University of Maryland to name new dorms after first Black student and others who helped diversify the campus
Lauren Lumpkin
The University of Maryland in College Park will name two new residence halls after former students who helped diversify the campus in the 19th and 20th centuries, officials announced Monday.
Whittle-Johnson Hall will honor Hiram Whittle, the first African American man to be admitted to the university, in 1951, and Elaine Johnson Coates, who in 1959 became the first African American woman to graduate with an undergraduate degree.
Another building, Pyon-Chen Hall, will pay tribute to Pyon Su and Chunjen Constant Chen. Pyon served as a diplomat in Korea before moving to the United States, where he became the first Korean student to receive a degree from the Maryland Agricultural College — now the University of Maryland — or any American institution, in 1891, the university said. In 1915, Chen became the first Chinese student to enroll at the college.