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414,000 alumni worldwide. More than $66,000 awarded in student scholarships. Almost 23,000 members. The University of Maryland Alumni Association is your lifelong connection to your alma mater. Learn more today.

Funded by private contributions, the effort to create the Riggs Alumni Center was led by the late Samuel Riggs IV ‘50. A descendant of one of Maryland's most venerable families, Riggs possessed the traits of a philanthropist: a deep respect for history and tradition and an ability to identify promise. His leadership gift toward a new alumni center at the University of Maryland signaled his belief that it would create new opportunities for the university and its now more than 350,000 graduates.

Securing Hugh Newell Jacobsen '51, '93 (Honorary Doctorate) as architect for the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center assured that the university would meet its goal to have one of the finest alumni centers in the nation. Jacobsen is the winner of more than 110 national and international architectural awards. Not only is the Riggs Alumni Center a Hugh Newell Jacobsen signature design, it is also a project that Jacobsen considers one of his greatest. “I was very honored to be selected as architect by my alma mater,” says Jacobsen, who was named one of the top 100 architects in the world by Architectural Digest in 2000. “I am more than proud.”

Read more about the Legacy of Hugh Newell Jacobsen '51 on the Alumni Blog.

The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, one of the university’s most loyal corporate partners, constructed the Riggs Alumni Center under the guidance of longtime friend Willard Hackerman and alumni Chuck Irish ’52 and Richard Vogel ’72, M.B.A. ’82. Their involvement adds to the feeling that building the center was a labor of love.

• Designed by world-renowned architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen ’51, ’93 (Honorary Doctorate)
• Twelve event and meeting spaces, many with options to host activities outdoors
• State-of-the-art technology
• Professional event staff at your service
• Prime exhibit space
• Sports bar featuring a fireplace and hardwood floors
• Signature details, including a stained-glass ocular, travertine marble floors, clerestory windows, a grand staircase and plenty of natural light
• Options to host 1,000 guests reception style
• A lush garden surrounding a crystalline fountain
• To schedule your personal tour, contact 301.405.9756 / riggs4events@umd.edu