Alumni

Retriever Love Week: Day 6

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Surprise, folks! We got so many responses to our call for your UMBC love stories that we’re extending Retriever Love Week 2016 EVEN FURTHER into the weekend. Feel all of the love! Stefanie Thomas Commins ’06, mathematics, says that her husband John Commins ’06, information systems, was one of the first people she met at UMBC, through the track and cross country teams. During their junior year, when Stefanie and John started spending more time together, they found that their feelings for each other had deepened, and decided to pursue a relationship. On the night of Stefanie’s last final exam — she says… Continue Reading Retriever Love Week: Day 6

Retriever Love Week: Day 5

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Well, fellow romantic Retrievers and interested onlookers, the end is almost here…the end of Retriever Love Week 2016, that is. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading these stories as much as we’ve enjoyed putting them together. We’ve also compiled a UMBC couples photo album on Facebook, which can be found here. If you’d like to see yourself and your significant other featured there, send us your story and a photo at retrievernet@umbc.edu.  Salma Warshanna Sparklin ’11, English, says that she and her husband, Timothy Sparklin ’09, history and interdisciplinary studies, have UMBC to thank for their marriage, and that “[culture], food, writing, and… Continue Reading Retriever Love Week: Day 5

Retriever Love Week: Day 4, Part 2

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And now, for the second half of today’s Retriever love stories… Mitch Case ’11, media and communication studies, met Brian Brown ’13, biochemistry and molecular biology, on the STRiVE Leadership Retreat in the winter of 2010. They started dating soon after, and will have been together six years this March. Brian is currently enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the NYU School of Medicine, and after nearly three years in a long-distance relationship, Mitch recently moved to New York to be closer to Brian and to pursue his next opportunity. (Photo courtesy of Mitch Case.) — Ana Schultz ’15, biochemistry… Continue Reading Retriever Love Week: Day 4, Part 2

Retriever Love Week: Day 4, Part 1

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We’re in the homestretch of Retriever Love Week here at the Alumni House, and we have quite a few stories left to go, so we’re making multiple posts today! Enjoy these tales of UMBC romance, and stay tuned for the next round… Some of these stories, like the one Natalie Bacon Lockett ’03, visual and performing arts, sent our way, begin even before the college years! Natalie met her now-husband, Brad Lockett ’07, information systems, at the Black Student Overnight the spring before freshman year. One of the ice-breakers involved finding someone from the same area as you, and Brad,… Continue Reading Retriever Love Week: Day 4, Part 1

Send Us a Class Note!

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Got good news? We want to hear it! Whether it’s a new job, family additions, interesting travels, reunions with classmates — or anything in between — submit a Class Note for the website and UMBC Magazine. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Retriever Love Week: Day 3

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We’re halfway through our unofficial Valentine’s Extension Week! We’ve shared so many great stories with you already, and we have plenty more to go. We hope you’re feeling the love as much as we are. Megan Smell Tarver ’04, psychology, remembers meeting her husband Curtis Tarver ’03, psychology, in their experimental psych class during her sophomore and his junior year. Curtis, on the other hand, remembers her from their sociology class the semester before, and from seeing her around Patapsco, where he worked at the desk. “We didn’t actually become a couple until the waning days of my undergraduate career… Continue Reading Retriever Love Week: Day 3

Retriever Love Week: Day 2

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So many of you have found lasting love at UMBC that we decided to extend Valentine’s Day to tell your stories! Here are four more. Michael Glassman ’12, geography and environmental systems, met his now-wife, Michelle Colbert ’12, sociology, at UMBC in 2011. They were married in November 2015. (Photo courtesy of Michael Glassman.)     — People meet their life partners all kinds of ways these days: online, out and about, through mutual friends. Catherine Lane Kruder ’12, English, met her husband Josh Kruder ’11, computer science, in one of the oldest ways in the book: through her mother. “We… Continue Reading Retriever Love Week: Day 2

Working the Water

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Melanie D. Harrison-Okoro ’11, Ph.D. environmental science, was raised outside Tuskegee, Alabama, where her family taught her to catch bass and catfish on Lake Martin. “My twin sister and I were out on the lake all the time with my great-grandmother,” she says. “She was the person who taught us about conservation and preservation. It just stuck.” Twenty-five years later, Harrison-Okoro is responsible for the well-being of fish species across the Western United States. As an environmental scientist and water quality specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Harrison- Okoro monitors the health of rivers in California, Idaho,… Continue Reading Working the Water

Talk Up the Town

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The challenges facing Baltimore City are significant – and have garnered international headlines. But listen to Tom Sadowski ’89, political science and public administration and policy, talk about the city and region, and you’ll hear a pep rally for a great metropolis. As president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, Sadowski has more than words to sell the city. He likes to tell the stories of local innovators and entrepreneurs who drive the area’s economic development and commercial success and create its public-private partnerships. And there is data undergirding the anecdotes. To date, projects organized by the… Continue Reading Talk Up the Town

How To – Winter 2016

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Create Your Own Theatre Festival —With Zach Michel ’09, geography and environmental systems, president of the Charm City Fringe Festival Zach Michel ’09, geography and environmental systems, arrived at UMBC not quite knowing what career he wanted to pursue, but confident that “this was the right place for me to figure it out.” Michel’s enthusiasms included the performing arts, economics, and the great outdoors. Eventually he settled on geography as a career path, and landed a job with the National Geographic Foundation after graduation. Yet Michel never lost his passion for performing, including acting and writing short films. He became… Continue Reading How To – Winter 2016

Happy Retriever Love Week!

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A couple of weeks ago, we put out a call on social media for couples whose love stories began at UMBC. We got so many great responses that while Valentine’s Day may have come and gone, we’ve decided to extend the holiday through Friday to share your stories on the blog. Happy Valentine’s Day the Second through Sixth! — In August 2000, Kenneth Knight ’03, information systems, and M.S. ’05, information systems, was a transfer student looking for advice on his classes. During a fire drill, a mutual friend led him to Angela Washington Knight ’03, information systems, and M.S. ’05, information systems, and from… Continue Reading Happy Retriever Love Week!

Meet the Staff: Arooj Rana '06, 50th Anniversary Program Assistant

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Here in the Office of Alumni Relations, we spend a lot of time telling stories about and talking with our wonderfully supportive alums. However, we’ve decided to turn the tables and take time to get to know the people behind the scenes – the  advancement and alumni relations staff members who are hard at work on behalf of our alumni. Today we’ll be hearing from Arooj Rana ’06, psychology, who is one of the 50th anniversary program assistants in the Office of Alumni Relations. She is also working towards a master’s degree in public policy at UMBC. Name: Arooj Rana Job Title: 50th… Continue Reading Meet the Staff: Arooj Rana '06, 50th Anniversary Program Assistant

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