University System of Maryland

History

The system had its roots in 1963 when the Maryland General Assembly created the Board of Trustees of the State Colleges to assume control of five former state teachers colleges: Bowie State, Coppin State, Frostburg State, Salisbury State, and Towson State. Each campus had its own administrator. In 1970, the Maryland General Assembly established a five-campus University of Maryland network comprising the University of Maryland at Baltimore, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and the University of Maryland University College and was administered by former University of Maryland, College Park president Wilson Homer Elkins. Each member school was in turn administered by its own chancellor.

In 1975, the University of Baltimore joined the Board of Trustees of the State Colleges System as an upper-division institution.

In 1976, the Maryland General Assembly changed the name of the Board of Trustees of the State Colleges System to the State University and College System of Maryland.

In 1985, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute was established.

In 1988, the current System was created from the merger of the five University of Maryland institutions and the six members of the State University and College System of Maryland under the name University of Maryland System. In 1997, its name was changed to the University System of Maryland. In 1999, the Maryland General Assembly transformed the system to the charter model. The system headquarters are in unincorporated Adelphi in Prince George's County.

The merger creating the University System of Maryland was directed by Governor William Donald Schaefer and was overseen by University of Maryland President John S. Toll, who then became the system's first Chancellor. The Chancellor from August 2002 through June 2015 was William Kirwan. Chancellor Kirwan announced on May 13, 2014 that he would step down from his position upon the appointment and start date of his successor. Kirwan remained chancellor through June 30, 2015. His successor, Robert L. Caret, who was University of Massachusetts System President and had served as president of Towson University, began his service as chancellor on July 1, 2015. His appointment was announced on Dec. 17, 2014.

Mission

″The mission of the University System of Maryland is to improve the quality of life for the people of Maryland by providing a comprehensive range of high quality, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities; engaging in research and scholarship that expand the boundaries of current knowledge; and providing knowledge-based programs and services that are responsive to the needs of the citizens of the state and the nation.″

Satellite campuses

Centers

Relationships with other schools

When USM was originally formed in 1988, Maryland's other two state-funded (i.e., public) 4-year institutions (Baltimore's Morgan State University and Southern Maryland's St. Mary's College of Maryland) opted out of the system and made separate funding arrangements with the state.

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, although state-supported, remained outside the system because of its unique status as an institution jointly funded by Maryland and Virginia. It is a constituent of both the College Park campus and Virginia Tech, with its main campus at Virginia Tech.

The USM institutions with the words "University of Maryland" in their names are independently chartered institutions, and are not satellite campuses of the University of Maryland, College Park.