Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, UMBC's current president, took the helm after the departure of President Michael Hooker in 1992. Hrabowski has had particular success in improving achievement in higher education for minorities in STEM programs. In 1988,…
During Dorsey's nine years of leadership, he focused on restructuring administration and academics while enhancing the university's profile. SAT scores of incoming freshmen increased by nearly 100 points, and the student body increased from 5,200 to…
During Dorsey's nine years of leadership, he focused on restructuring administration and academics while enhancing the university's profile. SAT scores of incoming freshmen increased by nearly 100 points, and the student body increased from 5,200 to…
Many considered John Dorsey to be a quiet administrator who [worked] mostly behind the scenes," as the Baltimore Sun once said of UMBC's chancellor from 1977 to 1985. Dorsey was a native Marylander born and raised in Washington County. He received…
UMBC's second president was Calvin B.T. Lee. Son of a Chinese-American family, he was a graduate of New York University Law School (Doctor of the Science of Law). He practiced law for several years, worked for the U. S. Department of Education, and…
In 1988, Governor William Donald Schaefer signed a bill that would completely change the way Maryland divided the state’s academic budget and programs. The newly created University System of Maryland (USM) would bring together the five University of…
When UMBC opened, just a handful of buildings on an old farm, 30 miles from College Park and 8 miles from the downtown professional schools, the new faculty and first classes of students reported a sense of excitement at the possibility of the new…
The President's Convocation on September 19, 1991 celebrated the university's 25th anniversary. The gathering featured speeches from special guests such as former chancellors Albin O. Kuhn and John Dorsey. Maryland State Comptroller Louis Goldstein…
Michael Kenneth Hooker (1945-1999) followed John Dorsey as chancellor of the university in 1986. Hooker looked forward to the challenge UMBC presented as it did not yet have a widely-recognized reputation or competitive status. Although Hooker earned…
All institutions of higher education seek to preserve the past. We are citadels of learning, guardians of culture. We recognize that the past is prologue, and know that those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it. But progressive…