NABJ, with 3,000 members, 65 professional chapters and 40 student chapters, is the oldest and largest minority journalism organization in the country. It remains autonomous, but works in partnership with the college on several fronts in the shared goal of diversifying America's newsrooms and news products.

Then-NABJ President Arthur Fennell, news anchor of NBC 10 Philadelphia, said the move allowed the organization to create the NABJ Institute of Journalism, which offers extensive workshops and seminars for African-American journalists.

"This should be the perfect fit and promises to be a win-win for both NABJ and Maryland," Fennell said following the NABJ Board of Directors vote to move to Maryland in 1996. "NABJ should benefit from the vast facilities and resources that the university offers, and the university and its students will benefit from our more than two decades of frontline professional journalism experience."

The association with Maryland also offers the opportunity for the creation of a planned NABJ Archives, which would include information on African-American journalism pioneers, original documents and association records.

"Recording and preserving our history through the NABJ Archives will give insight and perspective to the African-American role in journalism," Fennell said. "It's our obligation to leave a legacy for future journalists to study and follow."

Then-University President William E. Kirwan said the NABJ move represents the university's dedication to diversity and multi-cultural education at all levels.

"Recent National Science Foundation studies demonstrate the university's leading national role in producing African-American undergraduates as well as African-Americans who earn doctorates," Kirwan said. "We see the partnership between NABJ and our nationally ranked College of Journalism as furthering professional and educational opportunities for minority and other students attending the University of Maryland."

NABJ, which was founded Dec. 12, 1975, publishes a national magazine, holds an annual convention that attracts thousands of journalists and industry leaders from around the country and distributes annual awards to journalists for excellence in reporting, editing and photography.

The organization also distributes more than $100,000 in scholarships to African-American college journalism students, places 14-16 students at paid internships and sponsors short courses for students at historically black colleges.

NABJ joins other journalism organizations at the University of Maryland aimed at professional training and education, including the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, the Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families, the Hubert H. Humphrey Journalism Fellows Program for international journalists and the American Journalism Review.

"With the addition of NABJ to the university's other professional journalism groups, the University of Maryland will be the leader for the continuing education of journalists around the country and around the world," said Journalism Dean Reese Cleghorn.

NABJ, which shares a university building with the Casey Center, had been based in Reston, Va., since September 1986.