Campus Life

Windows On Today

UMBC Students Offer a Glimpse into What it Means to be a Retriever in 2016. We all remember certain highlights of our college days no matter how many years — or decades — we’ve put between ourselves and Commencement day. But what about the moments in between those highlights we hold so dear? Thanks to smartphone cameras and social media, current students are capturing it all — unfiltered — every single day for the world to see. UMBC Magazine asked several current students to share moments from their everyday lives with us. No matter when you were a student, we… Continue Reading Windows On Today

At Play – Summer 2016

Family Guy Don Zimmerman coached championship men’s lacrosse teams at Johns Hopkins University, and his arrival at UMBC in 1994 took the program to new levels of success. But as he retired from the head coaching position on July 1, Zimmerman said the relationships built inside and outside the lines – with those he worked with and coached – are what he’ll miss more than anything else. “When I look back at my career, it has really been all about the people,” says Zimmerman. “The players, their families, my assistants. You really become a family where everybody is working together.”… Continue Reading At Play – Summer 2016

The News – Winter 2016

Story Time UMBC celebrates its formal 50th anniversary in September. But two years ago, before the calendar turned to 2015, a small team on campus began creating a new way for UMBC alumni and others in the university community to share five decades of stories about what it means to be a Retriever. In late February, just as momentum towards the celebration of the anniversary starts to intensify, the fruits that work will be unveiled in a new website called Retriever Stories. A New Way to Tell Our UMBC Story Of course, Retriever Stories will celebrate the pioneering five decades… Continue Reading The News – Winter 2016

At Play – Winter 2016

New Tricks The stories on the sidelines of a college basketball game aren’t just huddled strategy sessions or fevered debates with referees. Often, they involve relationships nurtured over years in play as well. One such story is that of UMBC men’s head basketball coach Aki Thomas, and his assistant coach Frankie Allen – whose relationship spans 15 years. Thomas, 36, played for Allen, 66, at Howard University from 2001 to 2002, after transferring from the University of Colorado. After a two-year stint in professional ball in Venezuela, Thomas took his first coaching job as a member of Allen’s staff at… Continue Reading At Play – Winter 2016

At Play – Fall 2015

Education In Motion It’s a bright Saturday morning in mid-July, and the first floor of the Fine Arts Building is covered in plastic grocery bags, chicken wire, and paint buckets. A four-person surrey bike, girded with steel pipes and pontoons, looms in the front window like the skeleton of a prehistoric sea monster. In the shadow of a stairwell, a giant octopus waits to be attached to the bike, its one water-cooler-jug eye glinting in the dim light. This colossal cephalopod, its wire frame furred with shreds of plastic water bottles, is the Kraken Upcycle. The machine is the result… Continue Reading At Play – Fall 2015

The News – Fall 2015

Anchors Aweigh The U.S. Navy has a proud history in Maryland. And with two new agreements concluded in April, UMBC deepened its educational and research ties with the Navy in significant ways. UMBC students are now eligible to steer a course to become commissioned officers in the Navy and Marine Corps with the establishment of a Naval ROTC (NROTC) program at the university. The agreement with the Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) makes UMBC the first higher education institution in Maryland to be selected as an NROTC host. A professor of naval science, appointed by the NSTC in collaboration with… Continue Reading The News – Fall 2015

The News – Spring 2015

Walking the Walk A February 18 visit to UMBC by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was a chance to shine a national spotlight on the university’s leadership in innovative teaching and K-12 partnerships. “Teachers, principals, community leaders, families and the students themselves have helped to bring about some of the biggest and boldest changes in American education in decades to prepare all of our children for college, careers, and life,” said Duncan to an audience that filled the concert hall in the Performing Arts and Humanities Building. “These changes include higher standards, better support for teachers, a powerful focus… Continue Reading The News – Spring 2015

At Play – Spring 2015

Road Warriors The entire UMBC campus – and a Retriever Nation of alumni and fans – was excited by the men’s soccer team’s splendid run to the Final Four of college soccer. The team startled long-time observers of the sport with its dazzling series of victories, and its players created memories that will live on in the annals of Retrievers athletics. The highlights if that run were numerous: Senior forward Kay Banjo’s amazing back heel goal against Vermont in the America East conference semifinal – a goal that went viral on the Internet. Redshirt freshman midfielder Gregg Hauck’s wonder goal that sealed the championship… Continue Reading At Play – Spring 2015

The News – Fall 2014

STRONGER STEM UMBC’s leadership in fostering the success of students seeking degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering and math (STEM) was highlighted in October when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a groundbreaking series of awards totaling more than $18 million for the university. The awards were part of a $240 million, five-year NIH investment to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce called Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (or, BUILD). Bill LaCourse, dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and UMBC Provost Philip Rous, together serve as the award’s principal investigators and will direct the STEM BUILD@UMBC… Continue Reading The News – Fall 2014

Grit to Greatness

UMBC Athletics Director Tim Hall Lays Out His Program for the Future of Retriever Fever Interview by Richard Byrne ’86 When Tim Hall was appointed director of athletics, physical education and recreation in July 2013, he had some big shoes to fill. Longtime director Charles Brown had led UMBC’s program for 24 years, solidifying and growing the program’s Division I successes while keeping the department true to UMBC’s mission of emphasizing both sides of the student-athlete experience. Yet in Hall’s first semester, he had the chance to oversee the ascent of UMBC men’s and women’s soccer to simultaneous 2013 America… Continue Reading Grit to Greatness

At Play – Fall 2014

OUTRACING STEREOTYPES Amanda Knapp, assistant vice provost for academic standards and policy administration, is revved up about higher education. But she’s also making tracks – and noise – as a motorcycle aficionado. Yes, that’s Knapp on the cover of the September issue of American Motorcyclist magazine, posing with her KTM 300 XCW in a shot taken by UMBC Magazine photographer Marlayna Demond ’11. (Another shot inside the magazine showed Knapp in her full racing gear near the UMBC sign at the entrance to campus.) The cover photo and the accompanying article tackle the public perceptions of motorcyclists, and Knapp is… Continue Reading At Play – Fall 2014

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