From the start, Lisa (Dates) Price ’87, information systems and Dwayne Price ’87, information systems, ’87, seemed destined to become a couple.
They met on the first day of freshman orientation. Later, they were assigned to the same orientation team. And though they lived in different dorms freshman year (Dwayne in Patapsco; Lisa in in Susquehanna), they shared a circle of friends and a major.
Lisa acknowledges how her feelings for Dwayne began to change as she got to know him better that first semester. “Probably around October or November, I started to see Dwayne a little bit differently,” she recalls. “My relationship [with a former boyfriend] had gone the way most long distance relationships did. I started doing some reconnaissance to see what Dwayne’s situation might be.”
Though Dwayne was not in a committed relationship, Lisa waited some time before making her feelings known. She chose Valentine’s Day to make her move – sort of. A sorority on campus was selling homemade Valentine’s Cards, so she bought one and sent it to Dwayne, signing it, “Your Secret Admirer.”
Wayne was stumped. He asked his friends (including Lisa) who the secret admirer might be. She played dumb, for a while, but a month or so later, she confessed. That risky move turned out to be the turning point.
Their commitment was tested when Lisa received an opportunity to participate in a co-op through UMBC that extended from the summer through the following semester. It meant the two wouldn’t see each other regularly for several months. “It was part of us building the foundation for the rest of our lives,” Lisa says. (Dwayne later completed a co-op as part of his UMBC experience.)
To make up for lost time together, and lost credits, Lisa and Dwayne spent a summer together on campus, working and taking classes.
“You felt like you owned the campus,” Lisa recalls.
Dwayne concurs: “We had the whole campus to ourselves.”
Two years after graduation, they married. They also both decided to pursue master’s degrees in management information systems.
Over the years, the couple has remained highly involved in UMBC, serving on the alumni board in various capacities and offering advice to prospective students. Their two children – Devin, 20, and Layne, 18 – both attend UMBC.
“No one believes us, but we didn’t push them to go there. They could have gone anywhere they wanted, and they chose UMBC,” says Lisa.
Read the full issue of the Winter 2014 UMBC Magazine.
Tags: Information Systems, Patapsco Hall, Susquehanna Hall, UMBC experience
