The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), the State's historically black 1890 land-grant institution, has its purpose and uniqueness grounded in distinctive learning, discovery, and engagement opportunities in the arts and sciences, education, technology, engineering, agriculture, business, and health professions.
UMES is a student-centered, doctoral research degree-granting university known for its nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate programs, applied research, and highly valued graduates.
UMES provides individuals, including first-generation college students, access to a holistic learning environment that fosters multicultural diversity, academic success, and intellectual and social growth.
UMES prepares graduates to address challenges in a global knowledge-based economy while maintaining its commitment to meeting the workforce and economic development needs of the Eastern Shore, the State, the nation, and the world.
The University supports the Maryland State plan to develop a highly qualified workforce for the State's economic growth and vitality by serving as a focal point for the advanced training of elementary, junior, and senior high school teachers and students in marine sciences. As such, UMES is an ideal venue for field trips and instruction for the UMES/Salisbury University dual degree program in biology and environmental sciences.
Coupled with the UMES MEES program are excellent facilities, which prepare post-secondary students for careers in research and public policy that support a sustainable harvest and conservation of the state's and nation's living marine resources.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), the State's Historically Black 1890 Land¬ Grant Institution, is a teaching, research, and doctoral institution that nurtures and launches leaders in a student-centered environment.
Committed to providing high-quality programs in an ethnically diverse environment, the University prepares students who will serve and shape the global economy. UMES is a growing, primarily residential university with a mission focused on learning, discovery, and engagement. This is consistent with valuing the faculty's scholarship in discovering new knowledge and disseminating and applying it to the extended community. The University recognizes its responsibility for developing human potential, enriching cultural expressions, and sharing its expertise with individuals, businesses, educational, governmental, and non-governmental organizations. These aspirations are by UMES' legacy and mission as Maryland's 1890 Land-Grant Institution. Founded in 1886 under the United Methodist Church's aegis, UMES is proud of its long history of continuous educational service.
One of the original purposes of the land-grant institutions, citizens' education for life in the American economy (then, mostly rural, but now more diverse), included agriculture and mechanical arts disciplines.
UMES continues to embrace the original purposes and its current expansions to include the liberal arts, scientific, business, technological, and education and cooperative ventures with foreign universities, governmental and non¬ governmental organizations, and private industries.
Through the University of Maryland Extension Service and the Agriculture Experiment Station, UMES works collaboratively with the University of Maryland College Park, the 1862 land-grant institution. The University's expanding instructional technology infrastructure supports the increasing externally funded research grants generated by campus personnel.
Quick responses to the economic and educational needs of the region and the State characterize the role that the University plays. The Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) Program's provision of well-trained personnel for State and national tourism industry and faculty researchers' work related to conservation and use of natural resources, including water, plant, and animal diversity, exemplify this responsiveness. The Rural Development Center provides timely responses to businesses and government requests for financial, technical, managerial, organizational, and internet assistance. The seafood, poultry, and fresh produce initiatives help firms develop procedures that maximize the quality, safety, and profitability of food products through applied research, certified training, and educational materials.
UMES engages in numerous collaborative efforts to (a) increase access and opportunity for a broad spectrum of students, including the economically and educationally disadvantaged, low¬ income adult learners, and first-generation college students and (b) to meet other state needs. Collaborative educational connections with local school systems address the Professional Development Schools, The Redesign of Teacher Education (including the PreK-16 initiative), and other programs. For instance, UMES and Salisbury University collaboratively operate the Master of Arts in Teaching, the dual degree in Sociology/Social Work, and Biology/Environmental Science Programs.
UMES provides Special Education Programs, a teaching area of great State and national need, on the Eastern Shore at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The University also has the only Agricultural Education and Technology Education Programs in Maryland. Access to the Salisbury-Ocean City Airport allows the Engineering and Aviation Sciences programs to establish strong airport personnel links.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore opened its doors Sept. 13, 1886, when it was known initially as the Delaware Conference Academy under the Methodist Episcopal Church's auspices. Greeting the nine students who showed up that Monday were two educators, Benjamin O. Bird and his wife, Portia Lovett Bird.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is home to five schools: Agricultural and Natural Sciences Business and Technology Education, Social Sciences and the Arts Graduate Studies and Pharmacy and Health Professions.
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