The following message was shared with the UMBC community on May 12 to announce the naming of a new vice president for UMBC’s Office of Institutional Advancement:

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Dear UMBC Community, 

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Patrick Roche to the role of vice president for institutional advancement. Patrick will begin in the role July 1.

Patrick joins UMBC from the University of Minnesota Foundation, where he is currently vice president for principal gifts and interdisciplinary initiatives. The foundation is a separate nonprofit organization from the University of Minnesota that serves as the central development office for the university. Prior to assuming his current role in 2024, Patrick served for three years as associate vice president for central programs.

At the foundation, Patrick’s role as a member of the senior leadership team has focused on developing strategies for the university’s next comprehensive campaign, cultivating transformational philanthropic relationships with the university’s most prominent donors, and developing university-wide plans for interdisciplinary initiatives. He has led the foundation’s planned giving, international fundraising, regional development program, and leadership annual giving program in raising $130 million in Fiscal Year 2024, up from the $100 million the teams raised in FY 2023 and $70 million raised in FY 2022.

As important as his fundraising success are Patrick’s leadership abilities, his strategic mindset, and his dedication to the mission of higher education. He is incredibly thoughtful about the purpose of philanthropy in advancing mission and vision and the critical role of alumni in moving an institution forward. I know he is inspired by UMBC’s vision and its identity as a public research institution that sees inclusive excellence as its core defining value.

Before returning home to his native Minnesota to serve in leadership with the foundation, Patrick held numerous roles in advancement in California and New York. Most recently, he was vice president of development for Goodwill of Southern California, where he secured the organization’s largest single gift in 2020, grew and developed the staff, and implemented a strategic plan and new methodologies for fundraising programs and collaboration across the organization.

His advancement career in higher education includes four years as vice president of development and alumni relations at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY, where he achieved three consecutive years of record growth in fundraising, as well as several leadership roles at Claremont McKenna College and annual and major gift fundraising roles at the California Institute of Technology. Patrick, who earned a bachelor’s degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, began his career in business development and sales management in the technology sector.

We are delighted that Patrick has accepted our offer to lead the OIA team and serve in this pivotal role as a partner to our senior leadership team and me. My sincere thanks to Kevin Yang ’07, president of the UMBC Alumni Association Board of Directors, and Karl Steiner, vice president for research and creative achievement, for their leadership of the search committee, as well as to all the members of the committee for their service.

I am deeply grateful to Stanyell Bruce, director of alumni engagement, and Kim Robinson, director of major gifts, who have served admirably in temporary co-leadership of OIA. Thank you, Stanyell and Kim, and welcome, Patrick!

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

Lea-Pearl Njei, biological sciences; Caly Ferguson, mechanical engineering; and Jariatu Kargbo, biological sciences, have each received the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for the 2025 – 2026 academic year. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation strives to promote a strong STEM workforce in the U.S., and Njei, Ferguson, and Kargbo are among this year’s 441 awardees nationwide. Since 2005, 34 UMBC students have been awarded a Goldwater Scholarship.

“Caly, Lea-Pearl, and Jariatu emerged from a field of well-qualified students to represent UMBC in the Goldwater competition,” shares April Householder ’95, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships. “They worked with me and the Goldwater faculty committee to strengthen their applications, and their dedication paid off. For several years in a row, UMBC has had multiple winners for this extremely competitive award.”

Njei is conducting colorectal cancer research with Jean-Pierre Raufman at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, after an internship at Yale sparked her interest in gastrointestinal organs. Njei has found support in the Meyerhoff Scholars program, especially from staff such as Jacqueline King. 

“Sometimes I have that fear, where I know I can do something, but I need a little push, or someone to give me that confidence that I can do it,” Njei says. “And Dr. King’s support has been wonderful.” 

Raufman, too, “has always been incredibly supportive of me as a young researcher and continually challenges me to grow and reach my full potential,” Njei says.

Njei also appreciates how much assistance she’s received as an international student and the diversity among biological sciences majors. “There are people who want to go to medical school, who want to go to graduate school, and others who want to go into the pharmaceutical industry or engineering,” she says. Njei serves as president of the UMBC chapter of Phi Delta Epsilon, the international medical fraternity. The fraternity offered “another community on campus that, besides seeing myself as a researcher, helped me see myself in the world of medicine.”

The perfect place to grow

Ferguson is developing a prosthetic arm that runs on software driven by machine learning and is also affordable—a tricky combination. His work with Ramana Vinjamuri, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering, has taken Vinjamuri’s lab in a new direction. 

Vinjamuri is “open to ideas,” and tells his students that “the biggest thing you have to do is learn,” Ferguson says. “He’s been an incredible help to me over these past couple of years working on this project. UMBC has been the perfect place for me to grow.”

The project is making good progress, and right now Ferguson is working on a live simulation and moving toward a prototype that other lab members can use in experiments. He’s picked up substantial coding skills from his time in Vinjamuri’s group. 

Ferguson is inspired to pursue the prosthetic arm in part because of a birth defect that caused portions of two fingers on each of his hands not to develop. It doesn’t affect his daily life much—Ferguson says he can still type, play basketball, and play video games, for example. “But it got me thinking about people with much bigger challenges,” he says. “Being able to impact that community with technology that I created would be pretty cool, so that’s how I got started with this idea.”

Right at your doorstep

Kargbo is studying melanopsin, a protein in the eye, with Phyllis Robinson, professor of biological sciences. “I singled out UMBC because of its emphasis on community and research—that’s what I wanted out of my university experience,” Kargbo says, and she found what she was looking for. She chose Robinson’s lab because of her interactions with other lab members. “It felt like a really safe lab environment for me to make mistakes, learn from them, and then grow as a researcher,” she says, “even though I didn’t understand that much when I first started out.”

Kargbo encourages aspiring researchers not to sell themselves short. “You don’t know what you’re capable of until you actually try to accomplish your goal,” she says. “And if you don’t have the confidence to show what you’re able to do, nobody’s ever going to know about it.”

All of the recipients agreed that receiving the Goldwater will open up a new support network among current and former recipients, and that the application process improved their communication skills and helped them sharpen their career goals. 

“Goldwater is another opportunity for me to practice communicating my science,” Kargbo says. “I can now use the skills that I learned from applying for Goldwater, even if I hadn’t won the award, to apply for other grants, for example the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for graduate school or Fulbright.”

The newest Goldwater scholars also felt that UMBC offered the environment and resources they needed to succeed. To go after big goals, “You need people who believe in you. You need mentors, you need support groups, and you can and will find them at UMBC,” Njei says. “You don’t even have to look too far, because they are all right there at your doorstep.”

On May 2 and 3, the campus celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Linehan Artist Scholars Program with two days of festivities attended by dozens of alumni, current scholars, and incoming students.

Exhibitions and performances featured works by scholars from across the years, including choreography by Ryan Bailey, LAS ’16, a theatrical performance by Grace Marsh, LAS ’28, music performances by Michelle Purdy, LAS ’10 and Christian Hartman, LAS ’20, artwork by Petra Janka, LAS ’25 and Riley Payne, LAS ’29, and creativity by many other alumni and students. Featured speakers included Cameron Slayden, LAS ’99, from the very first LAS cohort and now CEO of Microverse Studios, James Dorsey, LAS ’05, a music teacher in Prince George’s County Public Schools, and Courtney Culp, LAS ’20, a designer with Warner Brothers Discovery.

Left: Brechtel and Haynes are greeted by UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby following their performance, joined by Shaness Kemp, assistant professor of dance. Right: Christian Hartman plays the cello, while Ryan Bailey and Clarisse Lukban dance on stage in Linehan Concert Hall.

“The Linehan Program has strengthened my passions for new music and interdisciplinary collaboration, and I am so grateful to the program for supporting me as an artist and providing me with so many opportunities to create and collaborate,” says Hartman, who played the cello for the event. “I was so thrilled to get the opportunity to perform once again on the stage I called home for four years, and to work with Clarisse and Ryan. I didn’t see their choreography or the projections until the day of the performance, and to see it all come together was such a breathtaking experience.”

Left to right: Darielle and Earl Linehan at the post-celebration luncheon; Jillian Casey, LAS ’27 with her mom at the post-celebration luncheon; Ann Sofie Clemmensen, director of the Linehan Artist Scholars Program, poses with Petra Janka, LAS ’25.

“Earl and Darielle Linehan’s commitment to UMBC and the Linehan Artist Scholars Program has created transformative learning experiences for hundreds of talented undergraduates majoring in the visual and performing arts,” says Ann Sofie Clemmensen, director of the program. “Our focus for the celebration was to highlight the past and the future of the Linehan Artist Scholars program, and what makes our program and community unique and essential to the undergraduate rigor at UMBC.”

Juju Ayoub, LAS ’25, and Sarah McHale perform a dance duet, accompanied by music sung by Jacob Perry, LAS ’14, with visual projections by Jillian Casey, LAS ’28.

With a deeply held belief in the importance of the arts in society, Earl and Darielle Linehan launched the Linehan Artist Scholars Program with a generous gift in the 1990s. (To this day, Earl Linehan loves to recount that he and Darielle met UMBC President Emeritus Freeman Hrabowski on a bus in Israel, and that Hrabowski asked them right then for their support.) In 2015 the Linehans fully endowed the Linehan Artist Scholars Program, ensuring its future ability to continue and grow. Now, its graduates in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts number almost 400.

Left to right: An audience cheers on dance and music performances in the Theatre atrium; a group of Linehan Artist Scholars pose for a group photo during the post-celebration luncheon; Marlayna Demond, LAS ’11, center, talks with her husband, Adam Rhoads, and Tom Moore, director of arts and culture.

“Artists are the leading edge of creativity in our society,” says Earl Linehan. “They inspire our thinking and enrich our lives. But how can we encourage more young people to turn their talents into a career? Young artists seem to thrive best in an atmosphere that blends critical study with creative expressions—the kind of interdisciplinary environment that UMBC has always fostered.”

See more photos from the two-day celebration. Learn more about the Linehan Artist Scholars Program.

Before Evan McRae came to UMBC, Tess McRae—his sister—was a student here. So was Evan and Tess’s mother—Sharon McRae.You might say being a legacy Retriever was a family tradition. With Evan graduating this spring with majors in both computer science and individualized studies, we thought to ask Tess, now the assistant director for connective learning with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, to take on this Q&A with her younger brother. Evan shares how an early exposure to UMBC’s Game Developers Club before attending UMBC eventually led to an executive board position and the creation of numerous games and great memories with other programmers and musicians. 

Q: How did you decide to come to UMBC?

A: UMBC is where our mom went and also where you went, and I wanted to continue that family legacy. I also knew that it was a really great institution especially for computer science. I remember our family going to campus for Homecoming when I was in high school, and I saw a banner in The Commons for the UMBC Game Developers Club. I have always wanted to be a game developer; seeing that banner, I knew that there was a pretty good foundation for my passion at UMBC, and I wanted to join the club.

Q: In high school you discovered a passion for composing and producing music. How have you been able to expand on that passion at UMBC both technically and artistically?

A: While I was in high school I thought, “Music is something fun I do on the side, but not what I’m going to go to college for.” I was a computer science and math double major going into UMBC. When I decided to drop my math major by my second year, I told my Honors College advisor, Julie Oakes, that I was interested in music but didn’t have time to finish a music major within the next two years. She suggested I try individualized study (INDS) and see if there was a way to integrate my music passion with game development.

I ended up talking to professor Steven McAlpine from the INDS department and found a great bond with him; he shares a lot of my interests in game design and music. He has helped open a lot of doors for me, and I’m really grateful to the INDS program for that. I’ve been able to take music theory and composition courses, use UMBC’s studio facilities, and learn how to produce with industry standard software like Logic Pro. My music professors Greg Kalember, Linda Dusman, and Joseph Siu have mentored and fiercely advocated for me as an INDS major. It’s been incredible to not be a music major but still feel like I belong in those rooms.

Q: What are some of the most meaningful experiences you’ve had during your time at UMBC?

A: I’m taking a class this semester called Capstone Games Group Project taught by Marc Olano, the director of UMBC’s game development track and advisor for the Game Developers Club. The class combines artists and programmers who pitch game ideas at the start and work together on only a handful of those games for the rest of the semester. I pitched a puzzle platformer game called King Scribble that I’ve been wanting to make since first grade. My classmates and professor liked the idea, and to my surprise, it got picked as one of four games the class will develop in full. I still don’t think I’ve fully internalized how cool it is to actually be making this game.

I’ve also been working on a game called Daylight(available to play on Windows only, the password is: dog)since 2022 through the Game Developers Club. I feel like I’ve really grown as a developer and musician from it, and I’ve met some really cool and talented people through it. For my INDS capstone I’m improving and expanding upon Daylight’s soundtrack, which I’ve been working on for years now. It likely won’t be finished this semester or even next year, but I’m so privileged and grateful to have played such a big part in it.

I also have found a lot of meaning in my internship at UMBC’s Imaging Research Center (IRC). I got a position there thanks to Professor McAlpine, who had previously mentored Tristan King ’21,a former IRC technical specialist, when he was an INDS student. Tristan ended up being my supervisor for my first year there. I’m making virtual reality data visualization concept mapping software using Unreal Engine and solving complex, cutting-edge interface design problems. It’s really challenging my professional coding skills and helping me to grow exponentially as a game developer. I appreciate that I’ve had the opportunity on campus to enrich my learning like that. It’s been so cool to work with this transdisciplinary team and develop something that I think will have a good impact on the world.

Q: How have the ideas of inter/transdisciplinarity enhanced your UMBC experience?

A: What drew me to game development was working among disciplines. I love the idea of being a programmer and musician working with artists, writers, and playtesters to make a very human, cohesive experience: a love letter to players. Finding myself in INDS and at the IRC legitimized this way of thinking for me. I’ve really found myself at home in environments where I can collaborate with people from different backgrounds who are bringing all their skills and influences to the table. I value that process in everything I make and do at UMBC.

Being part of the Honors College also helped broaden my personal horizons as a student. I’ve been able to take a lot of cool courses outside of my disciplines like Mathematics of the Universe with Manil Suri and Sounds Like Social Justice with Earl Brooks, who have also been pretty big inspirations for me when it comes to the interdisciplinarity of technical fields and the ways I can actually make an impact toward issues I care about.

Q: What has being a student leader in the UMBC Game Developers Club been like for you?

A: It actually wasn’t something I knew I wanted to do in the first place until my friend encouraged me to run for vice president during a special election. I think it’s been the happiest accident in my life. I’ve been able to help make UMBC a proper home for students of all disciplines interested in game development, whether it’s for a hobby or a future career. Playing a pivotal role in creating and maintaining that space has been absolutely awesome. (Check out another Game Developers Club creation, Phantom Feline—I was a programmer and musician on this game that can be played in-browser as well as on Windows, Mac, and Linux.) The Game Developers Club has established alumni and mentors in the industry who give talks and network with our students. To be able to stand on that 20-year legacy and be lifted by it is a really special thing.

Written by Tess McRae ’22, Assistant Director for Connective Learning, Center for Democracy and Civic Life

Read more Commencement 2025 stories.

A bright yellow bead slides over a red pipe cleaner, then a blue bead followed by green. Soon, the rainbow of beads and wire is twisted this way and that until it resembles the Big Dipper. This same activity is happening throughout PHYS 401, a seminar room in the UMBC Physics building, as 20 Baltimore City middle and high school students and their parents recreate the constellations.

These students are part of their local Sigma Beta Club, a youth auxiliary of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., founded nationally in 1950 to help mentor young men and develop their leadership skills. “When we go out to UMBC, it’s always something special,” says Gary Brooks ’79, history, who played a large part in bringing these young people to Hilltop Circle. “UMBC does things second to none.”

The students came to campus in February with members of the Nu Sigma Sigma Alumni Chapter, which includes Phi Beta Sigma alumni—including Brooks—to tour the UMBC Observatory and attend a men’s basketball game.

Nu Sigma Sigma partners with local universities like UMBC to offer Baltimore City youth interested in STEM the chance to experience college life. Most of these visits involve some sort of athletics event, and that’s about it—but not at UMBC. 

Another Sigma Beta Club visit to UMBC involved a FIRST LEGO League competition, and another saw the students observe a robotics event. Brooks also makes sure that each visit includes a member of UMBC senior leadership. Recently, the students had the chance to speak with UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby and Athletics Director Tiffany Tucker.

Brooks wants each visit to UMBC to be as meaningful as possible for these young men because he knows how UMBC can change lives.

Staying connected

Even though Brooks graduated 45 years ago, he never really left UMBC. He remains closely involved with Phi Beta Sigma at UMBC, helping mentor students, and he is an active member of Nu Sigma Sigma, working closely with the university to bring Sigma Beta Club members to campus. 

“The fraternity got me involved in community service,” says Brooks—a personal mission he carries on to this day.

“​Since I met Gary almost 20 years ago, he has been a dedicated champion of UMBC,” says Stanyell Bruce, director of alumni engagement at UMBC.

Brooks also serves on the UMBC Second Generation Scholarship Fund committee. The Second Generation Scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding undergraduate students who intend to pursue study at UMBC, are enrolled in or have completed a course in Africana studies, and demonstrate a commitment to improving the lives of racial/ethnic minorities through community service, extracurricular activities, or other community involvement. Brooks has served on the committee since 1986, when the scholarship was established.

Brooks is also the chairperson for the Historic St. James Episcopal Church Scholarship Fund—a position he has held since 2010—and helped establish the Dr. Lamont Smith, M.D. Scholarship through Sigma R.E.A.C.H., Inc. Brooks has served on that committee since its inception as well.

“Education is dear to my heart,” says Brooks, who went on to earn his M.P.A. from the University of Baltimore and his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law—an impressive resume for someone who initially struggled in college.

“My first semester at UMBC wasn’t the best,” admits Brooks. “I didn’t do well at all.”

Photo left: Gary Brooks ‘79 and Larry Wiggins ‘75 with the 2024 Second Generation Scholarship recipients.

Finding place and purpose

Instead of giving up, Brooks decided to lean into his weaknesses—reading and writing—by taking courses in Africana studies, a subject that interested him a great deal. These courses involved a lot of reading and writing, but Brooks found himself more immersed in the work. It was still difficult, but he enjoyed the subject matter, and the faculty was incredibly supportive. As a result, his grades began to improve.

“I saw that success, and I got more and more serious about school,” says Brooks.

After graduation, Brooks remained close to the Africana studies department. He spearheaded a committee tasked with hosting the annual “Party with a Purpose,” whose proceeds supported Africana studies and the Second Generation Scholarship. Brooks also continued to correspond with several Africana studies faculty members who mentored Brooks throughout graduate school, law school, and his career.

After Brooks graduated from law school, one of those professors, Willie Lamousé-Smith, former chair of Africana studies, asked Brooks to step out of his comfort zone and step into the classroom to teach a course on the impact of the criminal justice system on the Black community. Despite some hesitancy—“I do estate planning and bankruptcy,” says Brooks. “I am not a criminal justice attorney.”—the young lawyer decided to take the leap into teaching after more than a little encouragement from Lamousé-Smith.

“Dr. Lamousé-Smith said, ‘Mr. Brooks, you are smart enough,’ and that was enough,” says Brooks. “He believed in me.”

Brooks taught this class for six years, connecting UMBC students with impactful, African American leaders, including the Baltimore City police commissioner and the Baltimore City state’s attorney. Brooks eventually handed the class over to his good friend and former law partner, Larry Wiggins ’75, political science, who played a large role in helping Brooks study for and pass the bar exam.

When the giving goes both ways

Brooks was honored at the 2001 UMBC Alumni Awards with an Alumni Community Leadership Award. He also received a special Visionary Leadership Award in 2006, recognizing members of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture Event Planning Committee for their outstanding contributions to advancing the mission of the UMBC Alumni Association. He’d like to thank his wife, Karen B. Brooks, their four children, Aja, Ashlea, Morgan, and Geron, and their three grandkids, Ryder, Ari, and Amari.

Over the years, Brooks has continued to give back to the UMBC community because of how much the UMBC community has given him.

“Gary’s commitment to UMBC never wavers,” says Bruce. “He’s someone I seek out for advice and guidance, and he embodies what it means to be Retriever Proud.”

UMBC researchers are collaborating on a study that takes a closer look at specific diagnosis coding patterns that focus on societal factors that potentially influence the health of Maryland’s Medicaid recipients. 

Morgan Henderson, director of analytics and research at UMBC’s The Hilltop Institute, and Jun Chu, assistant professor of public health, are among the five cross-collaborative teams selected to receive funding from UMBC’s Center and Institute Departmentally-Engaged Research (CIDER) program. Henderson and Chu’s CIDER-supported project will investigate potential “z code” patterns of the state’s Medicaid recipients. Z codes are a set of diagnosis codes that refer to factors influencing a patient’s health status beyond diseases or injuries, called social determinants of health. 

“These specific diagnosis codes indicate certain social determinants of health-related factors, not just traditionally medical things,” explains Henderson, principal investigator of the study. Z code data indicates if a patient has an issue that’s related to social risk factors, such as unstable housing, lack of food, hazardous living environments, and employment status.   

“There hasn’t been much analysis of z code patterns and we aim to lay a good foundation for better understanding these diagnosis codes within Maryland’s Medicaid data,” says Henderson. 

A deeper look into z code diagnosing could be a useful identification “to bring extra resources to Medicaid recipients who are in need,” says Chu. 

Analyzing Medicaid data

The study coincides with recent news of potential billion-dollar federal budget cuts to Maryland’s Medicaid program, which currently supports about 1.7 million Maryland residents. The Hilltop Institute specializes in working with the state’s Medicaid data. According to the institute’s Maryland Medicaid DataPort, two in five of those in Medicaid are children and Medicaid pays for 60 percent of nursing home stays. 

Chu’s research has largely focused on social determinants of health with a particular focus on immigrant communities and Medicaid recipients who are children. Henderson helped to develop and currently manages Hilltop’s predictive modeling portfolio. These predictive models, which also utilize z code data, use a variety of risk factors derived from Medicare and Medicaid claims data to estimate the probability that a given patient incurs certain outcomes in the near future.

The pair’s project will include two studies: one study will focus specifically on the patients ascribed z codes to determine what patterns arise based on patient-specific factors such as demographics, health care utilization, or geography. 

The second study will focus on analyzing the characteristics of the healthcare providers that indicate the z codes on Medicaid claims. 

“Patient claims are the engine that so much of health analysis relies upon. It’s the decision of the provider on which coding diagnoses to include—it’s not a completely standardized process,” says Henderson. 

CIDER 2025 recipients

The CIDER program’s goal includes supporting and promoting collaborative research between scholars based in one of UMBC’s affiliate centers and institutes and the university’s faculty researchers. Selected proposals are awarded up to $50,000 in seed funding for 18 months. 

The 2025 CIDER program recipients include: 

• Anin Puthukkudy, Earth and Space Institute, and Vanderlei Martins, professor of physics
• Jessica Sutton, Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) II, Tejas Gokhale, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, and Thomas Stanley, GESTAR II
• Kaur Kullman, the Center for Space Sciences and Technology, Alan Sherman, Roberto Yus, and Enis Golaszewski, professors of computer science and electrical engineering
• Morgan Henderson, The Hilltop Institute at UMBC, and Jun Chu, assistant professor of public health
• Venkatesh Srinivasan, Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, Tyler Josephson, assistant professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering

Don Engel, associate vice president for research development, shares that the CIDER program was created to foster collaborations that draw on the full range of UMBC’s strengths in research and creative achievement. 

“CIDER helps connect faculty in our research centers with colleagues in degree-granting departments to pursue work with real impact—work that informs policy, advances knowledge, and ultimately serves the public good,” says Engel. 

Learn more about UMBC’s funding opportunities.