Read More
Philanthropists Robert and Jane Meyerhoff were approached by soon-to-be UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski about investing in a program focusing on African-American students in the sciences. The Meyerhoffs agreed and have continued to support the program through scholarship endowment funds, The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Chair in Biochemistry, and the Robert…Read More
The groundbreaking for the Performing Arts and Humanities Building (“the PAHB”) in 2010 represented on-going work to increase the support, advocacy, and exposure of the arts and humanities scholarship at UMBC. As the reputation of the school increasingly focused on the science and technology fields, there was a push to…Read More
Although UMBC never had a segregated student body, whether by race or gender, our campus has struggled in many ways to increase its diversity of the student body. UMBC is now promoted as a diverse institution and this is part of the defining narrative of the school and a point…Read More