Meet Brandon Dudley ’04, English. Since graduation, Brandon has pursued his passion for writing and teaching—skills he honed while at UMBC. For almost 20 years, Brandon has been teaching English, the last six years at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine. Within the last 10 years, Brandon has also been writing and publishing. In 2021, he published his first book, Hazards of Nature: Stories, a 2020 Maine Chapbook Series winner. Take it away, Brandon!

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC because I was looking for a place where I could explore my love for literature and journalism. UMBC was a place that immediately felt comfortable to me when I went on an admissions tour, but I was still slightly hesitant. Although UMBC had a great campus newspaper, the school only offered a journalism minor, and journalism was my intended career. Despite that hitch, I really liked my initial experience at UMBC and felt like it would be a solid fit.

My first extensive exposure to the school was when I came for interviews for the Humanities Scholars Program, where I met Tom Field, a professor in modern language and linguistics, who was running the program at the time, as well as other humanities faculty and current scholars. It was a great deal of pressure, these meetings and interviews, but after that day, I knew UMBC was absolutely where I wanted to be, that this was the group of students that I wanted to be a part of, and these were the type of teachers I wanted to learn from. The day that I got the letter accepting me into the Humanities Scholars Program is still one of my best memories. 

Between the English program, the Humanities Scholars Program, and The Retriever Weekly, I was able to spend four years immersed in all of those elements that I was looking for. 

Q: Can you talk more about the impact of the Humanities Scholars Program?

A: That program was life-changing for me. It exposed me to some of the most intelligent students and teachers I’ve had the pleasure to ever work with, and allowed me the opportunity to study abroad, kindling a life-long love of travel and a motivation to urge my own students now to spend time studying abroad. It’s a program that I’m still incredibly proud that I was able to be a part of.

I’ll also fully admit that the gift of full financial support for college wasn’t something an 18-year-old me truly understood the long-term benefits of. I don’t think anyone at that age fully appreciates the value of a gift like that, but since then, I’ve experienced again and again the financial freedom and flexibility that it has helped me and my family attain. 

Q: What did you love most about your time with UMBC’s student newspaper?

A: I found a second home at the offices of The Retriever Weekly. I spent four years there meeting new people who have become lifelong friends, learning how to be (and how not to be) an effective leader, and getting to know the ins and outs of campus life. 

Q: Can you tell us about your current job and your book?

A: For almost 20 years, I have been an English teacher, the last six years at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine. I love connecting with students and helping them hone their voices and their thinking as writers. In 2021, I published my first book, Hazards of Nature: Stories, which won the 2020 Maine Chapbook Series. Hazards of Nature is a collection of short stories about everyday people dealing with difficult situations. A young boy is teased by his father and brothers. A man raises chickens to help himself cope with his wife’s decision not to have children. An elderly widower struggles to connect with other people, but finds solace in his attachment to a peach tree he planted. The first story in the collection, “Coyotes,” won a Maine Literary Award in 2017.

Praise that means a lot to me (and is in the introduction to my book) comes from National Book Award-winner Sigrid Nunez: “What makes the stories in Hazards of Nature so compelling for me is not just the writer’s insightful portraits of his characters’ struggles but his sensitivity in regard to their pain.”

Photo right: Brandon Dudley ’04, English, at his local bookstore, Gulf of Maine Books, seeing his collection of short stories on sale for the first time in 2021.

Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?

A: English Professor Chris Corbett was a constant supporter during my time at UMBC, and I’m lucky to still be in touch with him over 20 years later. Professor Corbett was instrumental in my growth as a student, a leader, and a writer. He was the advisor of The Retriever Weekly, and I devoured his journalism classes during my time at UMBC, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to show up to his office well before classes started just to hang out and talk. 

During my time at The Retriever, he was always a sounding board and a resource, helping me figure out how, as editor-in-chief, to effectively lead the newspaper and how to implement my vision for it. He helped connect me with internships at The Baltimore Sun, helped me get my first job at Patuxent Publishing as an editorial assistant right out of college, and eventually even helped me get into my M.F.A. program for creative writing. It was through basically copying his journalism lessons to teach new staff at The Retriever how to effectively shape their stories that I first found my love of teaching, which eventually became my career. 

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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.

The new Performing Arts and Humanities
Building, or PAHB, aptly named for the departments it houses, opens this fall to the UMBC campus and community. The construction was completed in two phases: the first section was home to the Department of English, the Dresher Center for Humanities, the Department of Theatre, the Linehan Artist Scholars Program, and the Humanities Scholars Program, and the second included the Department of Dance, Music, Philosophy, and Ancient Studies. However, the focus of the building now rests on the many theatres, performance halls, and sound studios.

Performance Spaces

There are five main performance halls in the PAHB: the Proscenium Theatre, the Black Box theatre (used mainly for more experimental performances), the Dance Cube, the Music Box, and the Concert Hall. The previous theatre, located in the Fine Arts building, only reached 16 feet in height; the new Proscenium Theatre now stands at 20 feet tall, and can seat up to 275 spectators. In three of the four halls, the seating can be moved to create a more open performance or a more intimate setting, and with state of the art lighting systems, the light can be adjusted accordingly.

The Concert Hall, the largest space in the building, was designed for music performances and has special air duct systems designed to eliminate all noise. The setting of the hall can also be changed from a large venue to a class-sized setting, simply by turning the performers around and opening a hidden section of seating. Every aspect of this building was designed to create performance friendly spaces, while also offering a new and distinctive campus landmark.

Behind the Scenes

As for those who work behind-the-scenes, there are brand-new costume design facilities, catwalks and lighting structures, music technology rooms, and conference rooms created to enhance learning and provide hands-on experience. Students in the music fields can now enjoy a new recording studio, as well as many sound-proofed walls throughout the building.

Give Back to the Performing Arts

With the opening of the PAHB quickly approaching and the first performance scheduled for mid-October, alumni are encouraged to show their support of the performing arts by naming a seat in either the Proscenium Theatre or the Concert Hall. All gifts will directly benefit the arts and humanities at UMBC now and for future generations.

Save your seat today!