Founded in 1886 as the Delaware Conference Academy, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is a land-grant, historically Black college which has survived numerous governing bodies and name changes, beginning with a mere nine students and one faculty member.

   Today, UMES has developed an academic program above, and perhaps more impressive, than any other higher educational institution of its size in the East, and is the only four-year institution on the shore to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science.