Presenting our Grad Spotlight winners for November 2025:
• Lynn Nguyen — MFA, Visual Arts
• Manju Ojha — PhD, Chemistry

Each winner will receive $50 in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments.

These remarkable graduate students stood out through their achievements, impact, and true GradVibes spirit. From advancing creative research to strengthening community connections, they continue to elevate UMBC's graduate student community.

Watch their spotlight videos on our profile — and if you want to be featured next month, submit your nomination through our MyUMBC form!

This tribute is based entirely on reporting from Disability Scoop.

Alice Wong, the groundbreaking disability rights activist known for her wit, creativity, and willingness to shock systems into accountability, has died at the age of 51. Disability Scoop reports that she passed away following an infection at UCSF Hospital.

Wong was widely recognized for her radical imagination and her fearless approach to justice. She called herself a "cyborg oracle" and used technology, storytelling, and political strategy to confront ableism. Her national profile rose in 2013 when President Obama appointed her to the National Council on Disability. She later attended a White House reception through a telepresence robot, a moment that symbolized both her ingenuity and her insistence on access.

Disability Scoop highlights her influence as an author, podcaster, editor, and founder of the Disability Visibility Project. Her #CripTheVote initiative shifted political conversations, and her advocacy helped thousands of high risk Californians gain earlier vaccine access during the COVID pandemic. She also challenged policies like plastic straw bans that ignored disabled people's needs.

Wong received a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2024 for exposing systemic prejudice and expanding public understanding of disabled lives.

After her passing, a prewritten message was released. In it she wrote: "Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you." She reflected on her childhood, internalized ableism, and the power of storytelling. She urged the world to create more space for disabled culture, saying "You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment."

Friends, leaders, and organizations described Wong as a visionary. Sandy Ho called her a "disabled oracle" who could see the future. San Francisco's mayor praised her courage. The American Association of People with Disabilities wrote that she made the "complexity of disabled experiences visible to the world."

Born in 1974 to immigrants from Hong Kong, Wong grew up in Indianapolis. She lived with a rare form of muscular atrophy, used a wheelchair from grade school, and relied on a BiPap ventilator. She wrote powerfully about her relationship to technology, calling her devices "bits of hardware" that grounded and liberated her.

Her writing explored how painful labels like "defect" and "abnormal" became sources of power and resistance through creativity. Her memoir, Year of the Tiger, blended vulnerability with cultural critique, imagination, and her belief in collective liberation through art and storytelling.

Disability Scoop notes that Wong was known for her red lipstick, black power chair, and gray ventilator. She wrote for Teen Vogue, The New York Times, and many other outlets. She addressed issues ranging from medical crowdfunding to national health policy. She spoke about the danger that political shifts posed for disabled people and insisted on a world where disabled joy and survival are prioritized.

Her final message, released by her family and shared by Disability Scoop, ended with words from Year of the Tiger: "The real gift any person can give is a web of connective tissue. If we love fiercely, our ancestors live among and speak to us through these incandescent filaments glowing from the warmth of memories."

Rest in power, Alice Wong. You changed the world and expanded what is possible. Visit the Disability Visibility website she created here.

Code Switch (NPR) Podcast (12/6) Honoring Alice Wong

Read her work: 

• Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire
• Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life
• Disability Visibility: First‑Person Stories from the Twenty‑First Century
• Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults): 17 First‑Person Stories for Today
• Resistance & Hope: Essays by Disabled People
• Visit the Society of Disabled Oracles - a creation of Alice Wong, Aimi Hamraie and Jen White Johnson. 

Winter Break (Jan 6 & 7) & Spring Break (Mar 19 & 20)
9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Over the past decade, nearly 700 UMBC staff, faculty, and students have participated in UMBC's two-day Restorative Practices Training—consistently describing it as both personally and professionally transformative.

Whether you work with students, lead teams, support community spaces, or want to strengthen communication and conflict-resolution skills, this training offers tools you can use every day.

Restorative Practices help with:
• Building community in residential, academic, and workplace settings
• Addressing conflict in student orgs, staff teams, and roommate situations
• Strengthening resilience and communication
• Developing mindsets and practices that support leadership during challenging moments

Training Dates:
 Winter Break: January 6 & 7
 Spring Break: March 19 & 20
Choose either two-day session.

If you've never attended a restorative practices workshop, you should register!
If you have attended, please consider encouraging a colleague, student, or someone on your team to join.

https://conduct.umbc.edu/programs/restorative-practices/events-and-workshops-offered/

Each November, we recognize and honor the more than 63 million family caregivers across the United States who devote their time, energy, and love to supporting a family member or friend with health needs.

Caregiver Action Network, the nationally recognized leader of National Family Caregivers Month (NFC Month), partners with organizations and advocates across the country to highlight caregivers' challenges, celebrate their dedication, and connect them with the resources they need.

About National Family Caregivers Month

National Family Caregivers Month is a time to:

• Raise awareness of the essential role family caregivers play in our healthcare system

• Educate communities about the challenges caregivers face and the supports they need

• Connect caregivers with trusted resources that make their journey easier

• Honor caregivers for their commitment, resilience, and love

Since 1994, November has been recognized through presidential proclamations, nonprofit campaigns, and community events nationwide. Each year features a unique theme chosen by Caregiver Action Network.

2025 Theme: Plug-in to Care

The focus for 2025 is connection—helping caregivers plug in to care by accessing vital support tools, networks, and educational resources.

Get Involved

• Spread the Word
  Share messages, graphics, and stories using #NFCMonth

• Join Events
  Participate in webinars, conversations, and activities throughout November.

Support Caregivers
Use the available toolkits to recognize caregivers in your workplace, community, or organization.

• Download the Campaign Toolkit
  

• Become a Nonprofit Partner
  

• Explore Past Campaigns

Past themes include:

• 2024: iCare…
  

• 2023: #CaregiversConnect
  

• 2022: #CaregivingHappens
  

Why Connection Matters

Family caregivers are the backbone of our healthcare system. They provide billions of hours of unpaid care each year while navigating work responsibilities, family life, and their own health needs.

By recognizing National Family Caregivers Month, we highlight their experiences and connect them to the resources, support, and community they deserve.

Empowering Future Leaders in Aging at UMBC's Erickson School of Aging Studies

The Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC is dedicated to preparing leaders who will improve the lives of older adults, including the millions who rely on family caregivers.

The Erickson School:

• Offers unique interdisciplinary programs that prepare students to lead organizations serving or advocating for older adults

• Connects the strength of a leading research university with the real-world expertise of leaders in the aging services field

• Provides Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Education
  

• Blends knowledge of human aging, public policy, and management, developing essential skills such as communication, financial acumen, critical thinking, leadership, problem-solving, and decision-making

• Provides Undergraduate Program Internships that give students hands-on experience and career exploration in aging services

• Requires Capstone Projects in both undergraduate and graduate programs, allowing students to apply their learning and design innovative solutions that support older adults and caregivers

By educating emerging professionals with this strong interdisciplinary foundation, the Erickson School helps strengthen programs, services, and systems that support caregivers and older adults across the nation.