1965

> The Harold R.W. Benjamin Building , present site of the College of Education, is completed. The architectural firm, based on the Eastern Shore, is Booth and Somers, and the contractor completing the building is Hicks-Tate. It is named for former Dean Harold R.W. Benjamin.

> M. Lucia James is appointed as Associate Professor of General Education and Director of the College of Education's Curriculum Laboratory and becomes the first African-American faculty member at College Park. The Curriculum Laboratory is housed in the Benjamin Building, and is designated as the coordinating center for all instructional units within the College.

> The Reading Clinic becomes the Reading Center and expands to include consultant services, research, conferences, and a developmental reading program under the Departments of Early Childhood-Elementary Education and Secondary Education.

> The College begins its participation in the federally-funded program to aid at-risk, preschool-age children, Head Start, which is established on a nationwide basis in 1965. College faculty member James Hymes, director of the University Nursery-Kindergarten, serves on the federal Planning Committee for Head Start early in the year, for which he receives a semester's leave from the university.

> The head of the Division of Science Teaching of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) invites the director of the International Clearinghouse on Science and Mathematics Curricula to an international conference in Paris. The Clearinghouse's annual report becomes an internationally-known publication, sharing information on math and science curricula from around the world.

> The Vocational Curriculum Research and Development Center is established in the Department of Industrial Education.

> The College appoints a director for the Educational Technology Center, to be established in the basement of the Benjamin Building.

> The University of Maryland and the Music Educators National Conference establishes the Music Educators National Conference Center in McKeldin Library to maintain a research collection on current practices in music education.

> Several new graduate programs are approved during the 1964-65 academic year, including a doctoral program in Special Education, tentative approval of a doctoral program in Music Education, a new Master's in Science program in Early Childhood-Elementary Education, a master's program in Education for Industry, a bachelor's degree in Library Science Education, and an Advanced Graduate Specialist Certificate in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling.

> The Institute for Child Study establishes a Research Committee.

> The College begins an exchange program with the University of Puerto Rico.