Critical Social Justice is here!

Pre-CSJ Event Highlights:

Wednesday, 9/5

Stay Woke in the Women’s Center, 6 – 8 pm

Interested in getting involved in social justice activism while at UMBC, but not sure where to start? Come out to the Women’s Center to hang and meet other activists*, share some food, see how you can get involved at UMBC, and learn more about our programs — especially Critical Social Justice: Ignite which will take place October 22-26th.   

*Don’t be intimated by the word activist! All are welcomed so don’t discount your experiences or fret over labels. You do not need to identify as an activist to attend – in fact, we’ll talk more about that when you get here! 

Sponsored by the Women’s Center

myUMBC | flyer

Wednesday, 10/17

Art as Feeling, Art as Knowledge: Dance Recital + Talk Back, Fine Arts 118, 6:30 – 8 pm

Join us for a short dance performance and conversation about the role of art in meaning, knowledge-making, and activism with Alexia Petasis, INDS ’19 and Jen White-Johnson, Visual Arts ’08. Alexia is an Interdisciplinary Studies major with a concentration on Choreography for Social Justice. Jen White-Johnson is a UMBC Alumna, Visual Arts ’08, and is currently a graphic designer, educator, and photographer whose work is centered on her son and affirming neurodiverse identities.

Sponsored by the Women’s Center

myUMBC | flyer

Week of CSJ: Ignite

Monday, 10/22

CSJ: Ignite 101, Library 7th Floor, free hour

Are you interested in equity and empowering others? Thinking about social justice issues but not quite sure how to get involved? Do you feel like you lack the skills, strengths, or knowledge to be an “activist”? In our Critical Social Justice: Ignite kick-off workshop, come learn how YOU can become an activist. We’ll show you how your curiosity and commitment to lifelong learning can be the magic ingredients for getting active in the work to build positive social change.

Sponsored by the Women’s Center

myUMBC

Restorative Practices and Critical Social Justice, Commons 329, 4 – 5 pm

Restorative Practices is an “umbrella” term for restorative models which view building relationships, repairing harm, and rebuilding trust when harm occurs as an important way to create a peaceful and productive society. Learn how you can use the fundamental questions of Restorative Practices to change the way you work through conflict.

Sponsored by Residential Life

myUMBC

Tuesday, 10/23

CSJ: Ignite’s Community Art Project, Academic Row (rain location: Commons Main Street), 11:30 am to 2:30 pm

What does a social justice future look like to you? We want to know, and we want you to add it to our Community Art Project! We will have plenty of art supplies available for you to imagine out loud what the future you want is.

Sponsored by the Women’s Center

myUMBC

Disability as Diversity on the Job, Engineering 023, noon to 1 pm

Learn more about what disability, the interactive process, and accommodation are about, as well as challenges that affect the connection with campus resources in this dynamic session.  This training provides faculty and staff with information to understand disability and inclusion, along with basic and intermediate skills for navigating the accommodation request and referral process. The training will also identify campus processes and services that support faculty, staff, students and visitors with disabilities.

For more information, or to request a disability-based accommodation, please contact Stephanie Lazarus via 410-455-5745 or slazar@umbc.edu with your request. 

Space is limited and registration through myUMBC is required.  Registration deadline is Friday, October 19th. 

Sponsored by Student Disability Services. Offered through a partnership between the Office of Accessibility and Disability Services and the Department of Human Resources in support of Disability Awareness Month.

myUMBC

Keynote Lecturer: Deanna Zandt, Fine Arts 118, 6:30 – 9 pm

This year’s Critical Social Justice: Ignite keynote speaker will be Deanna Zandt, a media and technology expert who collaborates with leaders in social change work to create clear and persuasive strategies. In bringing Deanna, we’re excited to learn more about how technology can move social justice forward, and what our roles may be in that effort. In addition to Deanna, there will be an introductory plenary with alumnae Yoo-Jin Kang, INDS ‘15 and Susie Hinz, GWST ‘14 on the topic of survivor activism and critical social justice. Facebook Event

myUMBC  |Facebook Event

Wednesday, 10/24

Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, Library 259 (near the media center), 3 – 5:30 pm

Help build public history on Baltimore icons and events AND learn the tools for continuing to expand Wikipedia’s knowledge store! In this Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, we will show participants how to research, write, and edit Wikipedia entries so that they can continue to expand the store of public history.

Sponsored by the Women’s Center, Dresher Center for the Humanities, UMBC’s AOK Library, and the Department of History

myUMBC

Igniting Consciousness Into the Undocumented Experience, Skylight Room, 5:30 – 7 pm

A panel presentation on the issues faced by undocumented students and the community. More to come.

Sponsored by Campus Life’s Mosaic: Center for Diversity and Inclusion

Thursday, 10/25

UMBC Staff Panel: How Do You Ignite Activism in the Workplace?, ITE 456, 1 – 2 pm

The panel will focus on how UMBC staff members bring their role as activists into their workplace.

Panelists include Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye, Honors College. Moderated by Lisa Gray.

myUMBC

UMBC Graduate Student Panel: Igniting Change as a Grad Activist, ITE 456, 2:30 – 3:30 pm

This panel will focus on how graduate students connect their activist interests to the research they’re pursuing in their degree program.

Panelists include Aliya Webberman (Psychology) and Ruken Isik (LLC).

myUMBC

Knowledge Exchange: Liking, Following, Voting, Women’s Center, 4 – 5 pm

This knowledge exchange explores the impact of social media and advances in technology on elections in the U.S. We will be joined by State Senator-elect Mary Washington who recently won a contentious race against an incumbent in the 43rd District of Maryland.

myUMBC | flyer

Friday, 10/26

CSJ Walking Tour with Dr. Kate, meet in the Women’s Center at noon

Join us for our annual walking tour of Baltimore with UMBC’s own Dr. Kate Drabinski of the Gender and Women’s Studies Department! We will use the UMBC shuttle to travel into the city. Please RSVP by Wednesday, October 24th via myUMBC.

myUMBC

CSJ: Women in Engineering and Igniting Change (A CWIT Impact Series event) ITE 456, 12 -1pm

Why Stay? What’s even the point? You at one point may doubt continuing in your STEM degree. So, here’s the dirty little secret, you’re normal. Congratulations! That’s right. So, now what? In this session, Professor Gurganus will spend time engaging you on the reason you’re pursuing your degree in STEM and the power of belief. Trusting in yourself and the bigger purpose will let you conquer any obstacle and move any mountain.

Girl Scouts. Radical Monarchs. Lumberjanes. Pawnee Goddess.
And now… Women’s Center Scouts!

Time and time again, Women’s Center staff get the question, “How do you join the Women’s Center?”

Our response is “Easy! Come and hang out in our lounge! Come to events. You don’t have to join.”

To which we get an “Oh. Okay.”

We get it. Being a part of something is special. Showing your loyalty and commitment to a cause is empowering. Finding home and belonging in a space that means something to you, means something to us.

So, now, you can “join” the Women’s Center by being one of our fearless and loyal Scouts!

Here’s the deal. To become a Women’s Center Scout, first start by joining the Women’s Center myUMBC page and following at least one of our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram). If you’re already a member and following one of our pages, great! You’re one step closer.

Next, it’s time to save the dates! Each Scout must meet the challenge of attending at least 3 different Women’s Center events throughout the fall semester. The 3 different events must meet the following criteria:

• 1 Discussion-Based event
  This includes Knowledge Exchanges, Pop-Culture Pop-Ups, and any identity-based discussion groups
• 1 Skill-Based workshop/event
  This includes workshops like Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence, Women + Leadership events hosted by the Women’s Center, or events like Trans and College
• 1 Critical Social Justice: Ignite event
  So many events throughout the week of October 22-26th! Visit the CSJ website for details.

From the above challenges, your duty as a Women’s Center Scout is to ensure that you attend 1 event during first 8 weeks of the semester and attend 1 event during second 8 weeks of semester. This will require planning and strategy, Scouts!

Okay…. you don’t need to keep swiping, but do keep reading! 

Over the course of the semester, we may also announce bonus Scout challenges to enhance the experience so do stay tuned to our social media pages!

Any UMBC community member who completes the challenge by December 1st gets a Women’s Center T-shirt and a shout-out on our social media pages (any maybe some badges – we’re still working on those details).

This is the front of the cool Women’s Center shirt you’ll get after you complete your Scout Challenges!

All UMBC students, faculty, and staff are welcome to participate!

For questions, stop by the Women’s Center or email us at womenscenter@umbc.edu.

July, 2018: Dr. Ian Anson’s article on democratic support in America in The Conversation

Plan Ahead!