Blue Ribbon Task Force

"FORSAN ET HAEC OLIM MEMINISSE IUVABIT"
(As time goes by it may well be pleasant for us to remember these things) Vergil's Aeneid, 1.203

In 1874, during commencement exercises at Ford's Opera House, a group of graduates of the University of Maryland School of Medicine gathered to discuss the formation of an alumni association. Leading the effort was George W. Miltenberger, M.D. (Class of 1840). Highly regarded for his medical acumen, Dr. Miltenberger was elected to the faculty as demonstrator in anatomy upon his graduation. More importantly, Dr. Miltenberger had served as dean of the medical school from 1855-69, during which time he witnessed the devastating impact that state fiscal reductions made on academic programs. He advocated a free-standing alumni association, supported entirely by financial contributions from its membership and immune to the ebbs and flows of state funding and politics. Dr. Miltenberger accurately predicted that, given the chance, alumni would relish the opportunity to control their own destiny and thus better support an independent and autonomous organization. In 1875, the Medical Alumni Association was born, and formal meetings began with the election of a president.

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