When University of Maryland student Adam Chen walks across campus, he can now experience a unique reminder of his family’s connection with the university. You see, his great-grandfather’s name graces the newest residence hall.
Pyon-Chen Hall was named for two former students who helped integrate the campus. Pyon Su, in 1891, was the first Korean student to receive an American college degree, while Chunjen Constant Chen in 1915 was the first Chinese student to enroll at the Maryland Agricultural College which would become today’s university. Adam Chen is the fourth generation of the family to attend Maryland.
The new hall houses primarily first-year students including members of the honors living-learning program. The six-story hall houses 450 residents in single and double rooms. Each residential floor has its own lounge space, study areas, and groupings of private communal restrooms with common vanities and individual toilet and shower spaces. Among the students housed in the hall will be
The hall is part of an ongoing construction effort in an area called the Heritage Community. In 2022, the university is scheduled to open Johnson-Whittle Hall, which will be named after Elaine Johnson Coates, the first Black female to graduate, with a degree in education in 1959, and Hiram Whittle, the first Black male to attend Maryland, in 1951. Mary Hummel, the assistant vice president of student affairs noted that "each building is named for a trailblazer and to honor the land on which these buildings stand. All three are part of a housing strategic plan which we decided to continue despite the pandemic, as we look forward with great hope to serving future students at Maryland.”
— James A. Baumann