Dear Faculty and Staff,

We hope you will join us in celebrating the Class of 2022 by participating in UMBC's Winter Commencement ceremonies at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

• Graduate Commencement will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 21, 2022
• Undergraduate Commencement will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 22, 2022

There are a number of ways you can come together with the UMBC community to congratulate our graduates. Please take a moment to RSVP today so we can make appropriate arrangements.

March in the Commencement procession. Academic regalia is required to march. You may use your own regalia or order it through the UMBC Bookstore through November 22, 2022. Specific instructions are included on the RSVP form. Please note: UMBC will subsidize the rental of academic regalia for faculty and staff; however, to ensure timely delivery, you will be responsible for an expedited shipping fee if you place your order after November 22, 2022.

RSVP Here

Serve as event staff. We still need help! It takes more than 50 staff from across campus to make this event possible and to support graduates and their families on their special day. We will provide detailed instructions and also host a training session on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, at 3 p.m. on the arena floor.

Sign Up Here

In addition, if you or your immediate family member is graduating this winter, we can reserve up to six seats for you and your guests. Please email commencement@umbc.edu to reserve your seats by December 9, 2022. Please note: this amenity is only for current UMBC faculty and staff members and is not for the general student body.

For questions pertaining to the Graduate School ceremony, please contact Lisa Morgan at limorgan@umbc.edu. For questions pertaining to the Undergraduate ceremony, please contact Becky Bosstick at bbosstic@umbc.edu.

We look forward to seeing you at the Commencement ceremonies!

UMBC Events Team

Dear UMBC Community,

I write to inform the campus community that I will be launching a national search for the vice president of student affairs in partnership with the search firm Isaacson, Miller. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Nancy Young, who will be leaving the role on June 30, 2023, for more than 35 years of service to our UMBC community.   

Young joined UMBC in 1986 and has served as the vice president for student affairs since 2007. Grounded in an exceptional commitment to our students, Young's visionary perspective and service to the UMBC community has been instrumental in recruitment, retention, and student outcomes.

Under Young's leadership, the resident community grew to 4,000 beds, furthering the development of the residential campus. In recent years, Young advocated for and opened the Center for Well-Being and played a pivotal role in bringing the American Council on Education's Internationalization Lab to the campus. A champion for our core values of diversity and inclusive excellence, she established a director of inclusive excellence within the Division of Student Affairs and expanded support, programming, and resources for our diverse student population. Young served as a key leader in the campus response to the global pandemic and its impact on our community.

Young's leadership has been recognized in the broader higher education community. In 2021, she served as chair of the Council of Student Affairs for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, collaborating with other student affairs leaders across the U.S. to develop and promote practices that enhance students' experiences and well-being during one of the most challenging times in higher education and student affairs. In October, she traveled to France as the recipient of a 2022 Fulbright International Education Administrators award. Young attended a seminar helping U.S. international education professionals and senior higher education officials create empowering connections with their counterparts and the higher education systems of other countries. She was also recognized as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for 2022 by the Daily Record.

Please join me in thanking Vice President Young for her commitment and service to our community.  

Sincerely, 

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

Dear UMBC Community,

The Department of Human Resources cordially invites you to the 2022 Annual Service Awards Ceremony. We hope you will join us in the Retriever Activity Center (RAC) for this celebration of service on Thursday, December 8, 2022, from 11:30 a.m. -- 1:30 p.m.

Register Here

This year, we are returning to an in-person event to shout out, support, and honor our colleagues in a celebration of their important milestones at UMBC and with the State of Maryland. We have planned a fun, exciting, and engaging experience that will include heartwarming stories, recipient award acknowledgements, fabulous prizes, delicious refreshments, and the return of the interactive trivia game Kahoot! -- remember to bring your phone to participate! For more information, please visit the HR Service Awards website.

Registration is required by December 6 for attendance and raffle prize eligibility. We look forward to seeing you on December 8!

Dr. Lynne Adams, Chief Human Resources Officer

Happy Veterans Week Everyone!

Please join Off-Campus Student Services (OCSS) as we host events each day dedicated to celebrating, educating, and most importantly, getting our veterans, dependents, and current service members plugged in to all the great things offered here at UMBC. 

This is a week dedicated to honoring veterans, dependents, and current service members for their contributions to the culture of service here at UMBC. If you belong to this community, we are providing you with opportunities for massage, acupuncture, an escape room trip, lunch with UMBC veterans who are faculty and staff, a Chick-fil-A breakfast, and giveaways.

Throughout the week, our community will have the opportunity to share written messages of support to our veterans (email agetach1@umbc.edu or veterans@umbc.edu). These messages will be shared on Veterans Day, Friday, November 11. Please share our post with your campus networks.

Thank you. 

On behalf of OCSS,

Alex Getachew, Graduate Assistant for Veteran Student Services

Dear UMBC Community,

I am writing to share that Dr. Philip Rous has informed me of his decision to step down from his current position as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs in anticipation of his retirement from UMBC. With eleven years in the role, Philip will leave his position as the longest serving provost in UMBC's history. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his exemplary service and for his decades long commitment to our UMBC community. 

Dr. Rous was appointed as UMBC's provost on July 1, 2012 and served previously as dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences and as president of UMBC's Faculty Senate. He joined the UMBC community as an assistant professor in 1990 and holds the rank of professor in the Department of Physics. An accomplished theoretical physicist, Philip's research has been published extensively in materials science, physics, and chemistry journals. In his capacity as provost and dean, he has served as a PI and Co-PI on several major institutional grants focused on student success with a particular attention to the advancement of underrepresented students.

Throughout the years, the impact of Philip's leadership has been recognized in many collaborative campus initiatives. As provost, Philip worked with the UMBC community as it achieved several important milestones including the development and implementation of UMBC's most recent strategic plan, a successful Middle States re-accreditation, significant improvements in retention and graduation rates, and UMBC's achievement as a Carnegie Community Engaged university and R1 institution. In partnership with the Committee for the Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Underrepresented Minority Faculty and the Office of Faculty Affairs, Philip guided the development of several initiatives to increase the diversity of our faculty including the postdoctoral fellows for faculty diversity and STRIDE. In recognition of his leadership in advancing community engagement at UMBC, Philip received the William M. Plater Award for Leadership in Civic Engagement. He also successfully nominated and then mentored several UMBC faculty members as ACE fellows, a clear reflection of his commitment to leadership development. 

We will launch a national search for a provost and senior vice president for academic affairs in partnership with the search firm Isaacson, Miller.

Please join me in thanking Provost Rous for his years of dedicated scholarship, leadership, and service to UMBC. Additional details about a celebration to honor Philip will be announced soon. 

Sincerely, 

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

Dear UMBC Community,

UMBC has a strong tradition of active participation in elections, and has been named one of America's Best Colleges for Student Voting. As Maryland and the nation prepare for Election Day, I am thrilled to see how members of our community are continuing and strengthening this tradition. 

If you are a Maryland resident and plan to vote using a mail-in ballot, you must request one by Tuesday, November 1, and place it in a dropoff box by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8. This year, Maryland residents can vote on campus by depositing completed mail-in ballots in the official Board of Elections dropoff box located in The Commons beside the Campus Information Center desk.

If you are not already registered to vote in Maryland, you can still register in person at early voting locations and on Election Day. You also can check your registration status. Once you register or confirm your registration, you can make a pledge to vote and help UMBC rise on ALL IN's national leaderboard. Please also consider staffing a polling station as an election judge, a paid position that involves providing a much-needed service to our state. 

I also encourage you to attend upcoming election-related programs. Election Night Extravaganza is a UMBC tradition that brings our community together to watch, discuss, and celebrate election returns in real time. Together Beyond November is a guided conversation program in which participants will reflect on the election outcomes and envision the road ahead.

The Center for Democracy and Civic Life always encourages members of our campus community to "cast your whole vote" by committing fully to building strong, inclusive, just communities in which everyone can thrive. I am grateful for the contributions of Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion & Belonging, The Shriver Center, and many other students, faculty, and staff who are creating opportunities to do this important work through meaningful dialogue and action every day. 

David Hoffman, Ph.D. '13, Director, Center for Democracy and Civic Life