Today, the Center hosts almost 70 graduate university degree programs and almost 20
bachelor completion degree programs, presented in their entirety at SMHEC by eleven
distinguished university partners in the professional fields of engineering; education;
management; clinical and community counseling, and school counseling; criminal justice
and law enforcement; information technology; business administration; engineering
technology; technical management; communications; and human resources, financial,
health care, marketing, and project management. SMHEC’s university partners include:
Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland College Park, University of
Maryland University College, George Washington University, The Catholic University,
Towson University, The College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Coppin State University,
Gratz College, Capitol College, and Old Dominion University.

SMHEC’s campus is located on a 24 acre site in the Wildewood Professional and
Technology Park, in California, MD. The campus is currently composed of two
buildings, constructed in 1994 and 2003. SMHEC boasts a total of 59,000 square feet of
space with 35 high technology supported classrooms and five medium and large meeting
and conference rooms. Included among the 35 classrooms are five computer laboratories
each with 24 stations, video conference rooms, small conference rooms and board rooms.
A 430 - seat conference /lecture/special event hall is also available. Parking is plentiful
and free with 275 on campus spaces.

Mission
The Southern Maryland Higher Education Center (SMHEC) was established by State
legislation in 1994 in response to the expanded role of the U.S. Navy at Patuxent River;
to provide on-site and complete access to quality graduate education degree programs in
a Region historically underserved by Higher Education institutions; and to support the
economic development of the Southern Maryland Region.

SMHEC presents graduate degree programs in their entirety at its 24-acre campus facility
in California, St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Working with the leadership at the Patuxent
River Naval Base, public schools administrators, economic development agencies, and
the technology and defense support community, the Center selects academic programs
and universities that meet the professional development needs of the Tri-County Region.
The Maryland Higher Education Commission approves all degree programs for
presentation at SMHEC.

Under the guidance of a Board of Governors appointed by the Governor of Maryland, the
Center provides the Region’s citizens with unprecedented higher education opportunities.
Over 80 graduate degree programs have been approved for presentation at SMHEC, in
addition to several graduate certificate programs, education certification programs, and
undergraduate completion degree programs.

The role and mission of the SMHEC has required continuing expansion in response to the
advancement of the Tri-County Region as a high-technology area, the continued growth
of the technology workforce in the Region, expansion of the Patuxent River Naval Base
and related defense activities, growth in degree program offerings and class enrollments,
and the dire need for qualified teachers in the Southern Maryland public schools.

The economic and social environment of Southern Maryland creates specific and unique
constituencies served by SMHEC. These include the U.S. Navy at Patuxent River Naval
Base, its personnel and their dependents; the three county governments in Southern
Maryland; the State of Maryland; area businesses and industry; Southern Maryland
residents earning master’s degrees for professional development; community college
students seeking upper-level undergraduate programs to complete their bachelor’s
degrees, and teachers and administrators seeking additional skills, credentials and
certification.

The following universities are SMHEC academic partners, offering degree programs at
SMHEC in their entirety
Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland College Park, University of
Maryland University College, George Washington University, The Catholic University,
Towson University, The College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Coppin State University,
Gratz College, Capitol College, and Old Dominion University.
SMHEC also serves as a premier training, conferencing, and meeting facility utilized by
the U.S. Navy at the Patuxent River Naval Base; the defense support industry; technology
trainers; state, county and local governments; public schools, and community
organizations.

Major distinguishing features of SMHEC are its high-tech facilities and accessible
campus location, making state-of-the art graduate level learning conveniently available to
a professional workforce distanced from the major university centers in the State and the
Washington-Baltimore Region.

SMHEC recognizes that the technology demands of the current and future job markets
dictate that instructors and students alike integrate technology into the higher education
experience. Technology is an integral component of the spectrum of graduate degrees
presented at the Center. Teachers, trainers and students maximize instruction and learning
by utilizing the high-tech equipment available in the Center’s classrooms and computer
labs.

SMHEC is located on its own 24-acre campus within the Wildewood Professional and
Technology Park in California, St. Mary’s County, Maryland. The site is six miles north
of the Patuxent River Naval Base, and even closer to the 250 technology companies
located in Lexington Park and California. Prince Frederick, the county seat and urban
center of Calvert County is about 20 miles away, and Waldorf, the business center of
Charles County, is about 35 miles away.

SMHEC’s Classroom Building One, with 15 classrooms and two multi-purpose rooms,
opened in 1995. Classroom Building Two, with 21 classrooms and two multipurpose
rooms, opened in 2003. A Third Classroom Building and Conference Center is in its
planning phase and is expected to open in 2010.

Each SMHEC campus building has its own unique features, all designed to offer the
highest quality, technologically sophisticated, student service-focused graduate learning
and professional training available in Southern Maryland. Ongoing campus expansion is
in response to the growing and urgent need for suitable space to meet the high-level
conference and meeting needs of the high-tech economy in Southern Maryland,
particularly the Patuxent River Naval Base, and for appropriate facilities to provide
professional training, and to deliver an expanded program of graduate education
opportunities.

SMHEC provides a full spectrum of facilities and services to support these programs,
including classrooms, computer laboratories, instructional equipment, administrative
service, and offices for university coordinator presence onsite to assure optimum student
service. SMHEC develops and maintains relationships with state, county and local
leaders in government, business and education to assure SMHEC and its programs
remain at the forefront of higher education in Southern Maryland.

SMHEC meets the stated needs of the 25,000 strong high-technology workforce in the
Region, both civilian and military, by providing a range of engineering, applied sciences,
and management graduate degree programs. Ten master’s programs in engineering and
information systems, six graduate engineering certificate programs, and bachelor’s
completion degree programs in engineering and information systems are offered, as well
master’s degrees in management and human resources.

A shortage of teachers is a condition the three public school districts in Southern
Maryland continually face. To assist the need for new teachers and to provide continuing
education and professional development for teachers, the Center offers 18 master’s
degrees in education, two post-master’s certificates in education and five certification
programs.

Master’s programs in nursing and social welfare, and a completion bachelor’s degree in
nursing, provide an opportunity for the Region’s health providers to further develop the
professional skills of their workforce in these fields, and to assure the most recent
processes and skills are available for the social and health benefits of the Region’s
population.

One of the assumptions driving SMHEC’s growth and planning is that all of the State and
local political leaders in the three Southern Maryland counties agree that the successful
economy of the future will be closely matched to the marriage of technology and higher
education.