Dear Campus Community,

I am writing to update you on recent travel restrictions that affect certain members of our campus community.

The information contained in this communication is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter. If you have specific legal questions about your own immigration status, please seek assistance from a private immigration attorney.

On December 16, 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation that expands upon the June 4, 2025 list of countries subject to a "full" or "partial" suspension of entry to the United States. This proclamation expands entry restrictions to include certain immigrants and nonimmigrants from 39 countries and individuals traveling with Palestinian Authority-issued documents. The new entry restrictions go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 01, 2026.

Full Suspension of Entry
A "full" suspension constitutes a restriction on entry into the United States as immigrants and as nonimmigrants with limited exceptions for:

1. Any lawful permanent resident of the United States;

2. Any dual national of a country on the above list when the individual is traveling on a passport issued by a country not so designated;

3. Any foreign national traveling with a valid nonimmigrant visa in the following classifications:  A‑1, A-2, C-2, C-3, G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1, NATO‑2, NATO-3, NATO-4, NATO-5, or NATO-6;

4. Any athlete or member of an athletic team, including the coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State;

5. Special Immigrant Visas for United States Government employees under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D); and

6. Immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran.

Countries (additions in italics) subject to the "full" suspension include: 

• Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

• A full suspension was also announced for individuals using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.

Partial Suspension of Entry

A "partial" suspension constitutes a restriction on entry into the United States as immigrants and as nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas with the same limited exceptions as are provided for the "full" suspension. Other categories of nonimmigrant visas are not currently subject to the "partial" suspension.

Countries (additions in italics) subject to a "partial" suspension include:

• Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Entry Restrictions on Nationals of Turkmenistan to be Amended
The current partial ban on nonimmigrants from Turkmenistan will be lifted. The ban will be lifted for nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J visas. However, the entry into the United States of nationals of Turkmenistan as immigrants remains suspended.

Applicability:
According to a White House Fact Sheet, the new proclamation only applies to foreign nationals of the designated countries who:

• Do not meet one of the limited exceptions previously mentioned;

• are outside of the United States on January 01, 2026; and 

• do not have a valid visa on January 01, 2026.

Impact:
During the fall 2025 semester, 160 UMBC students were citizens of one of the designated countries. An additional 30 students who were admitted and already confirmed their intent to enroll at UMBC for the spring 2026 semester may no longer be able to join our campus community due to the expanded travel restrictions.

Guidance:
Nationals of the designated countries should fully understand how this proclamation applies to their individual circumstances before planning travel outside of the United States.

• Individuals holding active F, H, or J immigration status should contact the Center for Global Engagement prior to planning international travel.

• Individuals in other immigration statuses should contact a private immigration attorney prior to planning international travel.

• Individuals who are considering changing their current immigration status should consult with a private immigration attorney about how the proclamation may impact their future intended status.

Support:
The Center for Global Engagement is actively reaching out to international students, employees and visiting scholars (F, H and J nonimmigrants) from the designated countries regarding the expanded travel ban. These individuals will also be invited to attend one of two closed virtual information sessions scheduled for Friday, December 19, 2025.  

The Center for Global Engagement will continue to monitor White House, U.S. Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services communications for any updates on this proclamation. Please feel free to contact our Office of International Students and Scholars if you have any questions, concerns, or if you simply want to talk with an advisor. We are here to support you.

Please check your email regularly and refer to our Immigration Policy Updates pagefor announcements regarding future updates to immigration and visa policies. Additionally, we recommend reaching out to a private immigration attorney if you have specific legal concerns.

Additional information and resources related to immigration and other federal policy updates are available on UMBC's Federal Orders and Actions Page.

David L. Di Maria
Vice Provost for Global Engagement

Dear UMBC Community, 

We invite the entire UMBC community to join us for a live stream of the 2025 Winter Commencement ceremonies.

• Wednesday, December 17, at 10 a.m., Graduate School Ceremony—Click here to watch the live stream

• Thursday, December 18, at 10 a.m., Undergraduate Ceremony —Click here to watch the live stream

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 2025!

Sincerely, 

The UMBC Commencement Planning Team

Dear UMBC Community, 

As the fall semester draws to a close and we look forward to celebrating graduates at Commencement ceremonies tomorrow and Thursday, I write to share updates on some key areas of focus. This is a long message, and so I hope you will bear with me, because I wanted to be as thorough as possible in sharing information about some of the work we have been doing this semester. 

First, though, I want to acknowledge that this has been a very demanding semester for many individuals personally and for our community broadly. The pressures on higher education are unrelenting, and many contexts and events bring anxiety, fear, and pain for members of our community. We all live in this world, not apart from it, and I know that its dissonance, divisions, and dangers can weigh heavily upon us. 

Whether you are affected directly or indirectly, your well-being matters to me. I see how hard you are working, and I see your dedication, your resilience, and your love for UMBC. I urge you all to continue to care for yourselves and one another and take full advantage of our resources for care and support as needed (for students and for faculty and staff). 

Federal actions and orders

One area of ongoing challenge and focus is our response to impacts related to executive orders and actions by the federal government. Our core team has continued to meet regularly throughout the fall semester, monitoring and responding to multiple ongoing and developing issues, including many affecting international students and scholars, our LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color, and UMBC's research enterprise. 

I encourage you to regularly visit our website for the latest information on UMBC's response to federal actions and orders. Of particular interest: the Office of International Students and Scholars posts relevant immigration policy updates; please check back often for the most up-to-date information in this frequently changing environment (for instance, last week, the office posted travel considerations for winter break). 

Given the immigration enforcement actions we are seeing nationwide, I also want to remind you of the guidance, information, and resources we have shared related to the possibility of such enforcement action at UMBC, including this guidance concerning requests from any external law enforcement agencies for information, records, or access to non-public areas of the campus. We remain concerned about and attentive to the impact of these and other federal actions and policy changes on our international students, staff, and faculty, who are a vital part of the UMBC community and the global education we provide. At the heart of that education is our core commitment to inclusive excellence, which remains unyielding.

Strategic planning

Setting the course for the future of inclusive excellence at UMBC is key to the work we are doing now to develop the university's next strategic plan. I hope you all saw the recent communication from Professor Charissa Cheah, who is leading the strategic planning steering committee. As she noted, the committee has met three times this fall to advance work on five strategic pillars, which were shaped by input from the community in the Bold Conversations and Core Values survey. 

My sincere thanks to Charissa, the members of the steering committee, and all who have and who will yet participate in setting the course for our future. I look forward to continuing progress toward a new strategic plan in fall 2026. 

Budget

As we articulate broad goals for the future and specific initiatives to achieve them, we will ensure that our resources align with our priorities. Doing so requires that we hold ourselves to a high level of accountability and to strategic long-term budgeting. This is especially important as we continue to respond to fiscal pressures, including reductions in state funding. 

As I shared during our Fall Opening Meeting, we reduced expenses by $14.5 million to balance the current (Fiscal Year 2026) budget in response to significant state cuts. While the state continues to be a strong, dedicated supporter of UMBC and higher education (its investment in UMBC has grown significantly over the past several years), given the financial outlook for the state of Maryland, we are planning for additional cuts for the coming fiscal year. 

These are not one-time or one-off cuts; a review of our primary revenue sources can illuminate a clear picture of what we face. UMBC's main sources of revenue and their outlooks are:

• State allocation (outlook: declining, especially due to the tax revenue implications of so many Marylanders having lost federal jobs this year)

• Federal research funding (outlook: declining, due to changes in federal policy and priorities)

• Student revenue (outlook: increasing modestly; revenues grew $1.8 million in FY25, reflecting an increase in undergraduate revenue and a decrease in graduate revenue)

• Philanthropy (an area of focus for strategic growth in FY26 – 27)

In light of the outlook for the coming year and our aim to budget strategically to advance our highest priorities, we are working with our colleagues in both academic and administrative areas of the university to determine how best to absorb and minimize the impact of anticipated state funding cuts in FY27. 

Additional updates

I hope you saw the happy news we announced late last week of the appointment of D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., as our new vice president for government relations and community affairs. He succeeds former Vice President Yaakov "Jake" Weissmann '06, who was named secretary of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management in October. 

Paul joins us this week at a particularly important moment for our work with the state on issues related to the budget and much more, as well as at a time that calls for even stronger coalitions and more effective advocacy with local, state, and federal officials and partners. Welcome to UMBC, Paul! 

The search for our next vice president of administration and finance is ongoing, and we are moving as quickly as we can to fill that leadership role.

Finally, I want to highlight one other important update shared recently by Tanyka Barber, our vice president for institutional equity and chief diversity officer. Tanyka provided a status report on the university's ongoing response to UMBC's 2024 agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to improve and expand upon our work to prevent and respond to reports of sexual misconduct and sex discrimination under Title IX. That agreement followed a lengthy investigation by the DOJ that found systemic failures in the university's Title IX compliance between 2015 and 2020.  

As Tanyka noted in her message to the community, this work is progressing effectively and efficiently, and it is coordinated collaboratively by Tanyka and a small team of other leaders, including Kacey Hammel, chief of staff to the president; Tiffany Tucker, director of athletics, physical education, and recreation; and me. I am grateful to Tanyka and her entire team, as well as to Kacey and Tiffany for their dedication to this comprehensive, important effort.

 Our commitment is not only to the DOJ, but, more importantly, it is to all of you, and to all who will join this community in the years to come. Nothing is more important than your well-being, and we will continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards of care, safety, integrity, and accountability. 

My best to you and your families as we look to a well-deserved winter break. In the days ahead, I hope that you find time to rest and recharge and that you encounter joy, love, and grace this holiday season. 

Sincerely, 

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

Dear UMBC Campus Community,

I am writing to share an update on our progress in developing the UMBC Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan Steering Committee has met three times this fall to advance our work on the five strategic plan pillars. These pillars were shaped by the feedback shared by our community in the Bold Conversations and Core Values survey. As a reminder, the five pillars are:

• Grow Student Opportunity and Success
• Transform Teaching and Learning
• Redefine Excellence in Research and Creative Achievement
• Cultivate Organizational Innovation and Vitality
• Strengthen Maryland and Its Communities

The strategic plan committee members have been divided into five Pillar Subgroups, each tasked with developing a plan for their particular pillar through the spring semester. Once the pillar plans are drafted, the committee will undertake several steps to ensure that the final UMBC strategic plan is ready to share with the community in the fall of 2026.

We will be seeking assistance from our community in developing these plans. Some of you may receive outreach in early 2026 to engage in planning; this outreach could be through a survey, focus group, or other method chosen by the pillar subgroups. I encourage those of you who receive outreach to engage in this important work on behalf of UMBC. It is essential that we hear voices from across campus and benefit from community expertise, perspectives, and ideas.

There will also be several opportunities for the larger campus community to share feedback. News about these opportunities will be posted in the myUMBC Strategic Planning group. Please follow this group as soon as you can to ensure you are in the know regarding events, activities, and forums led by the strategic plan committee to engage with you, because we want to hear from as many community members as possible to ensure that the strategic plan is our community's plan for the future.

I also want to note that the current strategic planning website will be updated soon. It is being redesigned to ensure easy access to strategic planning process key information. The new site will include an interactive timeline focusing on major milestones, a page with the steering committee roster, and a form to provide feedback.

Thank you in advance for your engagement and feedback in support of our UMBC strategic planning process. I am excited about what the coming months will bring in developing the plan, and I look forward to seeing you at related events.

Warmest regards,

Dr. Charissa Cheah
Professor of Psychology and Asian Studies Faculty Affiliate
Chair, UMBC Strategic Plan Steering Committee

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce the appointment of D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., as our new vice president for government relations and community affairs. Paul is an experienced administrator and lifelong public servant who has held leadership roles in local, state, and federal government and in higher education. He served most recently as the inaugural secretary of the Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation.

Prior to his appointment to Governor Wes Moore's cabinet in 2023, Paul was nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022 as director of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS). Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRS works to mitigate community tensions based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Paul had served as acting director of CRS from 2015 to 2017, before taking on a role as chief of staff to the president and assistant vice president of external affairs at Howard University.

Paul's public service goes back many years. He served from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration as an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement, and he was appointed by President Barack Obama as national director of AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). During his time on the White House staff, Paul coordinated the My Brother's Keeper mentorship program for young men and served as a liaison to numerous religious, secular, and ethnic communities, including Arab American and Afghan American groups.

A former ex-officio member of the National Counterterrorism Center's Heritage Council, Paul was awarded a citation from the National Security Council in 2013 for his work on international priorities, including the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, refugee resettlement, and other humanitarian efforts.

Locally, he has served as a member of the Prince George's County Public Schools Board of Education, the Emerging Leaders Impact Fund in Prince George's County, the Board of Governors of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and the Board of Advisors of the Madison House Autism Foundation, based in Rockville.

Raised in Hyattsville, Maryland, Paul is the proud son of immigrants and was the first in his family to attend college. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law. In law school, he served as a fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, where he spent a year teaching middle and high school students about the U.S. Constitution.

The depth and breadth of Paul's service to communities locally and globally speak volumes about his commitment to making a meaningful difference. We are fortunate to have in Paul not only someone whose knowledge and expertise in policy, governance, and advocacy will serve us well, but also someone whose personal values align so beautifully with UMBC's.

He has expressed to me his admiration for UMBC and its public mission, and I know he looks forward to continuing to strengthen our engagement with government officials and our collaboration with UMBC's neighbors.

Paul will hit the ground running; I am grateful that he is able to begin in the role next week, in preparation for the start of the Maryland General Assembly's regular session in January, and at a time when our advocacy with local, state, and federal government is more demanding and more consequential than ever.

Please join me in welcoming Paul to UMBC!

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

At left, the women's volleyball team. At right, sophomore Laura Fuehrer makes a play during the team's appearance at the NCAA Tournament versus Pitt.

Dear UMBC Community,

As we shared earlier, the Division of Institutional Equity will host the inaugural Dialogue Symposium: Bringing Campuses and Communities Together on Wednesday, January 29, in the University Center Ballroom. This full-day, cross-USM initiative will bring together educators, students, staff, and community partners for interactive sessions and workshops dedicated to strengthening dialogue, belonging, and collaborative problem-solving across campuses and communities.

Our planning committee is now seeking proposals for sessions, workshops, and presentations. Submissions may focus on teaching and learning, community engagement, leadership development, trauma-informed facilitation, or other practices that support inclusion and meaningful connection. This initiative reflects UMBC's commitment to fostering shared understanding and community partnership across the region.

Proposal submissions are due by December 15.

Additional event details, including registration information, are available through the Center for Social Justice Dialogue website.

We hope you will consider contributing to this collaborative multi-campus event and helping to shape a day of learning, reflection, and connection.

Sincerely,

Jasmine A. Lee
Associate Vice President, Community and Culture
Co-Director, Center for Social Justice Dialogue

Dear UMBC Community,

It's A Great Day To Be A Retriever!

I am writing to you in celebration of our Women's Volleyball program. After winning the America East Championship on November 22, our Retrievers will travel to the University of Pittsburgh to compete in the 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament.

On behalf of our entire Athletic Department, I'd like to invite the campus community over to Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena to help us send the team off in style. Join us around 1:15 p.m. today on the front plaza of the arena, as the team loads up the bus and leaves campus to represent our great university on a national stage.

The Retrievers will take on the nation's fourth-ranked team, the Pitt Panthers, at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening. For those interested in watching the game, you are also welcome to join Athletics in the University Commons Sports Zone for a watch party beginning at 6 p.m.

Thanks for your support, and Go Dawgs!

Tiffany D. Tucker
Director of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation