• Here is the registration link for students. Please share this with your student networks. You can also use the following bit.ly link for any social media posts or email blasts you send out: http://bit.ly/Baltimore-Impact-Mix-Match25
• Founders who want to table will use a separate link. See below
• I have attached a flyer for the event to this email for you to share as well. 

• The event is open to undergraduate, graduate and PHD students interested in working with social impact companies in Baltimore. 
• Opportunities for students to engage with our social enterprises may include: internships, contractual work, volunteer opportunities, and even opportunities to join a venture as a co-founders.

• Founders will be asked to create and present a scope of work for interested students that describes what opportunities they have for students and if the opportunity is paid or voluntary. 
• If you have any social impact founders that would be interested in tabling at the event, they should register sign up using a separate form. That form can be found here. 
• Please only refer founders that you feel are ready and have the capacity to bring on students. We want the opportunity to be engaging, educational and fulfilling for students who participate. 

• If interested, we would love for you to table as well. Please come prepared with marketing and informational materials about your programs and upcoming opportunities for either students or founders to participate. Please let us know by EOD on March 10 if you are interested in tabling.

The theme of Black & Gold Rush 2025 is “Generosity in Action.” Please join us March 5 – 6 by making a gift of any size to help fund students. Watch your generosity change lives!

With your Generosity in Action the INDS team are able to provide students with INDS Awards to attend events and conferences related to their degree, career, and educational path. We are also able to plan events and assist students in their research. 

The following are more specific opportunities to support our students:

The Bolton Family Scholarship: 
Awarded to students with an approved degree plan involving significant quantitative skills (preference given to students with course concentrations in mathematics or science)

The Cathy Hiebler '98 and Chip Hiebler Scholarship: 

A need-based scholarship for students who are facing a financial hardship or challenge that may prevent them from completing their degree

The Zainab Damji Memorial Scholarship:
Students who wishes to pursue a career in some form of education (this could include after school programs, adult learning, citizens science, etc.), and who has demonstrated leadership and service to an identified community. 

Check out our website to learn more about our program, our students, and our alumni. 

Please consider gifting to INDS! Thank you for all the support! 

The INDS Team

We want our graduate students to have the best educational experience possible while supporting their personal and professional development. This is why we have partnered with Etio and the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, to administer the gradSERU (Graduate Student Experience in the Research University) with the support of our president and provost. Your feedback is critical as we strive to make improvements to our curriculum, climate, and campus. Please consider taking some time to complete the survey today.

Students have multiple chances to be entered into a drawing to win one $500 award in Retriever Dollars over the course of the survey administration. The earlier you respond, the more times you will be entered into drawings. Four winners will be selected by March 28th. Retriever Dollars can be used across campus to pay for tuition, purchase textbooks, postage, event tickets, UMBC apparel, and much more. A listing of off-campus merchants that will accept Retriever Dollars as payment can be found here.

Your responses are confidential. The survey takes about 30 minutes to complete, and can be completed in more than one sitting. Your responses will help improve the graduate education experience for all.

You should have received a personal invitation with your link this morning.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to reflect on your experiences and help us strengthen graduate education at UMBC!

Dr. Jeffrey Halverson, Interim Vice Provost and Dean of The Graduate School
Jessica Burstrem, President, Graduate Student Association

The Global Asias Initiative at UMBC is now offering the third round of its Course Expansion Grants for coursework in Fall 2025. These grants are offered once per semester (till Spring 2026) for up to $2,000 to fund curricular innovations especially around the incorporation of a public humanities or community-engaged component into existing courses that serve the Asian Studies program, the Asian American studies minor and fit within the field of Global Asias. The course expansion grants are intended to support the development of Global Asias courses that centralize diasporic, transnational, and ethnic studies approaches.

The courses may be co-taught by faculty and community collaborators and include community-based research projects, the integration of digital tools, or a key activity to make the course more public facing. The expenses may include honoraria for speakers, supplies, books, and technology tools. We will provide funding for one course per semester starting in Fall 2024 and continuing through Spring 2026. Funds must be spent during the semester the course is taught; however, some funding may be used for course preparation and conceptualization on a case by case basis, if requested.

We are accepting applications for Fall 2025. The application is due April 1, 2025.

Before submission, applicants should discuss their proposed course expansion grant with Tamara Bhalla (tbhalla@umbc.edu), Co-PI and Meredith Oyen (oyen@umbc.edu), Key Faculty Leader of the Global Asias Mellon Initiative.

To apply please submit a brief description (no more than 500 words) describing the proposed course expansion and explaining how the course expansion fits within the field of Global Asias. Please also submit a proposed budget.

Past Course Expansion Grants have supported:

Fall 2024: To supplement the course, AMST375 - Studies in Asian American Culture, students and faculty took a field trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, where they had a guided tour by Theo Gonzalves, curator of Asian Pacific American History. They also visited the exhibit Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond sponsored by the Smithsonian Asia Pacific Center.

Spring 2025: In conjunction with the course MLL 315, Images of Society in Contemporary Korean Film, Dr. Kyung-Eun Yoon is hosting a screening of CHOSEN on March 13, 2025. The film is a documentary by Joseph Juhn, that sheds light on the struggles and triumphs of five Korean Americans who ran for US Congress in 2020.

UMBC has been invited to nominate an undergraduate or graduate student for the University System of Maryland's Langenberg Legacy Fellowship. This one-year fellowship (2025-2026) supports each fellow in pursuing a social change project on campus. Each fellow receives a total of $1,500. 

The application is due March 10, 2025 at 5 p.m.