Faculty Affairs approved the formation of the Neurodivergent Affinity Group (NDAG) to begin in the 2025-2026 academic year. Affinity Groups provide an inclusive sense-of-community among UMBC Faculty and Staff, and also serve to attract diverse candidates to our campus.

To maximize candidacy opportunities and voting response rates, the vote for two-year-long co-leader appointments was postponed until now. During summer 2025 we elected Interim Co-Chairs for the purpose of initiating affinity group groundwork. Our Bylaws state that NDAG will appoint one faculty co-chair and one staff co-chair at this time. 

During the two-week period of November 11/20/2025 through 12/4/2025, NDAG is accepting self-nominations for the roles of faculty co-chair and staff co-chair. If you wish to nominate someone other than yourself, please communicate directly with them to encourage them to self-nominate. The purpose of soliciting self-nominations is to elect leaders who wish to prioritize the work required to run NDAG.

To self-nominate, please complete (and submit) this google form by 11:59pm 12/4/2025. The google form responses will be visible to the four NDAG members who have taken responsibility in formalizing and leading this group to date: Karen Chen (lujiec@umbc.edu), Gina Hoagland (ghoaglan@umbc.edu), Nikki Monczewski (nikkim@umbc.edu), Tory Williams (tory1@umbc.edu).

The google form will ask the following questions:

What is your full name?

What is your UMBC email?

What is your primary UMBC title and department/office?

Are you already a member of the NDAG myUMBC group?

Would you like to be considered for the Faculty co-chair position, or the Staff co-chair position?

Briefly, why are you interested in serving as a NDAG co-chair for the next two years? (maximum response length: five sentences)

Briefly, how have you demonstrated readiness to serve as a NDAG co-chair for the next two years? (maximum response length: five sentences)

Would you like your photo/headshot included with your candidate summary on the election form? If yes, please attach your photo file here.

Please read the NDAG Bylaws (located under the Files tab of the NDAG myUMBC site) before submitting a self-nomination. Write your name below to indicate your agreement with the NDAG Bylaws, and if elected to a co-chair position, your best faith effort to abide by the current NDAG Bylaws. Entering your name below also indicates that you agree to have your information (and photo, if applicable) above (as entered in this form) shared in a future NDAG co-chair election form that will be distributed to NDAG myUMBC members and followers.

Here is the Self-Nomination Form Link (must be logged into myUMBC): https://forms.gle/dCcJ3rPfjkj8MoWUA

Here are examples of candidate summaries from our Interim Co-Chair elections in summer 2025:

Faculty Co-Leader: Dr. Karen Chen 

I am an Assistant Professor from the Information Systems department. My close intersections with neurodivergent students and family members have deepened both my understanding and my commitment to advocacy. I'm eager to support this community to create a safe space where all members can thrive.

Staff Co-Leader: Dr. Tory Williams 

Tory has served as a graduate student, faculty, and staff at UMBC since 2007; she is currently the IRB Manager in the Human Research Protections & Integrity department of the Office of Research Protections & Compliance. Tory began work to develop this Affinity Group in summer 2022 to increase support, visibility, and pride among UMBC's neurodivergent faculty and staff community.