Meet Ann Tropea, the assistant director for engaged media with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and the full-time staff advisor for the Student Media Collective, which includes The Retriever, Bartleby, and WMBC. Ann’s academic background is in mass media communications studies and law. In her spare time, she (separately) hosts a podcast and acts as a doula, helping support families during birth.

Q: Briefly introduce yourself. What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I am the assistant director for engaged media with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life and the full time staff advisor for the Student Media Collective (SMC)—the newly chartered student organization for student-run media on campus. I bring many years of professional editorial, communications, and legal expertise to my position. I am a career editor, published author, and podcast producer/co-host.

I am also a licensed attorney in Louisiana and the District of Columbia, and I have represented a variety of individual and multinational clients in both federal and state court litigation. I hold a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and graduated magna cum laude in mass media communication studies from New York University. I am also a certified doula and enjoy supporting families in their birth and reproductive journeys.

Q: Tell us about someone in the UMBC community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: I joined the UMBC community as a staff member in October 2023 with zero experience working in higher education. There are so many folks who have supported and inspired me from day one, but special thanks are due to Isabel Taylor (former Retriever editor-in-chief), David Hoffman (director, Center for Democracy and Civic Life), and Renique Kersh (VP for Division of Student Affairs) who all saw my potential during the interview process and allowed me to join this incredible campus community.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: No matter who you are, or where you’re coming from, you belong at UMBC.

Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most and why?

A: I absolutely love working with the students in all three media groups that form the SMC (The Retriever, WMBC, and Bartleby) that I advise as the primary focus of my work. They are smart, fearless, and creative—I am incredibly lucky to have such amazing student colleagues to work side-by-side with every day.

Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place?

A: I care deeply about making the world a more just and equitable place, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. I came to UMBC because this is a place where it was clear from day one that I share those values with each and every person on this campus.

Q: Since you’ve been a part of the UMBC community, how have you found support of your WHY?

A: I grew up in Southern California and feel like that gives me some leeway to lean a bit into the woo-woo…. UMBC is a magical place where community and collaboration are radical acts of love. It’s not just “a” why. It’s the only why.

Q: Are you involved in any campus organizations? Tell us about what you love about them!

A: I’m a new member of the Exempt Staff Senate and am thrilled to serve on the executive board as the incoming communications manager with such a dedicated (and fun!) group of folks from across the university who are dedicated to doing good work.

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Every so often, we’ll chat with an alum about what they do and how they got there. Today we’re talking with editor Richard Byrne ‘86, English, about his career and work with the UMBC Magazine.

Name: Richard Byrne
Job Title: Editor, UMBC Magazine and Special Projects

Q: Why did you choose to come to UMBC?
Transferring to UMBC in 1984 was one of the best decisions I made in my young life. I found terrific professors who helped to shape my intellectual and creative life. I met alumni who mentored me in my desire to become a writer, and I found comrades who helped me to put UMBC’s literary magazine (Bartleby) back on a positive trajectory that continues to this day.

So after making a career in journalism, the opportunity to come back to my alma mater and help create a new university magazine that would build and expand UMBC’s relationship with its alumni and other constituencies was a very attractive proposition indeed. UMBC has a terrific story that just keeps getting better and better and I enjoy helping to tell it.

Q: What would you consider your greatest success to be in your career?
I am extraordinarily proud that less than five years after the launch of UMBC Magazine, we were awarded a Bronze Medal for General Excellence by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in 2013. In essence, this meant that we were one of the top 10 university magazines in the country as voted on by a committee of our peers.

That didn’t happen, of course, without the vision of my fellow alumnus Jim Lord ‘99, visual and performing arts, and the team that he leads in UMBC’s Creative Services. There is a wall in the Alumni House that is now full of the awards that Jim and his team have won for design. My associate editor Jenny O’Grady has also played a key role in making UMBC Magazine a success so speedily.

Our success also did not happen without the vision of my colleagues in the Office of Institutional Advancement – especially associate vice president of marketing and communications Lisa Akchin and assistant vice president of marketing and creative services Miriam Tillman. They decided UMBC needed a first-rate university magazine and were the engines to make it happen.

It is also important to remember that UMBC alumni – through focus groups and surveys conducted before the magazine was created – helped to shape the vision for the magazine as a smart and readable guide to what is happening at our university. UMBC Magazine reflects the experiences and interests of our alumni because they helped tell us what sort of publication they wanted.

Q: Do you have a favorite memory from your student years at UMBC?
So many. I was privileged enough to have classes with some of the great professors in their field, including Thomas Vargish – an expert in Victorian literature who also encouraged me to apply for a Rhodes scholarship – and the late Robert K. Webb – one of the great historians of religion in the 19th century. I also was lucky enough to study poetry with Anthony McGurrin – who is still on the English department faculty. His guidance helped me get a full fellowship to graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis.

I also remember the strong influence that meeting alumni who were writers in Baltimore – including John Strausbaugh ’74 and James Taylor ’73 – had on me. Strausbaugh was the person who helped persuade Baltimore City Paper to hire me as a rock music reviewer, thus launching my journalism career. And Taylor gave me my first internship at his Dolphin-Moon Press, and helped educate me in the realities (and possibilities) of the publishing industry.

The friendships I made while editing Bartleby and obtaining my degree in English are also terrific memories.

Read more of the UMBC Magazine!

As UMBC approaches its 50th anniversary in 2016, the school is looking to expand the leadership and capacity in the Office of Institutional Advancement.

At a college where “the party is in the library,” UMBC has become a model for other campuses, especially in the science and technology areas of study. Along with the University of Maryland, College Park, UMBC is one of three research universities in Maryland and houses the first university-related research park in the state, bwtech@UMBC, creating a stimulating environment for students who are looking to expand their knowledge and gain experience in their fields.

To help UMBC grow and reach its full potential, the administration is looking for a candidate capable of working in a high-profile position and dealing with strategy development, relationship cultivation, and effective execution of communications and government and community relations to elevate, expand, and protect campus image and reputation. The Assistant Vice President will build strong relationships with academic, athletic, and administration leaders across campus while managing a team including the Director of Communications, the Director of Arts and Culture, three Communications Managers, and two junior staff members.

Qualifications include seven to 10 years experience in communications with at least two years in work related to the higher education sector, a bachelor’s degree, experience supervising others, dealing with crisis communications and developing and evaluating digital communications. Candidates should also be proactive, be able to present themselves appropriately according to different situations, make excellent judgement calls, and be respectful and trustworthy.

Applications are being accepted through July 30.

To see a full description, please click here.