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II. The University's Mission and Current and Future Characteristics
The University of Maryland was designated by the Maryland General Assembly as the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland in 1988. This legislation called for the university to achieve a status among the premier research universities in the country, and in the last decade, the university has met this mandate. The university is considered by many to be the fastest rising research university in the United States. In the past decade, the profile of the undergraduate student body has changed dramatically, with average SAT scores of entering freshmen rising from 1173 in 1991 to 1246 in 2001, and average high school gpa's increasing from 3.01 to 3.75. Almost 50 percent of Maryland high school valedictorians and salutatorians now choose the university as their top choice for higher education. The university's excellence is spreading across all departments. To highlight only a few accomplishments, it is the only public research university on the East Coast with programs in computer science, mathematics, physics, and engineering ranked in the top 25 by U.S. News and World Report; it has 60 programs, departments, or units ranked in the top 25 programs in U.S. News and World Report; it ranks fourth in funding from NASA; the university was ranked among the top 25 in the world in geoscience; in the College of Education three of the six departments are ranked in the top 10 and all other departments have at least one program ranked in the top 20; and the Robert H. Smith School of Business was ranked 13th in MBA programs world-wide by the Wall Street Journal. Equally impressive is the surge in research funding for faculty. Total annual research expenditures now exceed $300 million, and research awards in FY02 were up by 33 percent over the previous year. Maryland has now become the partner of choice as well as the school of choice, and partnerships have been established with such major corporations and laboratories as Fujitsu, Fraunhofer, and Batelle/PNNL. Over 1,000 Maryland businesses will receive direct assistance from the university in this fiscal year through such campus units as the Technology Extension Service, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, the University of Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program, the Cooperative Extension Service, and the Technology Advancement Program. The university has also established new ties with major federal agencies including a Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition with the FDA, which has built an $80 million laboratory in close proximity to the campus. Among other initiatives, the university has committed to strengthening significantly an array of bioscience programs to help the State capitalize on the huge amount of federal funding for the biosciences and become a leader in the biotech industry that is emerging as a keystone of economic development. The university also intends to use its many resources to contribute significantly to the national drive against bioterrorism. Finally, the university is developing a scientific research park in close proximity to encourage research partnerships, including the first research science park partnerships with the People's Republic of China. The University of Maryland has moved rapidly to a new level of distinction and excellence. Its physical facilities have not kept pace with this fast ascent. The explosion of research in such areas as the Social Sciences, in which as much as 16 percent of the federal research and development expenditures have come to the university, has widened the gap between the university's development capabilities and its facilities. In fact, the inventory listed under Space Analysis (Section E below) reveals that according to the State of Maryland's Space Planning Guidelines, the university faces a current total deficit of approximately 1.2 million net assignable square feet (NASF). The need for state-of-the-art facilities, as well as for more facilities, is urgent. The example of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which was recently opened, is telling. When this phenomenal performing center was completed, the quality of performances and the expectations of students, faculty, and members of the surrounding community immediately increased significantly. The Center is winning the praise of nationally-known artists; hundreds of students from regional high schools are being introduced to the nation's top performers; graduate students and undergraduates in music, theatre, and dance are being challenged to perform at higher levels of distinction; and sold-out crowds are attending many of the 1,000 events that are scheduled for the first year. The university needs to match this caliber of facility for the science disciplines, the social sciences, the humanities, and the professional schools. The Facilities Master Plan responds to the continuing growth of excellence at the university by presenting a vision of a campus that is first-class in facilities, first-class in its stewardship of the environment, and first class in its aesthetic ambiance and embrace of community. |
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