Retriever Essentials will have a delayed opening until 1:00pm due to restocking from Maryland Food Bank.

Please plan your trip accordingly, and we apologize for any inconveniences. 

This workshop introduces the fundamentals of technical writing for graduate students across disciplines. Participants will learn what qualifies as technical writing, when to use it, and how it differs from other academic writing styles. The session will also cover key elements such as style, structure, and audience to help students communicate clearly and effectively in research and professional settings. This session is part of the Skills for Graduate Students workshop series, which provides hands-on, skills-based training to help graduate students strengthen their research, writing, and academic practices.

Original post linked here. 

Save-a-Swipe has returned for The Spring 2026 semester!

Feel like making a difference in your community? If you own a meal plan through UMBC, you are eligible to donate to our Save-a-Swipe program! You can donate 5-10 meals to Save-a-Swipe, where they will be pooled and delegated to students experiencing food insecurity later in the semester. In the Fall 2025 semester, we broke a record number at over one thousand donated meals! These meals helped countless students across campus, combatting food insecurity one donation at a time. We are very happy to announce that our program is back for the Spring 2026 semester, and we look forward to ensuring greater quality of life for our students!

Every meal makes a difference! 

Donations are open from February 3rd - February 25th

Dear CAHSS Graduate Students,

It’s time to elect your representatives for the Graduate Student Association Spring Semester-2026! 

The CAHSS Senator elections are now open, and we invite you to cast your vote for your candidate choices.

New and Improved Services:

Sharemeals: 

In partnership with Sharemeals, this app is an upgrade from our previous "Where's Free Food At" notification board, and allows students, staff, and faculty to post about food left over at campus wide events!

To get started, download the app via iOS or Android and log in using your university credentials. Once completed, double check and make sure you e

enabled notifications for the app in order for it to work efficiently. You will then be notified whenever someone posts about having surplus left over food at an event!

Note: If you feel like you don't have a lot of leftover food, but they're mainly unopened snacks/drinks, feel free to put them in our donation boxes around campus! In addition, be sure to put the start and end time for when food is available for grabs, not when the event itself starts and ends.

"Food for Thought" Vending Machine:

We already have our 24/7 mini pantry at the UMBC Police Station, and now get ready for our 24/7 FREE vending machine in the Retriever Learning Center (RLC) which also uses the Sharemeals app!

To get started, open up the Sharemeals app and scan the QR code at the vending machine in order to be automatically connected to it. 

Complete a quick survey to earn points, and use those points to select items in the vending machine!

(Also, shoutout to Angel Phinney for the title)

Save-a-Swipe:

Last year's Save-a-Swipe was absolutely amazing! We had a record shattering amount of over 1,000 donated meal swipes! 

Every meal will go to a student in need, and we are truly grateful for every donation that you all gave us!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1YG5IOcY9uwNMWR_6NSc7YsOO2GhNCwDv6SmAX94RTp3AZQ/viewform

Speaking of donations…

Donation Shoutout:

Brief Shoutout to all who've donated money, food, or household essentials in December and January! 

• Chartwells

• Anonymous Amazon Donations

• Family Advisory Board

• The Athletics Department

• Student Media Collective

• UMBC Bookstore

• Dottie Glorioso

• Emma Sigrist

• Health and Promotion Office

• Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation

• Human Resources & Strategic Talent Management

• UMBC Financial Services

• Miriam Suldan

• Division of Institutional Equity

• The Hilltop Institute

• Wisdom Institute

• Graduate Student Association

• Student Government Association

• Office of Sustainability

We appreciate you so much for your contributions to our mission! Each and every ounce counts!

Data:

Strictly for January alone, we've already distributed 3.3k lbs worth of food! This includes calculations from our Free Farmers Market on Thursdays, our mini pantry, and vending machine.

Suggestion Box:

To improve on our services, and try to address everyone's different needs, we would love to hear your feedback! 

https://forms.gle/oUvd1EaMcmmasKFn8

That pretty much wraps up our first newsletter of the semester! Thank you so much for taking the time to read it!

If you have any questions about what we provide, volunteering opportunities, or general inquiries, feel free to email us at retrieveressentails@umbc.edu at any time!

Sincerely,

The Retriever Essentials Team