Dear UMBC Community, 

We invite the entire UMBC community to join us for a live stream of the 2023 Graduate School Commencement Ceremony at 10 a.m. today.

We encourage you to celebrate on social media using #UMBCgrad. If you are unable to tune in for the live stream, a recording of the ceremony will also be available.

We hope you will join us in celebrating the Class of 2023!

 

Sincerely, 

Dear UMBC Community, 

 

With winter Commencements fast approaching, I wanted to share some updates with you before the break and express my sincere thanks to the entire UMBC community. This has been a demanding semester for everyone, I am sure, and I hope that as we head to the end of the year, you will find the time and opportunity for rest and reflection in the coming days. 

 

I am pleased to share with you that we sought and have received incredibly helpful input from UMBC's shared governance leaders toward creating the best possible process for strategic planning. I am so grateful for the thoughtful work of our shared governance leaders to answer the questions of how best to engage the populations they represent and how we connect with and hear from those members of our community who perhaps did not participate in our Bold Conversations. I am excited to build on the interest and enthusiasm we saw in the Bold sessions in new conversations with you all in the spring. 

We are in a great place with our provost search as well. We hosted four finalists for campus visits this month. UMBC's next provost and senior vice president for academic affairs will join us in our strategic planning effort and be a key partner in all of our work to advance this outstanding institution. 

I hope you never tire of my expressing gratitude to you all. I feel it so deeply and so often, and I want you to know it! With my thanks, I am pleased to share with you this brief video of highlights from this calendar year. I hope you enjoy the look back at our journey together this year. 

In this moment, I find myself truly inspired by the ways in which so many of you are engaging directly and wholeheartedly in the work to make this community better. Students, faculty, and staff: You are showing up, sharing your ideas, asking hard questions, and communicating with each other and with me, and that is helping me to learn and to do my job better. 

I am grateful for the trust that you have shown in our work together, especially as we navigate global challenges that are deeply dividing society. I do not take your trust for granted. Nor do I take lightly my responsibility to honor that trust and return it, as we pour our hearts and minds into making this institution we love even better--for everyone here today and for those who will come after us. 

This work matters, as you matter, and as UMBC matters. Thank you!

 

Sincerely,

 

Dear UMBC Community,

As we talk with many of you, we hear that this semester has felt like a long and challenging one, and we know that ongoing world events are having a very real impact on many in our community. We want to remind you to please take good care of yourself as you finish the semester.

We also want you to know that UMBC leaders have heard your calls for a more equitable and inclusive visual representation of our diverse individual and intersectional identities on campus. In recent weeks, the flags in The Commons have been a source for conversation and concern related to representation. We recognize that the flags do not represent the community's multidimensionality and, at the same time, we acknowledge that they are only one part of a larger issue of representation. UMBC has long been a place where all voices have been foundational for important institutional change, and we know that real change starts with asking the community to define how they want to be represented rather than having it defined for them. 

To that end, at the start of the spring semester, we will be launching an "I am UMBC" initiative together. Be on the lookout for a survey and an invitation to community conversations designed to gather perspectives about current representation on campus and opportunities to ensure a more inclusive representation of the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff. Our hope is that by mid-semester, we will be able to share what we have heard, along with short- and long-term plans for ensuring that we are effectively representing our vibrant, engaged, and diverse community. 

We are so proud to be part of UMBC, and we look forward to hearing your honest reflections in the coming semester. Thank you in advance for your participation and have a restful winter break.

Dear UMBC Community, 

As the campus prepares for winter break, UMBC Auxiliary Services is pleased to support our community with continued dining and retail options. Please note UMBC Dining and the Bookstore will have reduced hours December 18, 2023 - January 28, 2024.

Updated dining location hours are available here. 

UMBC Bookstore 

December 18 - 24, 2023 

Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Saturday - Sunday: Closed 

December 25 - 31, 2023 

Monday - Sunday: Closed 

Monday: Closed 

Tuesday - Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Saturday - Sunday: Closed 

Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Saturday - Sunday: Closed 

Wishing you a relaxing winter break and looking forward to an exciting spring semester.

Go Retrievers!

Dear UMBC Community, 

As the weather grows colder, we want to take this opportunity to update you on UMBC's response to inclement weather and our policies and procedures for weather-related delays and closures. 

If you have not done so already, please sign up for our emergency text alerts. This is the most effective way to receive urgent updates for weather-related delays, closures, and campus emergencies. In addition to text alerts, we will also post alerts on both the UMBC homepage and myUMBC. 

Please note that the decision to close campus or open late applies to the UMBC campus only. For community members not located on campus, please follow the protocols for your specific location. This includes: 

When it becomes necessary to close the campus for inclement weather, employees designated as essential personnel must report. Decisions about Administrative Leave for all other employees will be made based on the weather conditions that day and communicated accordingly. 

If campus remains open, please use personal judgment when traveling to and from campus as weather and road conditions vary by your personal location. The decision about whether it is safe to travel ultimately rests with each individual. Please be sure to communicate early and often with your supervisor should you have any concerns. It is our goal to keep you safe and warm this winter. 

Read more about UMBC's policies and procedures for inclement weather, including information on how and when decisions are made, response plans, and details on how delays and closures impact events, parking, and more. 

Wishing you and your families a happy and healthy season. 

Dear UMBC Community,

The fall 2023 student course evaluation (SCE) process is underway! The SCEs will be available online through Tuesday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m.

Completing your student course evaluations is helpful for understanding and evaluating student and faculty experiences in the current learning environment. All responses are anonymous and are not released until after fall semester grades have been submitted.

You can access the online SCE with any device--desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone. The online SCEs are accessible by email link, a BlackBoard building block link, and a "Student Course Evaluations" link that is available on myUMBC. Once you have accessed the SCE application, use your myUMBC credentials to navigate to your Profile. Once logged in, students will see a list of courses in which they are enrolled and will be able to complete a survey.

Faculty are encouraged to promote the SCE survey and to remind students that the survey can be completed anytime from now through December 12, at 11:59 p.m.

Dear UMBC Community,

We are delighted to share with you the news that Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) has completed installation of a new electrical feeder to our campus. This third feeder comes from a different substation than the campus's other feeders, providing much-needed redundancy for our power supply, greatly improving reliability and reducing the likelihood of campus power outages. 

This milestone concludes a years-long effort to improve the reliability of our electrical system. Going back at least to 2019, the university has engaged BGE leadership in this effort, as our community endured numerous power outages and waited for relief. Each power outage we experienced disrupted research, teaching, administrative work, and student life. Earlier this year, after more outages to our campus, we met with BGE leadership again. We appreciated their prompt response--which included a meeting on campus for numerous members of their team to hear from our community about the negative impacts of the outages--as well as BGE's continued work to address short-term fixes while advancing steadily on this long-term upgrade. 

While it is impossible to prevent every outage, this system redundancy will go a long way toward improving reliability. Over the past year, UMBC has also made numerous improvements to our campus utility infrastructure, enhancing the system's overall resiliency. We commend BGE and our own Facilities Management team for their collaborative efforts to complete this project and to have done so with minimal disruption and a month ahead of schedule. Well done! 

Sincerely, 

Dear UMBC Community,

The fall 2023 student course evaluation (SCE) process is underway! The SCEs will be available online through Tuesday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m.

Completing your student course evaluations is helpful for understanding and evaluating student and faculty experiences in the current learning environment. All responses are anonymous and are not released until after fall semester grades have been submitted.

You can access the online SCE with any device--desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone. The online SCEs are accessible by email link, a BlackBoard building block link, and a "Student Course Evaluations" link that is available on myUMBC. Once you have accessed the SCE application, use your myUMBC credentials to navigate to your Profile. Once logged in, students will see a list of courses in which they are enrolled and will be able to complete a survey.

Faculty are encouraged to promote the SCE survey and to remind students that the survey can be completed anytime from now through December 12, at 11:59 p.m.

Dear UMBC Community,

 

As we look ahead to the remainder of the semester, we know that the usual busyness of this season and the last few weeks of classes and final exams may feel especially challenging in the context of world events, most especially the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Many among our UMBC community continue to feel direct and indirect impacts of the conflict, as well as of the resulting rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia toward Israelis and Palestinians that we are seeing throughout society. 

 

Here on our campus, the month of December brings not only end-of-semester deadlines and exams, but also celebrations and special occasions, including many student-organized religious observations. 

 

All of this is on our minds. We are thinking carefully about how to continue to best support and attend to the well-being of all members of our community--students, faculty, and staff--and foster a healthy campus climate that is safe, welcoming, and inclusive. We have reached out with support and care for individuals who are being directly affected by events abroad and here at home. We are attending to safety and security needs and responding to any reports of harassment, discrimination, or threats. We also have met and are continuing to meet with relevant student organizations, as well as with members of UMBC's Religious Council, to hear and understand their perspectives and work toward the ongoing co-creation of the inclusive community we strive to be. 

 

Some additional updates: 

 

Heading into the final weeks of the semester, remember that it is our collective responsibility to help ensure that every member of our community feels safe, welcomed, and valued. Please continue to report any incidents of harassment or bias through the Office of Equity and Civil Rights' online reporting form, or by emailing ecr@umbc.edu or calling 410-455-1717. We must show respect for differing viewpoints, beliefs, practices, and needs, and we ask you to continue to extend kindness, compassion, and flexibility to one another, knowing that individuals may be struggling. Grant yourself some grace, as well. These are challenging days. 

 

Finally, we share with you the attached message from University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay A. Perman, which he sent to system colleagues just before Thanksgiving. In it, he reminds us of the promise of higher education to help us bridge what divides us, and he expresses his hope that in time we will go beyond words denouncing hate to achieve "a shared commitment to using our work for light and peace." We join Chancellor Perman in this hope, and we believe in the power of this extraordinary community to realize it. 

 

Sincerely,

 

UMBC Parking Services is committed to providing equitable parking infrastructure for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors through the use of innovative, sustainable, and customer-driven measures that support the university's mission. From carpools to ZipCars, we are working to meet the needs of the university's diverse population. 

We have partnered with consulting firm Mead & Hunt to assess the university's parking operations and to develop and propose a strategic 10-year plan. One of the most important facets in this assessment is the feedback from the campus community. We ask that you take three to five minutes to complete the survey and let us know your opinions. If there is an area that you think needs improvement or is underserved, please tell us. The information we gain will help us shape the parking experience on campus in the years to come. Please respond by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, December 1, 2023. 

Questions? Please feel free to contact Parking Services at 410-455-2551 or email us at parking@umbc.edu.