One of the world’s top schools for business research, Maryland Smith also is where students experience top-level teaching in a highly supportive community. Smith chronicles and celebrates this distinction at the end of each academic year by honoring its outstanding faculty and staff members with awards of excellence.

Attendees at Maryland sporting events always have plenty of stars to watch on the playing field or court, but since Fall 2021, when fans reemerged from the pandemic lockdown, there’s been a colorful new one rising in the stands. Thomas Canary, a graduate student who finished his B.S. in marketing in December, wears his Maryland pride in the form of a flashy yellow, red, black and white suit adorned with a Maryland flag pattern. It’s a wardrobe decision that has earned him the nickname “Flag Suit Guy” and could propel him into the ranks of campus student legends like the mellow “Pan Flute Guy” or the palm-slapping, BMX bike-riding “High Five Guy.”

Mark Wellman, a widely admired management and organization professor at Maryland Smith, died unexpectedly on Dec. 26, 2021. He was 59.

Clarice Smith, an artist, educator and major benefactor of the University of Maryland whose creative spirit is reflected in the vibrant, transformative performing arts center that bears her name, died on Thursday at age 88.

On Friday, Oct. 15, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business greeted roughly 100 alumni, corporate partners and researchers both in-person and virtually for the Smith Advisory Council Welcome, commencing the start of new partnerships that will equip Smith School students with the skills needed to succeed in evolving fields.

The University of Maryland honored two trailblazing students on Friday at the dedication of Pyon-Chen Hall, the newest residence hall on campus and the first building to open in the Heritage Community. The building is named for Pyon Su, the first Korean student to receive a degree from an American institution, in 1891, and Chunjen Constant Chen, who in 1915 became the first Chinese student to enroll at the Maryland Agricultural College.

At Maryland Smith, students are prepared with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their fields. But as those fields constantly evolve, education must too. That’s why Maryland Smith has created a suite of Advisory Councils.

For Doug Peters ’85, there’s a tie to Maryland Smith that runs deep. Now, the former Maryland state senator is helping others form a Maryland Smith bond of their own, establishing a Maryland Promise scholarship to help support need-based scholarships for UMD undergraduate students, with a preference for those who plan to study at Smith. Peters worked to establish the endowed fund over the summer, as he retired from Maryland’s state senate and was appointed to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

Welcome to the 2021-2022 academic year. This year, those words are particularly heartfelt. To our freshman and sophomore classes, to our master’s students and to anyone else who is coming to campus for the first time, welcome. And to our junior and senior classes, and to our other returning students, welcome back. It’s so good to see you.