“You’re listening to WMBC, UMBC’s freeform student radio station. And you’re in the 2000s right now, thanks to the radio time machine.” 

Four years ago, hearing those words would have been impossible. UMBC’s radio station, WMBC—now a bustling hive of musical joy, live concerts, and record painting parties—had been silent after a lack of student staffing and resource issues, leading the student group to hang up their headphones. 

But recently, music is on the airwaves again as students and staff work around the clock to breathe new life into the station. After combining operations with The Retriever, UMBC’s long-running student newspaper, and Bartleby, UMBC’s Creative Arts Journal since 1972, WMBC found a new home in the University Center, and a fresh start as part of the newly chartered Student Media Center.

Legacy media outlets

Retrievers have been media-conscious from the university’s inception. Within the first month of classes at UMBC, a newsroom was established, and the first issue of the student newspaper was published on September 19, 1966. Ever since then, the tradition of reporting student and campus life continued to expand and evolve. 

By 1979, the student-run radio station, WMBC, was founded. Originally called the WUMD Radio Club, the station began broadcasting over carrier current circuits, enabling students to tune in from their dorms and at a couple of dining areas on campus.

In recent years, these media outlets, which depend on the ever-changing student body, took a hit. But students weren’t willing to give up their media platforms so easily. 

In 2022, WMBC had been inactive for roughly four years. Before COVID even, the student group was having trouble staffing the station, but the org really lost its footing—and its physical space—during the pandemic. Sean Stultz ’24, computer science, WMBC’s station manager his senior year and their chief engineer prior to that, was storing the station’s equipment in his Hillside apartment in Breton, until the station found a permanent place for it.

Around the same time, The Retriever, the student-run newspaper, ran into similar complications. They were working without a dedicated advisor, and the weight of managing everything from organizing meetings to pitching and writing stories, publishing and distributing both in print and online, marketing/running social media accounts, and much more became too much for students to handle alone. 

That changed at the end of 2023, when Ann Tropea, the assistant director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, was hired as the newspaper’s media advisor. The Retriever members say she has helped immensely with finding advertisers, organizing documents, and advocating for them as a student organization. 

“I began working with students from The Retriever and WMBC to create a shared structure that went beyond the two groups simply sharing space in our suite of offices in the UC,” says Tropea, who has a background in law and communications. 

The student-run creative arts journal Bartleby joined the other media groups in 2024, and after a year of planning, SGA recently approved a new charter organization—the Student Media Center. The group’s stated mission is to “create a more engaged, informed, and civically empowered student body, and assert First Amendment freedoms at UMBC through the active production of student-run media.” 

The Student Events Board (seb) is the only other charter organization at UMBC, so this is historic, says Tropea. And the new structure ensures the longevity and continuous operations of not just WMBC, but The Retriever and Bartleby as well, Tropea adds, who during this planning period was directing her efforts into assisting with WMBC’s revitalization. 

Creating a shared mission

Michelle Ibino, a biological sciences junior, who is the events manager for WMBC, says, “Sharing a space and a mission has been positive as it allows for students to cross over into each club. Members of the station have found and gone on to write/work for The Retriever and vice-versa.”

The Retriever has been able to seamlessly work with WMBC to produce stories that provide coverage about the station’s events, and it’s also common to see members of The Retriever enjoying WMBC’s events, which turns the newsroom into a Tiny Desk Concert vibe. “The WMBC/Retriever space is small, but turns out to be a really cool music venue if you just rearrange a few chairs and tables!” says Tim Rogers, The Retriever’s music columnist. 

“We might be known as a commuter school, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a rich student culture just like any other university. The efforts of The Retriever and WMBC bring life to campus,” says Rogers, a sophomore.

When it comes to on-campus events, WMBC hosts concerts, album listening parties, zine creations, record painting, and other activities. WMBC puts together bills that showcase student artists, as well as local bands from the surrounding Baltimore area.

While the newsroom can accommodate only a few dozen people, WMBC is able to organize large-scale events in different places around campus. “WMBC has put together a bunch of really cool music events, some in collaboration with Retriever Music Society (RMS) and others run entirely by the club,” says Rogers. The station’s previous spring music festival was a collaboration with RMS, taking place in the UC Ballroom.

When planning events, Ibino knows how crucial it is that the students have both on-campus and off-campus options. “The off-campus concerts we run are especially important because they allow UMBC students to connect with the large local Baltimore/DMV music scene. As a school in the Baltimore area, I think it is especially important for us to encourage students to explore, interact, and support the Baltimore community, and these concerts are a great way for students to start building connections to do that. Further, our events help like-minded students find each other,” she says.

In addition to events, the integration of the groups has positively impacted campus-wide projects. This has helped both groups to become better advocates for the student community. “Advocating for different groups is an important job that both organizations share as part of the Student Media Center,” says Ibino. “Collaboration is what helps us better represent the diverse voices and interests of the UMBC community.”

Musical connections

Although he’s graduated—and no longer housing the station’s equipment—Stultz has stayed connected with WMBC and appreciates watching it thrive. “The overall campus is thankful for a lot of the stuff that we do,” says Stultz. “We’re equally thankful back to the people on campus who support us and everything because we wouldn’t be able to do any of this without them.”

In addition to being the events manager for WMBC, Ibino is one of the many DJs who broadcast a show through the station. Currently, there are about 40 different shows, and the station is on air weekly from Monday through Friday. With her show “Reverie,” Ibino connects with other students and educates anyone interested in the goth subculture.

Left: NYC-based band Lyoko at The Ottobar in Baltimore at a WMBC-off campus event. Right: Audience members watch Omanti perform at WMBC’s Great Pumpkin concert in the Student Media Center. Photos by Erin Bennett ’25.

This platform has been valuable to her and has made her feel more grounded within the community. “One of the core principles of the goth community is to be involved and contribute to the subculture,” says Ibino. “Getting to do that through my show has made me feel more connected within the scene. Creating a space where people feel welcome to explore and embrace goth culture has helped me grow more confident in my identity and strengthened my connection to the broader alternative community.”

Another DJ, Daniela Salguero, a junior psychology major, has also used her show as a way to explore her cultural identity. Her show, “Luna Roja Radio,” focuses on alternative Latin American music, and she provides commentary as to what certain songs represent in a wider political context. She explains, “Every week, I pick a theme to hone in on, and I think it’s a really great way for me to just get my feelings out there and to connect more with myself.”

The media organizations have enriched campus life by helping students to get more involved with the Baltimore community. They have also served as an inclusive space for everyone.

The door to the Student Media Center is almost always open. With the station broadcast aired on the office speakers, students are there, working and socializing under the band posters and stories that dot the walls—they’re making and sharing media but they’re also continuing a legacy for the next generation of Retriever writers, editors, and DJs. 

Today’s 18 to 24-year-old college students are expressing anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and other related disorders at rates higher than previous generations, according to recent studies. The number of students treated by college counseling centers, according to the 2015 Center for Collegiate Mental Health Annual Report, has grown by more than five times the rate of institutional enrollment. The number of attended appointments has grown at more than seven times the pace of institutional enrollment. To address these changes on our own campus the last several years, UMBC has responded with a holistic approach to its health services and additional preventative and support resources for its students.

“We’ve begun integrating health and counseling with the goal of treating the whole person,” says Kim Leisey, UMBC associate vice president for student affairs. “We know some mental health issues manifest physically and vice versa, so our University Health Services (UHS) and Counseling Center staff work together to help students who may need support from both a physical and emotional perspective.”

This means, for example, therapists ask students when they had their last physical, and nurse practitioners screen for alcohol and drug disorders. Psychiatrists consult with both UHS and counseling staff, while case managers in each department work together on referrals and the insurance process.

The integrated approach will continue to expand and be implemented in a new combined health and counseling building, scheduled to open in 2021. In both formal assessments and individual interactions, UMBC students expressed strong desires to create integrated health structures that reduce stigma and promote self care. Vice President for Student Affairs Nancy Young says, “The new building will allow us to streamline and enhance services supporting the physical, behavioral, and emotional well-being of our students as a foundation for academic success.” 

In a step beyond the traditional offerings, UMBC became the fourth U.S. university to add a trained comfort dog to its list of holistic services for students when Chip, a floppy-eared brown Labrador, joined the UMBC Police Department in fall 2019. The University’s Community Resource Sergeant, Jamie Cheatem, serves as the dog’s handler and says that one of Chip’s roles is to provide comfort to students during times of crisis and also during stressful periods during the academic year such as midterms and finals. 

UMBC also began offering new recovery and sober living services to students this fall. The Haven at UMBC is part of a partnership between the Division of Student Affairs and The Haven at College, the leading national provider of treatment services and recovery support for college students with substance use and co-occurring disorders. At UMBC, Haven includes a recovery residence and outpatient center in separate locations near campus as well as mentoring and monitoring programs.

In addition to their traditional services, UHS and the Counseling Center offer a variety of support groups, workshops, and screenings to provide students with tools to cope with the stress of college life and managing emotions and distress. “We’re paying attention to wellness programs as well as in-person and online services that can help us reach a broader range of students,” says Bruce Herman, UMBC’s director of health and counseling.  

Student peer health educators also assist in educating fellow students on a variety of physical and mental health issues. “Being able to go into the UMBC community and talk with different student groups about various behaviors and topics that impact their health is incredibly meaningful,” says Olivia Hardy ’20, health administration and policy, who works as a peer health educator. 

“I love being able to actively contribute in minimizing students’ knowledge gaps,” continues Hardy. “We’re by no means professors or graduate students or staff—and in that, I think that we aren’t daunting. We’re just people students see in their classes, excited to help in any way we can.” 

UMBC students, faculty, and staff have an opportunity to play a role in supporting students and other community members by participating in mental health training workshops offered by UHS and the Counseling Center. In addition to its support groups and resources, the Women’s Center offers workshops on supporting survivors of sexual assault and misconduct, while Campus Life’s The Mosaic: Center for Culture and Diversity launched a wellness series for students who identify as LGBTQ+. 

UMBC community members who need help addressing situations where a person is displaying disruptive or threatening behavior can contact the interdisciplinary Behavioral Risk Assessment and Consultation Team, which includes Herman along with representatives from student affairs, psychology, human resources, UMBC police, and general counsel. Athletics’ new #RetrieverProject will work closely with student-athletes and members of the UMBC and Catonsville communities to help break stigmas associated with mental health through education and support.

Herman adds that campuswide involvement is critical for the university to address the growing need for mental health support and student success and focus on stigma reduction. “We have to see this work as not just about treatment but instead about co-creating an environment that supports students and their health, including mental health.”

— Eleanor Lewis

****

Header image by Marlayna Demond ’11.

For many students who only experience home economics in middle or high school, college “cooking” becomes reduced to heating year-old ramen on the common room stovetop or chowing down on burnt Hot Pockets from a low quality microwave.

Founder and president of UMBC’s cooking club, Chew-MBC, Tola Abu ’20, chemistry, believes that college cooking should be different. “It’s such a fun, risky, and innovative craft. It’s also one of the few passions that has results that [are] shared with others,” said Abu.

In college, many students develop poor eating habits, or simply snack more than they eat nutritious meals, purely stemming from convenience. “Our goal is to teach UMBC students about the culinary arts and diet tips in a fun, easy, cheap, and healthy way,” said Abu, who counts cooking among his favorite hobbies.

Abu partnered with campus Dining Services, which provided space in The Commons for the students to practice food preparation and cooking every week, and offers guidance around cooking techniques, as well as access to campus executive chef Tim Dunn.

“Students should be able to gain a good understanding of nutrition during their college years,” said Tom DeLuca, Resident District Manager for Chartwells. “The habits that they form during college will continue after they graduate.”

Over the course of a semester, students make all types of delicious foods, and even took a trip to Baltimore’s famous Lexington Market.

“We made blueberry pancakes [the other] week and those were amazing. We baked some hash brown casserole and bacon…and last semester, we made macaroni and cheese, burgers, and brownies,” said club secretary Alexis Richardson ‘20, a computer science major with a minor in biology.

“What I like the most about Chew-MBC is that, after cooking, we can sit down, relax and enjoy  our food with other people who share the same interest,” said Richardson.

– Anjali DasSarma ‘21

Photos by Kiirstn Pagan ’11 for UMBC Magazine.

Senior and student athlete Emily Russo is majoring in biology and minoring in psychology. A guard and three-year captain on the women’s basketball team, Emily serves as president of UMBC’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee and as a member of the Athletics Policy Committee. She also works part time in Dr. Michael Summers’ HIV-1 Lab on campus.

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Junior business technology administration major Ayo Akindana is a marketing intern with MissionTix in Baltimore, and is involved in UMBC’s Alex.Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, as well as the African Students Association.

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Senior Navaal Mahdi, media and communications studies, is an Undergraduate Research Award (URA) Scholar, and is completing three internships this fall: social media intern for the Career Center; digital marketing intern for the Division of Professional Studies; and producer of the Compact Nation Podcast for Campus Compact. She’s also planning her wedding in December.

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Junior mathematics major David Atlas, who is also minoring in computer science and statistics, is an intern working on projects like data visualization and prediction models for T. Rowe Price. He is also an active member of UMBC Hillel.

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Junior Andrea Davis is majoring in sociology with a minor in Africana Studies, as well as a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar. She serves as executive aide of the president for the Student Government Association and vice president for involvement for the Student Events Board (seb), as well as civic engagement and leadership intern for the Office of Student Life, and an Orientation Peer Advisor for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation.

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Graduate student Melissa Cormier is in her final year of UMBC’s Intermedia + Digital Arts MFA program. When she’s not working on her arts practice, she teaches an undergraduate drawing class and assists with the UMBC Photo Cage.

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Student Government President Bentley Corbett-Wilson is a senior majoring in music education. He also plays the trumpet in UMBC’s Wind Ensemble and the UMBC Symphony Orchestra.

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