The University of Baltimore was born from a simple idea: build a college for working professionals and nontraditional learners.
It was 1925 and Maryland’s educational landscape was due for a shift. Local institutions were adjusting graduation requirements, adding unanticipated time commitments and broadening coursework beyond initial expectations.
The changes gave Dr. Maynard A. Clemens an idea that would eventually give birth to the University of Baltimore.
The education advocate and businessman brought together a group of like-minded men and proposed building a private evening professional school for law and business students. This University would offer challenging coursework on a timeline more agreeable to its working students’ schedules.
The team, including Clemens, P. Lewis Kaye, William H. Wilhelm, R. Loran Langsdale, Victor R. Jones, Howell A. King, Alton R. Hodgkins, Stewart Lewis and Clarence W. Miles, would charter their vision in the University of Baltimore on Aug. 8, 1925.
Two months later, the University held its first classes. One hundred years later, the University is celebrating that milestone moment in the city’s history.
Throughout 2025, we’ve been honoring everything that came out of that one idea: UBalt has stayed true to its mission to provide an outstanding education to those who seek it.
It has pushed to offer in-demand programming that puts our students a step ahead in the workplace. It has fostered students’ unique sense of service that help communities grow and thrive. And every year, it has proudly graduated hundreds of students ready to make their mark in the world.
In its 1929 yearbook, the student editors pondered that while its first years of continued growth were promising, years would show the institution’s impact.
“Only time can place that stamp of age which somehow attaches pre-eminent respectability to any seat of learning. We can only look to the future to disclose the almost certain growth of our Alma Mater and watch it take its place beside the great universities of the world.”
In its 100th year, the University has a long list of examples of its significant and valuable growth.
Accessibility to education is not just an idea this University was founded on but has maintained. It's part of what makes UBalt unique even now.
“That core truth—that this institution still resonates after a century of education and will continue to do so in the same way for 100 more—is what we’re celebrating in 2025,” UBalt President Kurt L. Schmoke said. “This is much more than an anniversary. It’s a statement that I hope will inspire you to consider all that we have to share in the future.”
Our Centennial celebrations will continue through the end of 2025. Celebrate with us by getting to know our history and community. Save the date for Nov. 13 when we host our Grand Celebration.
MORE WAYS TO CELEBRATE