The University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church as a branch of Morgan College and remained affiliated with the Baltimore institution for nearly half a century. In addition to ecumenical support, the school received modest federal aid through the second Morrill Act, making it an 1890 land-grant institution where young blacks trained in agriculture and related mechanical arts. The state of Maryland purchased the institution during the Great Depression, moving it toward baccalaureate-level status. UMES today, with 4,500 students, blends a traditional curriculum with instruction in such contemporary fields as engineering, hospitality studies and allied health, including pharmacy.

• UMES is ranked in the top tier of America’s black colleges by U.S. News & World Report.
• UMES is a national leader in the development of the Course Redesign Initiative.
• The number of academic programs achieving peer-review accreditation has grown from four in the past decade to 26-including the coveted credential from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
• UMES works closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which recently extended its support with a $15 million grant for the Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center.
• Sponsored research was $23.6 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011.
• UMES completed a seven-year fundraising campaign with $15 million in gifts, more than double its previous campaign total.
• UMES is home to a 17-acre solar-energy collection system that is setting the standard for Maryland colleges and universities to be more “green.”
• The UMES women’s bowling team won consecutive NCAA national championships in 2011 and 2012, adding to their first achieved in 2008. The UMES women’s volleyball team achieved a first in 2011: it won a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

• The late rock ‘n’ roll saxophonist Clarence “Big Man” Clemons honed his musical talent while a student-athlete in the early 1960s when he also played football.
• Upwards of 70 nations are represented annually in UMES’ student body, a tradition that dates back to the early 20th century when a student from Liberia graduated in 1923.
• Moneta Sleet Jr. served as a photography instructor during the 1948-1949 school year. Twenty years later, he won a Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for his Ebony magazine photograph of Coretta Scott King at her husband's funeral. He was the first African-American to win the prize coveted by journalists.
• Arthur A. King won election to Maryland’s House of Representatives in 1967, representing predominately white Prince George’s County, was a founding member and first chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus formed in 1970.
• 6’7” alumnus, Tom “Tarzan” Spencer, became a Harlem Globetrotter in 1957.
• In the 1913-14, Maryland residents did not pay tuition. The book deposit was $2 and the entrance fee was $1. Boys wore military-style uniforms; while girls wore dresses. Room rent was $2.75 per month and meals were $7 per month. During the 1930-31 school year. high-heel shoes were prohibited and “extravagance of dress, jewelry and hats was discouraged." Use of tobacco or intoxicants was forbidden. Students were required to have a Bible.
• On Armistice Day in 1941, less than a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the school choir delivered its first radio performance on WBOC AM in Salisbury, Md.
• Four alumni participated in the NFL’s third Super Bowl–Emerson Boozer, Johnny Sample and Earl Christy of the N.Y. Jets and Charlie Stukes of the Baltimore Colts.
• Frank J. Trigg, the school’s fourth leader, was born a slave in the Virginia governor’s mansion in 1850. After losing an arm in a farming accident, he chose a career in education, leading three historically black institutions.

• Conroy Boxhill, vice president, Edelman public relations firm
• Starletta DuPois, award-winning stage and film actress
• Fred Engh, founder, the National Alliance for Youth Sports
• Duane Eubanks, renown jazz trumpeter
• Bill Jones, broadcast journalist, CBS News
• Brig. Gen. Walter Jones, retired USAF; former Director, Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems, and Chief Information Officer, U.S. Joint Forces Command
• C. Payne Lucas, co-founder, Africare
• Kelly Mack, executive director of Project Kaleidoscope, an Association of American Colleges and Universities initiative promoting careers in science, engineering, math and technology
• Sylvia L. Quinton, founder/CEO of Strategic Community Services, Inc.
• Earl Richardson, former president, Morgan State University
• Art Shell, Professional Football Hall of Famer and first African-American head coach in the National Football League
• Allen Singleton, retired higher education administrator
• Thomas Henry Kiah, only graduate to serve as his alma mater’s top administrator