Meet Amanda Sharp, director of academic advocacy in UMBC’s Academic Success Center. What keeps her coming back to work each day? Supporting students! She says she is privileged to sit with students in some of their hardest moments and also see them reach their highest successes. We’re excited to hear more about your work, Amanda—take it away! Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you? A: My name is Amanda, and I’m a director in the Academic Advocacy Office here at UMBC! One essential thing you should know about me is that I’m deeply passionate… Continue Reading Meet a Retriever—Amanda Sharp, academic advocacy leader
The third time’s the charm. Against a calm and crisp dark night sky on Florida’s Cape Canaveral on February 8, 2024, just after 1:30 a.m., the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft rocketed to orbit carrying on board Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP2)–UMBC’s wide-angle imaging polarimeter. The launch marked the first time NASA deployed a university payload on a large operational Earth science space mission. Continue Reading On PACE to Unravel Earth’s Mysteries
Spring on UMBC’s main campus brings a host of familiar sights and sounds: blooms on the magnolia trees, the chatter of red-winged blackbirds calling from the reeds around Library Pond, greening grass on the campus Quad, and black-and-gold-bedecked Grit Guides leading groups of prospective Retrievers around what may soon become a home away from home. The guides cover the usual highlights—Academic Row, the Retriever Activity Center, the AOK Library, eating establishments, and residential halls. UMBC is a place to live, to learn, and to find community. And while some of the functions of campus spaces are obvious, others are often… Continue Reading Putting UMBC Research on the Map
An agreement between the College of Engineering and Information Technology at UMBC and The University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business will offer students from both institutions enhanced opportunities for their graduate-level degrees and future careers. UMBC students may apply credits from UMBC’s M.S. in Engineering Management, Post-Baccalaureate Graduate Certificate in Project Management, or the Post-Baccalaureate Graduate Certificate in Engineering Management to UBalt’s MBA. UBalt students may apply credits from the MBA program or the Post-Baccalaureate Graduate Certificate in Business Fundamentals to UMBC’s M.S. in Engineering Management. This collaborative effort to satisfy certain requirements for these programs is intended to… Continue Reading UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology aligns with UBalt’s Merrick School of Business to deliver enhanced degrees
UMBC and Carroll Community College recently signed a new dual-admissions agreement that will offer students who transfer to UMBC directly from Carroll a clear pathway to a bachelor’s degree after completing an associate degree at Carroll. UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby and Carroll Community College President James D. Ball, along with Rosalie Mince, provost at Carroll, signed the memorandum of understanding on April 10 during a ceremony held at Carroll. The agreement, which goes into effect for students planning to transfer to UMBC, establishes a collaboration between Carroll and UMBC that encourages Carroll students to graduate with an associate degree… Continue Reading New pipeline created to ease transfer process for future Carroll Retrievers
Dear UMBC Community, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Tracey A. Reeves as Vice President for Communications and Marketing at UMBC. Tracey is a strategic thinker whose experience, expertise, and capacities as a highly collaborative leader will enable us to take communications and marketing at UMBC to great new heights in service of our ambitious aims. She joins UMBC from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where she serves currently as vice president for communications and marketing. She will begin at UMBC on June 3. In her role at Bates, Tracey has been a trusted advisor to the president… Continue Reading Leadership Announcement
UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby has announced that Manfred H. M. van Dulmen will join the university in July as provost and senior vice president. He will succeed interim provost David Dauwalder. “From the first time I met him, Manfred’s commitment to students, his care for people with whom he worked, his humility, and his drive for mission-driven excellence were clear, as was his desire to be at UMBC,” says President Sheares Ashby. “I could not be more thrilled about this appointment.” Van Dulmen says UMBC’s values of inclusive excellence and history of innovation attracted him to the role, and he… Continue Reading UMBC welcomes Manfred H. M. van Dulmen as new provost and senior vice president
Dear UMBC Community, We cannot know how long the war between Israel and Hamas will last, but we know that with each passing day, our own community feels deeply the pain and anguish of what is happening and sympathy and compassion for the people of that region and all that they have lost and will yet lose. And we know that many within our community are increasingly concerned about antisemitism and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred everywhere, including here at home. That concern, most especially the need to ensure the safety of our community, is why I write to you… Continue Reading Caring for Our Community
Dear UMBC Community, For the second time in less than a week, a local university community has seen its celebrations marred by gun violence. This time the incident occurred at Bowie State University, one of our fellow University System of Maryland institutions. While the two people injured in the shooting Saturday are not Bowie State students, the campus community is nevertheless feeling the impact of this incident. I have extended a message of care to Bowie State President Aminta H. Breaux, and I know that the entire Bowie State family is in our thoughts. As we advised last… Continue Reading Care and Support for a Fellow USM Institution