Asking Erin Hogan to choose her favorite film is like asking her whether she prefers to study Iberian or Latin American films—both of which she researches and fell in love with as an undergrad. The real answer is that Hogan’s favorite film is whatever film she is studying at the time. For her new book, Patriarchy’s Remains: An Autopsy of Iberian Cinematic Dark Humour (2024), she capped the list at 14 films between 1958 and 2018, whose characters must deal with the death of the male head of household. Hogan uses the visions of 14 diverse directors to study cinematic dark humor through a feminist, biopolitical, and socio-economic inequality lens.

“My work is pretty transversal, not exclusive to writing books about one director, one creator, one film, or one novel. I enjoy analyzing multiple sources and finding the patterns across texts. In this case, I focus on films with dark humor,” said Hogan, a professor of Spanish. Dark humor blends humor with grim topics like death, violence, crime, and social dysfunction through wit, irony, or satire. 

“I’ve always been interested in dark humor. When I explain to my students why I study a wide range of texts, films, and languages—Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, and most recently, Galego, the language of Galicia in Northwestern Spain—it always comes back to the joy of learning. I encourage students to ask themselves what they want to explore, learn, or know more about, and then to pursue it.”

Spain’s cinema 50 years later

The question Hogan pursues in Patriarchy’s Remains is how and why the legacy of Francisco Franco, Spain’s fascist, repressive, and violent dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975, continues to impact Spain’s work toward democracy—even 50 years after his death on November 20, 1975. 

“Patriarchy’s Remains has two meanings. One refers to the on-screen corpse of the patriarch and the other to the persistence of patriarchy in Spain today,” writes Hogan in her book. She draws parallels between the families in the films—who must figure out how to live after the patriarch they depended on dies or is killed—and Spain’s citizens, who are still working to understand what a functioning democracy looks like.

“In critiquing Spanish politics, I aim to highlight how Spanish democracy could better serve its people by heeding the protests of its own citizens, on and off screen,” writes Hogan. “Patriarchy’s Remains reveals persisting inequities in post-Franco Spain to shine a light on the disenfranchised children of democracy who grieve for the unfulfilled promises of greater civil liberties and improved quality of life.”

Interested in learning more about Iberian or Latin American film? Hogan is the co-founder and co-curator of CineMaestro an open-access collaborative digital project designed to promote audiovisual literacy and intercultural competencies through the study and teaching of the cinemas by Spanish, Latin American, and Latinx directors.

Steven Caruso ’94, Ph.D. ’02, biological sciences, received an honorable mention for the inaugural Outstanding Instructor Award from Microbiology Resource Announcements. The award celebrates instructors like Caruso, a teaching professor in biological sciences, who have published in the journal with their undergraduate students as part of a course or program. Caruso is being honored for the many bacteriophage genomes he has published with UMBC students as part of the UMBC Phage Hunters program. Phage Hunters at UMBC creates opportunities for authentic scientific inquiry for scores of students who might not otherwise conduct mentored research.

“Students participating in our Phage Hunters classes are challenged to carry out experiments as if they were working in a research lab on campus,” Caruso says. “Their work includes engaging in scientific communication; having students write and publish papers provides a tangible result at the end of their experience.”

UMBC was one of 12 institutions to pioneer the SEA-PHAGES program in 2008. Since then, almost 1,700 UMBC undergraduates have participated. UMBC students have isolated, characterized, and archived nearly 800 phages—viruses that infect bacterial cells. Of those, 87 have been sequenced and 66 submitted to GenBank, a global genetic database.  

“Dr. Caruso has done a remarkable job in providing authentic research experiences to students at a very large scale. For example, this semester he had almost 100 students in his class,” shares Michelle Starz-Gaiano, professor and chair of biological sciences.

Based on conversations with students at their end-of-semester research presentations, Starz-Gaiano adds, “It is clear that they found the work challenging, but they also feel supported. It’s through this kind of experience that they learn firsthand what it is like to conduct original research, and many of them feel inspired to keep exploring what is next to discover.”

A couple of years ago, Jessica Floyd was enjoying delicious olive flatbreads in Opio, France, a village on the French Riviera, thanks to the hospitality of Judith Legman, who owned the olive grove and a manuscript Floyd had been trying to find for her doctoral work for three years. This bucolic heaven was not where Floyd, who studies erotic folklore, thought she would find the holy grail of erotic chanteys by Stan Hugill, a renowned British sailor and chantey singer. These sailors’ work songs, first collected in the 1900s, were passed down verbally by sailors, with some never recorded. These bawdy versions were never meant to be heard or read by women, much less shared between them.

“When you’re talking about erotic content, it automatically becomes something that is salacious and provocative and therefore seen as taboo,” said Floyd, Ph.D. ’17, language, literacy, and culture, an adjunct instructor of English. “Publications that are not conservative in their treatment of sex, gender, and sexuality are often deemed taboo. Scholars who are actively working in this field have to fight not only for their legitimacy, but also because we’re considered dirty workers. We also fight for the legitimacy of the materials that we’re researching. These are real human experiences. They just happen to be from the darker corners of the human experience.”

Like other scholars in the field seeking access to a variety of documents, Floyd reached out to the librarians at the Kinsey Institute, which holds the largest historical archive on sexuality. “They weren’t sure if the manuscript could be found in the extensive archive of Gershon Legman, which Judith, his wife, had donated,” said Floyd, of her research for her debut book Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill (University Press of Mississippi, 2024). 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by UMBC Alumni Association (@umbcalumni)

She emailed Legman, following a tip from other chantey folklorists and researchers that Legman, a famous connoisseur and collector of erotic jokes, folklore, and songs, had the manuscript. “Lo and behold, she emailed me back. I still get chills talking about it,” said Floyd. “Judith said, ‘Not only do I have it, I actually just sent it to the Kinsey Institute. If you’d like, I’ll send you the copy.’” Dispersed throughout Legman’s chapter on erotic folk songs were Hugill’s erotic chanteys that had never been circulated.

Chasing erotic rare texts

Floyd is used to the chase and thrill of finding rare texts. She studies the gender and sexuality of sailors during the height of British and American sailing, from the mid-16th to the mid-19th centuries—when sailing ships dominated global trade and naval warfare—as well as 17th and 18th-century literature, erotic folklore, gender and women’s studies, and queer theory. This passion began in high school and continued through her undergraduate and graduate studies researching the life of John Wilmot, the Second Earl of Rochester, a late 17th-century English nobleman better known for questioning authority while also enjoying the excesses of court life and writing poetry that explored sex, desire, rebellion, and challenged social and gender norms.

“It made sense for me to research sexuality in chanteys because I want to understand why men sing dirty songs. What can chanteys tell us about how sailors negotiate sex and gender, especially in the constrained environment of the sailing ship?” said Floyd.

An epistolary discovery

Like Wilmot, Hugill also wrote and published his work. In the 1950s, Hugill began writing down the songs he remembered. In 1961, he published Shanties From The Seven Seas, a collection of over 400 chanteys now considered by chantey researchers and folklorists as the most comprehensive work on chanteys. Sailor Town was published in 1967, Shanties and Sailors’ Songs in 1969, followed by Songs of the Sea: The Tales and Tunes of Sailors and Sailing Shipsin 1977. Between 1962 and 1994, Hugill released 10 recordings—LPs, CDs, and cassette tapes—of chanteys and chantey history. Three were released posthumously. His Sea Songs CD, released in 1980, is now part of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings catalogue.  

However, unlike Wilmot, Hugill never penned the erotic versions and only sang them after a performance to an all-male audience. When Gershon Legman learned about Hugill’s repertoire, he wrote to Hugill, urging him to commit the erotic chanteys to paper for his vast collection. Hugill capitulated after years of correspondence with the condition that Legman not publish the manuscript before he could. Both men died in the 1990s without ever publishing it. With Hugill and Legman as the only witnesses of the manuscript’s existence, what was left for the chantey folklore community was rumors and the lore of its existence.

Thanks to funding from a 2016 UMBC Dresher Center for the Humanities summer fellowship, Floyd visited Judith Legman to study these letters alongside the manuscript. “Judith also had the letters shared between Hugill and Legman, which confirmed that this indeed was the sought-after manuscript,” said Floyd. She notes that by the time she left France, she had everything she needed to do a close analysis of the songs. 

“Erotic worlds have fascinated me for a long time. It’s not your run-of-the-mill construction of gender. It’s actually focusing on the part of the human experience that we’re really reticent to talk about, especially in academic work,” said Floyd, who sports a palm-sized tattoo of Wilmot on her upper right arm. “This is the heart of my research—how do we write erotic worlds?”

Floyd is once again on the hunt for rare texts and has completed her second book, The Sons of Neptune. In this study, she is looking at cultural artifacts, from the 18th to the 20th century, that provide insight into why sailors are often thought of as sexy. This project is set to be published through the University of Mississippi Press in May 2026.

Read other books in our Humanities Books series.

It should come to no surprise that numerary luminary Connie Pierson, AVP in IRADS—UMBC’s primary source for official campus statistics to comply with government reporting requirements and support decision-making—is good at keeping track of things. This Friday, December 19, Pierson ’90, M.A. ’92, celebrated her 300th black and gold Friday. 

Originally conceived as a way to stay connected with fellow Retrievers when the world went virtual in March 2020, Pierson is not one to give up on a good streak. “This is part of my personality. I mean—you got to be a little anal retentive to be a data analyst and to have that mindset,” Pierson says. 

For this lifelong Retriever (and it should be noted that her full first name is Constance), this means donning one of her numerous pieces of black and gold clothing—often with a hair accessory—and posting to social media, along with a hashtag that keeps a record of her record-long series. Sometimes she’ll bank some pictures to use later, like when she attends a UMBC athletics game.

If you scroll through the 4.5+ years of photos on social media, Pierson’s hair grows (it also grays, as she points out), she wears a hat, a headband, different glasses, she gets licked by her pups, she’s outside or in—there are many different variables, but one stays the same. She’s got a mega-watt grin that makes you smile back. “It’s part of my weekly routine. You got to get dressed—you got to put black and gold on,” she says.

Pierson has a reason to boast her black and gold bonefides—she’s spent 31 non-consecutive years at UMBC as both a student and staff member. After leaving the university to earn her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a short stint at the U.S. Census Bureau, Pierson returned to UMBC in 1999 for a job in the Office of Institutional Research, Analysis, and Decision Support where she has been ever since.

Pierson says, personally, her commitment to the streak is a way to keep in touch with the larger UMBC community, especially with her retired colleagues. “I’ve had people tell me, ‘Don’t stop! It’s how I know it’s Friday,’” Pierson laughs. She guesses that she’s only missed six or seven Fridays.

Even when her father passed away, Pierson used a picture of her and him at a Retriever’s game for her regular post in his honor. The digital data decision maker plans to retire in summer 2026, and wants to continue her trend into her next stage of life—as an alumna and retiree—so she will always know when the weekend is about to start.

On December 5, the campus celebrated this year’s Arts+ initiative with five concurrent events featuring UMBC students, faculty, and guest artists. In a sold out concert in Linehan Concert Hall, the UMBC Symphony Orchestra and String Chamber Orchestra, directed by assistant professor Philip Mann, performed Alexander Glazunov’s Violin Concerto, featuring professor Airi Yoshioka, and works by professor Linda Dusman and Rich Sigwald ’03, music.

Down the hall in the Black Box Theatre, UMBC Theatre presented Street Scenes, with text by Langston Hughes and his contemporaries, with music by Kurt Weill, adapted and directed by associate professor Eve Muson, with musical direction by adjunct professor Andrew Hann—also to a sold out house.

The Department of Dance presented the Fall Dance Showcase on the stage of the Proscenium Theatre, featuring striking capstone works by senior students and independent student research.

The PAHB lecture hall was home to a Film and Animation Showcase, featuring works by 18 students and recent graduates of UMBC’s Intermedia and Digital Arts (IMDA) program.

The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture presented a collaboration between 2023 MacArthur Fellow María Magdalena Campos-Pons and musician Kamaal Malak, known collectively as KaMag. Their work, entitled Vignettes in 3 Sessions: An Immersive Ancestral Experience, delighted a capacity audience and was followed by the launch of a new public projection by KaMag, I Am Soil — My Tears Are Water, in the Fine Arts Building amphitheatre.

The Arts+ initiative will continue in spring 2026 with performances by Baltimore Dance Project and Orange Grove Dance, a faculty art exhibition, a lecture by visual artist Lynda Barry, a production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and more than a dozen music concerts by faculty and guest artists. A full schedule will be available in January 2026.

A study out of UMBC, published in Nature Communications, reveals how enteroviruses—including pathogens that cause polio, encephalitis, myocarditis, and the common cold—initiate replication by hijacking host-cell machinery. The research fills a knowledge gap on this critical step and could pave the way for a new class of antiviral drugs that are effective against multiple viruses.

“My lab has been really motivated to understand how RNA viruses produce their proteins inside the cell and multiply their genome to make more virus particles,” says senior author Deepak Koirala, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Building on his group’s discovery of a crucial cloverleaf structure in the viral RNA, their latest paper, led by first author Naba Krishna Das, Ph.D. ’25, chemistry, has now shown how the cloverleaf recruits proteins to assemble the replication complex. 

Seeing the bigger picture

Enteroviruses carry a small RNA genome that must do double duty: make viral proteins and copy itself to produce new viruses. A key player is a viral protein called 3CD. One half (3C) cuts the complete string of amino acids encoded by the virus’s RNA into individual proteins. The other half (3D) is an RNA polymerase—the enzyme that copies the viral RNA. Human cells don’t have anything like this polymerase, so the virus has to bring its own.

“We previously determined the structure of the RNA alone, and other groups determined the structure of 3C and 3D separately, but now we’ve captured the structure of the RNA and proteins together, so we know how they are interacting,” Koirala explains. “We found that it’s the 3C domain of 3CD that binds to the viral RNA, and then it recruits the other components to assemble the replication complex.”

The same complex also works as an on-off switch: when 3CD is attached, the virus copies its RNA; when it lets go, the RNA can be read to make proteins instead.

The team also settled a debate by showing that two complete 3CD molecules (bringing two RNA polymerases) bind to the RNA independently, rather than forming a single fused pair. Why two are needed is still a mystery, but the picture is now clear.

New antiviral targets

Perhaps most exciting, the seven types of enteroviruses the paper investigated all employed a very similar binding mechanism and RNA cloverleaf structure. The extent of this conservation implies the RNA cloverleaf is very important for replication, and any mutations would likely derail it. That means the RNA and RNA-protein interface is likely to be stable over time across enteroviruses, making it an even more promising drug target—and opening the door to the tantalizing prospect of a “universal” drug targeting all enteroviruses. 

Drugs disrupting 3C and 3D activity are already in development, but “now we have another layer to test,” Koirala says. “What if we target the RNA, or the RNA-protein interface, so that we break the interaction? That is another opportunity. Now that we have high-resolution structures, you can precisely design drug molecules to target them.”

“Viruses are so, so clever. Their entire genome is equivalent to about one mRNA sequence in humans, yet they are so effective,” Koirala says. His latest work demonstrates “why we need to investigate this basic science—so that it can be translated into developing drugs targeting pathogens that cause so many harmful diseases.” 

Dear International Students and Scholars,

As the fall semester comes to a close, the Center for Global Engagement recognizes that many members of our community may have travel plans that include travel outside of the United States. We understand that travel is a personal decision and we are writing today to equip you with information to help guide your planning. 

Important Travel Considerations

We strongly encourage careful review of potential risks before finalizing international travel plans, and monitoring for changes that may impact your plans. New immigration policies may decrease travel flexibility and increase the risk of travel and reentry delays for foreign nationals. Understanding your immigration status within the changing policy landscape can help you prepare and plan for the upcoming travel season. We strongly recommend that you consider:

• Monitoring existing or prospective travel bans. Travel bans for 19 countries were announced June 4, 2025 and are still in effect. This may make it impossible for citizens of impacted countries to obtain a visa or return to the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently indicated that additional travel bans will be added, although no additional information about those plans has been published as of the date of this announcement. If additional travel restrictions are implemented, they may be put into effect swiftly and without advance notice. We strongly encourage you not to travel internationally if you are from one of the 19 countries with a current travel ban or if you are from a country that was previously reported to be included in a future travel ban.

• Appointment availability and potential delays if you must renew your visa. Traveling for the sole purpose of renewing your F, H or J visa is not necessary. However, if you absolutely must travel and also need a new visa, delays in visa processing are expected. We strongly recommend that you schedule your appointment at the U.S. consulate or embassy before you depart the United States. If you encounter any delays or difficulties in returning to the U.S. by your required return date, please notify UMBC's Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) as soon as possible.

• Enhanced social media screening and vetting. During a visa application, social media screening is now in effect for all F and J visa applicants. Social media screening will be implemented for all H visa applicants beginning December 15, 2025. There are reports that a number of H-1B and H-4 visa appointments scheduled on or after December 15, 2025 have been canceled and rescheduled for March 2026. H visa applicants should carefully consider their travel plans in anticipation that their visa appointment may be rescheduled, and they will be prohibited from returning to the U.S. until a valid visa is issued.

• Enhanced screening at U.S. ports of entry. If you decide to travel abroad, be prepared for enhanced screening by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) upon your return to the U.S. You may be asked to present your electronic devices and passwords for access. You may find information from ACLU about your rights at the airport to be helpful.

• Your own tolerance for risk and uncertainty. Consider whether your personal risk assessment indicates a high likelihood of travel complications, if you will be unable to afford the possibility of a visa denial or delayed re-entry, or if the prospect of increased questioning at consulates or ports of entry causes significant anxiety. If any of these are the case, it may be advisable to postpone your travel plans.

Documentation to prepare in advance of your travel

If you do decide to travel outside of the U.S., it is important to prepare all documentation before you depart the United States and check the validity of all documentation. If you are in F-1 or J-1 status, a travel signature is required on the form I-20 or DS-2019. Travel within the U.S. does not require updated travel signatures; however, you must carry your proof of immigration status with you.

Please review the following requirements based on your visa type:

• F-1 currently enrolled students or on OPT/STEM: Be sure to check that you have a travel endorsement on page 2 of your form I-20 that will still be valid on the date that you return to the U.S. Check your passport validity and the expiration date of your F-1 visa to make sure it will be valid on the date you plan to return. For other recommended documentation, please follow the guidance for enrolled F-1 students and students pursuing post-graduation OPT or STEM OPT. For enrolled students, ensure that you are registered for Spring 2026 classes and that you will return to the U.S. prior to the start of the semester on Monday, January 26, 2026.

• J-1 Exchange Visitors: Be sure to check that you have a travel endorsement on the bottom right corner of page 1 of your DS-2019 that will still be valid on the date you return to the U.S. Check your passport validity and the expiration date of your J-1 visa to make sure it will be valid on the date of your return. For J-1 scholars or researchers, it is recommended that you take a copy of your signed appointment letter with you. For enrolled J-1 students, ensure that you are registered for Spring 2026 classes and that you will return to the U.S. prior to the start of the semester on Monday, January 26, 2026.

• H-1B employees: Be sure to check that your passport will be valid for six months beyond the entire period of your H-1B approved stay (see dates on form I-797 approval notice) in the U.S. and confirm that the visa in your passport is unexpired and reflects your current H-1B classification. Take your notice of approval (form I-797), your latest appointment letter, and a copy of the full petition (located in your box folder).

• If you have a pending change of status to H-1B, you should not travel until the change of status is approved. Departing the U.S. while it is pending is considered an abandonment of the request. If the petition is later denied, you may become subject to the $100,000 fee.

• Traveling while an H-1B petition and extension of stay or amendment of stay is pending should not trigger the fee, though caution is still advised.

What to do during and after your return to the United States

If you have questions in advance of your return to the U.S., please contact OISS. If you encounter any difficulties while attempting to enter the United States, please contact UMBC Police at +1-410-455-5555 and they will get in touch with someone from our team.

After your successful re-entry to the U.S., please download and review your electronic I-94 immediately to make sure that entry in the correct visa status is reflected. If you notice any discrepancies, please contact OISS.

We wish safe travels to those choosing to travel during the winter break, and we hope that all members of our community have a chance to rest and recharge before the start of the Spring 2026 semester.

Sincerely,

Katrina Knudsen

Director, Office of International Students and Scholars

In an email to the campus community, UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby has announced that D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., will join the university as vice president for government relations and community affairs. The letter follows in full:

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce the appointment of D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., as our new vice president for government relations and community affairs. Paul is an experienced administrator and lifelong public servant who has held leadership roles in local, state, and federal government and in higher education. He served most recently as the inaugural secretary of the Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation.

Prior to his appointment to Governor Wes Moore’s cabinet in 2023, Paul was nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022 as director of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS). Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRS works to mitigate community tensions based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Paul had served as acting director of CRS from 2015 to 2017, before taking on a role as chief of staff to the president and assistant vice president of external affairs at Howard University.

Paul’s public service goes back many years. He served from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration as an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement, and he was appointed by President Barack Obama as national director of AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). During his time on the White House staff, Paul coordinated the My Brother’s Keeper mentorship program for young men and served as a liaison to numerous religious, secular, and ethnic communities, including Arab American and Afghan American groups.

A former ex-officio member of the National Counterterrorism Center’s Heritage Council, Paul was awarded a citation from the National Security Council in 2013 for his work on international priorities, including the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, refugee resettlement, and other humanitarian efforts.

Locally, he has served as a member of the Prince George’s County Public Schools Board of Education, the Emerging Leaders Impact Fund in Prince George’s County, the Board of Governors of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and the Board of Advisors of the Madison House Autism Foundation, based in Rockville.

Raised in Hyattsville, Maryland, Paul is the proud son of immigrants and was the first in his family to attend college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law. In law school, he served as a fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, where he spent a year teaching middle and high school students about the U.S. Constitution.

The depth and breadth of Paul’s service to communities locally and globally speak volumes about his commitment to making a meaningful difference. We are fortunate to have in Paul not only someone whose knowledge and expertise in policy, governance, and advocacy will serve us well, but also someone whose personal values align so beautifully with UMBC’s.

He has expressed to me his admiration for UMBC and its public mission, and I know he looks forward to continuing to strengthen our engagement with government officials and our collaboration with UMBC’s neighbors.

Paul will hit the ground running; I am grateful that he is able to begin in the role next week, in preparation for the start of the Maryland General Assembly’s regular session in January, and at a time when our advocacy with local, state, and federal government is more demanding and more consequential than ever.

Please join me in welcoming Paul to UMBC!

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

In an email to the campus community, UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby has announced that D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., will join the university as vice president for government relations and community affairs. The letter follows in full:

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce the appointment of D. Paul Monteiro, Jr., as our new vice president for government relations and community affairs. Paul is an experienced administrator and lifelong public servant who has held leadership roles in local, state, and federal government and in higher education. He served most recently as the inaugural secretary of the Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation.

Prior to his appointment to Governor Wes Moore’s cabinet in 2023, Paul was nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022 as director of the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS). Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRS works to mitigate community tensions based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Paul had served as acting director of CRS from 2015 to 2017, before taking on a role as chief of staff to the president and assistant vice president of external affairs at Howard University.

Paul’s public service goes back many years. He served from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration as an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement, and he was appointed by President Barack Obama as national director of AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). During his time on the White House staff, Paul coordinated the My Brother’s Keeper mentorship program for young men and served as a liaison to numerous religious, secular, and ethnic communities, including Arab American and Afghan American groups.

A former ex-officio member of the National Counterterrorism Center’s Heritage Council, Paul was awarded a citation from the National Security Council in 2013 for his work on international priorities, including the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, refugee resettlement, and other humanitarian efforts.

Locally, he has served as a member of the Prince George’s County Public Schools Board of Education, the Emerging Leaders Impact Fund in Prince George’s County, the Board of Governors of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and the Board of Advisors of the Madison House Autism Foundation, based in Rockville.

Raised in Hyattsville, Maryland, Paul is the proud son of immigrants and was the first in his family to attend college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law. In law school, he served as a fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, where he spent a year teaching middle and high school students about the U.S. Constitution.

The depth and breadth of Paul’s service to communities locally and globally speak volumes about his commitment to making a meaningful difference. We are fortunate to have in Paul not only someone whose knowledge and expertise in policy, governance, and advocacy will serve us well, but also someone whose personal values align so beautifully with UMBC’s.

He has expressed to me his admiration for UMBC and its public mission, and I know he looks forward to continuing to strengthen our engagement with government officials and our collaboration with UMBC’s neighbors.

Paul will hit the ground running; I am grateful that he is able to begin in the role next week, in preparation for the start of the Maryland General Assembly’s regular session in January, and at a time when our advocacy with local, state, and federal government is more demanding and more consequential than ever.

Please join me in welcoming Paul to UMBC!

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby