Members of the University of Baltimore community gather to watch the unveiling of 50 new banners that will line the streets of and help define the borders of the urban campus. (Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum / September 30, 2009) |
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A brightly banded chameleon, a strongman tattooed in academic symbols and a guy with the gears of his mind exposed all took their places above midtown Wednesday when the University of Baltimore unveiled a series of banners depicting the connection between institution and city.
The illustrations are musings on UB's campus slogan, "Knowledge That Works." Officials also hope the 50 banners will be a flamboyant manifestation of the university's overall quest to be more recognized.
"The whole idea when I came here was to begin defining our borders," said UB President Robert L. Bogomolny. "We want people to know there's something significant and important going on inside these buildings when they drive by. The great urban universities have long been in the business of defining their spaces. That's what we're doing."
In addition to the banners, which cost $40,000 and will line Charles Street, Maryland Avenue and other nearby arteries, UB plans to install new sidewalks and plant more than 100 trees by next spring.
The goal is a more attractive and distinct face for a rapidly expanding institution.
In the past five years, UB, long known for its law and MBA programs, has grown from 4,800 to 6,000 students, begun offering a full range of undergraduate classes and opened a new student center. Next year, the university will open a new building with 250 residential units, a Barnes & Noble and a parking garage. In 2012, it will open a new law center. Officials hope to add another 2,000 students before they're done growing.
"We used to be a best-kept-secret kind of thing," said UB spokesman Chris Hart. "But now we're coming out of that, and we need to market ourselves. When people are driving through or walking through, we want them to know they're on a college campus."
It will be hard to miss the orange, green, blue and yellow banners, which will be replaced by a new set of designs after a year.
The team of illustrators was led by Milton Glaser, who co-founded New York Magazine and designed the "I Love New York" campaign in the 1970s. He was responsible for the chameleon.
The illustrations are musings on UB's campus slogan, "Knowledge That Works." Officials also hope the 50 banners will be a flamboyant manifestation of the university's overall quest to be more recognized.
"The whole idea when I came here was to begin defining our borders," said UB President Robert L. Bogomolny. "We want people to know there's something significant and important going on inside these buildings when they drive by. The great urban universities have long been in the business of defining their spaces. That's what we're doing."
In addition to the banners, which cost $40,000 and will line Charles Street, Maryland Avenue and other nearby arteries, UB plans to install new sidewalks and plant more than 100 trees by next spring.
The goal is a more attractive and distinct face for a rapidly expanding institution.
In the past five years, UB, long known for its law and MBA programs, has grown from 4,800 to 6,000 students, begun offering a full range of undergraduate classes and opened a new student center. Next year, the university will open a new building with 250 residential units, a Barnes & Noble and a parking garage. In 2012, it will open a new law center. Officials hope to add another 2,000 students before they're done growing.
"We used to be a best-kept-secret kind of thing," said UB spokesman Chris Hart. "But now we're coming out of that, and we need to market ourselves. When people are driving through or walking through, we want them to know they're on a college campus."
It will be hard to miss the orange, green, blue and yellow banners, which will be replaced by a new set of designs after a year.
The team of illustrators was led by Milton Glaser, who co-founded New York Magazine and designed the "I Love New York" campaign in the 1970s. He was responsible for the chameleon.
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Baltimoresun.com's 
From a City vitality point of view, the bones of a great larger district are there, from Mt. Royal on the north to Mt. Vernon on the south. With MICA, Peabody, Symphony Hall, great urban form, nice wide sidewalks, it's missing one thing, as I said before -- critical mass of students. The City should make it a point to lobby the UMD system to upgrade UB. I assume that internal UMD politics make it hard for things to happen sometimes. In Montgomery County, the largest and probably most diverse jurisdiction in the state, the results are a strange conglomeration of 9 institutions at The Universities at Shady Grove -- http://www.shadygrove.umd.edu/institutions/. As a result, there's sort of no "there" there. Montgomery County needs a full 4-year college, a la Towson, where a person can do a full degree from start to finish....not in competition with College Park...complementary. That's MoCo's challenge. Baltimores's challenge is to grow UB, while not shortchanging the important missions of Morgan and Coppin. The institutional challenges would probably come from UMBC and Morgan, because UB's growth would be perceived as coming at their expense. We all need to make the case that, with MD's far-greater population than in the past, and with the expected growth, there is room for expansion all around.
davidblevy (10/02/2009, 10:35 AM )