Dear colleagues,
As you might already know, UMBC is in the process of updating the faculty handbook. This process is part of a broader initiative by the Office of the Provost and General Counsel to ensure UMBC has up-to-date policies and procedures to support the work of faculty, staff, and students.
Currently, the Faculty Handbook Revision Committee is focusing on making the UMBC Faculty Handbook more accessible and useful (for more information, see here). The Faculty Handbook Revision Committee is not making any substantive changes during this review period.
Feedback
The Faculty Handbook Revision Committee welcomes your feedback and/or comments here as it continues its work.
Faculty Handbook Revision Committee
Members of the Faculty Handbook Revision Committee include:
Lynda Aldana (Librarian IV)
Keith Bowman (Mechanical Engineering, Professor – Co-chair of committee)
Lindsay DiCuirci (English, Associate Professor)
Stephen Freeland (Biology, Professor)
Ana Oskoz (Faculty Affairs, Vice Provost – Co-chair of committee)
Patrick Sheridan (Senior Associate General Counsel, Labor & Employment, in an advisory capacity)
Donald Snyder (Media Communication Studies, Teaching Professor, Chair of Faculty Affairs)
Process and timeline
At the last Faculty Senate meeting, we presented the process that the committee has followed, including discussion of the current faculty handbook organization, selection of criteria for revision of content, and potential reorganization of the faculty handbook.
The Faculty Handbook Revision Committee will be updating the Faculty Senate every other meeting (February, April, September, November, and December). We aim to share a full set of proposed changes by December 2026.
Sincerely,
Keith J. Bowman
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Ana Oskoz
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
We are pleased to announce the call for nominations for the 2025-2026 Marilyn E. Demorest Faculty Advancement Award.
The Marilyn E. Demorest Faculty Advancement Award is conferred for a term of one year upon a UMBC faculty member. This fund is awarded, annually, to faculty who mentor and/or advise faculty and colleagues in their field.
Nominations (or self-nominations) for the 2025-2026 Marilyn E. Demorest Faculty Advancement Award should include:
Nominations (including self-nominations) for the 2025-2026 award are due to the Office of the Provost, uploaded via Box Drive here no later than December 8, 2025.
The Marilyn E. Demorest Faculty Advancement Award will be appointed by the provost based upon recommendation of the Honors and Awards Committee of the Faculty Senate. This year there will be one award which will allocate $3,000 to stipend and $500 to a discretionary expense account. Funds are to be used by June 1, 2027.
The faculty member's 2025-2026 contribution, as the Marilyn E. Demorest Faculty Advancement Awardee, to mentoring and advising faculty may involve new initiatives or build upon and enhance or extend prior work with or for faculty. The awardee may work with the Faculty Development Center to plan and implement projects.
If you have any questions, please contact Brynn Krasney via email at bkrasney@umbc.edu.
For more information click here.
We are pleased to announce the call for nominations for the 2025-2026 Presidential Research and Teaching Professor Awards.
Presidential Professors receive an award of $7,500, in support of faculty development, for each of the three years of the award period ($22,500 in total).
Each department may nominate one individual in each category, by whatever method each department chooses, but with the following provisos:
(a) The
nominee for the award given in recognition of scholarly or artistic
accomplishment should be supported by documentation;
(b) Departments
should be encouraged to consult with their councils of majors in the selection
of awards for teaching;
(c) A
department may nominate only one faculty member in each category, i.e.,
teaching and research;
(d) A
department may choose not to submit any nominations.
Nominations for the 2025-2026 Presidential Research and Teaching Professor Awards, submitted as a single pdf with enumerated pages, are due to the Office of the Provost via Box Drive, no later than December 1, 2025 (by 11:59 pm).
The Presidential Research
and Teaching Professor Awards committee will review the nominations and forward
their final recommendations to the Provost and the President. After the
President approves the recommendations, the President will inform the awardees.
The awards will be presented at the Presidential Faculty & Staff Awards
Ceremony in the spring semester.
For more information click here.
If you have any questions, please contact Brynn Krasney via email at bkrasney@umbc.edu.