University of Maryland, College Park

Introduction

The University of Maryland, College Park, the state’s flagship university, is committed to reimagining teaching and learning, advancing the public good, investing in people and communities, and taking on humanity’s grand challenges. As the only public research university inside Washington, D.C.’s Beltway, UMD gives students unparalleled opportunities inside the classroom and beyond the campus. UMD students can intern or conduct research at nearby federal agencies, labs and cultural centers such as NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Smithsonian Institution. The forthcoming Purple Line mass transit system, with five stops on or around campus, will further connect UMD to all the region has to offer. The light-rail line will also expand the success of the Greater College Park initiative, a $2 billion public-private investment to revitalize the community around the university, develop a robust Discovery District and create one of the nation’s best college towns. Undergraduates at Maryland can select from nearly 280 academic programs or create their own major. UMD also provides more than 25 living-learning environments, which attract half of all first-year students. Among them, the Honors College challenges the most talented students in small seminars, while the highly regarded College Park Scholars program engages students and faculty in enriching learning opportunities beyond the classroom around a variety of topics. Maryland prepares students for civic engagement and impact through more than 400 study abroad programs. As the nation’s first Do Good campus, UMD offers unique and ambitious courses, fellowships, certificate programs and coaching to support social entrepreneurship and students looking to make an impact across the globe. The University of Maryland fosters an inclusive environment where all 50,000 members of our community know that they belong and are empowered to reach their full potential, a vision known as TerrapinSTRONG. It includes an onboarding program for all students and employees that celebrates diversity and promotes connection on campus. The university is also investing $40 million in recruiting and retaining faculty who have been historically underrepresented in their fields, and building cultural spaces and naming buildings for those who opened doors and broke barriers. In addition, the new Arts for All initiative aims to ensure equitable access to the arts and leverages the power of the arts, technology and social justice to address the grand challenges of our time, including racism, climate change, the refugee crisis and threats to democracy. UMD’s faculty includes two Nobel laureates, six Pulitzer Prize winners and 61 members of the national academies, who provide leadership in pivotal fields such as quantum science, climate change and national security. Collaborations with the University of Maryland, Baltimore through a strategic partnership called Mpowering the State also boost educational opportunities, research and combined degree programs.