University of Maryland Baltimore County

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University of Maryland
Baltimore County
Motto An honors university in Maryland
Established 1966
Type Public
President Freeman A. Hrabowski III
Faculty 949
Undergraduates 9,668
Postgraduates 2,184
Location Catonsville/Arbutus, Maryland, United States
Campus Suburban, 500 acres (2 km²)
Nickname Retrievers
Website http://www.umbc.edu

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public university, part of the University System of Maryland, located in the southwest Baltimore County communities of Catonsville and Arbutus. It was founded in 1966 and specializes in the natural sciences and engineering.

Contents

[edit] Academics

UMBC Retrievers Logo
UMBC Retrievers Logo

UMBC offers 37 majors and 32 minors or certificate programs in the physical and biological sciences, social and behavioral sciences, engineering, mathematics, information technology, humanities and visual and performing arts. New degree programs include environmental science, financial economics and a B.F.A. in acting.

UMBC's Graduate School offers 27 master's degree programs, 21 doctoral degree programs and seven graduate certificate programs. Programs are offered in education, engineering, imaging and digital arts, information technology, life sciences, psychology, public policy and a host of other areas of interest. A new gerontology Ph.D. program is one of only six in the United States.

The Carnegie Foundation's new classification of American colleges and universities places UMBC alongside other extensive doctoral/research universities. UMBC is one of only two public universities in Maryland to hold this position, the other being University of Maryland, College Park. Only 152 universities are part of this category nationwide.

In 2007, U.S. News and World Report listed UMBC in "Tier 3" of their annual ranking of National Doctoral Granting Universities. [1]

[edit] Centers, institutes, and laboratories

[edit] Finances and scholarships

UMBC is home to the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, a program focused on the cultivation of underrepresented minority scholarship and awareness in the math, science, and engineering disciplines.

Other scholarship programs include the CWIT Scholars Program, the Humanities Scholars Program, the Linehan Artist Scholars Program, and the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program.

Major businesses in the Baltimore-Washington area recruit using scholarships and internship opportunities.

[edit] Departments

UMBC logo
UMBC logo

[edit] Aging Studies

The Erickson School at UMBC was created with an explicit focus on preparing a community of leaders for the 21 st century in practice and scholarship who will improve society by enhancing the lives of older adults. Created by a $5 million gift from retirement community developer John Erickson, the Erickson School offers both undergraduate and graduate programs, professional certificate programs, executive education programs as well as cutting edge applied research.

[edit] Biological Sciences

The Department of Biological Sciences, one of UMBC's largest academic departments, has 28 tenured and tenure-track faculty members and seven instructors and lecturers. The department encompasses a wide breadth of research and teaching with foci in molecular, cellular and developmental biology; neurobiology; physiology; and evolution, ecology and environmental biology. The department offers a full complement of baccalaureate and graduate programs leading to B.A., B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees, which are recognized widely for their strength because of the emphasis on research, scientific approach, faculty contact, and extensive lab offerings. These programs serve to train a broad spectrum of future biologists and researchers and to prepare students for graduate and professional schools.

[edit] Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

The Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering contains undergraduate programs in Computer Science and Computer Engineering, and graduate programs in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. The department receives a significant portion of the school's research budget and contains a multitude of research laboratories, such as the Maryland Center for Telecommunications Research, Cognition Robotics and Learning Lab, and the UMBC Center for Information Security and Assurance. Joint research efforts include sponsors such as NASA, the NSA, NIST, and both Army and Navy Research Laboratories.

[edit] Computer Engineering

Although relatively new, Computer Engineering is a rapidly growing program with nearly 400 undergraduate majors and a solid core of graduate students. The program recently expanded to contain both a VLSI and communications track. Both tracks provide a combination of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering topics, covering coursework in systems design and integration, software design and testing, and circuit design and analysis. The communications track specializes in topics such as signal processing, modulation, wave transmissions, coding techniques, and mobile phone communications. The VLSI track concentrates on integrated circuit chip design, FPGAs, IC fabrication and testing, and automated circuit synthesis.

[edit] Computer Science

Computer science is one of the largest majors on the campus, and takes the undergraduate through a series of courses starting with basic C programming at the 100 level all the way to theoretical analysis of algorithms at the 400 level. The upper level faculty in this department has generally gotten good ratings from the students, and several undergraduates a year choose to remain with the department for their graduate studies.

[edit] Emergency Health Services

The Department of Emergency Health Services offers a unique perspective for the education of future EMS professionals. This is accomplished by providing a broad liberal-arts and sciences education, which enhances the graduates' employment opportunities as pre-hospital providers and managers. The Department of Emergency Health Services also prepares graduates for advancement to graduate and professional studies. The program is one of only about 14 in the United States to offer a four year bachelors degree in the emergency medical services field.

[edit] Geography & Environmental Systems

The Department of Geography & Environmental Systems currently offers undergraduate degrees in Environmental Science (BS), Physical Geography (BS), Human Geography (BA) and Environmental Studies (BA), and graduate degrees (Ph.D., MS) through the MEES graduate program. Also offered are certificates in GIS and Cartography. The department features labs for teaching and research in Geographic Information Systems, Cartography and Environmental Science.

[edit] Information Systems

Information systems is another important department with large graduate and undergraduate programs. Specializations include human-computer interactions, data and knowledge management, decision support systems, software engineering and management information systems. The department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in Information System, an undergraduate degree in Business Technology Administration and, starting in 2006, MS and PhD degrees in Human Centered Computing.

[edit] Mathematics

The mathematics program at UMBC is almost exclusively focused on applied (as opposed to pure) mathematics, with every full time faculty member working in the former field. Faculty specialties include ordinary and partial differential equations, probability and Markov theory, numerical computation, functional analysis, optimization, and linear algebra. Part time faculty from the nearby National Security Agency also teach courses in pure mathematics including combinatorics, coding theory, algebra, and number theory.

[edit] Physics

The Physics Department at umbc is well known as one of the most rigorous in the university, and is well regarded by graduate schools across the country, consistently sending students to a range of top graduate programs. The department is host to the Joint Center for Astrophysics (JCA) and the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology programs partnered with Nasa Goddard. The department provides many resources to its students including a well supplied computer room, student lounge, physics student staffed and run tutorial center open to all majors, as well as very comprehensive lab classes in Optics, Electronics, and Modern Physics topics. All of this is facilitated by the dedicated physics building, which houses the professor offices and most of the upper level physics classes. The building also boasts a 32 inch roof mounted telescope. The department supports student involvement in The Society of Physics Students

[edit] Political Science

The Department of Political Science offers a wide assortment of classes for students who want to work towards a B.A. or minor in political science. The B.A. program allows students to concentrate on a single or dual concentrations in several subfields such as American government and politics, comparative politics and area studies, international relations/foreign policy, political philosophy, public administration and policy, or public law. In addition, it runs the pre-law program and has guided students who have gone on to law schools such as Yale, the University of Chicago, University of Virginia, Georgetown, and William & Mary.

The department currently has 14 full-time faculty, 2 emeritus faculty, and numerous adjuncts. In addition to academics, the department sponsors several student organizations including the Political Science Council of Majors and the Mock Trial team. The department is housed in the recently built public policy building.

[edit] Psychology

The psychology department is a one of the larger departments on campus with 29 full-time faculty members. The department focuses on preparing students to be proficient in research. Students must take two semesters of experimental psychology, which prepares them for a required independent research project. The department offers programs leading to B.A., B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees.

The department's graduate program offers degrees in applied behavior analysis, applied developmental psychology, and human services psychology. The graduate program also offers concentrations in behavioral medicine, clinical psychology, and community social psychology.

The undergraduate program offers concentrations in personnel and industrial psychology, biopsychology, development psychology, and human-services psychology. Undergraduate students also have the opportunity to earn credit while working in research labs with faculty. After graduating, many students go on to graduate and professionals programs across the country.

[edit] Public Policy

The Department of Public Policy at UMBC offers the M.P.P. (Masters in Public Policy), the Ph.D. degree, and advanced graduate certificates in five policy areas. The Department received national recognition in 2002 when it produced 20 Ph.D.s, making it one of the most active departments in the nation. The mission is to provide quality education for a diverse range of high quality students (both full-time and part-time) with a variety of aspirations and career goals related to public policy. These include: students who have recently completed their undergraduate education and are interested in pursuing careers in policy analysis, management, or research; in-service (mid-career) professionals who want to improve their abilities and qualifications; students who have already completed a master's degree in public policy, public administration, planning, or a related discipline and wish to pursue additional education; and individuals who are interested in teaching or research positions in public policy related fields at academic institutions. The graduate program includes, as an integral part of its operation, the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR), which is also UMBC's premier applied social science research institute. Two Public Policy graduates have received the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) Annual Dissertation Award. Dr. Samuel Brown was the 1998 recipient and Dr. Todd Eberly received the award in 2006. The NASPAA award recognizes significant research by a doctoral candidate in the field of public administration and public affairs.

[edit] Visual Arts

UMBC's Visual Arts program is presented to students as being pre-professional, since this reflects the bias of the student body (and as a consequence, style of education, at least in theory). The Visual Arts major includes a variety of areas of study including Art History & Theory, Graphic Design, Photography, Print Media, Film & Video, Animation, and Interactivity. The department's emphases serve as funnels into particular industries, while the overall education is that of fine arts, including courses in art history, and topics in art or media, which is designed to produce graduates that are educated in fine art, rather than simply possessing a skill set. Prospective students are required to undergo the portfolio review process in order to gain formal acceptance into the department and its resources. The Visual Arts program is a growing major at UMBC. Despite the apparent lack of resources and funding, the Visual Arts is poised to take recognition at a school that has historically been known as a school for sciences.

[edit] Notable buildings

[edit] Public Policy Building

Completed in 2003 at an estimated cost of $18,700,000, the Public Policy Building houses the Shriver Center and related departments.

[edit] The Hillcrest Building

Built in 1921 and completed in 1922, it was designed specifically for the containment and rehabilitation of criminally insane patients, and one of the first of its kind. After several decades of use, the building eventually became outdated and unable to compete with newer facilities in the area. In 1965 the land UMBC currently occupies was sold to its proprietors, which included the Hillcrest Building. In this period it functioned as an administration building, with rooms for student organizations and clubs and housed the Residential Life office. The basement of the building was renovated into a club known as "The Rattskeller". The building hasn't been used by the university since 2000, and future plans to demolish it have been announced. Some students have taken an interest in trying to preserve the building on the grounds of its historical significance.

The building is located between the West Hill and Terrace Apartment complexes surrounded by trees and visible from various parts of the loop.

Trevor Blank, a graduate student at UMBC, has led a historic preservation effort[2] to save administrative efforts to raze the structure. He is the foremost authority on the history of the Hillcrest Building and is currently beginning work on a publication detailing Hillcrest's past.

[edit] The Commons

The Commons, which opened in January 2002, is the hub of student life on campus. It consists of multiple dining opportunities, the campus bookstore, Off-campus Student Services, the Women’s Center, various student lounges, meeting rooms, administrative offices, as well as office space for many of the 180-plus UMBC student organizations, including the Graduate Student Association. Occupying more than 144,000 square feet, The Commons is "high-tech" with wireless computer technology and information displays. Architecturally, the facility is transparent with a multitude of glass windows that provide an appealing environment for the many social activities taking place therein.

[edit] Lecture halls

  • Lecture Hall I
    • Located between the Biology Building and the Commons (may be accessed through the basement of the Biology Building in addition to two dedicated entrances )
  • Lecture Hall II
    • Located in the Chemistry Building
    • The largest lecture hall on campus with a capacity of 340 students
  • Lecture Hall III
    • Located on the first floor of the Administration Building
  • Lecture Hall IV
    • Located on the ground level of ACIV (Academic Four)
  • Lecture Hall V
    • Located on the ground level of the Engineering Building
  • Lecture Hall VI
    • Located on the first floor of the Physics Building
  • Lecture Hall VII
    • Located on the first floor of the ITE (Information Technology and Engineering) Building
  • Lecture Hall VIII
    • Located on the first floor of the ITE (Information Technology and Engineering) Building
  • Lecture Hall IX
    • Located on the first floor of the Public Policy Building

[edit] Other locations

[edit] Drainage tunnels

A system of drainage tunnels lies underneath the campus at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Unknown to most of the student body, it is most accessible through a sizeable entrance near the Commons Garage and the Grassy Knoll. It traverses through much of the campus, the main shaft ending at the artificial pond near the Albin O. Kuhn Library. Multiple secondary tunnels deviate from the main tunnel, branching off towards the Biology and the Public Policy Buildings. Many students and fraternities have explored and made their mark (often with graffiti) within the system, often with offensive and racist remarks. The condition of the tunnel system is not satisfactory for exploration by the public, so caution should be taken if entered, both in safety and being aware of possible repercussions from the campus authorities.

[edit] Steam tunnels

The steam tunnels are a series of maintenance tunnels that connect almost all major buildings on campus. The main tunnel runs directly under the "main concourse" that leads from the library to the administration building, and is about 1/2 a mile in length. They carry all heating, water, electrical, and data lines within them. They are only accessible from secured entrances within the buildings themselves.

[edit] Grassy knoll

The "Grassy Knoll" is a landmark in a somewhat hidden clearing in the woods between the Administration Drive and the Commons Garage. It is accessible via a path near the drainage tunnel.

[edit] Pig Pen Pond

Located on the south end of campus, Pig Pen Pond is one of the few remaining elements of the farmland upon which UMBC was built. It is home to much wildlife, including the Baltimore oriole.

[edit] Notable professors

[edit] Aging Studies

  • Dr. William H. Thomas - International authority on geriatric medicine and eldercare, founder of The Eden Alternative and author of "What Are Old People For?"

[edit] Political Science

  • Nabil Mikhail - Expert in the field of Middle Eastern Relations.
  • Thomas Schaller - Talk show host, political commentator, and author of "Whistling Past Dixie".
  • Geoffrey Vaughan - Expert in the field of political philosophy with a focus on Thomas Hobbes.
  • Devin Hagerty - Expert in Asia-Pacific politics, with special emphasis in the south Asian region.
  • Pete Melcavage

[edit] Gender and Women's Studies

  • Jodi Kelber-Kaye - Cultural studies, feminist and queer theories, film and media studies, critical race theory, eugenics, reproduction and reproductive technologies.
  • Carole McCann - Reproductive politics, cultural politics of gender, sexuality, race and science, U.S. women's history.
  • Anne Brodsky, Director - Girls', women's risk and resilience in community context, qualitative methods.

[edit] American Studies

  • Jason Loviglio - History of radio in the US, media studies, cultural history, diversity in the US.

[edit] Philosophy

[edit] Physics

  • Terrence Worcheski

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] Campus life

Approximately 75% of freshman students live on campus. With the completion of Erickson Hall, Harbor Hall, and the Walker Avenue Apartments, UMBC is making the transition from a commuter school to a residential school. As more students move onto campus, organization such as the Resident Student Association (RSA) and Student Events Board (SEB) are continually creating more activities for students to become involved in. In addition to events created and sponsored by the University, hundreds of university-sanctioned clubs and organizations are present on campus to build a sense of community. These clubs and organizations range from Greek life to academic and cultural clubs, to activity-based clubs including sky diving, sailing, tennis, rugby, and the martial arts. The school is known for the ethnically diverse student body and remains in the top 20 most diverse schools in the country.[citation needed]

[edit] Clubs, organizations, and events

Main article: University of Maryland Baltimore County student organizations

[edit] Athletics

Main article: UMBC Retrievers

[edit] External links


University System of Maryland
State universities: Bowie • Coppin • Frostburg • Salisbury • Towson • Baltimore
University of Maryland: Baltimore • Baltimore County • College Park • Eastern Shore • University College
Joint campuses: USM at Hagerstown • Universities at Shady Grove
Research centers: Biotechnology Institute • Center for Environmental Science
America East Conference
Albany • Binghamton • Boston University • Hartford • Maine • New Hampshire • Stony Brook • UMBC • Vermont
Associate Member: Fairfield (field hockey)
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