University of Maryland, College Park

Early history (1808–1864), founder of the forerunner Maryland Agricultural College On March 6, 1856, the forerunner of today's University of Maryland was chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College. Two years later, Charles Benedict Calvert (1808–1864), a future U.S. Representative (Congressman) and descendant of the first Lord Baltimore, purchased of the Riversdale Mansion estate nearby today's College Park, Maryland. Later that year, Calvert founded the school and was the acting president from 1859 to 1860. On October 5, 1859, the first 34 students entered the Maryland Agricultural College. The school became a land grant college in February 1864. By the end of the war, financial problems forced the administrators to sell off of land, and the continuing decline in enrollment sent the Maryland Agricultural College into bankruptcy. The campus was used as a boys' preparatory school for the next two years. Twenty years later, the federally-funded Agricultural Experiment Station was established there. During this same period, 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 forestry board. In the same year, the first female students, Elizabeth Gambrill Hook and Charlotte Ann Vaux, enrolled at the school. On April 9, 1920, the college became part of the existing University of Maryland, replacing St. John's College, Annapolis as the university's undergraduate campus. In the same year, the graduate school on the College Park campus awarded its first Ph.D. degrees and the university's enrollment reached 500 students. In 1925 the university was accredited by the Association of American Universities. In 1957, President Wilson H. Elkins pushed to increase the university's academic standards. His efforts resulted in creating 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. On October 19, 1957, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom attended her first and only college football game at the University of Maryland after expressing interest in seeing a typically American sport during her first tour of the United States. The Maryland Terrapins beat the North Carolina Tar Heels 21 to 7 in the historical game now referred to as "The Queen's Game". Phi Beta Kappa established a chapter at The University of Maryland 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. In a massive restructuring of the state's higher education system in 1988, the school was designated as the flagship campus of the newly formed University of Maryland System (later changed to the University System of Maryland in 1997). It was formally named the University of Maryland, College Park. All five campuses in the former network were designated distinct campuses in the new system. 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. In 1994, the National Archives at College Park completed construction and opened on a parcel of land adjoining the campus donated by the University of Maryland, after lobbying by President William Kirwan and congressional leaders to foster academic collaboration between the institutions. Twenty-first century In 2004, the university began constructing the "M Square Research Park", which includes facilities affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense, Food and Drug Administration, and the new National Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In May 2010, ground was broken on a new Physical Science Complex, including an advanced quantum science laboratory. The university suffered multiple data breaches in 2014. The first resulted in the compromise of over 300,000 student and faculty records. A second data breach occurred several months later. The second breach was investigated by the FBI and Secret Service and found to be done by David Helkowski. Despite the attribution, no charges were filed. As a result of the data breaches, the university offered free credit protection for five years to the students and faculty affected. In 2017, the university received a record-breaking donation of $219.5 million from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, ranking among the country's largest philanthropic gifts to a public university. Darryll J. Pines became the 34th president of the university in 2020. Pines was a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the university before becoming president. In 2021, the university announced it had raised $1.5 billion in donations since 2018. In April 2024, UMD students joined other campuses across the United States in protests against the Gaza war. Students called attention to the genocide in Palestine and for the university to divest from companies that support the Gaza war. Activism continued in the next academic year with the placement of small flags in the lawn on McKeldin Mall, representing the more than 150,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza. ==Campus==

The center of the university's is McKeldin Mall, which is the largest academic mall in the United States. The Mall is bordered on the west and east by McKeldin Library and the Thomas V. Miller, Jr. Administration Building, respectively. Academic buildings surround McKeldin Mall on the north and south ends. They are the homes to many departments in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Arts and Humanities, and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. South of McKeldin Mall are the North Hill Community, at the southwesterly corner, and the original center of campus, Morrill Hall and the Morrill Quad. South of the Morrill Quad are the South Hill and South Campus Commons Communities, and the Southwest Mall and the Robert H. Smith School of Business to the southwest. Running parallel to McKeldin Mall to the north is Campus Drive, the main thoroughfare through campus. Another thoroughfare, Regents Drive, runs perpendicular to the Mall and is home to the Memorial Chapel and the Campus Farms. Regents Drive crosses Campus Drive at the campus hallmark, The "M", which is a mound with a large "M" formed by flowers in its center. The northeast quadrant of campus, formed by Campus and Regent Drives, is home to many of natural sciences and applied sciences departments. The Rossborough Inn, which, was built during the years 1798 to 1812, is the oldest building on campus (and is older than the university itself). There are five regularly used entrances to campus; the main entrance, off of Baltimore Avenue and onto Campus Drive, is referred to as North Gate and features the Gatehouse, an ornate gateway honoring the university's founders. The , 18-hole University of Maryland Golf Course sits at the northern edge of campus, as does the Observatory. The campus contains 7,500 documented trees and garden plantings, leading the American Public Gardens Association to designate the campus the University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden in 2008. There are also nearly of urban forest on campus The recreational Paint Branch Trail, part of the Anacostia Tributary Trails system, cuts through campus, as does the Paint Branch stream, a tributary of the Northeast Branch Anacostia River. The university's first Leed Gold building, Knight Hall, opened in April 2010 as the new home for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. In 2021, President Pines pledged that the University of Maryland would achieve carbon neutrality by Earth Day 2025. ==Academics==

The University of Maryland offers 127 undergraduate degrees and 112 graduate degrees in twelve colleges and schools: • A. James Clark School of Engineering • College of Agriculture and Natural Resources • Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine • College of Arts and Humanities • School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures • School of Music • College of Behavioral and Social Sciences • College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences • College of Education • College of Information Studies • Philip Merrill College of Journalism • Robert H. Smith School of Business • School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation • School of Public Health • School of Public Policy • Office of Undergraduate Studies • The Graduate School Undergraduate admissions Admission to Maryland is rated "most selective" by U.S. News & World Report. For the Class of 2026 (enrolled fall 2022), Maryland received 56,766 applications and accepted 19,451 (34.3%). Of those accepted, 4,742 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 24.4%. Maryland's freshman retention rate is 95.5%, with 88.3% going on to graduate within six years. Of the 34% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1340–1490. In 2020, the university announced it was joining the Common App. Beginning with the 2017–18 admissions cycle, the University of Maryland uses the application provided by The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success. Rankings In the 2026 U.S. News & World Report rankings of universities, the University of Maryland is 42nd in "National Universities" and 16th in "Top Public Schools". The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Maryland as 43rd in the world in 2015. The 2017–2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed Maryland 69th worldwide. The 2016/17 QS World University Rankings ranked Maryland 131st worldwide. The university was ranked among Peace Corps' 25 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges for the tenth consecutive year in 2020. The University of Maryland is ranked among Teach for America's Top 20 Colleges and Universities, contributing the greatest number of graduating seniors to its 2017 teaching corps. For the fourth consecutive year in 2015, the university was ranked first in the U.S. for the number of Boren Scholarship recipients – with nine students receiving awards for intensive international language study. The university is ranked as a Top Producing Institution of Fulbright U.S. Students and Scholars for the 2017–2018 academic year by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 2017, the University of Maryland was ranked among the top 50 universities in the 2018 Best Global Universities Rankings by U.S. News & World Report based on its high academic research performance and global reputation. In 2021, the university was ranked among the top 10 universities in The Princeton Reviews annual survey of the Top Schools for Innovation & Entrepreneurship; this was the sixth consecutive such ranking. Faculty The university's faculty has included four Nobel Prize laureates. The earliest recipient, in 1956, was Juan Ramón Jiménez, a Spanish language and literature professor. Four decades later, physics professor William Daniel Phillips won a prize in physics for his contributions to laser cooling. In 2005, Thomas Schelling was awarded the prize in economics for his contributions to game theory. In 2006, 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 has many notable academics. Professor of mathematics, Sergei 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. In 2013, professor of physics Sylvester James Gates was awarded the National Medal of Science. Research UMD is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Furthermore, ranked 17th nationally in research R&D, UMD is one of only 57 public institutions in the Association of American Universities (AAU), reflecting its status as a top-tier research hub in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. On October 14, 2004, the university added in an attempt to create the largest research park inside the Washington, D.C. Capital Beltway, formerly known as "M Square" and now known as the "Discovery District." 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, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Security Agency. The Space Systems Laboratory researches human-robotic interaction for astronautics applications and includes the only neutral buoyancy facility at a university. The Joint Global Change Research Institute, which studies human and earth systems, was formed in 2001 by the University of Maryland and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) launched in 2005 as one of the Centers of Excellence supported by the Department of Homeland Security in the United States. START is focused on the scientific study of the causes and consequences of terrorism in the United States and worldwide. Living-learning programs The university hosts "living-learning" programs (LLPs) that allow students with similar academic interests to live in the same residential community take specialized courses and perform research in those areas of expertise. These include CIVICUS, focused on politics and community service; Hinman CEOs, an entrepreneurship program; and the Language House, where students learning a shared target language live together. Several LLPs exist under the university's Honors College, with focuses in topics including cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, and life sciences. College Park Scholars is another LLP umbrella that includes programs in the arts, public health, and legal thought, among others. ==Student life==

Residential life There are two main residential areas on campus, North Campus and South Campus. North Campus is made up of Cambridge Community (which consists of five residence halls and houses the College Park Scholars program), Denton Community (which consists of three halls), Oakland Community (which consists of one hall), Ellicott Community (consisting of three halls), and the Courtyards, a garden-style apartment community in north campus consisting of seven buildings. Most residence halls on campus, and quite a handful of instructional buildings, are named after real towns and cities in the state of Maryland. The Heritage community, completed in 2024, features two residence halls and a dining hall (Johnson Whittle Hall, Pyon Chen Hall, and Yahentamitsi Dining Hall.) Most residence halls have AC, but some do not. These non-AC halls are Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Chestertown, Ellicott, Hagerstown, Wicomico, and Worcester. South Campus includes the North Hill Community, made up of nine Georgian-style halls and Prince Frederick Hall (which opened in 2014) immediately west of McKeldin Mall; South Hill Community, made up of fourteen small residence halls for upper-level students; Leonardtown Community, which offers apartment-style housing; and the South Campus Commons Community, which consists of seven apartment-style buildings (the seventh and most recent building being opened in January 2010). Dining There are three dining halls on campus. In addition, a food court in the Stamp Student Union provides many fast food dining options for the university community. The 251 North dining hall lies in the Denton Community on the northern part of campus. The second northern dining hall, Yahentamitsi, is the first building on campus named in honor of Indigenous people which is the newest dining hall and is located next to the freshman dorms such as Johnson Whittle and Pyon-Chen. The third dining hall, South Campus Dining Hall, can be found just south of McKeldin Library. Transportation Metro station provides access to Downtown, Washington, D.C. The university is accessible through the three airports in the greater Washington metropolitan area: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. A small public airport in College Park, College Park Airport, lies nearly adjacent to campus, but operations are limited. This airport is the world's oldest continually operating airport and the site of many significant aviation firsts. A free shuttle service, known as Shuttle–UM, is available for UMD students, faculty, staff, and some residents of College Park and Greenbelt. The university is served by an off-campus stop on the Washington Metro's Green Line called College Park – University of Maryland. This stop is adjacent to a stop on the MARC Camden line, a commuter rail line which runs from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The stop is also serviced by busses from Shuttle–UM, MTA, WMATA, and TheBus. The campus is also planned to be served by the Purple Line, a light rail line under construction by the Maryland Transit Administration connecting College Park with other inner suburbs of Maryland as well as the Red and Orange Lines of the Washington Metro. The Purple Line route will have five stops on and around the university's campus: M Square, the College Park Metro station, the main entrance to the campus on Route 1, near Stamp Student Union on Campus Drive, and on the other edge of campus on Adelphi Road, along with a parallel bike path. In April 2026, Purple Line railcars began moving through campus on a pre-service testing basis. The Diamondback , near the food court and co-op The Diamondback is an independent student newspaper. It was founded in 1910 as The Triangle and renamed in 1921 in honor of a local reptile, the Diamondback terrapin, which became the school mascot in 1933. The newspaper is published online daily during the spring and fall semesters, with a circulation of 17,000 and annual advertising revenues of over $1 million. Notable journalists who have been with the paper include David Simon of HBO's The Wire and NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street, and cartoonists Jeff Kinney, who created the Diary of a Wimpy Kid fiction series and whose Igdoof strip appeared in The Diamondback; 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. Other student activities WMUC-FM (90.5 FM) is the university's non-commercial radio station, staffed by UMD students and volunteers. WMUC is a freeform and sports broadcasting station broadcast at 10 watts. Its broadcasts can be heard throughout the Washington metropolitan area. Notable WMUC alumni include Connie Chung, Bonnie Bernstein, Peter Rosenberg and Aaron McGruder. Approximately 16% of men and women in Maryland's undergraduate student body were involved in fraternities and sororities in 2017. Maryland Day, an annual spring event that invites the public to campus for exhibits, performances, and interactive activities is hosted by the University. ==Athletics==

, home of Maryland basketballThe university sponsors varsity athletic teams in 20 men's and women's sports. The teams, named the "Terrapins", represent Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition. Maryland became a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1952 but left to join the Big Ten Conference on July 1, 2014. As of 2025, Maryland's athletic teams have been awarded 47 national championships by the NCAA, USILA, AIAW, and NCA. In 2008 and 2010, The Princeton Review named the University of Maryland's athletic facilities the best in the nation. The Terrapins nickname (often shortened to "Terps") was coined by former university president, football coach, and athletic director H. C. "Curly" Byrd in 1932. The mascot is a diamondback terrapin named Testudo, which is Latin for "tortoise". Since the early 20th century, the school athletic colors have been some combination of those on the Maryland state flag: red, white, black, and gold. Maryland is the only NCAA Division I school to have four official school colors. Basketball and football on game day Men's basketball is the most popular sport at the university. Beginning in 1989, alumnus Gary Williams revived the program, which was struggling in the wake of Len Bias's death and NCAA rules infractions. Williams led Maryland basketball to national prominence with two Final Four appearances, and in 2002, a national championship. On February 7, 2006, Williams won his 349th game to surpass Driesell and became Maryland's all-time leader among basketball coaches. Maryland football is also popular at the university. Lacrosse fields one of the nation's premier lacrosse programs. Maryland men's lacrosse remains one of the sport's top programs since its beginnings as a squad in 1865. The team most recently won the national championship in 2022, completing an undefeated season, the first since Virginia in 2006, and the first to go undefeated across 18 games. The team has won ten USILA and NCAA national championships since its promotion to varsity status in 1924 and is a regular fixture in the NCAA tournament. The Maryland women's lacrosse team has won 15 national championships, the most of any program in the nation. The team has produced the National Player of the Year/Tewaaraton Award winner eight times, more than any other collegiate program. The Terrapins have also made the most NCAA tournament appearances, won the most tournament games, and made the most NCAA championship game appearances of any program. They most recently won the NCAA championship in 2019. Soccer The men's soccer team has won four NCAA Division I College Cup national championships, most recently in 2018. Under the guidance of head coach Sasho Cirovski, the soccer team has reached nine Final Fours and won three College Cups since 1997. The soccer team has developed a large, devoted fan base among students and the local community. The attendance record at Ludwig Field was set in 2015 when 8,449 fans saw Maryland win over top-ranked UCLA in extra time. The annual total attendance increased dramatically from 12,710 in 1995 to 35,631 in 2008. Field hockey The Maryland field hockey team has won a total of eight NCAA national championships and 13 conference championships (10 in the ACC and 5 in the Big Ten). Marching band The Mighty Sound of Maryland marching band attends all home football games and provides pre-game performances. During basketball season, the marching band provides music in the stands. ==Notable alumni==

File:Sergey Brin Ted 2010 (cropped).jpg|Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google File:Kevin Plank headshot 2018.png|Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour File:Larry David at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival 2.jpg|Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld and creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm File:Susie Wiles (crop).jpg|Susie Wiles, current White House Chief of Staff File:Jim Henson (1989) headshot.jpg|Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets characters File:John Carmack and Tim Sweeney, GDCA 2017 (portrait crop).jpg|Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games and creator of Fortnite File:Brendan Iribe Oculus CEO 2015.jpg|Brendan Iribe, co-founder of Oculus VR File:Carly Fiorina 2017 CPAC by Gage Skidmore.jpg|Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard File:Ed Snider by Michael Alan Goldberg (cropped).jpg|Ed Snider, former owner of the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers File:Ethan Brown Headshot White (cropped).jpg|Ethan Brown, founder of Beyond Meat File:Michael D. Griffin.jpg|Michael D. Griffin, 11th Administrator of NASA File:Steny Hoyer, official photo as Whip.jpg|Steny Hoyer, Former House Majority Leader and U.S. Representative File:Dan Snyder Washington Commanders Reveal (51858871386) (cropped2).jpg|Daniel Snyder, former owner of the Washington Commanders File:Boomer Esiason at Super Bowl XLI pre-game show in Miami.jpg|Boomer Esiason, former NFL MVP quarterback File:Gordon England portrait.jpg|Gordon R. England, 29th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense File:Gayle King of CBS 2019.jpg|Gayle King, broadcast journalist for CBS News File:Kathleen H. Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense.jpg|Kathleen Hicks, 35th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense File:Christine Wormuth official portrait.jpg|Christine Wormuth, 25th United States Secretary of the Army File:David Simon croped.jpg|David Simon, creator and producer of The Wire File:Carl bernstein 2007.jpg|Carl Bernstein, investigative journalist Memorial Fountain in front of the Riggs Alumni Center Notable alumni include House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer; Google co-founder Sergey Brin; The Muppets creator Jim Henson; The Wire creator David Simon; former NFL Quarterback Norman "Boomer" Esiason; CBS host Gayle King; journalist Connie Chung; and Seinfeld co-creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David. Prominent alumni in business include Ed Snider, former chairman of Comcast Spectacor and former owner of the Philadelphia Flyers and Reena Aggarwal, Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance at Georgetown University and Director of the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy; journalist Jim Walton, former president and CEO of CNN; Kevin Plank, founder and executive chairman of the athletic apparel company Under Armour; Chris Kubasik, former president of Lockheed Martin; and Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. 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. Attendees within the fields of science and mathematics are Nobel laureates Raymond Davis Jr., 2002 winner in Physics; Herbert Hauptman, 1985 winner in Chemistry, and Fields Medal winner Charles Fefferman. 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, gave 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, donated over $45 million to the college of engineering, which also bears his name. Philip Merrill, a media figure, donated $10 million to the College of Journalism. Robert E. Fischell, physicist, inventor, and holder of more than 200 U.S. and foreign medical patents donated $30 million to the A. James Clark School of Engineering, establishing the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. Brendan Iribe, a co-founder of Oculus VR, donated $31 million to the university in 2014 towards a new computer science building and scholarships. ==See also==