Welcome Back GSOs!

We hope you have had a relaxing and safe winter break! We hope your organization is excited for the Spring 2022 semester as the GSA is here and ready to support you. We have a few reminders for GSOs as we start the semester, so please ensure that you are familiar with the below policies: 

1. The Grants Review Panel (GRP) has changed the submission deadline for requesting funds. You must submit your request at least 1 month prior to the event occurring. Submitting a request less than a month before an event will severely affect your organization’s ability to receive the requested funds.

2. Space is still severely limited on-campus. If you are planning on having an event or meeting on-campus, please request the space weeks ahead of time. Events and Conference Services cannot guarantee space, but submitting weeks in advance will better your chances of reserving the space 

3. Please have an officer of your GSO fill out the survey linked here. Please fill out one survey per GSO. Completing this survey will enter your GSO into a chance of winning a 50$ bookstore gift card. 

If you have any questions or concerns about these updates, please reach out to the GSA (gsa@umbc.edu) 

First-year retention is UMBC’s single biggest point of loss during the lifetime of a freshman cohort and a key focus area of the university’s student success efforts. To support this work the Data Science Team (from DoIT and the Provost's Office) and its campus partners have worked with our HelioCampus to produce the first of a series of predictive analytics reports or “playbooks.” 

The first playbook, just deployed on analytics.umbc.edu, predicts the likelihood of a first-time full-time freshman returning for their second year.  It is being used by the Academic Advocates in Undergraduate Academic Affairs to help identify students who may be at risk of not returning next fall. (Access to the playbook is role-based.)

On February 25th, at noon, the REX Analytics Group will meet to explore the factors that make these predictions change the most, how to read the dashboards, and how to interpret and use the playbook.  Please join us! Contact lmancini@umbc.edu or kjoseph@umbc.edu for meeting details.

Len Mancini

Data Scientist and Statistical Specialist

Dr. Robert Deluty, associate dean emeritus of the Graduate School, has published a new book of poetry, "Sensations and Associations." In his review, Dr. Ronald Pies writes, "In Robert Deluty's remarkable 63d book, Don DeLillo is quoted as saying, 'But I'm not trying to manipulate reality. This is just what I see and hear.'  The same may be said of Robert Deluty, who sees our crazy, ramshackle, and benighted world just as it is, without manipulation or make-up. But seeing and hearing - the "sensations" of the collection's title - take on a heightened acuity in Deluty's poems, which focus on human foibles in all their poignancy and humor.  Thus, we read of two Jews wishing/ their Seder were catered/ by the Chinese and in the bloodmobile,/ their Mom stating she’d prefer/ to donate fat.  James Dickey once described poetry as 'the last refuge of non-manipulative language.'  Deluty's excellent new collection affirms this in its clear-eyed but humane vision."

And in his appraisal of the book, Dr. George Northrup notes, "Ready for another round of enlightened and entertaining wordplay? Robert Deluty’s Sensations and  Associations will not disappoint. By turns, funny, punny, and poignant, his latest volume of poetry touches on the unfairness of guilt, chess as a contact sport, the secret appeal of Hydroxyzine, and the excitement of dead languages. Meet the scuba diva, the hairdresser locksmith, the Dad who attended UMass Transit, the cat learning to fist bump, and many other characters springing from the author’s rich imagination directly into your lucky life. Enjoy!"