For astronaut and best-selling author Scott Kelly — who spent a short time as a Retriever in the 1980s — a small but pivotal spark happened on the UMBC campus. Continue Reading Star-Struck: An Astronaut’s Pivotal Moment UMBC celebrated its newest alumni last week with a May Grads Day celebration. Sheltered from a spring storm, more than 200 members of the Class of 2018 gathered for an evening of music and merriment — including a champagne toast. Congratulations to our new Retriever alumni! Here are a few shots of the evening’s fun by Kiirstn Pagan ’11. See more, including photo booth photos, here. Spring time is the season of hope at Boordy Vineyards. Emerald shoots appear on the grapevines across rolling hills. In May, perfume from tiny flowers fills the air. “Everything looks under control,” says Rob Deford ’93, geography, owner of Maryland’s oldest winery. “You suffer from irrational hope.” Deford calls spring his favorite season, a time of promise. In the spring, he says he looks around and thinks, “I’m in the right business.” A month later, weeds appear, vines grow a foot at a time, and anxiety grows until harvest time. He laughs about the process of growing grapes and turning… Continue Reading The Right Place, the Right Wine Q: I was wondering if you had any advice for a finance student? — Godwin Okoro, senior financial economics student A: I think it’s really important that students work with our Career Center, where the staff members do a superb job of giving advice to students about opportunities. We have many employer partnerships. And I hope that you participated in the recent Career Fair where we had over 100 employers. It’s critical that students apply for internships beginning after their freshman year, because practical experience will give them increasing opportunities. For a senior, the most important advice is to listen… Continue Reading Ask the President – Spring 2018 UMBC graduate programs are among the best nationwide, according to the 2019 U.S. News Best Graduate Schools rankings, which makes a new scholarship announced this March an even sweeter deal for alumni considering a return to school. For the fall 2018 semester, all alumni starting a new master’s or certificate program at UMBC will qualify for a one-time $1,000 scholarship, which can be applied to any of the university’s 62 programs. New applicants can also receive a code to waive application fees. “We want to thank our Retriever Nation for making us so proud, and celebrate our alumni so they… Continue Reading New graduate program scholarship offered to all UMBC alumni Mother’s Day came a week early for Donna L. Young when the campus celebrated the naming of the UMBC Scene Shop in her honor by her daughter, Nancy Young, Vice President for Student Affairs. The Youngs were joined by friends and students for an enlightening behind-the-scenes tour of the stage, as well as scene and costume shops inside the Performing Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB). Opened in 2014, the PAHB was designed to enhance UMBC’s teaching, research, and public outreach, and to heighten the visibility of the arts and humanities as major components of campus and community life. Students who… Continue Reading A Mother’s Day Gift will Support Arts at UMBC With memories of her mother to guide her, a daughter rides the Atlantic coast to help cure cancer Continue Reading Distance – Terri McCubbin Steel ’12, English Experts from UMBC’s School of Public Policy and Department of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering work together to understand how local governments practice cybersecurity. Continue Reading Local governments’ cybersecurity crisis in 8 charts The third annual Light City festival shone as brightly as ever this year, bringing art and ideas to hundreds of thousands of visitors to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Included among spotlit talent from around the world was a broad selection of work and scholarship from the UMBC community. Launched by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts in 2016, Light City Baltimore is the first large-scale international light festival in the United States, and it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. We hope you will enjoy these highlights from UMBC’s week at Light City 2018, including The Herd,… Continue Reading Ideas Illuminated at 2018 Light City UMBC welcomed back dozens of retired faculty and staff this month as part of the launch of the new Wisdom Institute, an initiative aimed at encouraging ongoing engagement by some of the university’s most dedicated contributors. During the luncheon, members heard from U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski; Naomi Mburu ‘18, chemical engineering, the first UMBC student to receive the Rhodes Scholarship; Tim Hall, director of athletics at UMBC; and Ryan Odom, head coach of the history-making UMBC men’s basketball team. They also had a chance to tour UMBC’s new Event Center — and even meet members of UMBC’s history-making men’s basketball team.… Continue Reading Wisdom to Share This week UMBC made history as the first ever No. 16 seed team to best a No. 1 seed in an NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Retrievers’ season ended last night in a hard-fought round two, but our UMBC community will carry the pride of this moment with us for years to come. And, through this achievement, the nation has come to understand what a special place UMBC is. Thank you to the men’s basketball team and to coach Ryan Odom for the grit you displayed all season. And thank you to the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and others in… Continue Reading Thank You, Retriever Nation!
Star-Struck: An Astronaut’s Pivotal Moment
Celebrating the Class of 2018
The Right Place, the Right Wine
Ask the President – Spring 2018
New graduate program scholarship offered to all UMBC alumni
A Mother’s Day Gift will Support Arts at UMBC
Distance – Terri McCubbin Steel ’12, English
Local governments’ cybersecurity crisis in 8 charts
Ideas Illuminated at 2018 Light City
Wisdom to Share
Thank You, Retriever Nation!
