Joining a new community can be tough sometimes, especially post-pandemic. And with new Retrievers coming from every background imaginable, it’s important to make sure everyone feels welcome when they get here. That’s where “Your Story Belongs Here” comes in. Now in its second year, this video storytelling collaboration between Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion, and Belonging (i3b) and the Department of Theatre brings students together to learn how to share—and celebrate—their own stories of belonging. “I think it’s pretty common to enter college and be worried that you’re not going to find your people. It’s very different from high school,” said… Continue Reading Your story belongs here
What if you could ask yourself a big question and then use your intuition to follow it wherever it led for as long as it took? It would take a certain kind of guts, right? But, with a willingness to get lost on a tangent, to joyfully put themselves in positions of not knowing, truly creative thinkers can find new ways of translating the world around them. Enter the following: A dancer who makes beautiful movement from fish research. An information systems professor who turns poetry into wine. A data visualizer who draws connections while splattering paint. A mapper and… Continue Reading Open to Interpretation
The biotech industry—or technology-based business that harnesses the power of biology—is booming in Maryland. And with more than 3,000 biotech companies currently operating in the state (with more on the way) and an economic impact estimated at around 17 billion dollars, according to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, there’s never been a greater demand for highly-skilled workers to fill specialized roles as researchers, biomedical engineers, and technicians. With its presence expanding beyond the home campus in Catonsville at The Universities at Shady Grove campus in Montgomery County, a hotspot for biotech growth, and its commitment to inclusive excellence, UMBC is… Continue Reading Creating pathways for UMBC student success in Maryland’s growing biotech industry
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is all over the news these days. For those who aren’t working in this sphere, it might feel mysterious or even like a science fiction film. However, for researchers at UMBC, AI is just another tool in a growing collection of instruments that can make life better for their fellow human beings. AI-driven thinking opens up possibilities for improvements and problem solving in health care, the environment, civil engineering, and beyond. It can make previously unthinkable amounts of data easy to analyze. But work of this magnitude also calls for an ethical approach, both in how… Continue Reading How UMBC’s humanistic approach to AI creates positive community change
President Valerie Sheares Ashby is a people person. You can see her eyes light up while she talks with folks. On her very first day as president of UMBC, Sheares Ashby made it clear that she wants to be available to students. Right off the bat, in true professor form, she set up weekly student office hours to do just that. As you might expect, her office hours are already very popular, so we decided to reflect her friendly open-door philosophy in this regular president’s column. Sheares Ashby is also engaging in a listening tour to hear from faculty, staff,… Continue Reading Office Hours
The only things faster than David and Caitlyn Bobb themselves, perhaps, are the zingers they toss at one another. As Caitlyn, a rookie running star now in her sophomore year, describes what it’s like to have a father as head coach of track and field at UMBC, her dad dryly turns it into a bit. “My dad has many sides to him, okay?” Caitlyn laughs as Coach Bobb literally acts out everything she’s saying while seated beside her. “There’s the coach side, where he’s stern, and he’s got the stopwatch in his hand, arms crossed, hat on, and ‘GO!’…And then… Continue Reading Think Fast
A massive painting dwarfed Rob Kempton ’12, English, as he stood in a Baltimore Museum of Art gallery. In his security guard uniform, Kempton gestured to the swoop of orange oil paint on the blood-red background, painted by Grace Hartigan in 1957 and titled “Interior – The Creeks.” “I love the opaque strong colors. There’s such a push and pull, rhythm and movement, it really dances,” he said. “And here,” he said, pointing to a section that Hartigan slathered with paint, then scraped away with a palette knife. “See where she scrapes it away, it’s like revising a poem, so… Continue Reading Lost in the Art: English major guards and curates paintings at Baltimore Museum of Art
