University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, approximately 4 miles  from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the university is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland. With a fall 2010 enrollment of more than 37,000 students, over 100 undergraduate majors, and 120 graduate programs, Maryland is the largest university in the state and the largest in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It is a member of the Association of American Universities and competes in athletics as a member of the Big Ten Conference.The University of Maryland's proximity to the nation's capital has resulted in research partnerships with the Federal government. Members of the faculty receive research funding and institutional support from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administrate the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Homeland Security.On March 6, 1856, the forerunner of today's University of Maryland was chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College. Two years later, Charles Benedict Calvert, a future U.S. Congressman, purchased 420 acres  of the River dale Plantation in College Park. Calvert founded the school later that year. On October 5, 1859, the first 34 students entered the Maryland Agricultural College. The school became a land grant college in February 1864.The state took control of the school in 1916, and the institution was renamed Maryland State College. That year, the first female students enrolled at the school. On April 9, 1920, the college became part of the existing University of Maryland, replacing St. John's College, Annapolis as the University's undergraduate campus. In the same year, the graduate school on the College Park campus awarded its first PhD degrees and the university's enrollment reached 500 students. In 1925 the university was accredited by the Association of American Universities.By the time the first black students enrolled at the university in 1951, enrollment had grown to nearly 10,000 students  4,000 of whom were women. Prior to 1951, many black students in Maryland were enrolled at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.In 1957 President Wilson H. Eakins made a push to increase academic standards at the University. His efforts resulted in the creation of one of the first Academic Probation Plans. The first year the plan went into effect, 1,550 students 18% of the total student body faced expulsion.The campus of the university is noted for its red-brick Georgian buildings and its large central lawn, named McKenzie Mall.White columns decorate many buildings, with around 770 columns existing on campus. Spanning the university's 1,250 acres  are 7,500 documented trees and garden plantings, leading the American Public Gardens Association to designate the campus the University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden in 2008. The designation has allowed the university to showcase species and gardens, including native plantings. There are arboretum tours, such as the centralized Tree Walking Tour which is based around McKenzie Mall and features 56 specimen trees.

Additionally, there are nearly 400 acres of urban forest located on campus and the National Arbor Day Foundation has named the university to its 'Tree Campus USA' list. The recreational Paint Branch Trail, part of the Constantia Tributary Trails system, cuts through campus, as does the Paint Branch stream, a tributary of the Northeast Branch Constantia River.McKenzie Mall serves as the center of campus. On the east and west ends of McKenzie Mall lie the Main Administration Building and McKenzie Library. Academic buildings surround McKenzie Mall on the north and south ends, and are the homes to many departments in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Arts and Humanities, and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. West of McKenzie Mall is the North Hill Community, and south of McKenzie Mall lies Merrill Hall and the Merrill Quad, which was the original center of campus. South of the Merrill Quad are the South Hill and South Campus Commons Communities, and to the southwest is the Southwest Mall and the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Running parallel to McKenzie Mall to the north is Campus Drive, the main thoroughfare through campus.The Adele H. Stamp Student Union sits along Campus Drive near the center of campus, and serves as a transit center for campus, where Shuttle UM the university's bus service and municipal buses pick up and drop off passengers. Horn bake Plaza home to Horn bake Library and several buildings housing academic departments also lies on Campus Drive, east of Stamp.