University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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

Academics

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.

Centers, Institutes, and Laboratories

• Bioinformatics Research Center
• Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research
• Center for Health Program Development and Management
• Center for History Education
• Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
• Center for Women and Information Technology
• Center on Research and Teaching in Social Work
• Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UMBC
• Imaging Research Center
• Institute for Global Electronic Commerce
• Interactive Systems Research Center
• Joint Center for Astrophysics
• Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
• Laboratory for Healthcare Informatics
• Maryland Center for Telecommunications Research
• Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research

Finances and scholarships

UMBC is home to the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. This program assists gifted minority students, especially African Americans, in establishing science careers.

Other scholars 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 area recruit using scholarships and internship opportunities.

Departments

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.

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.

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.

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.

Political Science

The political science department offers a wide assortment of classes for students seeking to study the field of political science. The program allows students to acquire a single subfield or dual subfield concentration in American government and politics, comparative politics and area studies, international relations/foreign policy, political philosophy, public administration and policy, or public law.

Art

UMBC's art 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). Sub-programs of 'graphic design,' 'film/video,' and 'imaging and digital arts' seem to serve as funnels into industry, while a fourth sub-program called 'new genre' exists as a nod in the direction of a classically free-form fine arts department, independent of vocational considerations. Despite the administration's presentation of the UMBC art program as being industry-centered, in fact the faculty is of a classical fine arts ilk, and encourages students to approach their work as artists as opposed to industry workers, with limited success. The conflict between fine art-oriented faculty and trade school-oriented students is a very real one, and is especially problematic in that these fine arts professors' salaries are being paid by the tuition of students who are essentially seeking a state-subsidized ticket into the design, film, or computer graphics industries.

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.

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 Servies 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.

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.

Notable Buildings

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.

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 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.

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

Drainage Tunnels

File:UMBC drainage tunnel 01.jpg

The enterance to the drainage tunnel system.

File:UMBC drainage tunnel 02.jpg

Inside the 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 lake near the Albin O. Kuhn Library. Multiple secondary tunnels deviate from the main tunnel, branching off towards points scattered about the campus. 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.

Other locations

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.

Steam Tunnels

The steam tunnels are a series of maintenance tunnels that connect most of the major buildings on campus. The main tunnel runs directly under the "main concourse" that leads from the library to the administration building, and is only accessible from secured entrances within the buildings themselves.

Students are restricted from access in these tunnels. Making entrace to the tunnels is at the students' risk and may result in disciplinary action.

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 sponsered 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, and the martial arts. The school is known for the ethnically diverse student body and remains in the top 5 most diverse schools in the country.

Clubs, Organizations, and Events

UMBC Chess

As a self-proclaimed honors university, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the chess team, which has won several Panamerican championships against ivy-league competitors including Harvard. However, the chess team is also largely comprised of students over the usual college age who have been specifically invited to the University on scholarships to play on the chess team (one of them is 42). UMBC is one of two schools in the United States to offer major scholarships for chess proficiency.

Quadmania

Every spring, UMBC holds this festival comprised of outdoor music performances, activity booths, and an outdoor carnival atmosphere.

External links

• University of Maryland Baltimore County
• Meyerhoff Scholars Program - Official Site
• UMBC Chess Age Debate
• Report on the Hillcrest Building by Trevor Blank