In November 2023, Tess McRae '22, coordinator for civic design with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, joined Honors College Director Simon Stacey, Associate Director Jodi Kelber-Kaye, and Assistant Directors Julie Oakes and Kendyl Walker in representing UMBC at the 58th annual National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference, in Chicago. The conference theme was "Revolutionary Honors: Liberty. Equality. Humanity."

During the conference, McRae and Stacey led "Recognizing our shared humanity and learning how to talk about it: Two civics courses grounded in students' everyday experiences." The session highlighted courses that McRae, Stacey, and Center for Democracy and Civic Life Director David Hoffman, Ph.D. '13, design and co-teach through the Honors College: HONR 200 Talking Democracy and HONR 300 Be Your Best Self in Real Life. 

Talking Democracy is designed to help students become critically aware of the interplay among communication styles and techniques, democratic values, and the civic health of communities. Be Your Best Self in Real Life investigates how human beings can collectively and individually thrive in some institutions, and how they must sometimes change institutions in order to do so. In both courses, McRae, Stacey, and Hoffman support students in engaging in deep learning about their civic roles and contributions by closely examining their lived experiences both beyond and within the classroom. 

During their session, McRae and Stacey provided an overview of the pedagogy and teaching approach they infuse into both courses and led participants through an activity about social norms that students in the courses experience. McRae, who took Talking Democracy and Be Your Best Self in Real Life when she was an undergraduate at UMBC, personally attested to their perspective-altering impact.

Kelber-Kaye and Walker led the roundtable conversation, "Pipeline to Honors: High School and Community College Partnerships with University Honors Colleges," during which they described UMBC's relationships with local high schools and community colleges and how those relationships and partnerships are important methods for recruiting students to honors colleges. This roundtable provided a robust conversation where other institutions shared how their partnerships serve as a method of recruitment and provided inspiration for other institutions as they seek to create similar pathways.

Walker presented the session, "A Self-Authorship Approach to Developing Your Role as an Honors Advisor." She described the components of self-authorship and talked about the ways that academic advisors can use self-authorship practices such as an advising philosophy to both support the students they advise and enhance their own professional development.

Oakes and Kelber-Kaye co-led the roundtable discussion, "Honors College Abroad: Thinking Through Internalizing Honors Education." They told the story of how UMBC's Honors College has created opportunities for international learning and engagement by developing faculty-led study abroad experiences, and shared some insights and reflections about the lessons Honors College staff and faculty have learned from the process. The roundtable provided the opportunity for the attendees to share their experiences and insights as well.

The dedication of Amery Thompson, assistant director of transfer student success, Off-Campus Student Services (OCSS), is noticed by students. In the latest UMBC Magazine "Office Hours" with President Sheares Ashby, Okechukwu Tabugbo '25, president of the Black Men's Society, discusses how he got involved with the organization after being encouraged by friends and Thompson, who serves as advisor.

"Amery was giving the introduction on financial literacy and telling us everything that we need to know. It honestly just made me feel at home and appreciated, the fact that someone took the time out of their day to teach me something that I constantly left on the back burner. I took that for what the club is."

Read "Office Hours" on the magazine website.

Campus Life and Initiatives for Identity, Including, and Belonging (i3b) staff presenting at the  March 2024  ACPA Conference in Chicago, IL. Presenters  are: Campus Life Coordinator for Leadership Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon; i3b Assistant Director Angelina R. Jenkins; and i3b Assistant Director Carlos Turcios '15, psychology and sociology, and M.A. '17, applied sociology. 

Entitled "Fostering Students' Identity and Capacity to Lead as Their Full Selves," the presentation includes highlights and outcomes of the Multicultural Leadership Experience. Additionally, they will be sharing insight and resources on how to implement a culturally relevant leadership learning program on campus as student affairs practitioners. A collaboration between Campus Life and i3b, the program provides a space for students and student leaders who identify with diverse or marginalized backgrounds to discover their own capacity to lead, while also promoting a better understanding of their experiences, issues, and outcomes in navigating their own collegiate careers.

In the post-assessment, students who have participated in the Multicultural Leadership Experience say it has helped them grow as people and as leaders:

• "I gained a lot of knowledge of my identities but also specific types of leadership that are not often covered in other leadership experiences. Emotionally intelligent leadership, self-authorship, and cultural wealth were all things I had never heard of before, and I think learning about these things in a Brave Space with my peers was a great opportunity! Definitely loved having the opportunity to be involved in this MLE cohort."

• "After being a part of the MLE experience, it has made me feel more confident about what kind of person I can be for my community. I learned about social roles, demonstrating citizenship, understanding what a leader is, and much more that I can apply to my future and future career."

• "From this experience I gained a deeper understanding of identities and the role they play in how we show up in the world. I also became more aware of how these may impact relationships with diverse groups and more importantly how it affects myself and how I show up for leadership. Now I can analyze my interactions with others and understand how my identity would impact how I am feeling in the said moment (as well as theirs) and with that understanding make a healthy and conscious decision of how to react."

• "The ideas of the crossroad and self-authorship really resonated with me. I internalized them. I'm constantly thinking about how my decisions are made based on those ideas, my goals, and my values; because of them, I'm able to gauge and analyze my actions in a way that helps me move closer towards being the person that I want to be."

• "I gained so much from this experience. Self-authorship was the biggest thing for me. It is a term I had never heard of before and now I am working toward it for myself. This cohort challenged me to examine negative ideas about myself as a returning student and help me examine leadership differently. The assignment I worked on with a partner helped me see how I could apply what I have learned with the cohort to create change on campus in my own way. It was great to hear from other members of the cohort and the facilitators about their experiences and background. Many of our experiences aligned even with our varying identities and backgrounds."

• "I gained a strong ability to critically reflect on how I show up in various spaces as a leader along with the wonderful stories that everyone else shared along the way."

• "Because of MLE I strive to be a leader that works with and brings out the best in others, understand and factors in their identities and how it may impact how they show up, and remain mindful and open to others' suggestions. I also strive to be bold, confident and unafraid of speaking up for what I believe in."

Acting Director of Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion, and Belonging (i3b) Ciara Christian, M.A. '18, Ph.D. '22, discussed the impact of Your Story Belongs Here, a collaborative program withUMBC's theatre department, for an upcoming print issue of UMBC Magazine. Program co-founder Eve Muson, associate professor of theatre and department chair, undergraduates Jaya Marshall and Mashaal Awan, and Kiirstn Pagan '11, theatre, are also interviewed.

Your Story Belongs Here, a required in-person program during Welcome Week, helps incoming students explore how to put the "I" in inclusion. The program features an original theatrical presentation in which paid undergraduate student interns write, rehearse, and film personal monologues about how they find belonging at UMBC and cultivate a sense of belonging for others. Through storytelling, audience engagement, and reflection opportunities, incoming students then reflect on their role in ensuring an inclusive environment as they begin their UMBC journey.

Read the article, "Your Story Belongs Here," on the magazine website.

The University System of Maryland (USM) hosted a Civic Education and Civic Engagement Symposium on Friday, November 3, to focus attention on the urgent need to prepare students to engage productively in civic life. Vice President for Student Affairs Renique Kersh, Ph.D., and Director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life David Hoffman Ph.D. '13, joined other staff, faculty, and student leaders as members of UMBC's delegation. UMBC Student Government Association President Musa Jafri '24, political science, addressed the gathering as part of a panel of student leaders.

Participants heard USM Chancellor Jay Perman identify "committed citizenship" as "the premise and the promise of higher education," and declare with respect to student learning outcomes that informed, engaged, ethical civic participation "matters more than anything else." U.S. Senator Ben Cardin added that from his perspective, "civilization is at risk today" because of the erosion of democratic norms, and that the role of higher education in strengthening democracy is to educate students for community leadership.

Jafri emphasized the importance of civic engagement in everyday settings, not just on Election Day. USM Associate Vice Chancellor Nancy Shapiro, the Symposium's convener, affirmed and amplified Jafri's statements, emphasizing the importance of local civic engagement, and naming that "local" for students includes the campus communities of which they are members.

Each campus delegation now has the opportunity to develop a grant proposal to assist with infusing civic learning into the curriculum.