Dear UMBC Community,
As our campus continues to welcome increasing numbers of religiously and spiritually diverse students, faculty, and staff and fully embrace the diversity that is already present, we are constantly seeking ways to adapt and better support individuals with these identities to ensure that every member of our campus community feels a sense of belonging and connection.
As part of the university's ongoing commitment to inclusive excellence, the Inclusion Council created a Religious and Spiritual Belonging working group in spring 2023. This group, made up of a diverse set of students, staff, faculty, and community members, is tasked with creating recommendations regarding the needs of students with closely-held religious and spiritual identities. These recommendations will include clear steps that can be taken to address those needs. This work will focus on issues related to dining, housing, campus support and resources, and space allocations for religious and spiritual practice.
The next phase of this important work is seeking feedback from students, staff, faculty, and community members about their experiences and needs for religious and spiritual belonging at UMBC. To that end, several listening sessions will be held within the coming weeks. All sessions are open to all community members. The schedule for the sessions is as follows:
- Wednesday, Oct. 25, 3 - 5 p.m. (Gathering Space, Center for Well-Being (CWB) 103)
- Thursday, Oct. 26, 5 - 7 p.m. (Gathering Space, CWB 103)
- Monday, Oct. 30, 2 - 4 p.m. (Gathering Space, CWB 103)
- Monday, Oct. 30, 6 - 7 p.m. (Apartment Community Center) - Focus on student housing needs
- Thursday, Nov. 2, 2 - 4 p.m. (Gathering Space, CWB 103)
- Monday, Nov. 6, 1 - 3 p.m. (Gathering Space, CWB 103)
- Friday, Nov. 10, 12 - 1 p.m. (True Grits Conference Room) - Focus on student dining and dietary needs
- Monday, Nov. 13, 6 - 7 p.m. (Gathering Space, CWB 103)
Two virtual sessions will held as follows:
- Friday, November 3rd, 12:30- 2:00 p.m. (Virtual Link)
- Wednesday, November 15th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. (Virtual Link)
In addition to attending a listening session, community members are also welcome to submit feedback online by filling out this Google Form or by emailing the working group chair directly at matt.hoffman@umbc.edu.
We hope that you consider this opportunity to attend and provide feedback as we seek to improve belonging for community members with closely-held religious and spiritual identities.
Thank you,
Tanyka M. Barber, Vice President for Institutional Equity and Chief Diversity Officer
Matt Hoffman, Assistant Director, i3b and the Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being
Chair, Inclusion Council Religious and Spiritual Belonging Working Group
Chair, Inclusion Council Religious and Spiritual Belonging Working Group
Inclusion Council Working Group on Religious and Spiritual Belonging