Happy Friday and welcome to the fourth installment of the Provost Newsletter. 

What's in a name?

Turns out the polling feature is only accessible by clicking through to the myUMBC posting.  With that now sorted, we'll keep the newsletter name poll up for an additional week to allow everyone a chance to vote for their preferred choice. 

(Scroll, scroll, click, scroll, scroll, vote, smile knowing you have made the world [or at least this newsletter] a better place.)

Just Breathe

There is so much to love about this time of Fall semester! The leaves are turning and the air is crisp. It is also a time when I realize we are well beyond the start of the academic year, there is much work left to be done, but the end of the semester is not close (yet). Sometimes, in order to keep going, we need to take a pause. As a faculty member, I enjoyed reading "The Slow Professor." It provided me with the insight that more is sometimes counterproductive and that reflection and pause can actually lead to our best work (and a healthier version of ourselves). Take time for reflection or take a deep breath.   

For me, reflection also comes when I take walks and enjoy natural beauty (which can be particularly awesome this time of the year). As part of still getting to know the surrounding areas, I would love to hear from you about a favorite trail or park that I should explore. Please share it here. 

Highlights! Highlights! Send Me Your Highlights!

I hope you read this in your best "Newsies" voice.

Each week, I highlight accomplishments to be celebrated, events to attend, and examples of the great work being done by you, our faculty and staff at UMBC. If you know of a program, or event that should be highlighted, please submit it here.

Two Days Left

LIVEWIRE 15: Blazing Trails

Don't miss the final two days of the Department of Music's LIVEWIRE 15: Blazing Trails. Now in its 15th year, the Livewire festival celebrates the "innovators, the brave, the experimental, the 'firsts:' the trail blazers." Special highlights include the faculty contemporary ensemble Ruckus that is planning a recording highlighting its work. Having faculty perform together demonstrates the extraordinary sense of community in the department, one of the big recruitment draws for music students from across the state.

Friday: Talks and concerts ending with Julius Eastman's "Femenine." 

Saturday: Events throughout the day culminating in a performance by Ensemble Bravura.

Festival Schedule: https://music.umbc.edu/events/event/147222/ 

UMBC Interdisciplinary CoLab Accepting Proposals

UMBC Interdisciplinary CoLab is currently accepting proposals for Summer '26. Teams of three students work with a project leader (faculty or staff) for four weeks in June to create an outward-facing, narrative-based research deliverable for a community partner.

Previous projects have engaged with archived texts and images to develop websites for special collections and area museums, built podcasts from oral history interviews, and worked with communities on documentary videos and digital stories.

To find out more about submitting a proposal, visit https://iaac.umbc.edu/call-for-projects/ or email Donald Snyder, principal lecturer, Media and Communication Studies, at dsnyder@umbc.edu. 

New AI Logo Available

As you probably saw yesterday, UMBC's artificial intelligence working group in conjunction with University Communications and Marketing has created UMBC AI logos that can be used for both digital and print branding. I encourage you to download the logo and use it for all of your AI-related projects, programs, and activities. 

For questions concerning the use of the logos, or to add your project or program to the university's official list of artificial intelligence efforts, please email Anupam Joshi, UMBC's chief AI officer, with a copy to Kyle Pokorny. 

New Faculty Spotlights

Each week we feature the newest members of our community.

Aneeka Ratnayake, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health

Areas of Research/Interest: Epidemiology and Public Health

Fun fact about Aneeka: I taught kids how to ski for nearly a decade!

Michelle Antero, Assistant Teaching Professor, Information Systems

Areas of Research/Interest: Enterprise Systems, Business Models, Innovation

Fun fact about Michelle: Learning to play the harp

Are you a new faculty member? Please take two minutes to fill out the form and submit your bio if you have not already done so.

Help Make this Newsletter Better

Do you have a great idea? Are you organizing an event everyone should know about? Let us know here. 

Thank you for your commitment to the Retriever community.

Until next week, 

Manfred van Dulmen