The University of Maryland Baltimore County (also known as UMBC) is part of the University System of Maryland and located in southern Baltimore County, Maryland near the towns 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 universities in Maryland to hold this position, the other being University of Maryland, College Park. Only 152 universities are part of this category nationwide.
Finances and scholarships
UMBC also is home to the Meyerhoff Scholars Program , which is designed to assist gifted minority students, especially African Americans, in establishing science careers. Alongside the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, there are several other scholars programs including the CWIT Scholars Program, the Humanities Scholars Program, the Linehan Artist Scholars Program, and the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program.
UMBC also has connections with several major businesses in the area such as Northrop Grumman, who provide scholarships and attempt to recruit UMBC students for 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.
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 27 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 pofessional 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.
Campus life
The majority of students at UMBC commute to school, leading to what some perceive as the ambiance and feel of a community college, but with considerably better faculty. Hundreds of university-sanctioned clubs and organizations are present on campus to build a sense of community, but the campus has traditionally suffered on the weekends for lack of activities. The ethnically diverse student body has been criticized by some as being somewhat pedestrian. However, it offers an opportunity for cross-cultural enrichment which some say tends to be ignored by self-segregating groups of students of all ethnicities.
Clubs and organizations
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
Last updated: 05-21-2005 01:58:25
