This summer, UMBC is teaming up with the Maryland Department of Disabilities to upgrade nine teaching labs in the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building—marking a major step in fostering inclusive STEM education. The goal: ensure all students, including wheelchair users and those with various disabilities, can fully participate in core chemistry and biochemistry courses.

What's Changing in the Labs?

• Wheelchair-accessible sinks, fume hoods, lab benches, and cabinets

• Lowered equipment stations for independent use

• A research lab redesigned for accessible hands-on experience

Lecture Hall Upgrades Include:

• Wheelchair-accessible seating in multiple locations with fold-down tablets

• TV monitors for better visibility for low-vision students

• Standing desks and seating variations for diverse body types, pregnant students, and orthopedic needs

• Assisted listening tech and designated interpreter areas for students who are Deaf or hard of hearing

Additional accessibility projects include:

• Restroom renovations in the Biological Sciences Building

• Elevator upgrades across multiple academic buildings

“The Office of Accessibility & Disability Services greatly values our longstanding partnership with Facilities Management to assist us in the mission of inclusive access and elimination of barriers for all UMBC community members,” says Tawny McManus, Assistant Vice President for Accessibility.

Learn how these changes are reshaping inclusion in STEM at UMBC: Read more here.

See original post here:  https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/accessibility/posts/151158

Updated application details: 

To be considered, please use THIS FORM to provide the personal information and your statement of interest by May 30, 2025. Additionally, your immediate supervisor must complete and submit the Supervisor Support Form, indicating their endorsement of your participation and commitment to supporting your proposed Culture Builders initiative by May 30, 2025.

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Call for Culture Builders

We are excited to invite you to partner with the Division of Institutional Equity in an ongoing, community-wide effort to foster a more loving, inclusive, and just campus: Culture Builders.

Culture building is the intentional practice of developing shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape how we live, learn, and lead together. In a time marked by polarization and a loss of shared humanity, creating an inclusive culture requires all of us. Each of us has a role to play.

More than a semesterly speaker series, Culture Builders is a call to action. It’s a space where faculty and staff can deepen their commitment to inclusive excellence by:

• Engaging in critical conversations about identity, community, and belonging

• Centering shared values that draw us closer across lines of difference

• Exploring practices and programs that support inclusive engagement, teaching, service, leadership, and scholarship

• Co-creating a campus culture where everyone feels seen, valued, and supported

We invite you to join the fall '25 Culture Builders Cohort as a thought partner, co-sponsor, and co-facilitator. This fall’s shared text will be Critical Hope by Dr. Kari Grain—a powerful exploration of how we can lead with clarity, complexity, and care in the pursuit of justice. 

Drawing from the book’s key themes—including the importance of grounded action over naïve optimism, leading with imagination, and cultivating hope through reflection and radical relationships—our fall cohort will focus on how these practices can shape UMBC’s culture of inclusive excellence. Explore the fall themes HERE.

What to Expect:

• Small cohort experience: Only 8 Culture Builders will be selected per semester. Culture builders will represent their office/department.

• Shared learning: Culture Builders will participate in three virtual dialogues (July, August, and September) to explore the book and identify themes and values that can inform institutional change. We will provide each participant with a free copy of Critical Hope.

• Campus engagement: Each Culture Builder will host a fall event, program, or learning opportunity connected to cohort themes. We will provide up to $500 in funding per event.

• Community connection: All Culture Builders will promote and attend the fall Culture Builders keynote event in November. We will host and fully fund this event and provide 20 free copies of Critical Hope to audience members.

To explore the ideas behind the book, you can listen to the following podcast interviews with Dr. Kari Grain: Critical Hope for Educators: Equity Analysis, Possibility, and Responsibility. You might also read The Social Justice Turn: Cultivating "Critical Hope" in an Age of Despair by Kari M. Grain and Darren E. Lund.

If you’re already leading equity-centered work or seeking a way to begin, this is your invitation! Become a Culture Builder and help shape the culture we want to see at UMBC.