GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY TO PARTICIPATE IN GROUNDBREAKING EVENT AT UMBC PERFORMING ARTS AND HUMANITIES BUILDING

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley will join Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith and others to officially break ground on the UMBC Performing Arts & Humanities Building, a 167,000 square foot facility designed to enhance UMBC’s teaching, research and public outreach and to heighten the visibility of the arts and humanities as major components of campus and community life. Construction of the project will create 326 full time jobs, and is anticipated to be a LEED Silver certified project.

Governor O’Malley has committed more than $40 million in capital funding towards the project in the last four years. Total cost of the project is currently budgeted at more than $163 million.

UMBC was included in Kiplinger’s Top 100 “Best Values in Public Colleges 2009-10,” a ranking based on academic quality and affordable education. The Princeton Review included UMBC in its “Best Value Colleges for 2009” list. UMBC is one of 50 public institutions in the United States recognized for offering a combination of educational excellence and affordability. UMBC was ranked number one in the 2010 list of “Up-and-Coming” national universities in the latest U.S. News & World Report America’s Best Colleges Guide.