1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997
1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002

In the last 10 years, UMBC has experienced unprecedented growth and success--new buildings, new academic programs, honors to our faculty, alumni and students, rising SAT scores and enrollments and huge leaps in research funding--not to mention victories on the chessboard and on the playing field. Here are just some of the highlights.

Freeman Hrabowski becomes UMBC's fifth president, succeeding Michael Hooker.

With more than 1,500 students graduating each May, Commencement has outgrown the Fieldhouse and moves to the Baltimore Arena.

A $26-million Engineering and Computer Science Building opens as enrollments in technology-oriented disciplines increase.

Potomac Hall opens, bringing the resident student population to 2,200.

Reaffirming a commitment to the liberal arts and its importance in today's society, UMBC launches the Humanities Scholars Program.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching honors ancient studies professor Jay Freyman as Maryland Professor of the Year.

The first class of Meyerhoff Scholars--20 young men--graduates. Today there are more than 300 Meyerhoff Program graduates.

Senior Loren Siebert is UMBC's first Marshall Scholar, going on to earn graduate degrees in computer science and business administration and starting an Internet software company.

The Shriver Center, named in honor of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her husband Sargent Shriver, officially opens, affirming UMBC's commitment to public service.

Biochemist Michael Summers, researching the HIV virus, becomes the only Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at a public university in Maryland.

Physicist L. Michael Hayden is one of only 17 young scientists nationwide to receive a Cottrell Scholar Award for his teaching and research.

Diplomatic historian Warren Cohen is named the first scholar-in-residence at the U.S. State Department.

MindFest and the grand opening of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery's new seven-story addition draw thousands of visitors to campus in a celebration of learning and the joy of discovery.

UMBC welcomes the first class of Linehan Artist Scholars, a competitive scholarship program that complements UMBC's Humanities and Meyerhoff Scholars programs.

Champions of chess! UMBC defeats Harvard and wins its first Pan-American Team Chess Championship title.

The techcenter@UMBC is a magnet for high-technology business development. Its specialized environment and services provide start-up and growing technology businesses with a competitive edge.

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's most prestigious scholarly honor society, admits UMBC as a new member, a validation of the university's excellence in the liberal arts.

UMBC launches its first-ever fundraising campaign to build endowment support for student scholarships, faculty research, endowed professorships, faculty and staff development and other programmatic initiatives.

Intellectual sports win big: The chess team reclaims its position as the top team in college chess and the Model United Nations and Quiz Bowl teams win national tournaments.

Just a year after moving to the NCAA Northeast Conference, UMBC captures the NEC's top prize, the Commissioner's Cup, awarded annually to the school that performs best in the league's 21 championship sports.

UMBC launches the Public Affairs Scholars Program, attracting students planning to pursue careers in government and public service.

UMBC's Shriver Center earns kudos from The Templeton Guide: Colleges That Encourage Character Development as "the prototype for urban education in the 21st century."

The $22-million Physics Building opens, with a domed roof housing a Cassegrain telescope for use by UMBC's Atmospheric Spectroscopy Laboratory and the Joint Center for Astrophysics.

The Retriever Activities Center ("The RAC"), an addition to UMBC's field house opens and features a gym, weight room, aerobics studio, offices and classrooms.

Through an innovative partnership with the Erickson Foundation, UMBC is able to build new campus residences. Erickson Hall, named in honor of philanthropists John and Nancy Erickson, opens, housing 520 students.

The Carnegie Foundation ranks UMBC in the top tier of America's research universities. Of the nearly 4,000 colleges and universities nationwide, UMBC is one of only 152--the top 3.8 percent--to be included in this elite category.

UMBC receives the largest research contract in its history, a $70-million, five-year cooperative agreement with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop the Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center at UMBC.

President Hrabowski is awarded the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education, honoring extraordinary commitment to education, and is inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an elite scholarly society with origins dating back to the American Revolution.

The first e-Lincoln Prize for Civil War research goes to UMBC assistant professor of history Anne Rubin for Valley of the Shadow: The Eve of War, an innovative website created during Rubin's graduate studies at the University of Virginia.

Kaplan/Newsweek selects UMBC as a "Hot School" for its academic prowess, affordability, location and growing popularity.

UMBC moves up nearly 50 places in the National Science Foundation's rankings for federally funded research in science and engineering, from 200 in 1996 to 153 in 2000.

Champions again...UMBC athletes win their fourth consecutive Commissioner's Cup.

The opening of Harbor Hall, a 500-bed complex constructed with support from the Erickson Foundation, brings UMBC's resident student population to a new high--and 75% of the freshman class now lives on campus.

The Commons, a $32-million state-of-the-art facility with everything from a gameroom to a late-night cabaret, is the new center of student life and campus and a lively gathering place that draws students on evenings and weekends.

The RWD Applied Technology Lab opens its doors--the first building at bwtech@UMBC the university's research and technology park.

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