Mount St. Mary’s University’s Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) in Frederick opened in October 1999 as a program to help Frederick Community College graduates obtain their four-year degree. By 2003, the division opened a facility at 5350 Spectrum Drive to hold classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The facility, which also provides meeting and conference space for the community, has expanded over the years as DCS grew. Today, as DCS celebrates its 25th anniversary, the campus offers students, from high schoolers in dual enrollment classes to adults seeking career advancement, the opportunity to improve their lives through professional and continuing education.
“Our convenient, flexible and affordable online and evening courses are designed for working community college and adult students,” said Jennifer Staiger Ph.D., associate provost, Division of Continuing Studies. “Our personalized student-centric approach to advising helps students acquire the knowledge and credentials to live lives of significance.”
While DCS continues to partner with FCC to ensure that students can easily transition to four-year programs, students come from many other higher education institutions in the region and even the country. Most of the graduate, undergraduate and certificate programs can be taken completely online, with several programs held at the Frederick campus. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles learned about the Mount’s online accelerated undergraduate courses from his 
agent Tony Agnone, a 1975 alumnus of the Mount. When Bowles began his interdisciplinary degree completion plan, he was the Buccaneers defensive coordinator. He continued working on and completed his degree as head coach in the fall of 2022. In 2024, 86 DCS students earned bachelor’s degrees and 197 received master’s degrees.
The largest major at the graduate school level is the MBA program, which will mark its 50th anniversary next year. Other graduate-level programs include sport management, applied behavior analysis, biotechnology and management, health administration, teaching, 
instructional leadership, instructional design and technology, and reading.
Certificate programs are offered in data science, logistics and supply chain management, risk management and cybersecurity, project management, instructional leadership, applied behavior analysis and more.
Undergraduate completion programs include business, entrepreneurship, communication, history, interdisciplinary studies, human services, elementary education and special education.
A timeline for DCS’s first 25 years follows:
The Mount partners with Frederick Community College to offer weekend college for FCC students to complete their degree in education.
Offering five-week courses meeting one night per week, the Mount’s Frederick campus opens to its first class of 22 students.
Cindy DeSirant becomes the first graduate from the Mount’s Frederick campus, earning an accelerated undergraduate degree in business.
The first class of 10 students from the accelerated adult undergraduate degree program graduate, along with 50 Master’s in Business Administration students, 14 Masters in Education students and 13 weekend college students.
The Mount earns the Distinguished Program Award for its Professional Accelerated Studies programs from the Maryland Association for Higher Education.
Distance-learning classes begin at the Frederick campus, enabling students at four separate locations to experience the same class simultaneously.
A Master of Arts in teaching program launches. Additionally, a new facility for the Mount’s Frederick campus opens at 5350 Spectrum Drive and includes meeting and conference center space to meet the needs of the greater Frederick community.
The Frederick campus begins to offer online courses.
A 4+1 year program is created, helping undergraduate accounting majors at the Mount earn an MBA in just one extra year.
New graduate-level certificate programs are offered in project management and organizational development.
In support of our nation’s veterans, the Mount begins providing academic instruction for the Department of Veteran Affairs’ Warriors to Workforce program.
The Mount establishes a one-year MBA.
In U.S. News & World Report's inaugural list of "Best Colleges for Veterans," the Mount is ranked fourth in the North Region.
Offering opportunities to match the needs of professionals from the expanding 270 technology corridor, the Mount starts a master's degree in biotechnology and management.
The Mount establishes the first Master of Science in sport management degree program in Maryland.
The Mount and Frederick Community College announce an agreement to provide FCC graduates a tuition reduction for programs at the Mount's Frederick campus.
The Mount and AstraZeneca announce an agreement to offer employees a tuition reduction for programs at the Mount Frederick Campus. This partnership program is the first for the Mount in the biotechnology community in the Frederick area.
A graduate-level certificate in quality assurance and regulatory science begins.
The university receives $1 million through the Maryland Department of Commerce's Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative and establishes a partnership with Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.
The Mount announces agreements with Montgomery College and the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce to provide tuition reduction for programs at the Frederick campus.
Graduate-level certificate programs are added in risk management and cybersecurity as well as data science.
Mount St. Mary’s transitions all courses online in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis is established.
The Frederick campus name changes to Division of Continuing Studies, reorganized into the Center for Accelerated and Adult Programs and Graduate School. The university also introduced adult/accelerated undergraduate programs in communication, entrepreneurship and history.
The Frederick campus opens the Center for Lifelong Learning to begin offering non-credit courses for professional development and middle and high school learning opportunities.
The Frederick campus institutes a tuition discount for active-duty military students.
A partnership is established with the Maryland Tech Council to allow their 700+ members to access all accelerated undergraduate and graduate programs at a tuition discount.
Mount Online launches to allow students to take accelerated undergraduate and graduate programs in fully online formats.
Mount St. Mary’s celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Frederick campus.
Blue Peak Center for Applied Behavior Analysis to open in Emmitsburg.