Meet Amanda Sharp, director of academic advocacy in UMBC’s Academic Success Center. What keeps her coming back to work each day? Supporting students! She says she is privileged to sit with students in some of their hardest moments and also see them reach their highest successes. We’re excited to hear more about your work, Amanda—take it away!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: My name is Amanda, and I’m a director in the Academic Advocacy Office here at UMBC! One essential thing you should know about me is that I’m deeply passionate about helping students succeed and thrive in their academic journey. When I’m not working, you can usually find me with my pup, Jayla, or with my sorors. I’m a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: The people at UMBC are genuinely committed to student success, and this commitment permeates every aspect of campus life. From the moment you step onto campus, you’re surrounded by a network of dedicated professionals, staff, and faculty who are invested in helping you achieve your goals. They will motivate you, support you, and recognize the work you do. For example, many of my colleagues nominated me for the Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate Award at the 2024 FYE® Conference. When I won, I dedicated that award to the staff and students who devote themselves to uplifting others.

Q: What do you love most about your job and why?

A: Every day, I witness the transformative power of the support and guidance my colleagues and I provide. Seeing a student who once struggled academically or personally now thriving and succeeding is an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s the moments when students share how our support helped them stay on track or graduate that remind me of the significance of the work we do as academic advocates.

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: I’ve been consistently inspired by the dedication, compassion, and wisdom of our Academic Peer Advocates (APAs). These students, who come from diverse academic disciplines and backgrounds, have stepped up to provide a listening ear, offer guidance, and connect their peers with the resources and support they need to succeed. Their commitment to normalizing the challenges that students face and creating a safe, non-judgmental space for their peers to share their struggles has been truly remarkable.

Q: Tell us what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in.

A: I love empowering students through our Academic Advocacy and Academic Peer Advocacy program. By connecting students with caring staff and peers and providing holistic support, we help them build confidence, overcome barriers, and thrive academically and personally.

Q: Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: I came to UMBC because I believed in its mission, values, and commitment to students. I saw an opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact on the lives of the students we serve. I’m grateful for this decision every day, as I continue to be inspired by the resilience, dedication, and achievements of our remarkable students and the unwavering support of the UMBC community.

Q: Since you’ve been a part of the UMBC community, how have you found support of your WHY?

A: I’m truly humbled to have had the privilege of supporting so many students across the country through some of the most challenging moments of their lives, some of which were filled with extreme personal loss or immense feelings of failure. As I sit in those moments with students, with the weight of those feelings on their shoulders, my main goal is to instill in them the belief that they are truly worthy of success and happiness. As I watch them leave my office, I oftentimes see that weight they walked in with, the weight that tells them that they can’t succeed, lift just a little, and is replaced with confidence and compassion. These are the moments that support my “why.”

Q: Are you involved in any other campus organizations?

A: I’m on the Women’s Center Advisory Board, and I couldn’t be more proud of the work they do. The center’s staff focuses their efforts on raising awareness, facilitating dialogue, and implementing policies and practices that support marginalized students and communities. These efforts have been crucial to fostering a sense of belonging and ensuring that every student has the resources and support they need to thrive.

Q: What would you tell someone considering working at UMBC?

A: I would tell them that they have the opportunity to be part of an exceptional community that is deeply committed to making a positive impact on student’s lives and contributing to society’s greater good. If you are passionate about education, committed to excellence, and eager to contribute to something greater than yourself, UMBC is the perfect place to build a fulfilling and meaningful career.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

CDW invites MEEC K12 and HIED members to attend the VMWare Webinar. 

Whether you’re staying on VMware or charting a migration, CDW can help you navigate the recent announcements from Broadcom. There are many options for evaluating the impact of the changes on your infrastructure and CDW is best positioned to meet you where you’re at as your trusted advisor regardless of which pathway you choose.

Join CDW’s customer webinar, “VMware by Broadcom:  Navigating Change by Guiding Your Journey”, to hear from our experts on the various paths we can guide you down. Learn more about the options, pros & cons to those options, and CDW’s capabilities to support your organization regardless of the strategy you develop.

REGISTER HERE

In the meantime, learn more at cdwg.com/virtualization

In an effort to streamline user experience and improve accessibility, myUMBC has merged the Notifications, Mail, Blackboard, and Calendar menus into a single, consolidated Apps menu. This change aims to reduce the number of clicks required to access these essential tools, making navigation more efficient for users. Additionally, by simplifying the notifications, the menu is now less noisy, making it more obvious when there is something that requires immediate attention.

In another update, myUMBC has revamped the Spotlights area. The traditional slideshow format has been replaced with a grid display featuring six stories at once. This new layout allows users to scan all highlighted stories more quickly and efficiently, ensuring that important updates and information are readily accessible at a glance.

Both updates are part of a broader series of enhancements planned for myUMBC over the next year. These improvements focus on usability, accessibility, and updating core functionality. By integrating these menus and enhancing the Spotlights area, myUMBC seeks to be more intuitive and user-friendly.

These changes reflect our commitment to continuously evolving its platform to meet the needs of its community, ensuring a seamless and efficient user experience. The unified Apps menu and the new Spotlights grid are just the beginning of the enhancements users can expect as myUMBC rolls out further updates aimed at improving the overall functionality and accessibility of the platform.

For a preview of upcoming changes, check out our myUMBC Preview.

Note: This post was updated to reflect an update on 7/16 that merged the Apps and Notifications menus.

Introduction to Generative AI