MAC to Millennium
Game Changers Row—One of the features of Jones-Hill House that is not generally open to the public because of team practices and other activities is Game Changers Row, which honors student-athletes and staff members who broke barriers and opened doors, contributing to the rich and diverse legacy of UMD Athletics. The display commemorates the achievements of Darryl Hill and Billy Jones, for whom the building is now named, and the contributions of 12 additional individuals and teams: Jane Connolly, Paula Girven, Robbie Rogers, Kristi Toliver, Dottie McKnight, Barb Drum, James “Jason” Williams, Elmore Hunter, Debbie Yow, Sandy Worth, Betty Smith, and the Texas Western University men’s basketball team. A more detailed description of the individuals and groups honored may be found here: https://umterps.com/news/2021/9/3/terrapin-athletics-jones-hill-house-home-of-maryland-football-officially-dedicated.aspx
Game Shows — Terps have appeared on various television game shows. See Amazing Race, Cupcake Wars, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Survivor, Big Brother, The Law Firm, Ultimate Fighters, America's Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Gamera — Helicopter that A. James Clark School of Engineering students used to set two national records, for the duration of human-powered flight (4.2 seconds) and for human-powered flight with a female pilot, in May 2011. Gamera, named for a giant flying turtle in Japanese monster movies, had a central cockpit surrounded by four 43-foot rotors and weighed 210 pounds. Graduate student Jud Wexler powered the record-breaking flight, conducted in the Pavilion of the Xfinity Center.
Garden at Chesapeake Building — Dedicated in memory of N. William Hartline, former assistant director of purchasing in the Department of Procurement and Supply.
Garden of Reflection and Remembrance — Consists of a landscaped labyrinth, pathways, and several water elements, located immediately to the south of the Memorial Chapel. Dedicated on October 29, 2010, the garden was designed by UMD landscape architect Scott Munroe to encourage quiet thought and serve as a calm oasis in the middle of a busy university campus.
Garden, Survivor — Garden outside the southeast corner of the Stamp Student Union, along Campus Drive, dedicated to all survivors of all violence in 2006 by the student organization Student Advocates for Education about Rape.
Garden, Peace — Garden located at the east end of McKeldin Mall, near Main Administration. The river stones placed in the center cover the thousands of flowers that lined the ODK Fountain following the memorial service on September 12, 2001, for the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Garden, Peace and Friendship — Chinese-style garden established in 2010. Located to the south of University House, adjacent to the Inn and Conference Center. Commemorates the bond between the university and China through liaison work and exchange programs. Includes a bronze sculpture by artist Han Meilin representing "Diversity in Unity."
Garden, Weber — The Department of Physics and the College of Mathematical and Natural Sciences dedicated a garden containing some of Weber's original research equipment at the southeast corner of the Physical Sciences Building in 2019.
Garrett Hall — Dormitory constructed in 1948 and named for Garrett County, Maryland. Designed by Edwin Wilson Booth.
Gatehouse — Located at the main (north) entrance to campus. Four plaques honoring the founders of the Maryland Agricultural College appear on the walls. Also featured at this gateway is a University of Maryland seal, gift of the Class of 1995.
Gateway, 1910 — Ornamental arch located adjacent to the Rossborough Inn. The gateway was gift of the Class of 1910 and was erected in 1941.
Gaylord Library — Library and resource center in Knight Hall, home of the College of Journalism. This facility is named for Edith Gaylord, one of the Associated Press's first female reporters.
Gemstone Program — Four-year citation program created in 1996 by William Destler, then serving as Dean of Engineering, in which teams of undergraduate Honors students examine problems at the intersection of science and technology.
General Assembly, Maryland — Countless Terps have served in the Maryland General Assembly. View a list of those Terrapins who were in Annapolis for the 2019 session.
Geology Building — Constructed in 1935 as the original home of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The federal government transferred ownership of the building to the university in 1968. The university's gem and mineral museum is housed on the second floor.
Ghosts — There are 14 stops on the UMD mobile ghost tour, but there is only space for a few of the best-known stories here. The ghost of Marie Mount allegedly plays the piano on stormy nights in the hall named for her, and members of the Maryland Ghosts and Spirits Association detected the presence of several other spirits in Marie Mount Hall during an investigation in October 2002. Larry Donnelly, a former Dining Services employee, spotted a female ghost in the Rossborough Inn in 1981, during renovations to the building. Several weeks later, a waiter at the Inn saw the same woman, dressed in yellow, as Donnelly had described. The Rossborough Inn has been the site for other unexplained occurrences—a vase of flowers appearing on its own, footsteps overhead when one is alone, a face peering out of an inn window when the building is unoccupied. A Confederate soldier has also been spotted on campus, an echo of the occupation of the campus by Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War. Other members of the campus community report hearing the sound of marching feet near Morrill Hall, the location of a portion of the drill ground utilized by the Maryland Agricultural College cadets in the college's early years. Spirits have also been detected in Morrill Hall, and ghosts are rumored to inhabit Easton Hall, the Stamp Student Union, H. J. Patterson Hall, and the Alpha Omicron Pi and Kappa Delta sorority houses.
Golden Globe Winners — School of Music faculty member Chris Vadala won a Golden Globe Award as part of the Chuck Mangione Quartet for the soundtrack to the movie Children of Sanchez; the album was released in 1978. Alumna Dianne Wiest won a Golden Globe in 1995 for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Bullets Over Broadway.
Golden ID — Program that allows retired Maryland residents over age 60 to take university courses tuition-free.
Golf, Men's — First organized in 1940. Deane Beman, who played on the team, became a commissioner of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA). The team shared the ACC championship in 1964 under Frank Cronin. Team was eliminated in 2012.
Golf, Women's — First season began in the Fall 1999 semester. The first member of the team to participate in the NCAA Championships was Virunpat Olankitkuncha in 2019.
Golf Course — Dedicated in 1959. The golf course was built with the proceeds from the football team's 1952 appearance in the Sugar Bowl.
Golf Hall of Fame, World — Deane Beman (Class of 1961) entered the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. Beaman was chosen primarily to honor his accomplishments as commissioner of the PGA Tour, a position he held from 1974 to 1994.
Goodwill Games — Track coach Andrew Valmon, who came to campus in 2003, won gold medals in track at the 1990 and 1994 Goodwill Games. He also won a gold medal at the track world championships in 1993 and gold medals at the Olympics in 1988 and 1992.
Google — Sergey Brin, Class of 1993, is the co-founder of this internationally known computer search engine and is president of Google's parent company, Alphabet.
Gossett Hall—formerly known as the Gossett Football Team House. Constructed in 1992 and renovated in 2002 and 2020-2021. Served as the home for the UMD football team prior to the opening of Jones-Hill House
Governors of Maryland — Two alumni, Harry Hughes and Marvin Mandel, have served as governor of Maryland. Hughes (Class of 1949) held the top spot in the state from 1979 to 1987. Mandel (Class of 1939) preceded him as governor from 1969 to 1979. Both men were members of the Terrapin baseball team while undergraduates. Faculty member Parris Glendening served as governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003.
Henrietta Spiegel at commencement
Graduate, Oldest — Henrietta Spiegel became the University of Maryland's oldest graduate in May 1989. She was 85 years old when she received a bachelor's degree in English with Phi Beta Kappa honors.
Graduate Gardens and Hills — Apartments originally owned and maintained by the university as graduate student housing. Now maintained by a private company for the same purpose. Graduate Gardens was constructed in 1964; Graduate Hills was constructed in 1969.
Graduate Students, Youngest — The youngest graduate students to enter the University of Maryland were Stephen J. Smith and Jeremy Schuler, both of whom began their graduate studies at the age of 16. Smith enrolled in fall 1989 and received his M.S. in May 1991 and his Ph.D. in May 1997. Schuler, who was the youngest student ever to graduate from Cornell University, began his doctoral work in theoretical physics in fall 2020. Charles Fefferman, Class of 1966, was the youngest to earn a graduate degree from the university, receiving degrees in both math and physics at the age of 17. He received his doctorate from Princeton at age 20 and at age 22 became the youngest full professor in the University of Chicago's history. Fefferman is a member of the UMD Alumni Hall of Fame.
Graduate Student Government — Formation of this organization, originally known as the Graduate Student Association, is described in an April 28, 1982, Diamondback article. Dan Moskowitz served as the first president.
Graduate Studies — Maryland Agriculture College first awarded graduate degree in 1874. In that year, the Rev. David Hall and F. A. Soper received A.M. degrees. A formal Graduate School was approved by the Board of Trustees in 1919. The 1919-20 Catalogue set out, for the first time, a description of the Graduate School and the requirements for the advanced degrees. These included the M.S. and Ph.D. in Agriculture and the Natural Sciences, the M.A. in Liberal Arts, Education, and Home Economics, and the Ph.D. in Liberal Arts. The first Ph.D. was awarded to Charles E. Sando in 1920. The first women to receive graduate degrees were Emma S. Jacobs, who received an honorary master's of science degree in 1917, and Daisy Inez Purdy, who received a Ph.D. in 1931. Purdy's dissertation was entitled "A study of the bacteriological changes produced during the aging of cured hams." See also Master's degrees and Ph.D.
Graduates, First — The first two students to receive degrees from the Maryland Agricultural College were William B. Sands and Thomas Franklin, who graduated on July 11, 1862. Sands received an A.B. degree and Franklin a B.S.
Graduates with the Most Degrees — Three Terps have earned five degrees from the university. Sandra Laake received five bachelor's degrees (studio art, English education, English, Social Studies education, and history) between 1967 and 2000. Jitin Ahuja received his degrees between 1997 and 2002 (bachelor of science in accounting and management science and statistics, bachelor of arts in economics, master of science in business and management, and master of business administration). Most recently, Marie Chau received her five degrees between 2007 and 2015 (bachelor of science in math and finance, bachelor of arts in economics, master of science in math, and a doctorate in math).
"Graham Cracker" — Name given to a lot on College Avenue where pep rallies were held. The term was first used from 1958 to 1963 when the lot was vacant, and the dirt-filled area resembled a graham cracker.
Grammy Nominees — Jonathan Woody, Class of 2007, and Christopher Newcomer, M.M. 2009, were part of the cast of the opera "Volpone" nominated for a Grammy in 2010 for Best Opera Recording. Other members of the UMD community involved with this production were Laura Lee Everett, coordinator for the Maryland Opera Studio in the School of Music, who served as the stage manager, and Lee Anne Myslewski, M.M. 2004, director of administration at Wolf Trap, where this recording was made. In 2009, Woyneab Miraf Wondwossen (Wayna), Class of 1996, earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category for her song "Loving You (Music)." Classical pianist Kenneth Boulton, (M.A. 1986, Ph.D. 1997) was a Grammy nominee in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) category for his album "Louisiana: A Pianist's Journey" in 2008. Hugo Keesing, a former adjunct professor of American Studies, was nominated in 2018 in the best historical album category for his recording Battleground Korea: Songs and Sounds of America's Forgotten War. Grammy Award winner Cedric Dent also received multiple Grammy nominations individually and with the vocal group Take Six.
Grammy Winners — Joan McFarland, Class of 1981, received a Grammy award for "best choral performance" in 2000 for her work on a recording of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. McFarland conducted the Maryland State Boychoir which joined with the Washington Chorus and Orchestra and the Shenandoah Conservatory Choir to perform the award-winning piece. Delious Kennedy, Class of 1992, won a Grammy with the group All-4-One in 1994 in the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal category for the single "I Swear." Cedric Dent (Ph. D. 1997) is an eight-time Grammy winner with the Southern a capella gospel and jazz group Take Six; Dent also received his own Grammy in 1992 for several musical arrangements on the album "Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration." School of Music faculty member Chris Vadala won two Grammys with the Chuck Mangione Quartet for the albums "Bellavia" (1976) and "Children of Sanchez" (1978). Barry Louis Polisar, Class of 1977, has shared two Grammys. His “The Song of Round” was included on the recording “All About Bullies Big and Small,” a fundraiser for the Pacer Center’s National Bullying Prevention Center which won the 2012 Grammy for Best Children’s Album. Polisar also shared a Grammy for his role in the soundtrack for the movie Juno in 2008; his song “All I Want is You” is the first piece heard in the film. Alumna Neela Vaswani, Class of 2006, won a Grammy in the Best Children's Album category in 2015 for her narration of the book I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World. Tracy Young, Class of 1997, made Grammy history in 2019 when she became the first woman nominated and the first woman to win the award for remixing.
Granada International Poetry Prize — Faculty member José Emilio Pancheco was 2005 recipient of the Granada International Poetry Prize, given to honor the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Pacheco was the second recipient of the award and competed against 30 poets from Spain and Latin America for the honor.
Grass — As of 2019, there were 527 acres of actual turf on the main campus.
Gravity Waves — First detected by faculty member Joseph Weber, a professor of physics, who research contributed to the development of the laser and the maser. The Department of Physics and the College of Mathematical and Natural Sciences dedicated a garden containing some of Weber's original research equipment at the southeast corner of the Physical Sciences Building in 2019.
Gymkana performers form a pyramid
Gymkana — University-sponsored exhibition gymnastic troupe dedicated to promoting a drug-free lifestyle. First organized in 1946 and first performed in 1947. Gymkana is one of the oldest groups of its kind in the United States. In 2011, Gymkana advanced to the semi-final round of America's Got Talent, an NBC variety talent competition that debuted in 2006.
Gymnastics — The first official competition in women's gymnastics occurred in 1973. The team won the ACC Championship in 1988. The team finished third in the NCAA Regional Championships in 1989 and 2001 and fourth in the regional competition in 2013 -- a landmark season (18-3-1) which ended with the team ranked #24 nationally.
Gymnastics, All-Americans — Jill Fisher and Gillian Cote, co-captains of the 2000-2001 gymnastics team, became the first University of Maryland gymnasts to be named NCAA All-Americans in the spring of 2001. In 2013, Katy Dodds and Stephanie Giameo received first-team All-American honors from the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W).