Dear UMBC Community,

We are excited to share that UMBC is featured in this season of "The College Tour." This television series--hosted by Alex Boylan of "The Amazing Race" and a team of award-winning producers--tells the story of what life is like on college campuses across the United States. 

Through a series of student interviews in each episode, viewers have the opportunity to explore the academic, social, cultural, and campus life of a featured college or university. Over the past three seasons, top universities like the University of Oregon, Baylor University, the University of Connecticut, Arizona State University, and the University of Miami have participated in the series. "The College Tour" is available on IMDb TV, Amazon Prime, and "The College Tour" app and website, making campus tours accessible to prospective students around the world.

This past fall, "The College Tour" visited UMBC's campus and interviewed 20 undergraduate and graduate students about a variety of subjects including mentorship, co-creating our campus, research, entrepreneurship, student support, leadership development, athletics, and community. Through our students' stories, viewers will learn about life at UMBC and explore what makes us a unique and thriving university.

We are so grateful to the students who participated in "The College Tour." It is because of their generosity in sharing their time and stories that this opportunity is possible. We would like to thank:

In addition to our core cast, we are also thankful to the more than 230 UMBC students, faculty, staff, and community members who supported the creation of our episode. 

Please tune in and share! UMBC's episode is available to watch now on many platforms, and  will be streaming on Amazon on May 10, 2022. 

Read the UMBC News Story

Watch the Episode

Dear Colleagues, 

As the Spring 2022 commencement ceremonies near, we are looking forward to celebrating our graduates together as a community. Last week, we released tickets to graduates and shared our COVID-19 Safety Plan.  

We hope that you will consider joining us as a volunteer for the ceremony. Volunteers are integral in helping ensure that the commencement ceremonies are a success for UMBC, our graduates, and their friends and families. 

If you are interested, please complete our volunteer form no later than May 11. We will provide training and no prior experience is necessary. The form allows you to select specific ceremonies that accommodate your schedule.

If you cannot join us in person, we hope that you will plan to join us online, you will be able to stream the ceremonies at commencement.umbc.edu. We look forward to celebrating with you in May! 

The Commencement Executive Committee

Graduate School Ceremony

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

10:00 am

Undergraduate Ceremonies 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

10:00 am - College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, The Erickson School, and The School of Social Work

3:00 pm - College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, College of Engineering and Information Technology, and The Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Campus phone services will be partially impacted today, Tuesday May 3rd, between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. due to a scheduled repair of the data center electrical infrastructure. During this time phones on the legacy Rolm phone system and some emergency phones will be unable to make or receive calls. Phones on the new VoIP phone system and calls to UMBC Police will be unaffected. Should you experience an emergency during this time please use your cell phone to contact UMBC Police (410-455-5555) or 911.

This work is to complete the repairs of the emergency power infrastructure supporting parts of the campus phone system. On April 11 we announced a similar scheduled outage to install a temporary solution until we had permanent equipment.  During this scheduled maintenance window permanent infrastructure will be put in place to restore power resiliency. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding, 

Damian Doyle

Deputy CIO & Senior Associate VP

Division of Information Technology

Dear UMBC Community,

Spring 2022 Student Course Evaluations (SCEs) are in progress. If you have not already completed your evaluations, I am encouraging you to do so soon. Evaluations are accessed online and will be available through Tuesday, May 17, 2022, at midnight.

Completing your SCEs is helpful for understanding and evaluating student and faculty experiences, especially as we've experienced changing learning environments throughout the pandemic. All responses are anonymous and confidential and are not released until after spring semester final grades are submitted.

You can access the online SCE with any device (e.g., desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone). The survey application is accessible by email link, a BlackBoard building block link, and a "Student Course Evaluations" link that is available on myUMBC. Your myUMBC credentials are used to login to "profiles."  Once logged in, students see a list of courses in which they are enrolled and can complete a survey.

Faculty are encouraged to promote the SCE survey and to remind students that the survey can be completed 24/7 from now through May 17, 2022, at midnight.

Provost Philip Rous

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Today we’re celebrating National College Signing Day, an initiative led by Better Make Room, that celebrates students who are choosing to continue their education by attending college. 

Please help us welcome our newest Retrievers to UMBC by jumping on your social media accounts to share a welcoming message or your words of wisdom using #RetrieverNation. Need some inspiration? Check out the prompts below.

Be sure to follow along with the celebration by checking out our UMBC Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.

The Undergraduate Marketing Team

P.S. In case it’s helpful, here are some prompts to get you started:

• Share a quick “welcome to UMBC” message for incoming students.

• What advice would you give a brand new UMBC student? 

• Why are you glad to be part of UMBC?

• What do you/your team have to offer new students that will help them as they start their time at UMBC?

• Who can new students turn to for help and support? 

UMBC is conducting an internal search for the position of Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. The position reports to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and works with the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in providing leadership and oversight for the activities in the Academic Affairs unit of the Provost’s Office. 

Responsibilities: 

The responsibilities and expectations of the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs include, but are not limited to: 

- Manage the periodic Academic Program Review (APR) and the Year Three Review (YTR) processes, including selection of the external reviewers, review of the department self-study drafts, scheduling and developing the agenda for the external visits, hosting the kickoff dinners and meetings with the external reviewers, providing guidance to the departments in preparing the APR and YTR reports and the action plans following the reviews. 

- Lead the continued development and implementation of the Next Generation APR that incorporates annual review of key data sets which will assist departments and programs to assess, plan, and make better decisions for continued improvement of their academic programs. 

- Provide leadership to the development of new and revised academic programs to support UMBC’s mission and strategic enrollment plans. 

- Coordinate UMBC’s responses to USM and MHEC regarding new academic program proposals issued by the other higher education institutions in Maryland and the sister institutions in USM.

- Coordinate the campus effort to streamline the listings and webpages of the various UMBC programs and degrees offered, working with OIA, Enrollment Management, Undergraduate Admissions, the Graduate School, DPS, and DoIT. 

- Support the preparation for UMBC’s next Middle States Accreditation exercise scheduled for 2025-2026. 

- Support the forthcoming review and revision of UMBC’s general education program.

 - Provide leadership and co-chair with the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs the following campus initiatives: 

a) Instructional Space and Scheduling Improvements Task Force; chair the Scheduling Authority Work Group 

b) Program Innovation Council 

c) Classroom Committee 

- Serve on the Commencement Executive Committee 

- Lead Academic Affairs/Provost Office special projects as assigned. 

- Supervise the Academic Affairs Specialist and co-supervise with the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs the Administrative Assistant II 

- Other duties as assigned 

Minimum Qualifications: 

Applicants for the position, at the minimum should:

- Hold a tenured faculty position at UMBC. 

- Demonstrate a commitment to support faculty, students, staff, departments, colleges and the broad University community. 

- Demonstrate a commitment to, and knowledge of, the shared governance procedures that oversee academic program development and review. 

- Have previous experience with the academic program development and/or review process. 

Preferred qualifications: 

- Have previous experience leading university committees and executing academic administrative functions. 

- Have previous experience working effectively with faculty and administrators across disciplines, inter-disciplines and colleges. 

- Have previous experience working with and leading multidisciplinary and multifunctional teams

- Have previous experience supervising exempt and non-exempt staff 

Application Submission: 

Interested applicants are encouraged to submit an application that includes: 

- A current curriculum vitae in the UMBC format, and 

- A cover letter (up to three pages) outlining qualifications and skills for the position, that includes a description of: 

- The candidate’s understanding of the responsibilities and expectations of the position - The applicant’s approaches for addressing such responsibilities and expectations 

Applications should be submitted electronically by close of business on Monday, May 9, 2022 to:

Ms. Jerilyn Johnson 

Executive Administrative Assistant II 

Office of the Provost 

jjohnson@umbc.edu 

We anticipate a decision will be announced on or before May 25, 2022 with an expected start date of July 1, 2022. 

Please direct questions related to the position to Dr. Antonio Moreira (moreira@umbc.edu) 

Philip Rous, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs 

UMBC IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

The Student Honors and Awards Booklet (SHAB) for 2022 is now posted online, in celebration of Student Recognition Week. The SHAB includes:

• Student award winners from each academic department and program

• Undergraduate Research Award Scholars

• National and International award winners

• New members and invitees of each honor society

We hope faculty and staff will look at the SHAB to find your students and celebrate the awards and honors they have earned! Congratulate your students on social media with #UMBCproud!

Student Honors and Awards 2022

RetriEVER Empowered
Student Success + Research + Community

April 27, 2022

Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena Plaza and Concourse

Displays and Refreshments 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Program 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• Interactive displays and sharing stations showcasing more than 50 efforts from across campus;

• Remarks from President Hrabowski and Provost Rous;

• Free snacks and ice cream sundae bar from The Charmery; and

• Retriever Empowered flag giveaways.

Learn More and RSVP Here

RetriEVER Empowered
Student Success + Research + Community

April 27, 2022

Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena Plaza and Concourse

Displays and Refreshments 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Program 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Mark your calendars for this fun, festival-style event to celebrate our community's accomplishments in areas including student success, research and creative achievement, community-engaged scholarship, innovative teaching and learning, and global engagement. This event will provide the opportunity for our community to come together to celebrate, learn from each other, and have fun. The event will include:

• Interactive displays and sharing stations showcasing more than 50 efforts from across campus;

• Remarks from President Hrabowski and Provost Rous;

• Free snacks and ice cream sundae bar from The Charmery; and

• Retriever Empowered flag giveaways.

Learn More and RSVP Here