The year was 1993. Major landscaping was underway on the UMES campus. The beautification project included brick inlays along the historic Academic Oval and in front of John T. Williams Hall. Not far away, the Richard A. Henson Center was under construction. In the minds of university leaders, something was missing. Dr. Herman Franklin, who served UMES…Read more The Flag Mall
A key design element for a pedestrian plaza that replaced the driveway in front of John T. Williams Hall in the early 1990s was color and movement. The new layout included 16 flagpoles for the flags of nations representing international students to flutter in the Eastern Shore breeze. President William P. Hytche Sr. recognized a need for an official institutional flag to…Read more The University Flag
William Percy Hytche Sr. left his native Oklahoma in 1960 to answer what he later would call a divine appointment to teach at Maryland State College. Over the next 15 years, he rose through the ranks from mathematics instructor to chairman of the math department, followed by dean of student affairs. He eventually became chairman of what was…Read more William P. Hytche Sr.
also celebrating 125th anniversaries The University of Maryland Eastern Shore, which celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding in 2011, shares the same “birth year” with these enduring institutions and symbols of American life: Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Princess Anne laid its cornerstone six days after the school opened. In October 1886, Pierre Lorillard IV…Read more A very good year …
All over the country, buildings have been burned and dynamited. The business of the colleges has been disrupted and ignored. Rights, other than the claimed rights of students, have been repeatedly violated. The (public’s) anger … and chicanery of political leaders have grown. The end of the academic year found the nation’s universities … battered and…Read more ‘Battered and beset’
Archie Lee Buffkins was chancellor of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore from 1971 to 1975, bringing with him a passion for the performing arts and a belief in cultural diversity. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Buffkins’ first love was music. He received his bachelor’s degree from Jackson (Miss.) State University and his master’s and doctorate degrees…Read more Archie L. Buffkins
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s first 75 years were a period of perpetual uncertainty balanced by unwavering perseverance. The next 25 years were no different. As the 1960s dawned, the institution took on a higher profile as public four-year college under a strong-willed leader, John Taylor Williams. Just as American life confronted — and was altered…Read more From College to University
“Maryland, Maryland, home of the maroon and gray …” That well-known refrain from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s alma mater proclaims the institution is, indeed, the “home of maroon and gray.” That was not always the case, however. During the era when UMES was known formally as Princess Anne College (1936-1947), orange and blue were the school colors….Read more Maroon and Gray
A quiet bachelor from Lynchburg, Va., Robert Alexander Grigsby would lead Princess Anne College during some of its most difficult days — the latter years of the Great Depression, World War II, a tragic fire on campus and withering scrutiny by state government commissions that questioned the institution’s viability. The beacon of light shining though…Read more Robert Alexander Grigsby
John Taylor Williams was a towering figure – figuratively and literally – during the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s first 125 years. He could be fairly described as the “father of Maryland State College,” as UMES was known during the entire 23 years he was the school’s top administrator. Born in Minden, La. on Oct. 24, 1904, Williams came…Read more John Taylor Williams
