global studies

A collage of images showing students traveling with mentors and teaching with children

A Journey of Growth

/ 14 minutes of reading

International travel offers ample opportunities to stretch yourself—one minute you may be the expert and the next, completely clueless about how something works. Retrievers currently in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program—teaching English or researching around the globe—find themselves oscillating between their teaching and student roles on a daily or hourly basis. By engaging their host communities through openness and cultural humility (and many shared cups of tea or coffee), these Fulbrighters are finding their balance along the way. Continue Reading A Journey of Growth

Man standing behind UMBC podium, smiling.

Meet a Retriever—Christian Jassani ’27, a first-year ambassador and active student leader

/ 5 minutes of reading

Meet Christian Jassani, a first-year political science and global studies major. Christian is a member of the Honors College, Susquehanna Community Council, Honors Council, and SGA. He has taken advantage of the many opportunities UMBC offers, which has helped him to grow, both socially, and academically. From these opportunities, he has been able to gain confidence in himself, find a family at UMBC, and make connections with staff who are there to support his academic journey every step of the way. Continue Reading Meet a Retriever—Christian Jassani ’27, a first-year ambassador and active student leader

A gym filled with students and booths for a career fair

Résumés in hand, 2,000+ hopeful and prepared Retrievers attend the 2024 Career Fair

/ 7 minutes of reading

“We were excited to help employers develop a strong talent pipeline and diverse future workforce, shaping the leaders and innovators of tomorrow,” said Paige Bauder, associate director of employer relations and recruitment programs at UMBC, about the UMBC 2024 Spring Career Fair.  Continue Reading Résumés in hand, 2,000+ hopeful and prepared Retrievers attend the 2024 Career Fair

Five Fulbright college students stand outside on concrete steps with their arms outstretched

For the third time in five years, UMBC is named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution

/ 5 minutes of reading

“This achievement is a testament to your institution’s deep commitment to international exchange,” wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a letter to President Valerie Sheares Ashby, congratulating her on UMBC’s Fulbright Top Producer designation, “and to building lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” Continue Reading For the third time in five years, UMBC is named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution

a group of young people gather around a garden plot, working the soil

Growing Fruitful Campus Connections

/ 4 minutes of reading

The occasional clang of a shovel rings through the chilly spring air amid the chatter of a small group of cheerful students at the UMBC Community Garden. The students and Ariel Barbosa, program coordinator for Retriever Essentials at UMBC and a master’s student in community leadership, are working hard to ready seven garden plots for crop production the growing season. Already, cold-hardy greens are on their way in one bed, and cucumbers and eggplant are growing indoors awaiting transplant. The gardening effort is a new initiative of Retriever Essentials, a faculty, staff, and student partnership to tackle food insecurity within… Continue Reading Growing Fruitful Campus Connections

Two women talking outside of a red building.

Shared Stories, Shared Purpose

/ 9 minutes of reading

On a warm and bright sunny day in April when the trees in Baltimore City’s Patterson Park are changing from bright green buds to full leaf and the birds are competing with the car horns, Viridiana Colosio-Martinez ’22, modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, and M.A. ’24, intercultural communication, waits in front of the Creative Alliance, a community and performance space a few blocks away from the park. After three years of undergraduate and graduate classes with her professor Tania Lizarazo, Colosio-Martinez is finally meeting her in person.  “I’m nervous and excited,” she says, waving to Lizarazo, associate professor of… Continue Reading Shared Stories, Shared Purpose

A student with light rimmed glasses and a red and white blouse stands outside with large cement arches behind her

Ready to take on the world, with tenacity and supportive community

/ 3 minutes of reading

Jennifer Boateng ’23, global studies, shares that a supportive community made it possible to manage the complex challenge of balancing college life and longer-term goals while dealing with sickle cell disease, even when taking classes in the hospital. Of faculty member Brigid Starkey, Boateng notes, “She helped me not to give up, even though it took me seven years to get to the finish line.” Continue Reading Ready to take on the world, with tenacity and supportive community

Graduating Retrievers find joy and career inspiration in supporting K-12 students and families

/ 6 minutes of reading

“I was able to access excellent research opportunities in the humanities that I never thought would be available at the undergraduate level,” says Emily Rose Paul ‘21, global studies. “UMBC is known as a STEM school, but I have received the most amazing humanities education as a global studies student. You will be surprised at all that you can find here.” Continue Reading Graduating Retrievers find joy and career inspiration in supporting K-12 students and families

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