UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in Princess Anne is Maryland's only four-year aviation program and occupies a place of special significance as a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) institution with a strong aviation science tradition. Founded in 1886 as Maryland's 1890 Land Grant Institution, UMES has developed a Department of Aviation Sciences that offers a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Science with four distinct concentrations: Professional Pilot, Aviation Management, Aviation Electronics, and Aviation Software — providing pathways into multiple aviation career fields from a single program. UMES aviation students have access to FRASCA flight simulators on campus for procedure training, and flight operations are conducted under FAA Part 141 certification at a nearby airport serving Maryland's Eastern Shore. The program maintains partnership pathways for students who have completed two-year associate degrees in aviation at community colleges, providing an accelerated route to the bachelor's degree that recognizes prior flight training investments. UMES's location on the Lower Eastern Shore — just 40 minutes from Atlantic Ocean beaches — places students in a beautifully diverse general aviation environment combining flat-water bay flying with coastal navigation challenges. The university's deep commitment to expanding access to aviation careers for underrepresented communities makes UMES an institution of particular importance to the diversity and inclusion goals of the broader aviation industry.