HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

• 10-year University strategic plan endorsed across the board


• Awarded $12.5M National Science Foundation Physics
  Frontier Center


• Record number of applicants: 28,000 for 4,000 first-year seats (up 17%)


• Over $400M external research grants


• 5825 University Research Court opens with full house


• Great Expectations capital campaign reaches $600M


• University leads the nation with three new Department of
  Defense Multi-University Research Institutes (MURIs) funded


• Robert H. Smith Business School’s Ph.D. program gets a
  $12M boost


• Returns of FY09 budget to the State totaled $26.5M


• University incubator company, TRX Systems, wins the $500,000
  Global Security Challenge in London


• University ranked first among Association of American Universities (AAU) members in number of Ph.D.s awarded to African Americans


• University ranked #20 worldwide by Ranking Web of World
  Universities and #37 by the Academic Ranking of World Universities


• University President signs “American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment” for a carbon neutral campus


• U.S. News & World Report cited the University four times in
  "Programs to Look For:" First-Year Experience, Undergraduate
  Research/Creative Projects, Learning Communities, and Service


• Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranked the University #9 for "Best Value"
  in public higher education, which is the highest in the State


• U.S. News & World Report ranked University #9 in Entrepreneurship
  among public universities


• Entire campus was designated an arboretum and botanical garden
  with 6,600 trees


• Philip Merrill College of Journalism named a "Carnegie Knight
  News 21" school


• U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)
  recruited to the University Research Park


• Patuxent River Naval Air Station partners with campus, the College of
  Southern Maryland, the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center
  and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in research and
  engineering degree programs


• National championships won in field hockey, competitive cheer, and
  men’s soccer (so far)

“Our higher education system is the foundation of our ability to compete in the knowledge-based economy.”