University of Maryland, Baltimore County


The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a public research university in Catonsville, Maryland, United States. It had a fall 2025 enrollment of 13,530 students. In 2019, it had 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs and the first university research park in Maryland. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity".
Established as a part of the University System of Maryland in 1966, the university became the first public college or university in Maryland to be inclusive of all races. UMBC has the fourth highest enrollment of the University System of Maryland, specializing in natural sciences and engineering, as well as programs in the liberal arts and social sciences. Its athletic teams are known as the UMBC Retrievers and participate in the America East Conference.

History

The planning of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was first discussed in the 1950s due to the post-World War II baby boom, the expansion of higher education under the GI Bill, and the large amount of growth both in population and industry in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. At this time, the University of Maryland, College Park was the main higher education source in the region, so talks began about adding a branch campus in the Baltimore area. In 1955, Governor Theodore McKeldin issued "The Needs of Higher Education in Maryland," which recommended the need for university expansion. Three years later, the "Advisory Committee on Higher Education in the State of Maryland" report proposed that the Baltimore branch of the University of Maryland be established as a two-year program, subordinate to the College Park campus. In 1960, the Warfield Commission, appointed by Governor Tawes, issued, "A Plan for Expanding the University of Maryland," which propelled the idea of creating three additional university centers throughout Maryland.
In 1963, the Maryland Legislature approved the development of several new universities throughout Maryland. By the end of that year, 435 acres were purchased from Spring Grove State Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Catonsville, Maryland. The new campus would be efficiently located in Southwestern Baltimore, and would be able to be accessed from Wilkens Avenue, the Baltimore Beltway and Interstate 95. Architectural design and planning of the new campus was completed at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1965, Albin Owings Kuhn, an accomplished administrator and professor at College Park was named Vice President of Baltimore Campuses, including both UMBC and the founding campus, University of Maryland, Baltimore. The new campus also included Dr. Homer Schamp of the College Park as the first dean of faculty, David Lewis as the first full-time faculty member and head of Social Sciences, and John Haskell Jr. as the first librarian.
The first classes began on September 19, 1966, with 750 students, 3 buildings, and the older wing of the Biological Sciences building, 45 faculty members, 35 support staff, and 500 parking spaces. As university enrollment increased drastically over the coming years, the university would also coincide with the turbulent changes in society in the 1960s. While undergoing the Civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, UMBC would prove to be a new and different atmosphere with open and peaceful minds during campus protests. In 1971, Albin Owings Kuhn resigned his position as UMBC's first chancellor, succeeded by Calvin B. T. Lee. Five years later in 1976, John Dorsey, administrative vice president at the University of Maryland, College Park was appointed as UMBC's third chancellor.
By 1980, undergraduate enrollment reached 5,800 students. Also in this year, Homecoming and Quadmania were established as cornerstone events that would become UMBC tradition for years to come. During this decade, the University Center and Sherman Hall were opened, as well as Hillside and Terrace Apartments. In addition, University of Maryland, College Park alum Jim Henson funded the establishment of the Imaging Research Center at UMBC. In 1986, Michael Hooker became chancellor, a post he held until 1992, when he was appointed president of the University of Massachusetts system. In 1988, a proposed merger of UMBC with the University of Baltimore was considered but was voted down by the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.
In 1990, undergraduate enrollment reached over 10,000 students. In 1991, a merger plan between UMBC and the University of Maryland, Baltimore was approved in the Maryland House of Delegates, but was rejected by the Senate. Throughout the last decade of the 20th century, the university opened the Engineering and Computer Science Building and Potomac Hall. UMBC's longest-serving president, Freeman A. Hrabowski III, was appointed in 1992. He retired in 2022 and was succeeded by Valerie Sheares Ashby that summer.
The first decade of the 21st century featured many university developments as UMBC approached its 40th anniversary in 2006. Some of these developments included the establishment of the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, a new partnership with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop the Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, as well as numerous expansions to the campus such as The Commons, the Physics Building, Information Technology & Engineering Building and the Public Policy Building. During this time, UMBC was recognized by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for being the leading producers of chemistry and biochemistry degrees, and was classified by The Carnegie Foundation as being among the top tier research universities, Doctoral/Research Universities for achieving 50 or more doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines.

Academics and research

UMBC offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a variety of areas of study. There are 61 majors in 55 distinct programs, 70 minors, and 36 certificate programs offered in its undergraduate program. UMBC's Graduate School offers 38 master's degree programs, 25 doctoral degree programs, and 29 graduate certificate programs. The university is divided into three colleges, three schools, as well as its graduate school.

Colleges

UMBC is among the fastest-growing research universities in the country and is classified as a Doctoral University with Very High Research Activity by the Carnegie Foundation. The university consistently ranks among the top 100 public U.S. institutions in federal research and development expenditures. UMBC's research themes focus on environmental sciences, especially atmospheric physics and remote sensing, Earth and space sciences, and ecology and remediation; on health and life sciences, including marine biotechnology and bio sciences and engineering; on data sciences and national security, with special focus on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, cognitive computing, health IT, and big data analytics; on health equity and policy studies, and on public humanities and the arts.
The university is ranked among the top 15 U.S. universities in NASA funding. UMBC's NASA-funded centers at NASA Goddard include the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute, and the Center for Space Sciences and Technology. In April 2021, CSST received an additional $54 million in funding from NASA Goddard for astrophysics research.
Faculty at UMBC have been recognized with 40 National Science Foundation CAREER Awards since 1995, including nine since 2017. Two UMBC researchers have received the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering — one from NSF in 2005 and one from NSA in 2014. UMBC also has one of only two Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at a public university in Maryland, a National Academy of Sciences member, as well as a DARPA Young Faculty Award winner, and NASA's 2012 Distinguished Public Service Medal recipient. UMBC faculty regularly receive Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships.
bwtech@UMBC, UMBC's incubator and research park, houses more than 130 companies and three incubators in cybersecurity, life sciences, and clean technology. UMBC has more than 20 campus-wide centers and institutes, including three Collaborative Centers with NASA Goddard, the Center for Accelerated Real-Time Analytics, the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, the Earth and Space Institute, The Hilltop Institute, the Center for Social Science Scholarship, the Center for Art, Design & Visual Culture, the Dresher Center, the Imaging Research Center, and the UMBC AI Center.