In 1921, University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) introduced an undergraduate business program within the existing Department of Economics/Business Administration that included courses in Diplomacy, Constitutional law, and Public speaking.

[3] When World War II broke out in 1939, many students and faculty left school to join the military, shrinking 1943 BPA enrollment to only 130 civilians.

Donald W. O’Connell, an economist and New York Herald Tribune editorial writer, became dean of the college in 1962 and served in that role for the next 11 years.

During the same period, BPA actively undertook initiatives to increase enrollment of women and minorities, such as recruiting at historically black colleges and universities and providing targeted financial aid.

[3] In 1993, CBM consolidated from Tydings Hall and other College Park locations into the newly constructed Van Munching Hall on the College Park campus, which building was named after alumnus donor Leo Van Munching, Jr., the president of a New York City company that imported Heineken beer.

In the mid 1990s, groundbreaking online marketplace platforms and e-commerce payment systems such as Amazon.com (1995), eBay (1995), and PayPal (1998) were launched.

The same year, the business school was renamed to Robert H. Smith School of Business in honor of alumnus donor Robert H. Smith (RHS), who was the real estate developer behind building Crystal City complex in Arlington County, Virginia.

In 2003, the Smith School added its executive MBA (EMBA) program to the College Park campus curriculum, and made its first inroads into Asia by developing and teaching the EMBA curriculum in Beijing, China in partnership with the hosting University of International Business and Economics.

In 2006 the college instituted a graduate Master of Business in Accounting program, in part to satisfy increased industry demand for audit professionals due to the 2002 U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The school also has a presence at Shady Grove, Baltimore, as well as in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.