Meet Natalie Blank ’08, acting, who started writing novels as a child and continued pursuing her passion for writing while studying dance and theatre at UMBC. To date, the author has published four novels, Rock Bottom Rise (2026), The Mass (2024), The Tangibles (2022), which received the In the Margins Book Award in 2023, and Walking Off Pluto (2014). Natalie primarily writes young adult and women’s fiction, exploring mental health and family relationships. She lives in Maryland with her husband and three children. Take it away, Natalie!
Q: What brought you to UMBC?
A: I came to UMBC as a Linehan Artist Scholar. I remember auditioning for the theatre program with a fairly serious monologue. During the audition, the professors (Xerxes Mehta was my favorite professor) worked with me in a way I had never experienced before. They were able to push me to a level of vulnerability and emotional depth I didn’t know I was capable of as an actress. In that moment, I knew these were professors who understood how to challenge students and help them grow.
Q: How did you grow during your time at UMBC?
A: The Theatre Department had a huge impact on me, both creatively and personally. Through acting, I learned a lot about myself, not just as a performer, but also as a writer. I had the opportunity to portray many incredible characters, and through that process, I realized that storytelling in all its forms (acting in stories, creating stories, and writing stories) was at the core of who I am.
During my time at UMBC, I wrote several plays that were produced and performed. One of those plays eventually became my first novel, Walking Off Pluto, which I self-published in 2014. Since then, I have worked hard to build my writing career and transition into traditional publishing. My current goal is to secure literary representation and publish with a major publishing house.
Blank’s four novels: Walking Off Pluto (2014), The Tangibles (2022), The Mass (2024), and Rock Bottom Rise (2026)
While I only pursued theatre professionally for about two years after college, the lessons I learned have stayed with me and continue to shape my work as a writer. The program encouraged me to explore who I was, challenge my assumptions, and confront some of the fears and weaknesses that were holding me back from reaching my full potential. One of the biggest lessons was learning to take creative risks. In recent years, I’ve become much more willing to take chances and tell the stories I genuinely want to tell, and my readers love it!
Q: Can you tell us about your current job and your work as an author?
A: I’ve always been driven and largely self-taught, figuring out many aspects of my career on my own. After college, I pursued acting professionally, but the pay was inconsistent and often insufficient, so I also worked a day job to support myself. Eventually, I found my way into the school system, and after starting a family, I became a certified teacher. I work part-time as a special education teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools. I miss theatre and dance, but I can’t live without writing. It’s something I’ll pursue for the rest of my life.
Balancing work, writing, and family life is challenging, but I remain committed to my craft. I wake up before my children each morning to write and often return to my manuscript after they’ve gone to bed. I recently published my fourth novel, Rock Bottom Rise, in May 2026.
Blank at the book release party for “Rock Bottom Rise.”
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Meet Carlos Carmona ’88, economics. After UMBC, Carlos built a long career in retail and commercial banking before retiring in 2020. Now, Carlos enjoys traveling the world with his wife, Maritza de Jesús, and exploring one of his early passions—storytelling. In 2025, Carlos realized a lifelong dream, becoming a published author with the launch of his debut novel, Unforgivable Sins: A Barrio Story. Take it away, Carlos!
Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?
A: Growing up in Baltimore City in the early ’80s was challenging. The closure of Bethlehem Steel had devastated the city and its economy, and for many young people, the path forward was unclear. The University System of Maryland offered something aspirational at a time when everything around us seemed uncertain.
At UMBC, I was exposed to people from different backgrounds, new ways of thinking, and possibilities beyond Baltimore City’s despair and anxiety. To this very day, I maintain close friendships from those years. In fact, I recently had dinner with Jim Zerr ’89 and his wife. My time at UMBC didn’t just educate me; it gave me lifelong relationships and a broader vision of what my life could eventually become.
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?
Every journey is different, and I would never presume to define anyone else’s path. What I can share is that UMBC and its professors fostered an environment of openness and understanding. They recognized that academic success rarely follows a single route, and in that understanding, I found the confidence to keep moving forward. They reminded me that what matters most is not how you arrive, but that you keep going.
What has stayed with me most from my time at UMBC is the generosity of my fellow students. People shared their experiences, offered advice, exchanged resources, and opened doors for one another. Friendship and support seemed to appear wherever I turned. Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to be part of a community that valued collaboration over competition. It is an experience for which I remain deeply grateful.
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To those who welcomed me, encouraged me, and treated me as a friend, thank you.
Carlos Carmona ’88
economics
When I look back on my life, I do not see absence. I see family, friendship, opportunity, and countless people who helped shape the person I became. In the end, I was never without. If anything, I was blessed with more than I recognized at the time.
Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?
A: As an undergraduate, Professor Sarah Voight was a guiding light. Though she taught in the Spanish Department and I majored in economics, our shared Puerto Rican heritage gave me something to hold on to, something familiar and relatable in a place that often wasn’t. Her advice and guidance were crucial in helping me continue my studies and ultimately graduate.
Q: Tell us about what you loved about your academic program or an organization you were involved in at UMBC.
A: I loved studying economics, finance, and accounting. I found the subjects as exciting as they were challenging. At the same time, I explored several liberal arts and language courses, which gave me a well-rounded foundation that has served me throughout my life. For many years, I was a financial advisor to Catholic parishes, a role I stepped back from due to serious health issues, though I aspire to return when I’m able.
Q: Can you tell us about your work as an author?
A: I never planned on becoming a writer. I was a banker, a man who lived by numbers, memos, and proposals, not by scenes or plotlines. Stories belonged to other people. At least that is what I believed until life forced me to reconsider what mattered. Cancer did that. Two rounds of chemo. A fight I barely survived. And somewhere in the middle of that darkness, when my world narrowed, something in me shifted. Ideas I had buried decades earlier began to surface. Words I never thought I could write spilled onto the page. It was as if the part of me I had ignored finally demanded to be heard.
That is how Unforgivable Sins was born, a book that split itself into two stories, A Barrio Story and The Rise of Charlie Green. I self‑published them because no one in the industry was waiting for stories like mine. I knew the audience would be small. I knew the road would be impossibly long. Editors have never shown interest in Latino urban crime fiction, not because the stories lack power, but because the gatekeepers have never known what to do with them. But I also knew these stories were missing from today’s literature. They were missing in 1986 when the idea first came to me at UMBC, and they are still missing in 2026. The absence never changed. I simply reached a point in my life where I refused to let that absence continue.
What I didn’t expect was what came next. The moment I finished those books; a third story consumed me. Legacy of Sins arrived like a storm, pulling both earlier stories forward. Instead of continued editing, marketing, polishing what I had just created, I found myself chasing the next chapter, the next revelation, the next plot twist. Some scenes took forever to finish in all three stories. Not because I lacked the words, but because the memories behind them were too painful. This is all fiction, yes, but parts of it were my life experience. Parts of it still are and will forever be.
Now the story is almost complete. I’m editing, refining, shaping it the best someone with only their passion can. For no publishing company would. With the lessons learned from the first one, the never‑ending process of self‑publishing. I expect Legacy of Sins to be ready this summer or early fall.
I write because these stories once brought to life refused to let me go. I write because they were missing. I write because survival gave me a second chance, and I refuse to waste it.
Pictured right: The potential book cover for “Legacy of Sins: A Barrio Story” by author Carlos Carmona.
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Beryl Fuamazeh ’26, biology, and a minor in health, wellness, and aging, is on her way to Howard University College of Medicine. After connecting with Nancy Kusmaul, professor of social work, Beryl found her research interests piqued by learning more about healthcare and aging care. While at UMBC, Beryl worked as a nursing assistant at a retirement community and volunteered for an organization that supports people with disabilities and older adults. After presenting her research at UMBC’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day, she received the Erickson School of Aging Studies Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.
Beryl transferred to UMBC from the Community College of Baltimore County through the Degrees to Succeed program, and says that the support and funding she’s received from UMBC has made her education affordable and given her time to focus on her passion: healthcare and aging. Outside of school and work, she loves watching Korean dramas.
Q: Tell us about someone in the UMBC community who has inspired you.
A: Dr. Nancy Kusmaul is my research mentor, and she has been instrumental in my undergraduate research journey. The work she does to support the aging community has deeply inspired me. I have also been greatly influenced by Professor Mary Carter, an English professor here, who taught me how to better express myself through writing—a skill that was invaluable during my medical school application process. The support and guidance both faculty members have given me have truly shaped my experience at UMBC.
Q: Tell us about what you love about your academic program.
A: I’ve really enjoyed being part of the Erickson School of Aging Studies through my minor in health, wellness, and aging. Many of the classes I’ve taken have been meaningful because I can directly apply what I learn to my work as a nursing assistant in a retirement community. My biology major has also given me a strong foundation as I prepare to matriculate into medical school.
Q: What’s one thing you’d want someone to know about the support you find here?
A: Because it’s a smaller university, I’ve been able to build meaningful one-on-one relationships with professors, which has been incredibly valuable. I’ve also loved being surrounded by students who are passionate, driven, and genuinely supportive of one another, especially within the sciences. UMBC is a very supportive community.
Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place?
A: I wanted to further my education while building meaningful relationships along the way. As someone pursuing the pre-med path, I knew it was important to be surrounded by supportive, like-minded people, and UMBC provided that for me, especially as a transfer student from the Community College of Baltimore County.
I was also drawn to the smaller campus environment, which made it easier to adapt and connect with professors and peers. Through my community college’s Degrees to Succeed partnership program, I was introduced to UMBC and the opportunities it offered, including research experiences, mentorship, and a strong academic community.
Right: Fuamazeh next to her poster at URCAD 2025.
Q: Tell us about the people who are helping you grow at UMBC.
A: Dr. Nancy Kusmaul has been incredibly instrumental in helping me grow at UMBC. She helped me kickstart my undergraduate research journey, which initially felt very daunting. All it took was reaching out to her by email, and she was immediately supportive and responsive. She took time out of her busy schedule to help me develop an individualized research study focused on aging, a topic that has become deeply meaningful to me and the communities it impacts.
Q: How have you connected with the community?
A: I have been involved in community programs, like volunteering with the Trusted Ride Program at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital, which supports older adults and individuals with disabilities by helping them get to medical appointments safely. Experiences like this have allowed me to stay connected to the community while pursuing my interests in healthcare and aging.
Q: What would you tell others who are in your shoes about UMBC?
A: I transferred to UMBC from the Community College of Baltimore County, and through scholarships and financial support, including merit-based awards, UMBC helped ease the financial burden of pursuing higher education, which allowed me to focus more on my academics and future goals. I also felt well supported as a transfer student through the Degrees to Succeed program, even before officially transferring to UMBC. The transition felt smooth, and I always felt like there were people willing to help guide me along the way.
UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Meet Michael Cook ’20. While at UMBC, Michael majored in information systems with a minor in statistics. Outside of the classroom, he was a member of UMBC’s improv troupe, Dog-Collar Comedy, eventually serving as the group’s president. Today, Michael is a senior business intelligence analyst for Johns Hopkins University. But recently, Michael put his improv skills to good use once again when he turned a Dungeons & Dragons mistake into the idea behind his first book, He Who Speaks Out Of Turn, which the author published in May 2026. Take it away, Michael!
Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?
A: The big drivers for me were cost, convenience, and reputation. Of all the schools I applied to, UMBC gave me the best scholarship (in the sense that I had the least amount of tuition left over to pay myself), so it was the most affordable. In terms of convenience, UMBC was actually a shorter drive from my house than my high school was. This meant I could keep my part-time job and visit home whenever I wanted, which was most weekends, if nothing else than for the free laundry. Finally, I knew UMBC had a great reputation. I knew people, such as my own older brother, who had graduated from the school and gone on to successful jobs right out of college.
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UMBC is full of opportunities. Take them and try something new!
Michael Cook ’20
information systems
Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?
A: While at UMBC, I worked in the Admissions Office as a tour guide (now called Grit Guides). One of the most valuable lessons I learned there was to communicate through stories rather than facts. Prospective students typically don’t care about statistics; they’re more interested in hearing things like, “In my second semester, I met my best friend at Salsarita’s.”
So, without realizing it, the Admissions Office trained me to think narratively and to look for the story in everyday events and present it in a way that would engage an audience. While I was never inspired to author a fantasy story specifically, my time in that position helped storytelling become second nature. That mindset probably helped me turn my D&D accident into a story in the first place. Which reminds me, I should shout out the Dungeon Master (DM) for that session: Thanks, Skip!
Q: Tell us about what you love about your academic program or an organization you were involved in at UMBC.
A: Other than the Admissions Office, I was also involved in UMBC’s improv team, Dog-Collar Comedy. We practiced once or twice a week and put on a show each semester, but it never felt like work. It felt like I was just hanging out with friends, which is really what it became over the years. One of the things I love most about the group is how we’ve maintained a strong community, even after graduation. We still keep in touch and get together as we can. In fact, many improv alumni were among the first people to order copies of my book!
Pictured above: Cook during an improv show when he was a student (left). Cook at a recent Dog-Collar Comedy alumni Christmas party (right).
Q: How did UMBC help prepare you for your next steps after graduation?
A: My coursework directly prepared me for the kind of technical work I do for Johns Hopkins now. The information systems program places a strong emphasis on SQL, which I use daily in my work. Even subjects that don’t directly apply to my current role, such as networking, gave me a broader understanding of how technology systems fit together. Just as important were the professional skills or “soft skills.” UMBC taught me how to manage my time, communicate effectively, and take ownership of my work. In my current position, I’m expected to work independently, balance multiple projects, and speak directly with customers. Because of the habits and skills I honed at UMBC, the transition from student to professional felt natural from the start.
Q: Can you tell us about your journey as an author?
A: He Who Speaks Out Of Turn began with a mistake. During Covid, I had participated in a D&D campaign virtually, where I accidentally created a typical medieval-era wizard character for a futuristic campaign. That sparked the idea of a time-traveling wizard who accidentally strands himself far in the future. Of course, the story morphed to be much more than that, but that is where it began.
In the intervening five years, I worked on the story with no intention to publish; I wrote 500 words here and there as I got spare time. I’ve always enjoyed stories, and when I was younger, I wanted to be an author, so it was a natural hobby for me. I moved multiple times and got married, and the story followed me through these different phases of life and grew as I did. One day last summer (2025), I typed the final word and finished the story. It was one of those moments where I paused and felt like, “Well, now what?” I had an entire story written, so I decided to look into publishing it. I worked with an editor to clean up the story and some friends to design the cover and map. By this spring, five years of writing, revising, and collaboration had transformed that hobby into a published novel.
People have asked me if the characters are based on people I know. The truth is, the core characters are just different aspects of my own personality; some of them are the best of me, some the worst, some who I aspire to be, and some who I never want to be. While I’ve never traveled through time or slain a dragon, I’ve felt the same loss they have, given into the same impulses, and made the same mistakes. I learned a lot about myself while I wrote this story, and I had a lot of fun with it. I hope people enjoy reading it as well.
Pictured right: Author Michael Cook holding a copy of his debut novel, He Who Speaks Out of Turn.
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
For decades, the United States made steady progress in reducing surface ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog. But that progress – achieved as vehicles, industries and power sources became cleaner – is increasingly being overshadowed by a different and growing source of ozone pollution: wildfires.
Our team of atmospheric and wildfirescientists analyzed wildfires’ contribution to surface ozone levels from 2003 to 2024 across the United States.
We found that the gases in wildfire smoke have reversed the national ozone trend, forcing a shift from declining ozone levels prior to 2015 to increasing ozone levels after 2015. We also found that the number of ozone-related premature deaths due to wildfires has been increasing by about 300 deaths per year since then.
Battling smog
Most people know ozone as the protective layer of the atmosphere high above the Earth that shields the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation. But ozone has two very different faces.
Los Angeles made ozone visible to the nation in the 1940s and 1950s, as thick, eye-stinging smog often blanketed the city. It turned an invisible chemistry problem into a public-health crisis people could see and feel. That crisis helped motivate decades of air pollution control efforts in California and, later, across the United States.
After the passage of the Clean Air Act and its amendments in the 1970s, the U.S. made steady progress in cleaning up surface ozone. Regulations on vehicles, power plants and industrial sources reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides and other ozone-forming chemicals.
To monitor the progress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has over 1,000 stations that measure ozone around the country. They cover many places, but mostly urban areas, and do not measure ground-level ozone everywhere at the neighborhood scale.
We were able to fill in the gaps by combining those monitoring station measurements with satellite-derived information about air pollution and human activity, along with weather and air quality model simulations. We then used artificial intelligence to estimate daily surface ozone levels everywhere in the contiguous U.S., with data every square kilometer, over the past 22 years.
The results show that national progress in reducing surface ozone reversed around 2015 as North America began to face more severe wildfires. In many regions, ozone levels are now increasing, especially in the western U.S. and the Midwest, where smoke and gases from wildfires are becoming more common as they are transported through the air.
Overall, surface ozone levels that had been falling by about 0.65 part per billion per year from 2003–2015 have since increased by about 0.13 parts per billion per year. If wildfires hadn’t been an influence, we found, the trend of falling surface ozone levels would have continued instead.
Ground-level ozone since 2015 has increased the most in areas where wildfire smoke increased. Minnesota, Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest have experienced several summers of wildfire smoke from Canada. The map uses national ambient air quality standards. (Weizhi Deng et al., 2026)
People often think of wildfires as a problem for the western U.S., but smoke and gas pollutants from their emissions can travel thousands of miles, affecting communities far from the fires themselves.
The 2023 Canadian wildfires offered a vivid example. In much of the Midwest, ozone reached unhealthy levels for more than a week. The impact of wildfire smoke reached as far as Georgia and New York. That year, an additional 43 million Americans lived in areas with ozone exceeding healthy standards compared to previous years because of increased wildfire emissions.
Smoke reached far into the U.S. during Canada’s destructive 2023 wildfire season, as these measures of ground-level ozone over three weeks that summer show. (Weizhi Deng, CC BY-ND)
As the Earth and its atmosphere warm, wildfire seasons are becoming longer and more severe across many parts of North America, and the trend is predicted to continue. In line with projections, Canada experienced its most devastating wildfire seasons on record in 2023 and 2025. In January 2025, destructive fires burned more than 16,000 homes and businesses in and around Los Angeles during a time of year when such events have historically been uncommon.
The shift toward more fires suggests that the rising ozone problem could become even greater in the future. That’s a problem for human health.
Reducing exposure to ozone and its health risks
People can reduce their exposure to ozone pollution by checking air quality forecasts and limiting outdoor activities when wildfires are sending smoke into the air. But protecting public health in the long run will require broader actions to reduce ground-level ozone itself.
That includes efforts to mitigate fire risk by improving wildfire management, such as reducing brush and other dry undergrowth that can fuel fires, and also scaling back the causes of rising global temperatures, such as the burning of fossil fuels. As temperatures rise, the ground loses moisture, creating conditions for more extreme fires.
Protecting public health also means strengthening air quality forecasting systems to provide accurate early warnings, so people can take precautions, and maintaining air pollution monitoring networks and investing in satellite sensors to continue measuring progress, so problems can be identified and fixed.
Appropriately, chapter one of UMBC’s inaugural BookFest began at AOK Library Plaza. Hundreds of students gathered at the BookMarkIt to try letterpress printing, stitch pamphlets, create and swap zines, and browse a book arts display and used books.
Lindsay DiCuirci, associate professor of English, envisioned Bookfest ’26 after receiving professional development funds from the Breaking the M.O.L.D. leadership program in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in spring 2025. Her proposal for the funds included hosting a book festival that explored both the creative, maker-based aspects of book history and the importance of advocacy and access. BookFest came to fruition this April when UMBC celebrated writers, readers, makers, and advocates during National Library Week.
A letterpress and zine swap were highlights for BookFest attendees.
“My own research is in early American book history, so I am drawn to all aspects of books across time and place,” DiCuirci says. “Given that we are also facing a major resurgence in book banning and censorship, I wanted to draw particular attention to attacks on libraries and the urgency around protecting our rights to read. Books by and about underrepresented people and experiences are being pulled from shelves across the country at the same time that funding for public schools and libraries is being slashed. I wanted BookFest to amplify this dynamic.”
A communal reading experience
One of the first conversations DiCuirci had about her idea was with Aditya Desai ’09, English, a program officer for Maryland Humanities who runs its Center for the Book and the One Maryland, One Book (OMOB) initiative. The pair decided that BookFest would celebrate OMOB—a communal reading experience for the state—by hosting Lawrence Burney, author of the 2026 OMOB selection, No Sense in Wishing. Burney attended BookFest and discussed his essay collection, growing up in Baltimore, and his deep relationship to music with Chris L. Terry, assistant professor of English.
Burney contended that everyone, no matter their age or life stage, can make valuable contributions to their community. “I think that’s one of the easiest ways any critic can kind of stunt their own growth, so I always make it a point to engage with people younger than me,” he said. As he leaned into writing and sharing his passions, he says he realized, “There is a way to amplify something while also having a challenging conversation about it.”
Desai also introduced DiCuirci to Maryland State Librarian Morgan Miller, who was instrumental in passing Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act. The pair collaborated on a BookFest panel called “Freedom to Read: Libraries and Our Democracy.”
Left: Students got to stitch together their own books at BookFest. Right: So many books, so little time!
Miller then brought John Owen into the mix. Owen is the librarian for the Maryland State Library of the Blind and Print Disabled (LBPD), and throughout BookFest, UMBC raised funds for a nonprofit that supports the LBPD in its mission to make reading and all library services accessible to Marylanders. In partnership with Maryland Humanities, BookFest also served as a collection point for the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture’s annual book drive.
Stay tuned for the sequel
Craft and care were front and center throughout the festival. Graphic design senior Sonia Pivovarov brought the first iteration of BookFest to life with eye-catching print and digital advertising materials. The BookMarkIt purveyed BookFest-themed original creations and items from the Hilltop Print Shop, an instructional letterpress printing shop and mobile cart. Special Collections librarian Lindsey Loeper and DiCuirci built the shop with support from a Hrabowski Innovation Grant.
Hoping for a sequel to BookFest? The next iteration is already in the works, DiCuirci says, along with ideas for smaller pop-up events throughout the year to amplify the creative work of UMBC students.
By Kayla Logue ’27
Jenny O’Grady, assistant vice president for communications, (right), shares her love of bookmaking with students at BookFest.
When Chinonso Ezeobi decided to pack up his life and come to the United States to pursue his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at UMBC, he was thrilled at the prospect of finding a program that would bring him fulfillment. However, financial struggles and the impact of COVID pandemic quickly threatened Ezeobi’s plans for the future. Never one to be derailed, he found mentors across campus who made it their mission to keep him on the path to his Ph.D. Ezeobi recognized how invaluable their support was and found his own ways to give back to the place and people who gave him so much, including founding two organizations on campus and keeping his door open to any students who may be struggling.
Q: What brought you to the United States and to UMBC to earn your doctorate?
A: After earning my bachelor’s degree in Nigeria, I went into the telecommunications industry for about 15 years. Then I went to graduate school in Finland with the hope of completing my Ph.D. to qualify me to be a teacher, as I believed that I would impact people more by becoming a teacher. But, none of the Ph.D. programs I was interested in in Finland could give me full funding.
As part of my search for fully funded Ph.D. programs, my wife and I visited the United States in 2018 and had the opportunity to come to UMBC. I had a meeting with the chair of the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE). After that, my wife and I ate lunch in The Commons. There was a Nigerian flag hanging from the ceiling. When I saw it, I thought, “Oh, my people are represented here.” I applied for several Ph.D. programs and was offered admission to UMBC. Seeing the Nigerian flag that day played a big part in choosing UMBC for my doctoral study.
Q: What is your most meaningful memory from your time at UMBC?
A: When I came to UMBC, I actually didn’t have funding in my very first semester. So I struggled. I paid out of pocket from my savings. I discovered this wasn’t sustainable. At the end of my first semester, I had made up my mind to leave UMBC and transfer to a different university I had been admitted to because I still couldn’t get funding, and I couldn’t afford to pay anymore. I was stressed; I was anxious; I was depressed. I went to the inaugural meeting of the Black Graduate Student Organization. There were about 15 students in attendance as well as [President Emeritus] Freeman A. Hrabowski and [Dean Emerita of Graduate Studies] Janet Rutledge. Dr. Hrabowski and Dr. Rutledge went around the table and asked each student to share how we were faring and what our experiences at UMBC had been like. I told them it wasn’t easy. And the president directed me to work with Dr. Rutledge to sort my situation out. I and Dr. Rutledge had several one-on-one meetings afterwards where she helped me to navigate my challenges at UMBC. When I reached out to Dr. Rutledge the week I wanted to leave UMBC, she asked me to give her one more week to figure out how to fund me. That was what changed everything. I was able to get the support I needed, and the rest, they say, is history.
Ezeobi in Commencement regalia. (Courtesy of Ezeobi)
Q: How have you navigated and overcome the challenges you’ve faced during your time at UMBC?
A: I faced a lot of challenges in my time at UMBC. I was coming in from industry, and I had not been in school for a long time. I was trying to acclimatize. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit in my second semester, and everybody was at home. It was so devastating for me as someone who loves to interact with other people in person. I had left a good job to come to graduate school, and I started to wonder, “Did I do the right thing?”
The kind of research I was doing in my previous lab was difficult to adjust, and I needed a little more help, but because everything was virtual it wasn’t easy to get the kind of help I needed. The lab was able to fund me for a semester, but unfortunately, the day my wife arrived in the United States they informed me that they couldn’t support me any longer. So now my wife had joined me but I had no source of income and funding for my Ph.D. program. The graduate program director of CSEE department offered me a grader position without tuition remission, which I accepted.
Then I got an email from Dr. Robin Cresiski asking if I was available to work with her in the Graduate School based on Dr. Rutledge’s recommendation. She was able to give me a position that could pay for my tuition and still allow me to work in the CSEE department. That was how my relationship with Dr. Cresiski started. She and the Graduate School have always been there for me.
The challenges with my research were similarly massive. Because my lab didn’t have funding, it was very self-driven research. My mentor, Dr. Anthony Johnson, was skeptical about the novelty of my research in the beginning since the ZBLAN sample [a fiber optics slab sample] I used had been around for a long time. Not only did I have to search for and obtain the samples and materials I needed, but I had to convince him that my research was worth it. I went the extra mile to go to the company where I got my samples (Thorlabs) and pulled them into a meeting with Dr. Johnson and I discussed my approach and possible outcome. The meeting highlighted the novelty of my approach to the ZBLAN material and that was how he came on board.
Ezeobi stands with an award for his work. (Courtesy of Ezeobi)
Once I navigated through one challenge, another one came in. But at the end of the day—it was worth it. I was able to pull through all of those challenges. I was also able to transition from being an international student to having a green card through self-petition and self-advocacy, so I’m able to graduate without the additional pressure of thinking about my visa status while looking for jobs. My faith and the community at UMBC were essential in navigating through all challenges. The motivation was that I had a community of people who wanted my success, people who I felt would advocate for me even when I’m not in the room.
I wouldn’t change my UMBC experience for anything. The struggles I’ve faced have been very, very challenging, but I’m glad I went through them. It has made me a better person. It has prepared me for the next phase of my life, which will be teaching. And when you’re teaching students, you teach with context of all of the challenges you have been through to try to make sure that the students have a good experience.
Q: How have your experiences engaging and organizing within UMBC’s graduate student community enhanced your journey here?
A: I know a lot of people on campus. When other graduate students have serious issues, they will come to me and share their challenges. I have ideas of who they can talk to and am able to connect them with people who can help. I follow through with whatever issues students are having and make sure they are solved. Some of the students will even request that I sit in meetings with them and help them navigate the conversation! Because of my advocacy and engagement work, I was also nominated to serve on a lot of committees, including a Student Emergency Fund disbursement committee that supports students when they experience financial hardships and need support with groceries. It’s been a good opportunity to get to know more people, and I’m glad that we’re able to make UMBC a better place.
I also have helped in organizing most of the Graduate School’s events through PROMISE. I make sure that I advertise the events in such a way that we bring graduate students together. After the COVID lockdowns ended, I helped improve turn-out at our in-person events. Many international graduate students like myself feel like when they come here, they want to be the best in everything: best in their class, best in their research. There’s nothing wrong with that, but what happens is that they end up not living. They don’t experience the school. Based on my experiences, I have seen that those who advance more in life are those who know people who can mention their names when they’re not in the room. One of the events we organize in the Graduate School is to help students understand how to access the resources on campus before they need it in order to enhance their experience at UMBC. We organize events as simple as a coffee hour with graduate students, where students can come and talk about their classes. It helps them to destress and creates an opportunity for them to see graduate students from other departments.
Doing all of this gives me fulfillment. It’s the same reason that I want to be a teacher: Whenever I help students solve their problems, I feel good about it. I feel that the struggles I have experienced throughout my UMBC journey have given me this capacity to help others.
Q: As an aspiring educator, what teaching practices from your time as a UMBC student do you want to carry forward?
A: Several of my UMBC professors, including Dr. Johnson, Dr. Fow-Sen Choa, and Dr. Gary Carter, have exemplified what it means to be a teacher. They make sure that every student is heard and seen. They assign amazing class projects. And they’re very responsive to email, even when I reach out to them late at night. I don’t think I’ve ever sent an email that they didn’t get back to almost immediately.
I also took some trainings with UMBC’s Center for Research, Teaching, and Learning on how to be a better teacher, on how to engage students and support active learning. I would highly recommend that UMBC graduate students who are aspiring faculty take this training in teaching, because earning a Ph.D. or being a good researcher does not automatically make one a good teacher.
In the course of my study here, I have also had the opportunity to participate in the UMBC Summer Enrichment Academy as an instructor and as a mentor to other instructors. I’ve been able to connect with high school students, teach them optics, try to help them be interested in engineering, and it has been fulfilling.
I’m hoping to get a faculty position and eventually a tenure track position around here after I graduate. I believe that having a bigger stage will present a bigger challenge, and will result to a bigger impact.
Kaleb Cave’s story is unique among almost all collegiate swimming and diving athletes: When he started college, he was not a strong swimmer.
He is, however, the youngest person ever to perform a standing double backflip. His athletic prowess had also earned him a spot on the USA Gymnastics national team in the Senior Elite Trampoline and Tumbling division.
So how did this mechanical engineering major and gymnast end up on the swimming and diving team? It started on Instagram: Cave’s account (@lub.lub), where he chronicles his athletic feats, has over 140,000 followers.
Junior computer science major Andy Vines, a member of the diving team, messaged Cave when he saw the tumbler was a fellow Retriever. “My mom always told me to find a way to get involved at UMBC, and I thought this might be it,” Cave says. “After reaching out to head dive coach Jeff Fisher, a few months later, I was on the team and in the water.”
From setback to success
While diving and tumbling have many similarities, the transition was anything but smooth water for Cave.
“Learning how to dive was more of a mental than a physical battle for me. With my gymnastics background, the flipping and twisting came naturally. However, I struggled —and still struggle—with my approach and entries into the water,” Cave says. “Landing on my head was definitely weird to get used to, especially when I’ve been landing on my feet all my life. My aerial awareness is pretty good, though. As a gymnast, I’m used to doubles and triples, so when I have to dial it down, my body doesn’t quite understand.”
Cave officially joined the UMBC swimming and diving team as a sophomore. He had a solid rookie campaign, qualifying for the finals in both the one- and three-meter board events at the America East Championships. However, less than a month later, his diving journey suffered a big setback.
Kaleb Cave competes in the qualifying round of the one-meter diving event at the America East Championships in February, 2026.
In March 2025, he ruptured his Achilles tendon at a tumbling national team camp. He had surgery five days later and started physical therapy eight weeks post-operation.
“My physical therapist did an amazing job getting me back to where I need to be, and he is still helping me become stronger,” Cave says. “In the beginning, physical therapy frustrated me—seeing how weak I was and how long it was taking to gain back little bits of strength was taxing on my mental health.”
However, he persisted with rehab and returned to competition in October 2025, just under seven months after the injury—much faster than anyone expected.
“It felt great,” said Cave. “My return didn’t feel rushed at all, just natural and smooth.”
Two for the team
In January 2026, Cave broke a 14-year-old school record en route to winning the three-meter competition at the Towson Diving Invitational. He qualified for NCAA Zones, the preliminary event for the NCAA Diving Championships, in the one- and three-meter events.
Two weeks later, Cave won bronze in both the one- and three-meter events at the America East Championships, helping lead the men’s swimming and diving team to its 15th title.
For Kaleb Cave (left), earning two individual medals was not as meaningful as contributing to the team championship.
Cave’s two medals “contributed to the team winning that title, which means more to me than if I had felt like I didn’t contribute to it. Those were also my first diving-related medals ever, which is special to me,” he adds.
With two full seasons of diving under his belt, Cave feels ready to level up. “Next year, I definitely think I can start pushing the difficulty, now that I’ve cleaned up my form a bit since my very first season.”
Being a student athlete is time-consuming, especially when learning a new sport and alongside a technical major like mechanical engineering, but Cave says UMBC has allowed him to succeed.
“UMBC provides so much support for student-athletes, whether it be a quiet place for us to study or one-on-one tutoring sessions. Teachers are always here to provide help when needed and guide you through the course content.” It seems that Cave has landed on his feet after all.
Meet Manpreet Suri ’14, M.S. ’15, information systems, an entrepreneur, digital solutions problem solver, McNair Scholar, and a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Suri found a community of support during his time at UMBC, and he credits his professors and UMBC Assistant Vice Provost and Assistant Dean Laila Shishineh for challenging him to meet his full potential. In his work, he finds fulfillment in building tools that make someone’s day easier and more efficient.
Q: What brought you to UMBC?
A: I wanted to be in a place where I wouldn’t get lost in the crowd—a place where I could learn, be challenged, and be supported. UMBC offered all of that, plus a community that genuinely cared about who I was becoming.
Q: What would you want another Retriever to know about you?
A: I recently joined Asurion as a group product manager on the Enterprise Client Experience team. At Asurion, I lead product strategy for tools that support the end-to-end experience of Fortune 500 partners and their customers, from digital onboarding to service delivery. I am a two-time master’s graduate, having earned my first degree at UMBC and my second at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business while working full time. My journey blends entrepreneurship, real estate, and digital innovation, always with a focus on solving real-world problems through community-driven solutions.
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?
A: You’re never alone here. Whether it’s faculty, peers, or alumni—someone always shows up for you, challenges you to grow, and reminds you that your ideas and voice matter.
Left: Suri during his McNair Summer Research Fellowship designing a hardware-software prototype: a wearable Braille-based device for the visually impaired.
Q: Tell us about someone in the UMBC community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.
A: Dr. Laila Shishineh encouraged me to merge my technical background with my passion for supporting others. Her mentorship helped me take risks, try new experiences, and believe that innovation can start in the classroom.
Dr. Shishineh was my Summer Bridge mentor and had an enormous influence on both my personal and professional trajectory. She encouraged me to take on extra credits early, accelerating my progress and building my confidence, and pushed me to get involved beyond the classroom—to form meaningful connections, volunteer, and embrace opportunities I otherwise might have overlooked.
With that encouragement, I joined the Refugee Youth Project through the Shriver Center, which eventually helped me connect with recruiters at General Electric. She supported my interest in becoming a resident assistant in the Discovery Scholars Living-Learning Community, and she constantly encouraged me to step into leadership roles, attend retreats like STRiVE, and explore other parts of campus life, including student government and community service.
Suri at the McNair Scholars induction ceremony in 2012.
Her mentorship came at a time when I was navigating unfamiliar territory as a first-generation student. My parents didn’t go to college, so having someone who believed in me, challenged me, and celebrated my wins made an enormous difference. She even supported me in applying to the McNair Scholars Program and helped me think about potential future paths in tech.
In so many ways, Laila was the single most influential person in my college journey—a steady source of humor, enthusiasm, and encouragement. I truly wouldn’t be where I am today without her.
Q: Tell us about what you loved about your academic program at UMBC.
A: The information systems program provided a powerful blend of technical skills and practical application. What I appreciated most was how interdisciplinary it felt—it taught me to think not just about technology itself, but about the people, systems, and structures that surround it. That balance shaped the way I approach product management and innovation today.
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My professors saw potential I didn’t see in myself. They helped me land my first internships, encouraged me to explore entrepreneurship, and taught me that curiosity and kindness are just as important as credentials.
Manpreet Suri '14, M.S. '15
Q: How did UMBC foster your interest in entrepreneurship?
A: My interest in entrepreneurship definitely sparked while at UMBC. While in Dr. Shaun Kane’s Prototyping and Design Lab I worked on a wearable Braille-based device for users with visual impairments. That was my first real experience with human-centered technology design. That project ultimately became the foundation of my McNair Scholars research and showed me how innovation and empathy can come together to solve real-world problems. It planted the seed for the entrepreneurial mindset I carry with me today.
Q: Since joining the UMBC community, in what ways have you felt supported and experienced personal growth?
A: My professors saw potential I didn’t see in myself. They helped me land my first internships, encouraged me to explore entrepreneurship, and taught me that curiosity and kindness are just as important as credentials.
Dr. Kimberly R. Moffitt remains one of the most memorable and impactful professors I’ve had in any academic setting. Her classes pushed me to consider identity, community, and social systems in ways I never had before. She introduced me to a world of nonfiction that I didn’t realize I’d been missing, and the discussions in her classroom helped balance the technical focus of my information systems coursework.
Her teaching style—thoughtful, engaging, and deeply human—broadened my perspective and made my overall academic experience richer and more holistic. I’m still grateful for the lasting impact her classes had on how I view people and the world.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about being a part of Retriever Nation?
A: Retriever Nation is about hustle, heart, and humility. I love how UMBC fosters change makers who don’t just talk about impact, they do the work and bring others with them.
Right: Suri as an undergraduate student at a skydiving experience during his summer internship with GE Aviation.
Q: What drives you to support UMBC?
A: UMBC changed the trajectory of my life. Giving back is my way of paying it forward—especially to programs that support first-generation students and innovators who just need a chance to be seen and supported. I’ll always be proud to support and be part of a community that shows up for people the way UMBC showed up for me.
UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Corris Davis’98, M.P.P. ’19, Ph.D. ’25, didn’t originally envision such a long career at UMBC or the number of students she would directly impact. As a Meyerhoff Program Scholar, Corris experienced how intentional mentoring and support could lift up students on their UMBC journeys. Now the senior director of the Office of Academic Opportunity Programs—which she founded as a home to UMBC’s five TRIO Programs as well as first-generation student programming—Corris has been at the front lines for first-gen and low-income students for 26 years. By forging cross-departmental connections, Corris has built a network of support and encouragement for UMBC’s growing population of first-gen students. Tell us all about it!
Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?
A: I’m a three time UMBC alum—undergrad in biological sciences in 1998, M.P.P. ’19, and Ph.D. ’25, public policy—who has recently rekindled a love for Galaga and LEGOs (because everything old is new again).
Left: Fellow staff of the Upward Bound Program outside of the Apollo Theatre in New York City during an end of summer field trip. Left to right: Terri Chambers, Christine Harris ’98, Allen Bolden ’99, Karriem Farrakhan ’97, Kerrian McLean ’00, and Corris. Right: At UMBC Commencement 2022, Dr. Michael Hunt, Damarius Johnson ’22 (McNair alum), and Corris.
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone to know about the support you find here?
A: “Support” and “community” aren’t just words. People show up for each other because that’s who we are, be it faculty, staff, students, or alumni.
Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most and why?
A: I support programs that allow students from middle school all the way to undergrad to see what they can be. I have seen students that I met in 8th or 9th grade earn Ph.D.s. I love knowing that while I don’t always work directly with students, the work I do supports them in reaching their goals.
Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place?
A: I started my professional staff journey as the office coordinator of the TRIO Upward Bound program at UMBC, one of what is now five TRIO programs hosted at UMBC (Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Talent Search, McNair Scholars, and now Student Support Services). Since then, I’ve been the assistant director of Upward Bound, and then director. In 2016, I was able to form the Office of Academic Opportunity Programs that houses all of the TRIO Programs as well as first-generation student programming.
After completing my bachelor’s degree, I left UMBC to go to a Ph.D. program in molecular and cellular biology, but about seven months in, I realized that it was not a good fit. I had previously worked with Upward Bound as an undergrad so I essentially came home until I could figure out what my next moves were. I didn’t think that I would still be at UMBC 26 years later.
The reason I stay at UMBC is that I am given the space to help students who are from similar backgrounds to grow and thrive and have great experiences.
Photo: Over the years, many participants have become like family, says Corris. Left side front to back: Prentiss Haney, Gerrod Williamson (Upward Bound alum and current staff member), Corris’s wife, Consuela Lowery; on the right from front to back: Tobias Davis (Upward Bound alum), Dr. Durell Callier ’14, McNair Scholar alum), and Corris.
Q: Tell us about the people who have helped you at UMBC, and why it has made such a difference to you.
A: I must start with the late LaMont Toliver, director of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. While my initial relationship with him was as a Meyerhoff Scholar, once I became a staff member, he provided even more guidance and support. I use much of what I learned from him in my work in supporting students now, both directly and behind the scenes. I recall him sharing a quote from Harry Truman: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” This has shaped a lot of my work at UMBC. It’s all about advancing our students.
I’ve found support at UMBC in two ways: sometimes by making the ask, and sometimes because people see the vision and step forward on their own. A great example is the creation of the First Generation Network. While it’s not as active as we’d like currently, it’s very existence comes from a group of campus partners, many of whom were first-generation students themselves who understand the importance of the work and volunteering.
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The quote… “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” This has shaped a lot of my work at UMBC. It’s all about advancing our students.
Corris Davis
Senior director of the Office of Academic Opportunity Programs
We’ve been able to honor first-generation graduates with cords for about six years now. Offices like the Academic Success Center, the Career Center, and several Student Affairs departments have regularly stepped up, not just as cord pick-up sites, but as co-creators of programming that supports UMBC’s first-gen students. Support may be handing out graduation cords, or staffing First Gen Week tables, or even redesigning programming and workshops so they tackle the hidden curriculum and the barriers created by higher-ed jargon.
Staff of the various TRIO programs in the Office of Academic Opportunity Programs at the annual regional TRIO conference in Hershey, PA, in Feb 2023. Front, left to right: Tanaj Mogase, Talent Search, Corris, Ting Huang (UMBC and McNair alum), Ahdrianna Boyce (UMBC and Upward Bound alum); back left to right: Jennifer Appleby (former TS coordinator), Dr. Michael Hunt, and Dr. Sunji Jangha ’25
Although my office sits in Academic Affairs, this cross-division collaboration is exactly how things get done at UMBC: People come together to support students. It’s impossible to name everyone who has supported me and this work over the years, but I must acknowledge the incredibly talented staff in AOP. Their commitment, partnership, and care make everything we do not only possible, but even more meaningful.
Q: What would you tell someone who is considering a career at UMBC?
A: UMBC is a place where you can take a dream and run with it. We have a culture of supporting students and supporting each other in that work.
UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Brick making is an inherently pay-it-forward process, says Marian April Glebes, M.F.A. ’09, a conceptual and mixed-media artist. In the past 10 years of her Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument project, Glebes has made thousands of bricks and then invited community members to imprint their stories into the clay. Later, the bricks are used in mobile monuments around Baltimore City and beyond. Glebes, who won the 2025 Rubys Alumni Award through the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation for this work, asks: How can we support social and spatial change in order to build a new kind of community-driven monumental public space?
I come to historic preservation by way of my M.F.A. in imaging media and digital arts (IMDA) from UMBC—with an additional masters degree in city and regional planning and historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania—my home in Baltimore City, and by making bricks as public art. As an artist, a preservation planner, a homeowner, an educator, a gardener, and a community and economic development practitioner, all of my research and methods investigate how we make a place and how a place makes us.
In 2015, I was the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center. The Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson Confederate monument still stood across from the BMA’s Spring House in Wyman Park Dell in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore. Aligning with and inspired by protest in support of social and civic justice movements, The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument operated within these complex intersections.
Glebes’ brick factory set up outside of the Spring House at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (Photo by Marian April Glebes, M.F.A. ’09)
Almost a decade later, my camera was the only familiar thing at Baltimore City’s Department of Transportation facility on a frigid dawn in November 2023. I held it tightly as if it would prove to signify my role in providing archival documentation of a monumental move. The temperature had dropped to a mere 22 degrees, but the top-secret site was teeming with activity while the project was just beginning.
“I like to do an easy one first,” the director of field operations says. But with the removal of any Confederate monuments, these or other “monuments to hate,” there is no easy one.
In the back corner of a DOT storage yard, I watched as the historical record was made and unmade, as preservation theory and practice was suspended and turned on their side, as conservation techniques and concepts were followed to the letter and simultaneously reinvented, starting with the Roger B. Taney statue.
Baltimore’s Confederate monuments in a Department of Transportation storage lot. (Photo by Marian April Glebes, M.F.A. ’09)
Baltimore’s contentious monuments shipped out to a storage facility near St. Louis on their way to Los Angeles for an exhibition at The Brick (formerly LAXart). In Baltimore, I stayed with the problem through a project I started a decade ago—creating a countermonument out of personalized, handmade bricks.
Memory is mutable. Social contexts shift. This is the wicked problem in living heritage and what to do when it dies. I’ve had a unique position with singular access to process and understand this ongoing debate in Baltimore City while unofficial researcher-in-residence at the Commission for Historic and Architectural Preservation (CHAP). Each community is unique in its response on what to do with their Confederate monuments, and Baltimore’s perspective is vital to the discourse. Eric Holcomb, the former director of CHAP, invited me to the conversation, positing that perhaps it could or should be for the arts and artists to influence this unfolding preservation conundrum.
Left: A stack of imprinted bricks waits to be transformed. Right: Glebes holds a brick imprinted with: “I am a monument.”
At UMBC, as M.F.A. candidates, our artwork was considered research—and therefore had to be contextualized and placed within the canon. To work responsibly, we were encouraged to know our audiences and our references and understand our place in time. Inspired by the people and places of Baltimore and by conceptual art’s blurring-of-art-and-life thinking of the 1960s, The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument maintains the ethos of rigorous research, material gravitas, and community connection engendered by my IMDA studies. Existing in the contexts of the Baltimore Uprising, the 2017 monument removals, social practice art, and civic engagement, I interrogate our circumscribed understandings of monumentality.
Monuments exist in social contexts that have often changed dramatically since the time they were created. Because of this, their meaning does not come only from the objects themselves—or only from how people view them—but from the shifting relationship between the two. The counter-monument was birthed by artists in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and has not been widely accepted or brought into practice. In 2017, as monuments were being removed from our public spaces, artists again began erecting counter-monuments in protest of white supremacy.
The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument is centered in process, people, and making. To date, we have engaged over 15,000 people in Baltimore, made over 2,500 unique bricks, and collected over 1,000 personal stories from Baltimore residents. The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument is a new kind of monument, a monument not to the past, but a monument as an act of collective power that anticipates what will come to be.
To date, the project has engaged over 15,000 people in Baltimore, made over 2,500 unique bricks, and collected over 1,000 personal stories from Baltimore residents.
The Mobile Community Brick Factory produces handmade bricks using local hand-processed clay and historic water-struck methods. This means of brickmaking is an inherently pay-it-forward endeavor—the bricks made one day are destined for someone else’s future hands. Participants personalize and inscribe their stories onto these bricks—words and messages about place, power, home, and experience. These story bricks are woodfired and become The Mobile Community Brick Monument, an ongoing series of exhibitions that create shared spaces.
While the bricks become pathways, garden beds, benches—some are embedded in sidewalks in Baltimore—I collect oral histories from brick constituents through ethnographic methods. In Baltimore, over 150,000 people have visited The Mobile Community Brick Monuments, finding connections to stories that are like their own.
At The Mobile Community Brick Factory & Monument, we believe ordinary voices matter, especially those that aren’t usually heard, that public space should be built by the people who use it, that heritage is alive, memory is mutable, and history is ongoing—made by daily lives. Our bricks represent pasts, presents, and futures that would otherwise remain untold and unwitnessed, built, shared, and spoken by urban residents. All are welcome and included in the process—a different kind of monument—a living space that honors the past and is built collectively by the people who live in and use our cities.
Meet Adriana Torres. Adriana is a psychology major who has wanted to be a teacher ever since she was in school at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School. She decided to attend UMBC without ever visiting the campus because of the Sherman Scholars Program, which supports and prepares high-quality teachers for urban schools. In her spare time, Adriana enjoys baking, binge-watching her favorite TV shows, and meeting new people. Take it away, Adriana!
Q: What is your WHY? What brought you to UMBC?
A: I came to UMBC because of the abundant opportunities it provides in terms of educational support, both financially and in tangible classwork support. But beyond that, I believed that UMBC could help me reach my goal—becoming a teacher. I’ve always known that I wanted to be a teacher. I grew up looking up to my teachers because of how much they cared and wanted to help me in whatever way they could, even beyond schoolwork. Both of my parents are also teachers, so that sparked my interest in teaching as well.
What drew me to UMBC specifically was their Sherman Scholars program. I didn’t know much about UMBC when I was first applying here. To be honest, I had never even visited the campus before I decided to come here. However, knowing that there would be a community of people who would support and help me work towards my dreams and aspirations was what motivated me to be here.
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I believed that UMBC could help me reach my goal—becoming a teacher.
Adriana Torres
psychology major
Q: Where have you found support in the UMBC community?
A: Some of the most influential people during my time at UMBC have been the mentors and leaders of the Sherman Program. With their willingness to help and kind affirmations, I have felt so supported and encouraged to continue on my journey to be a teacher. They have given me more direction in terms of where I want to head in my teacher journey.
Q: What do you love most about the Sherman Scholars program?
A: I love being a Sherman Scholar because it’s bringing me closer to my future goal of being a teacher. It’s also allowing me to gain a deeper understanding of how to interact with students more effectively. One part of my story that is unique is the fact that I actually graduated from Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, which has a close relationship with the Sherman Scholars Program. Lakeland was a great school for me. My mom taught there for all my life, so I grew up in that community. I always felt supported by my teachers, and it eventually solidified my desire to become a teacher.
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It makes it interesting to see the growth of someone who graduated from Lakeland to someone who is now in the Sherman Scholars Program.
Adriana Torres
psychology major
Throughout high school, I maintained my ambition by attending a school with a pathway to becoming a teacher as well. Finally, I made my way to UMBC, where I again feel incredibly encouraged to work towards my goal of being a teacher.
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community?
A: One thing that I would want someone to know about the UMBC community is that no matter what, there will always be opportunities here that will push you to be your best and provide appropriate guidance to help you along the way. The most important thing to remember is that you have to be the one reaching out for help.
As an adult, it is always your responsibility to be the one to better yourself, as others around you do not know what you are struggling with. But once you ask for help, staff, faculty, and students will gladly help you whenever possible. A great example of this is the Academic Success Center. Here, a variety of resources are offered, such as tutoring and advising.
Q: Are you part of any clubs?
A: I am on the board of the club Best Buddies. The main goal of this club is to connect people with intellectual or developmental disabilities with people to form lifelong friendships. I truly love this club, not just because of the amazing cause but also because the people who are a part of the club are so warmhearted and caring. I genuinely enjoy every meeting we all have together because of the energy and personalities of the club members.
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
