Albin Owings Kuhn (January 31, 1916 – March 24, 2010) was a prominent figure in the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

system during the mid-twentieth century. He became the first chancellor of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Campuses in 1965, and is most notable for being the first chancellor of the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a Public university, public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 un ...

during its planning and early stages of operation. The main library, Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery at UMBC is named after Kuhn.

Background

Albin Owings Kuhn was born on January 31, 1916, on a 215-acre farm in Woodbine, Maryland, in Carroll County. He attended elementary and high school in nearby Lisbon, Maryland. In 1934, he attended the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

majoring in

Agricultural Education Agricultural education is the systematic and organized teaching, instruction and training (theoretical as well as hands-on, real-world fieldwork-based) available to students, farmers or individuals interested in the science, business and technol ...

. Kuhn completed his bachelor's degree in 1938, and then subsequently completed his master's degree in

Agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

and

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

from College Park. At the

, Kuhn began teaching agronomy in 1940. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the U.S. Navy. From 1940 to 1946, Kuhn served in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, training personnel for amphibious landings. Upon returning to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, he led the Department of Agronomy at the

from 1948 to 1955. At the same time in 1948, he completed his Ph.D. in

Plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

and

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

University of Maryland administration

Albin O. Kuhn became the university executive vice president for the College Park campus in 1958, instrumenting the planning of increasing the enrollment from 10,000 to 20,000 students. In 1965, he was named Chancellor of Baltimore Campuses, which then included the

University of Maryland, Baltimore The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1807, it is the second oldest college in Maryland and comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, me ...

, and the planning of the new campus for the

in 1966. In addition, he became the first leader of the new campus from its founding up until 1971.

References

External links

Albin O. Kuhn papers, 1950-1980
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Albin Owings 1916 births 2010 deaths Presidents of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County People from Woodbine, Maryland University of Maryland, College Park faculty University of Maryland, College Park alumni

Background

University of Maryland administration

See also

References

External links