The Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, comprised of faculty, associate and classified staff, and student volunteers was formed in order to advise Chancellor Hooker and the Director Human Relations on matters and issues related to implementation…
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…
Conflicting opinions about the naming scheme of UMBC’s buildings, and Academic IV in particular, motivated the formation of a committee to propose a formal process by which names could be approved. The report of the committee was sent to the UMBC…
Albin Owings Kuhn (1916-2010) was UMBC's first president (then called chancellor). He began his career in higher education at the University of Maryland, College Park; after completing his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees there, he served…
Not all of the land on which the new campus was going to be built was already owned by the state. One parcel was owned by the Stabler Family, 13 acres along Walker Avenue approximately where the Library & Gallery is now situated. The State acquired…
After a long process, with many different opinions expressed, the Board of Regents finally approved plans to build a University of Maryland branch on a 425 acre tract of mostly State-owned land near Catonsville in Baltimore County. An article in The…
The Fine Arts Building was originally intended to house a television studio, as well as the Departments of Music, Dance, Theatre, and Visual Arts. Eventually English, Philosophy, Ancient Studies, and American Studies were located there. When the…
One thousand students packed into the quad Monday, chanting slogans, waving placards, and cheering speakers in the largest mass meeting in UMBC's recent history. The rally followed reports in the Sunpapers, News American, and the Washington Star of a…
The African-American Studies Department planning committee meeting in 1973 included Dr. Daphne Harrison (second from left). After Dr. Njaka stepped down, Dr. Harrison served as Acting Director of the department; a search was instituted that resulted…
UMBC's fascination with chess began early in the campus history. A query was sent to The Retriever in October 1967 asking What can be done about organizing a chess club at UMBC?" By 1968, an intramural chess tournament was hosted by the Chess Club…