As a young mathematics
instructor in 1963 at the college
that is now the University of
Maryland-Eastern Shore, Dr.
William P. Hytche took a stand
for better conditions for his
students and the community
surrounding the school.
Treated to poor service at a segregated
diner while on a local outing with a student
group, Hytche vowed to find an alternative to
the segregated restaurants in surrounding
Somerset County. That alternative was the
Hawk’s Nest, a campus diner opened by
Hytche and his wife that soon became
popular with students and local townspeople,
both Black and white, in Princess Anne, Md.
“If you spent money in my restaurant, I
treated you right,” Hytche said.
In 1975, Hytche became acting chancellor
of the school and in 1976 the position became
permanent. He had already witnessed
attempts by the state of Maryland to convert
the historically Black institution into a
community college, a poultry farm and a
prison. Recognizing that the school would
have to expand to ensure its long-term
survival as a historically Black school, he
again found a solution that proved beneficial
to both the university and the community.
Nearly twenty-two years later,
Hytche, who retired as UMES president
on January 13, 1997, now enjoys the
legacy of having led the school’s greatest
expansion. Since 1975, UMES has added
fourteen undergraduate degree programs,
eight master’s programs, and two doctoral
programs to its overall curriculum. Total
student enrollment has gone from 800
students in 1975 to more than 3,000,
according to Hytche. The campus has
added eleven buildings, has renovated
fourteen existing buildings, and has plans
to build two additional edifices by 1998.
University supporters and faculty
members credit Hytche for having the political
savvy and the vision to grow the student
enrollment nearly four times over during
the twenty-one years he headed the school.
Observers say his early outreach efforts
in Princess Anne, Somerset County, and the
surrounding Eastern Shore cities and counties
proved decisive when the school was
challenged by the Maryland state legislature
and when it needed support for expansion.
“He had the political skills to work with
the legislature and the ability to get things
done without alienating the officials in
Annapolis,” said Dr. Jodellano Statom, chair
of the Department of Education at UMES.
Creates Advisory Council
Hytche said that immediately upon
becoming UMES chancellor he saw the need
to reach out to the local community, so he
began forging new relationships with
community leaders. Having served as a
UMES faculty member since 1960, when the
institution was known as Maryland State
College, he knew as well as anyone the
uneasy relationship that existed between
the school and the community.
