Reminder the Essential Space is located in the RAC Room 235
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The i3b team is so excited to invite you to join us as we celebrate 20 Years of The Mosaic: Center for Cultural Diversity. While The Mosaic officially celebrates 20 Years on February 2, 2024, we will be celebrating with events and programs throughout the Spring 2024 semester!
In the last 20 years, the UMBC community has seen great growth with many moments of celebration demonstrating the true bloom of our learning, passion, and commitment to cultural awareness and diversity. The Mosaic has been a proud partner in this journey.
Throughout the spring semester, we will be highlighting the past, present, and future of The Mosaic through events, interactive programs, social media and on-campus exhibits. See below for our February 2024 events including our kick-off to the Spring semester. Continue to check myUMBC for coming updates and information regarding The Mosaic 20th events.
February 2024 Mosaic 20th Events
Mosaic 20th Welcome Back Open House
Wednesday, January 31, 2024 | 12pm - 4pm
The Mosaic, The Commons 2B23
Join us as we celebrate the start of the spring semester and the official unveiling of the new Mosaic icon! You may have seen the new icon in the Fall 2023 semester. We are excited to share our inspiration and symbolism for the lotus, our Mosaic 20th theme, and connect with community members post-winter break.
Mosaic 20th Anniversary Celebration
Monday, February 5, 2024 | 6pm - 7:30pm
The Skylight Lounge, The Commons
We invite you to join us for this evening celebration to honor and express our gratitude for the students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners who have supported The Mosaic for the last 20 years. We extend our appreciation to all who have been instrumental in creating an environment of cross-cultural education, celebration, awareness, and collaboration. This event is open to all. Please follow this link to RSVP. Hors-d’oeuvres, desserts, and light refreshments will be served. We look forward to celebrating 20 Years of The Mosaic together! Please see our myUMBC events post for more information.
Black Excellence Summit
Saturday, February 10, 2024 | 9am - 3:30pm
The Skylight Lounge, The Commons
The UMBC Black Excellence Summit celebrates the richness of diversity and embraces the essence of unity. The Black Excellence Summit aims to foster an inclusive space where the brilliance of Black identity flourishes, empowering individuals to find the delicate balance between excellence and notoriety. Through profound discussions, inspiring narratives, and transformative experiences, we explore the complexities of Being, Empowering, and Thriving in the context of the Black experience. To learn more about the Black Excellence Summit, please follow this link to find registration information, more about the mission, and committee information.
We Bloom as We Grow: Mosaic 20th Lotus Art Piece
In honor of and as a callback to The Mosaic 15 celebration, join us in this collaborative community art piece commemorating the 20 Years of The Mosaic. We invite all of our UMBC community to take part in this event by decorating and placing a lotus in our "pond", a decorative frame. Each lotus represents our students, faculty, staff, and community members that make up our culturally diverse community. This will be an ongoing event throughout the Spring 2024 semester, please look for our upcoming dates to participate!
History and Mission of The Mosaic
Originally named UMBC's Multicultural Center which opened on February 2, 2004, The Mosaic is dedicated to creating an environment that supports cross-cultural education and collaboration at UMBC. This space was created out of the work of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners who saw the need for a student-centered space for cultural learning and identity development after the disbandment of The Office of Multicultural Affairs. The Mosaic's commitment is to empower all UMBC to be culturally conscious and informed members of our community. Serving as a lounge, office space, and programming space, The Mosaic is rarely empty! Guest frequently have discussions about their hot topics in pop culture, media, or sharing their personal experiences. Opportunities to attend programs in our space such as Mixed Up: The Multiracial/Cultural Series, The Multicultural Leadership Experience (MLE), our So You Want to Be an Ally Series, and our soon to launch peer mentoring program, LOTUS (Leading Others to Thriving and Ultimate Success) allow all in attendance to gather, build community, share knowledge, and learn more about themselves and others. A safe and inclusive space for all UMBC community members of all backgrounds, The Mosaic strives to develop innovative programs and initiatives that celebrate cultural diversity, equality, and social justice. This space is open and staffed year-round. The Mosaic is reservable upon request after hours of operations.
Continue to check The Mosaic’s myUMBC page for more information about the 20 Years of The Mosaic events and programs.
On Wednesday, January 17 at 9 AM through Thursday, January 18 at 5PM, in the Center for Well Being in room 118, spend two days digging into role plays, simulations, activities, and theory focused on supporting our community members not only academically, but also psychologically and emotionally. During the sessions you will gain facilitation, community building and conflict management techniques you can implement immediately.
Topics:
Workshop Overview:
Day One: Developing a Restorative Worldview
This workshop will challenge you to think differently about how you build relationships, build community with groups, and respond to conflict or incidents of harm. We will wrestle with the notions of discipline, conflict and justice through lecture, discussion, activities and role plays-looking closely at what our current systems are accomplishing and if the real needs of victims, offenders and communities are being met. Ultimately, we will emerge from day one of the workshop with ideas of how we can use restorative practices as a way of thinking about how we exist in community with others.
Day Two: Using Restorative Tools
This workshop focuses on practical skills to set up and host a circle, how to use different types of circles and concrete tools and techniques to support engagement from participants in the circle process. The workshop uses adult education and experiential learning techniques, as well as activities and discussion. Circles can be used for:
E-mail restorativepractices@umbc.edu for more information!
The two-day training will take place on Wednesday, January 17 and Thursday, January 18 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. (Note that this is the the week of Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday holiday). Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided. The training is free for UMBC affiliates, but purchasing guidelines require us to charge $75 to cover the per-person costs for meals and training materials. If you are not affiliated with UMBC, please also purchase a ticket here.
Please use the website below by January 10, 2024 to register for the training, and to indicate dietary needs.
We understand that two full days is a lot to ask; however, we are confident that this training will be a catalyst that will enable relationships of all types to flourish and assist us in operationalizing the Community Living Principles and other aspirational goals in and beyond the Division of Student Affairs.
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