Perspective
The university from a leadership point-of-view

New & Observed
What's happening on campus

Explorations
Research and the people who make the breakthroughs

Aspirations
News and events related to the advancement of the university

Inbounds
NCAA sports, student athletes, recreation

Portfolio
Cultural news, publications and shows

Class Notes
News, profiles and more

Calendar
Upcoming events

Impressions
The creative spirit at Maryland

Destinations

"Going to college" is a concept that changed drastically after the Second World War. The GI Bill gave opportunity to tens of thousands of returning veterans who might never otherwise have considered a college education. Social and cultural norms about appropriate roles for women were also changed by the demands of wartime and the shortage of young men in many professions. In Maryland and across the nation, public universities opened their doors to provide the training and education that a new era of prosperity and growth demanded. The University of Maryland, College Park, started the 1950s with 12,919 students and closed the decade of the 1990s with 32,864. Each of the intervening decades reflected the current events and cultural temperature of the times. We wondered whether those shifting moods and values might be evident in the careers and expectations of graduates from each of those periods. What became evident as we located and interviewed "representative" alumni, is that lives get lived in a fine balance of intention and serendipity, that success spans definitions as numerous as the individuals who seek it, and that the human story is endlessly fascinating.

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Comments and questions may be directed to cpmag@accmail.umd.edu