The
University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is located in the unincorporated community of
AdelphiAdelphi is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 14,998 at the 2000 census...
in
Prince George's CountyPrince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
,
MarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Serving over 90,000 students worldwide, UMUC is the largest 4-year public university in Maryland and one of the largest distance learning universities. The university offers 120 academic programs in instructor-led and online classes, including bachelor, masters, and doctoral degrees as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates. UMUC is a member of the
University System of MarylandThe University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...
, which includes eleven separate public universities in Maryland.
History
UMUC is an outgrowth of the
University of MarylandThe University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
's evening program for adults that began in the 1920s. In 1947, the College of Special and Continuation Studies (CSCS) was established. In 1959, The CSCS became the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). In 1970, UMUC became an independent institution, and it became a member of the
University System of MarylandThe University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...
in 1988.
UMUC formerly had an international campus in
Schwäbisch GmündSchwäbisch Gmünd is a town in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 62,000, the town is the second largest in the Ostalbkreis and the whole region of East Württemberg after Aalen...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(near
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
) until 2001. It also ran a 2-year
residential campus in
MunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany from 1950 to 1992, which then moved to
AugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Germany from 1993 to 1994, and then to
MannheimMannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, Germany in 1995 until it finally closed in 2005. The residential campus offered a two-year Associates degree and mainly served high school graduate children of U.S. military and government personnel stationed in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
UMUC offers courses on over 130 military installations at locations throughout Europe and the Middle East, as well as in Asia. In 2004, UMUC shared the ICDE Prize of Excellence from the International Council for Open and Distance Education. In FY 2007, UMUC offered onsite classes in 22 countries throughout the world, enrolling 16,908 and 21,554 individual students, respectively, through its Asia and Europe divisions, including the Middle East.
University name
UMUC is a
collegeA college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
in the traditional American sense of the word, albeit one associated with a
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
—hence, "University College." The "University of Maryland" prefix indicates the historical entity to which the college belonged originally. In the university's name, "University College" represents "the specialized concentration on professional development," while "University of Maryland" represents the affiliation of the university with the
University System of MarylandThe University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...
. To American ears, the words "university" and "college" may sound synonymous, and "University College" would be redundant in its name. Among the collegiate universities of Europe, however, the practice of giving one college in the university the name "University College" is not uncommon. In England, for example, one of the 39 colleges of the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
is called
University College.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
.
When UMUC first opened in 1947, the school was named College of Special and Continuation Studies to distinguish it as an institution independent from the
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
. In 1953, Raymond Ehrensberger, chancellor of the institution at that time, wanted to change the name to something more meaningful and less cumbersome for people to say and remember. Early suggestions for the name included College of General Studies, College of Adult Education and University College.
In 1959, Chancellor Ehrensberger persuaded the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents to change the name to University of Maryland University College. The name "University College" was adopted from the British university system to depict an educational institution offering "courses and programs from all academic departments outside the university's walls and normal class times." Therefore, UMUC is not a division of the University of Maryland, College Park, but rather a separate institution within the University System of Maryland.
Academic and degree programs
UMUC is one of the largest public providers of distance education in the United States. Courses are delivered in traditional classroom settings, as well as online. Even before the advent of online education by way of the Internet, UMUC was a
distance educationDistance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
pioneer and offered distance learning using its WebTycho interface by way of
dial-up accessDial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network to establish a dialled connection to an Internet service provider via telephone lines...
. UMUC later adopted the use of the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for connectivity to its online classrooms, as well as using television and correspondence courses to deliver course content.
Colleges and schools
- School of Undergraduate Studies
- Graduate School of Management & Technology
Undergraduate
The School of Undergraduate Studies offers 32
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
programs and 48 undergraduate certificates, which are awarded in business management, computers/information technology, communications, criminal justice/legal studies, and social sciences. Undergraduate students can earn credit through classroom-based and online courses or through the Cooperative Education and Prior Learning programs. The Undergraduate program serves as a continuation of the Community Colleges of Maryland and elsewhere. The Cooperative Education and Prior Learning programs offer an escalated degree option for education and training completed in the workplace or military. This program provides general education credits that can be applied towards a degree at UMUC.
Graduate
The Graduate School of Management & Technology offers 18
master's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
programs, 38 graduate certificates, and a
Doctor of ManagementDoctor of Management is an academic degree awarded on the basis of advanced study and research in management.The D.M. degree is awarded by some American and international universities, and is similar to a PhD degree in management and business-related sciences...
. Most graduate programs are available in both classroom and online formats. Several master's degrees are available in an accelerated Executive format.
Downrange Locations
UMUC offers face-to-face courses and support in both Afghanistan and Iraq. UMUC deploys both faculty members and staff members to bases throughout Afghanistan and Iraq to support the war-fighters on those bases. UMUC has accompanied the war-fighters in downrange locations since the Army gave them clearance in 2005.
Afghanistan
Currently, UMUC offers courses and services at the four main Army Education Centers, located in Bagram Air Field, Kabul (Camp Phoenix), Salerno and Kandahar. Bagram Air Field is the largest site in Afghanistan, with about 275 active enrollments each session, and up to twenty face-to-face courses. All four sites have collegiate professors and Field Representatives stationed on them to assist soldiers, airmen, Marines, and sailors with UMUC's programs and courses.
Field Representatives, commonly referred to as Field Reps, deploy with faculty members to help promote and facilitate UMUC's program at each site. Field Reps assist students with enrollment, tuition assistance, and textbook sales, as well as guidance and assistance with academic goals and careers. The Field Rep is also responsible for the local program, to include marketing and maintaining relationships with military personnel.
Faculty members assigned to a downrange location teach servicemembers wherever they may be. Classroom space is limited in Afghanistan, and faculty members teach their classes anywhere they can, to include hangars, unit conference rooms, dining facilities, even chapels and picnic benches. Faculty members, known and referred to as instructors, also assist the Field Rep located where they are in assisting students and promoting classes and programs.
Iraq
UMUC has recently made an entrance into the Iraq Theater of Operations. Field Reps Stacey Tate and Danny Powers and Faculty have traveled from Germany to Baghdad and Balad to offer classes to servicemembers stationed in and around Baghdad. November 2008 marked the beginning of UMUC's support in Iraq, with classes that started in December 2008.
Headquarters/main campus
The headquarters for UMUC is located in
AdelphiAdelphi is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 14,998 at the 2000 census...
,
MarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
near the campus of the
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
. Until late 2000, UMUC's headquarters was listed in
College ParkCollege Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, USA. The population was 30,413 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the home of the University of Maryland, College Park, and since 1994 the city has also been home to the "Archives II" facility of the U.S...
, Maryland. In an attempt to establish its own identity as an independent university and move away from the common notion of serving as the "Night School" for non-traditional students, UMUC changed its postal address to
AdelphiAdelphi is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 14,998 at the 2000 census...
, Maryland, an unincorporated community that borders College Park. The address change with the U.S. Postal Service involved no physical move of people and facilities. The marketing decision to change its postal address was one of many undertaken by UMUC to distinguish the university as one of the largest distance-education centers, with over 80,000 students enrolled worldwide.
Academic buildings
- Academic Center at Largo
- Student & Faculty Services Center (SFSC) (Headquarters)
- Inn & Conference Center (ICC)
UMUC purchased for $38 million its new headquarters building in Largo, Maryland, which was once the headquarters site for
HechingerHechinger, mistakenly called Hechinger's by many customers was a chain of home improvement retail stores headquartered in Landover, Maryland outside Washington, D.C., and an online retailer owned by Home Decor Products.John Hechinger, Sr...
and corporate offices of
RaytheonRaytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
. UMUC retrofitted its new headquarters to meet
"green" buildingGreen building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
requirements for
LEEDSLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
certification. UMUC followed the same process as it did to achieve LEEDS certification in 2005 for its Inn & Conference Center, which became the first hotel complex in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to achieve certification as a green building.
UMUC began relocating its academic departments and offices to its new Academic Center at Largo in September 2009, and completed the process in 2010. UMUC began offering on campus classes at its new Academic Center in the Spring 2010 semester.
Satellite campuses
UMUC operates
satellite campusA satellite campus or branch campus is a campus of a college or university that is physically detached from the main university or college area, and is often smaller than the main campus of an institution....
es across the
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan AreaThe Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...
, throughout Maryland, as well as in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area
In the greater
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan AreaThe Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...
, daytime, evening and weekend classes are held at 21 locations, including holding many of its classes at the
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
. The satellite campuses offer varying academic services, including advising, computing, and library facilities (extensive library services are available to distance education students via the University's
Information and Library Services department).
UMUC operates a facility in
Dorsey, MarylandDorsey, Maryland, is a locality in eastern Howard County, Maryland, south of Elkridge, north of Savage, and close to the Anne Arundel County border and Baltimore-Washington International Airport...
adjacent to the Dorsey
MARC TrainMARC , known prior to 1984 as Maryland Rail Commuter Service, is a regional rail system comprising three lines in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration , a Maryland Department of Transportation agency, and is operated under contract...
Station. In partnership with Maryland community colleges and other
University System of MarylandThe University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...
institutions, UMUC offers courses and degree programs at several higher education centers throughout the state. In conjunction with the
College of Southern MarylandThe College of Southern Maryland in La Plata, Maryland, is a public, regional community college, serving Southern Maryland Charles County, St. Mary's County, and Calvert County.-History:...
, it operates the Waldorf Center for Higher Education in
WaldorfWaldorf, Maryland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is south-southeast of Washington, D.C. The population of the census-designated area only was 67,752 at the 2010 census...
, Maryland. A consortium of universities led by
Anne Arundel Community CollegeAnne Arundel Community College, founded in 1961, is located in Arnold, Maryland. The college was named "Community College of the Year" by National Business Alliance in 2000. AACC has also received many other in recent years...
, including UMUC, operates a higher education center adjacent to Arundel Mills mall in
Hanover, MarylandHanover, Maryland is a locality in unincorporated northwestern Anne Arundel County, Maryland in the United States, located south of Baltimore near the Howard County line....
. In addition, the University offers courses at the
Universities at Shady GroveEstablished in fall 2000, the Universities at Shady Grove is a facility located in Rockville, Maryland, United States, that offers career-oriented higher education courses to residents of Montgomery County, Maryland and its surrounding region...
and
University System of Maryland at HagerstownEstablished in January 2005, the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown is a facility located in Hagerstown, Maryland that offers upper-level undergraduate and graduate programs to residents of Hagerstown and its surrounding region....
, which are part of the
University System of MarylandThe University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...
.
Global locations
In
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, UMUC offers courses on military bases for service members, contractors, Federal employees, and their families. In addition to distance learning via the Web, the university offers on-site, instructor-led classes at 130 overseas US military bases in 22 countries throughout the world. Overseas instruction is coordinated through its
European, which covers USCENTCOM installations in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and
Asian Divisions. UMUC divisional headquarters are located in Heidelberg, Germany near
United States Army Garrison HeidelbergThe ' is made up of a number of United States military installations in and around Heidelberg, Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, plus Germersheim Depot in the neighboring German state of The ' is made up of a number of United States military installations in and around Heidelberg,...
and on
Yokota Air Base, is a United States Air Force base in the city of Fussa, one of 26 cities in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo.The base houses 14,000 personnel. The base occupies a total area of and has a runway...
, Tokyo, Japan, respectively.
Student profile
UMUC specializes in distance learning for adult, non-traditional students in Maryland, across the country, and around the world by operating
satellite campusA satellite campus or branch campus is a campus of a college or university that is physically detached from the main university or college area, and is often smaller than the main campus of an institution....
es and offering online instruction. The university educates 50,000 active-duty service members at over 130 military installations. In FY 2009, more than 30,000
MarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
ers attended UMUC. The
USMThe University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...
Board of Regents predicts UMUC's enrollment will increase 48% by 2018.
About three quarters of the undergraduate students attend part-time. Over ninety-two percent of UMUC students are employed full-time. The majority of undergraduate students are female. The median age of stateside undergraduate students is 31. Almost two-thirds of the graduate MBA students are married, half are female, and over a third are minorities. Over a third of UMUC's stateside students were African-American, and this minority group earned over a third of the degrees awarded by the university.
Awards
In 2011, UMUC received the Institution Award from the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME), a not-for-profit organization founded to promote, encourage and deliver quality education to servicemembers and their families in all branches of the U.S. armed services. The Institution Award is given to a college or university that supplies quality education programs to the armed services. CCME selected UMUC due to its dedication, leadership and numerous accomplishments in providing quality, voluntary off-duty education programs.
Academia
Arts and entertainment
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Government and public policy
Literature
Sports
Notable students
Notable faculty
External links