Tess McRae, Humanities Scholar 2022 grad has been appointed co-chair of the University System of Maryland (USM) Student Civic Leaders Committee (SCLC) for the spring 2022 semester. In her role as co-chair, McRae will help to plan and facilitate convenings of the committee and identify civic engagement and education priorities for USM. She has served on the committee as a representative for UMBC since it was established. The other co-chair is Delanie Blubaugh, a student at Frostburg State University. Dr. Nancy Shapiro, USM’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Education and Outreach, and Dr. Joann Boughman, USM’s Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, convene the committee and support its work.

The SCLC was established in 2020 in response to the Board of Regents’ acknowledgement of the continuing importance of civic education and civic engagement to the mission of the University System of Maryland. Student leaders from USM institutions and USM System Office staff members comprise the SCLC’s membership. The SCLC supports civic engagement and education efforts within and between USM universities.

McRae serves as senior intern for civic design and engagement in the Center for Democracy and Civic Life.

Read the article in the Baltimore Sun, about how the students are working to fill a gap in history with the Highlandtown Immigration and Food Project. Through archival research and panel discussions with nonprofit groups’ leaders and business owners, the students created a timeline of Latino politics, history and food culture in Southeast Baltimore neighborhood from the 1980s to the 1990s.

This work is the result of their freshman seminar class: Food, People, and Place in the Americas.

• Madeline Arbutus | Uncredited: Uncovering the Names Behind the Colonized Modern Design Canon | Mentor: Margaret Re | Visual Arts 
• Camille Blackford | Happiness and Wellbeing of UMBC Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic | Mentor: Sarah Chard and Bambi Chapin | Sociology and Anthropology
• Mikaila Donaldson | Utilizing Evidence-Based Argumentative Writing – Preparing Students To Engage in College, Career, and Civic Life |Mentor: Timothy Johnson | Education 
• Matthew Kelbaugh, Halle Gordon, Janeann Conley | The Kurds of Turkey: A Tale of Survival, Resilience, and Uncertainty | Mentor: Renee Lambert-Bretiere | Modern Languages, Linguistics, and intercultural Communication 
• Danylo Leshchyshyn | Legacies of the First-Called: Saint Andrew and Claims To Apostolic Succession in the Rus’-Byzantine World | Mentor: Sufian Zhemukhov
  History 
• Harini Narayan | A Picture Paints A Thousand Words: Examining Linkages Between North Korean Propaganda and U.S.-Bilateral Relations | Mentors: Kyung-Eun Yoon and Renee Lambert-Bretiere | Modern Languages, Linguistics, and intercultural Communication

Anjali is graduating this year as a Media and Communication Studies major with a minor in Journalism. She'll be attending Brown University to pursue a Master's in American Studies in the fall.

 The Journalism Prize recipient is determined by the Retriever faculty advisor.