Ready to change the world? Apply for the Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship, a full scholarship to study abroad with a cohort of student leaders from around the country.

The Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship was founded to empower students of color with a transformative experience abroad, much like Frederick Douglass was inspired by his travels. All program fees are covered, as well as airfare.

This year’s cohort is co-sponsored by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs to commemorate the 175^th anniversary of Douglass’s four-month journey around Ireland. You’ll be based in Dublin and visit other cities where Douglass campaigned, while meeting with government leaders and social justice activists.

This opportunity is offered by CIEE, a student exchange organization whom we partner with. As a next step, start your application at www.CIEE.ORG/FDGF. (If you enter your name and email, you’ll receive updates before the February 14 deadline.) All eligible students who submit an application also qualify for a $1,500 scholarship towards any CIEE summer program.

Questions? Email FDGF@ciee.org, or join CIEE for an information session via Zoom on Thursday, November 12^th at 3pm. You may register for that here. 

Yesterday you received notice that the Spring Schedule of Classes is now available. As you are all quite familiar, GLBL has over 125 electives spread over 16 UMBC departments. Attached you will find a document wherein I have compiled a list of the courses offered in Spring 2021 which fulfil requirements of the Global Studies major. Refer to this list (as well as the Course Index on the GLBL website) when planning your Spring 2021 schedule to ensure you are registering for courses which will allow you to make progress in your major.  For the earliest date and time you will be able to register for your courses, visit  (https://registrar.umbc.edu/calendars/registration-appointments/). Receiving clearance prior to the date indicated will ensure that you will be allowed to register at the time specified. Again, you will be submitting your proposed Spring 2021 schedule for review in this Google Form.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me should you have any questions, I will be available via email and webex; should you wish to speak about your concern, please book a GLBL Advising Appointment with me (please CLICK HERE*), provide your phone number in your appointment reservation and I will call you at the scheduled time.

UMBC International Education Services (IES) and the English Language Institute (ELI) have begun planning International Education Week 2020! IEW is a joint initiative between the US Department of State and the Department of Education hosted by universities annually in mid-November. It’s an opportunity to highlight international initiatives on campus, celebrate the international student population, and expose domestic students to international experiences they would not otherwise know. 

• International Education Week:  November 16-20, 2020

• All 2020 IEW events will be held virtually

• International Education Week Website: https://iew.state.gov/

What’s Next?

Planning Committee Search:

IES and the ELI are looking to form a planning committee for International Education Week, and we would like a member(s) of your department to be a part of it. This committee will organize and promote UMBC’s International Education Week. They will ensure the week creates a fun, engaging, and educational week of programming for all members of the UMBC community. Currently, the committee meets biweekly and is in the early stages of the planning process

• If you are interested in joining the IEW Planning Committee please email iew@umbc.edu as soon as possible!

Event Proposal Submissions:

If no member of your department is able to join the planning committee, we are still strongly encouraging all departments across campus to get involved by hosting a virtual event, for students (current and prospective), staff, faculty and/or the wider UMBC community during IEW. A separate email will be sent at that time, with additional information on all things planning IEW Proposals and Events 

IEW also supports and helps to further promote the university-wide effort towards internationalization. For further information regarding International Education Week contact us at iew@umbc.edu. Additionally, you may visit the official website at https://iew.state.gov/ and see the attached infographic. 

We hope you're inspired and energized to bring the world to UMBC!

Start your application today!

Do you have a Pell Grant? Are you planning to study abroad summer 2021? The Gilman scholarship can provide up to $8,000 towards your experience abroad! 

Want to learn more? You can email us on educationabroad@umbc.edu.

• Last day to make changes to your schedule (ADD or DROP a class)
• Last day to change grade method
• Last day to drop a course without a W grade
  

UMBC and its Office of International Education Services continue to actively monitor the outbreak of COVID-19.  As you may know, UMBC has suspended all university-related domestic and international travel. Although, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Department have lifted the global travel advisories at this time, given the current situation and out of an abundance of caution, we have made the difficult decision to cancel education abroad programs for Winter and Spring 2021. 

Until these restrictions have been lifted, applications for education abroad programs will not be processed. The Education Abroad Office has closed the application portal and it will reopen to accept new applications once travel can resume safely. Applications that are requested through our affiliated partners will also not be approved. The team remains ready to provide support and advising for future terms and are hopeful that the global crisis will improve and education abroad will be possible soon. We are optimistic about summer and continue to work on the programs that we have planned for that term.

This is extremely challenging for all of us. However, this decision is based on the latest guidance available to us and is being made with the health and safety of our community as our highest priority.

While study abroad is suspended for the rest of this academic year, it is the perfect time to complete the first step in the study abroad process: Study Abroad 101! This half-hour session explains how you can fit study abroad into your academic plan at UMBC and only has to be attended once. Get started today to ensure you can study abroad during your undergraduate degree. Meeting details are listed in our events!

As recently announced, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) strongly recommends that all students check they have the necessary technology setup to be successful as online learners. To help, DoIT is hosting 12 Sprint sessions for 10-minute, virtual walk-in consults or pop-up support groups on key topics including the following:

1. Getting Online (required of all UMBC students)*

2. Getting A Computer (required of all UMBC students)*

3. Checking Your Blackboard Collaborate Audio Connection (essential)

4. Using UMBC’s Virtual Computing Lab (recommended)

5. Using myUMBC Groups & Webex Teams for Student Clubs & Organizations (8/26, 8/30, 9/2 and 9/9 only).

The sprints will occur across four weeks starting Tues., 8/8 and ending Wed., 9/9 (click here for specific dates & times).

About Today's Sprint

The sprint will take place in a Blackboard Collaborate virtual conference room. Use the following link up to 15 minutes before the start time:

tinyurl.com/umbcdoit-studenthelp

Due to the short format, these virtual support sessions are designed for quick consults, not deep dives or customized training sessions. Also, you will likely be in a virtual room with several people who also are interested in the same topic, and being helped by a DoIT support staff member. Often, you can learn by listening to this Q&A, but if you want a personalized consult, please use my.umbc.edu/help to open a Request Tracker (RT) ticket.

While you can just “show up,” advance registration -- by indicating you are “Going” to this myUMBC event -- is appreciated and can help DoIT gauge how many support staff are needed in each breakout room.

Prior to the session

If this is your first time joining one of our live sessions, please review the Getting Started Guide. You will also find additional helpful information for using Blackboard Collaborate at our extensive FAQs. 

For the best experience, we recommend using Google Chrome or a recent browser update. Closing any unnecessary browser tabs will help conserve your bandwidth. After joining the session, please configure your audio. 

* Note: As announced to all incoming students on 7/23/20, since UMBC requires all students to have a computer and Internet access, these are now officially factored into UMBC’s “Cost of Attendance" and thus, can be funded through financial aid. To learn more, visit doit.umbc.edu/students