University Honors is thrilled to complement our multidisciplinary curriculum with brand new, state-of-the-art facilities in Heritage Community on North Campus. Complete with classrooms, study spaces, meeting rooms, lounge area, etc., the University Honors Commons is located on the ground floor of the new Yahentamitsi Dining Hall. First-year UH students who elect to live on campus will reside in Pyon-Chen and Johnson-Whittle Halls, and second-year UH students may also elect to live in nearby, North Campus housing.
In Pyon-Chen and Johnson-Whittle Halls, first-year students are able to integrate their “living” and “learning” experiences by forging community with other UH students while living just footsteps away from the UH Commons and the Yahentamitsi Dining Hall. Each residence hall features:
Located on the ground floor of Yahentamitsi Dining Hall, the University Honors Commons is our program’s home base for all UH students, faculty, and staff. As it shares a courtyard with nearby housing, the UH Commons is a great place for students to learn, study, meet, and hang out. Features include:
Born in Korea in 1862, Pyon Su had a keen interest in politics and helped establish the first Korean Embassy in 1883. Seeking major reform in his country, Su was labeled an enemy of the government and forced to flee Korea. He arrived in the Washington, D.C. area and decided to pursue his bachelor of science in agriculture at the Maryland Agricultural College.
Chunjen Constant Chen, a Shanghai-native, began his agricultural studies at Maryland in 1915, but transferred to Cornell to complete his undergraduate degree. Chen returned to the Maryland Agricultural College to complete his master’s degree in 1920. Approximately 30 years later, Chen returned to campus as a research associate, an assistant professor, and eventually department chair for the Chinese section of the Department of Foreign Languages.
Hiram Whittle, a Baltimore-native, began his coursework in mathematics at Morgan State University in 1948. Just a year later, Whittle applied for admission to Maryland’s engineering program, but was denied admission. Following litigation and appeals, the Board of Regents voted to admit Whittle in 1951. Whittle studied engineering, sociology, and government and politics.
Elaine Johnson Coates, a Baltimore-native, was admitted to the university in 1955 where she pursued her degree on a full scholarship. Johnson Coates earned her degree from the College of Education in 1959. Throughout her time, she experienced unequal treatment within her dorm and the classroom. But she was determined to fulfill her purpose, making her family proud.
Yahentamitsi Dining Hall, meaning “a place to go to eat” in Algonquian, is the first Maryland building honoring Maryland’s Native American history. Maryland’s campus is built on ancestral land belonging to the Piscataway Conoy Tribe. “As a land-grant institution, I believe it is our responsibility to record, to interpret and to raise public awareness about tribal history. This effort was long overdue,” President Pines remarked during the building’s dedication.