The University of Maryland, College Park (also known as UMD or UM, formerly UMCP) is a public coeducational university situated in suburban Maryland just outside Washington, DC. The flagship university of the University System of Maryland, it is commonly referred to as simply the University of Maryland, but the formal name remains University of Maryland, College Park.

History

The University originated in College Park in 1859 as the Maryland Agricultural College (MAC), and was one of many colleges to receive federal funds as a land grant college shortly thereafter. In 1916 the institution became known as the Maryland State College. In 1920 the college merged with the already established professional schools in Baltimore to form the University of Maryland. In 1988 the school was formally named University of Maryland, College Park and designated as the flagship campus of the newly-formed University System of Maryland.

On October 14, 2004 the university added 150 acres (607,000 m²) in an ambitious attempt to create the largest research park inside of the Washington, DC Capital Beltway. "M Square" solidifies the university's goal of excellent undergraduate education coupled with breakthrough research. The university is currently headed by president C. D. Mote.

Name and structural changes

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's role as the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland. For further information, please see the University of Maryland's own publication in regards to the naming issue in their "Identity Guide" (http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/media/identityguide.pdf) (PDF format).

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 refered to as such. For the above historical reasons, the University of Maryland, Baltimore is also sometimes called "University of Maryland." This is not a significant point of confusion, as UMB is limited to graduate professional education.

Academics

Bachelors, master's, and doctoral programs are offered through the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; the College of Arts and Humanities; the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences; the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences; the College of Education; the College of Health and Human Performance; the Philip Merrill College of Journalism; the College of Information Studies; the College of Letters and Sciences; the College of Life Sciences; the School of Architecture; the Robert H. Smith School of Business; the A. James Clark School of Engineering; and the School of Public Affairs.

Sports and traditions

Testudo the Terrapin, school mascot. There are three statues like this on campus. The one pictured above is located in front of McKeldin Library.

The school's sports teams are called the Terrapins. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In the past five years, the university's athletics program has achieved national prominence, particularly in the revenue generating sports. The football program had achieved little success for many years when Ralph Friedgen, a Maryland graduate in the class of 1970, was hired as head coach in November 2000. "The Fridge" has dramatically reversed the fortunes of Terrapin football in his three seasons, leading the team to 31 wins, an appearance in the BCS Orange Bowl, commanding victories over nationally-respected Tennessee in the Peach Bowl and geographic rival West Virginia in the Gator Bowl, consecutive top-3 finishes in conference, and the only outright ACC regular season title since Florida State's entry into the conference in 1992.

As successful as football has become, men's basketball is arguably still the most popular sport at Maryland, and like football is under the guidance of a Maryland graduate, Gary Williams, class of 1968. Williams, who returned to his alma mater in 1989 after successful stints at American University, Boston College, and Ohio State University, inherited a program that was suffering the after-effects of the death of Len Bias as well as NCAA rules infractions under Williams' predecessor Bob Wade. After several years of competing under recruiting sanctions related to these events, Williams has elevated the Terp program to the level of conference foes Duke and North Carolina. As of 2004, Maryland has recorded eight consecutive seasons of twenty wins or more, as well as eleven consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, a feat that only four other schools in the nation have accomplished. In addition, they have reached the tournament's Regional Semifinals (Sweet Sixteen) seven times, reached back-to-back Final Fours, and in 2002, after navigating a very difficult tournament road (defeating past champions Wisconsin, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas and Indiana), won the school's first NCAA title in men's basketball. With one of the youngest teams in the nation, Williams led his team to his first ACC Tournament title in 2004, a run which included erasing a 19-point halftime deficit against N.C. State in the semifinals, and erasing a 12-point deficit in three-plus minutes against Duke to force overtime in the tournament final. With well over 500 career victories, including more than 300 at his alma mater, Williams is Maryland's all-time winningest coach, and is considered to be an eventual candidate for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Beyond these primary revenue sports, Maryland excels in other areas. Women's basketball is in the midst of a resurgence under former Minnesota coach Brenda Frese, having advanced to the second round of the 2004 women's NCAA tournament -- the first tournament win for the program in twelve years. Friese has also managed to attract top national recruits, beating out nationally prominent Connecticut and Tennessee programs in the process. Men's soccer has been to three Final Fours since 1998, and spent several weeks in the top spot of the polls during the fall of 2003. The field hockey team has enjoyed similar success, with a handful of Final Four appearances and the 1999 national title. The volleyball team surprised many by winning the ACC tournament in 2003, and also qualified for their own NCAA tournament. In lacrosse, the official state team sport, Maryland has been a consistent national leader. The women's lacrosse team, under the direction of Cindy Timchal, has won seven national titles, been an NCAA finalist in eleven of the last fourteen years, and produced more All-Americans in the sport than any other school. The men's program, while not having won a national championship for several decades, is always among the top 10 programs nationally. The school's athletic director is Deborah Yow, considered among the most efficient and forward-thinking ADs by those in the profession. Dr. Yow has succeeded in balancing the Athletic Department's budget every year, while consistently upgrading the quality of the school's facilities and teams.

Lists of Distinguished People

Alumni

Famous University of Maryland, College Park Alumni include:

• Carmen Balthrop, soprano and faculty member
• Gail Berman, chair of Fox Network
• Bonnie Bernstein, network TV sports reporter
• Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google
• Dennis Cardoza, U.S. Congressman
• Connie Chung, news anchor-woman with CBS, NBC, and CNN
• Mark Ciardi, film producer (Miracle, The Rookie)
• Larry David, actor, writer and producer ("Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Seinfeld")
• Gordon England, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Boomer Esiason, former NFL quarterback turned television broadcaster.
• Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard
• Robert Forward, physicist who authored 200 research papers, and science fiction writer known for 11 novels, including Dragon's Egg
• Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets
• Jack Kelley, former USA Today reporter
• William McCool, NASA astronaut, killed on Columbia mission STS-107
• Aaron McGruder, creator of comic strip The Boondocks
• Nguyen Si Binh, Vietnamese American Chairman of the People's Action Party of Vietnam
• Robert M. Parker, Jr., wine critic
• George Pelecanos, mystery writer
• Judith Resnik, Ph.D. 1977, NASA astronaut, killed on Challenger mission STS-51-L
• David Simon, creator of Homicide: Life on the Street
• Kathleen Turner, Academy Award nominated movie actress, twice winner of the Golden Globe
• Scott Van Pelt, anchor for the television show SportsCenter on the ESPN network
• Randy White, former professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee

Faculty

Well-known faculty (past and present) include:

• Michael Brin, mathematician
  
• David S. Broder, journalist, winner of Pulitzer Prize in 1973.
  
• Rachel Carson, ecologist and author of Silent Spring.
  
• Michael E. Fisher, winner of Wolf Priz in physics
• Peter Miller, historian and MacArthur Fellow.
  
• Serguei Novikov, mathematician, winner of Fields Medal in 1970.
  
• Michael Olmert, Emmy award winning filmmaker.
  
• Robert L. Park, physicist, anti-pseudoscience activist.
  
• Bill Phillips, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  
• Georges Rey, philosopher.
  
• George Ritzer, sociologist.
  
• Roald Sagdeev, physicist, former science advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev
  
• Julian Simon, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
  
• John S. Toll, physicist and well-known educational administrator.
• James A. Yorke, a founding father of chaos theory, winner of Japan Prize in 2003.
  

External links

General

• University of Maryland website (http://www.umd.edu/)
• The Diamondback, the independent student newspaper (http://www.diamondbackonline.com/)
• WMUC, the college radio station (http://www.wmucradio.com/)

Colleges and schools

• College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (http://www.agnr.umd.edu/)
• School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (http://www.arch.umd.edu/)
• College of Arts and Humanities (http://www.arhu.umd.edu/)
• College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (http://www.bsos.umd.edu/)
• Robert H. Smith School of Business (http://www.smith.umd.edu/)
• College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (http://www.cmps.umd.edu)
• College of Education (http://www.education.umd.edu/)
• A. James Clark School of Engineering (http://www.engr.umd.edu)
• College of Health and Human Performance (http://www.education.umd.edu/)
• College of Information Studies (http://www.clis.umd.edu/)
• Philip Merrill College of Journalism (http://www.journalism.umd.edu/)
• College of Life Science (http://www.life.umd.edu/)
• School of Public Policy (http://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/)

Academic Programs

• Division of Letters and Sciences (http://www.ltsc.umd.edu/)
• Civicus (http://www.bsos.umd.edu/civicus/)
• College Park Scholars (http://www.scholars.umd.edu)
• Gemstone (http://www.gemstone.umd.edu/)
• Global Communities (http://www.inform.umd.edu/globalcommunities/index.html)
• Hinman CEOs (http://www.hinmanceos.umd.edu/)
• Honors Humanities (http://www.honorshumanities.umd.edu/)
• Jiménez-Porter Writers' House (http://www.writershouse.umd.edu/highres_index.php)
• Living-Learning Programs (http://www.writershouse.umd.edu/highres_index.php)
• QUEST Honors Program (http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/quest/)
• Study Abroad (http://www.inform.umd.edu/studyabroad/)
• University Honors Program (http://www.honors.umd.edu)