Starting the Spring Semester

Dear UMBC Community,

 

With the cold and wintry conditions that delayed the start of in-person classes by a week, it seems strange to refer to this as the spring semester! I hope that you all stayed warm and safe as we worked to resume normal campus operations.

I know that beyond our campus, the challenges in our nation and world are increasingly difficult and felt deeply by members of our community, whether you are affected directly or indirectly. As we begin this new semester together, I hope you will take advantage of every opportunity to lean on and lift up one another, and that the inspiring and essential public mission of UMBC helps sustain us and propel our work every day.

I hope, as well, that each of you found time to rest, reflect, and renew over the winter break. For me—someone who has essentially never left college—such breaks in the academic year are not only a much-needed respite, they also are energizing periods of reflection, planning, and prioritizing for the semester ahead.

After spending a few days with my family in North Carolina—where we gathered in full force, as always—I returned to Baltimore and got down to work. By the end of the break, as usual, my kitchen island was covered with piles of different colored sticky notes, each of them representing different priorities for me and for our leadership team. It looks pretty chaotic, but this is my process for getting to some order. It is what I do to start the semester with a clear sense of the work ahead, what comes next, and what is possible.

When I was a faculty member teaching organic chemistry, I would spend time before every semester thinking about my syllabus and the activities I was going to do in class. I would match pictures from the student directory with the names of those enrolled in my class, so that I would recognize them and be able to call them by name in class.

Today, I think about our students, staff, and faculty and our departments and units across UMBC. I think about our alumni and how I can engage them more deeply in the life of the university. I think about our neighbors in Catonsville and Arbutus, the city of Baltimore, and the state of Maryland, and how we can partner to address challenges and continue to improve our communities. I think about what went well in the last semester and what I could have done better. And I think about our future, mapping out the work I can do to keep us advancing toward our shared vision for UMBC.

One area of focus is the ongoing work by our core team to address the impacts of federal orders and actions on UMBC. I hope you all saw the recent message from Vice Provost for Global Engagement David Di Maria that shared updates related to immigration and visa policies. Please continue to visit our website concerning federal orders and actions frequently for the latest information and resources.

Finally, I want to celebrate and amplify a couple of pieces of terrific news: First, UMBC has again been classified as a Carnegie Community Engaged Campus, recognizing the university-wide commitment of our students, faculty, and staff to engage collaboratively in strengthening our communities. Congratulations and thanks to all who contribute to this work that is so deeply embedded in our identity and culture, and to all who played a part in the rigorous effort to achieve this classification from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

I also want to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to our incoming dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Christia Spears Brown. We are delighted to welcome Christia and looking forward to her leadership beginning in July.

My best to you all for a productive and fulfilling semester!

Sincerely,