Good afternoon! 

We are planning to hold elections. The form (attached below) opens today, Wednesday April 15th  and will close Wednesday April 22nd.

Reminder that in order to run you must be a part of the club and have attended a minimum of 3 meetings throughout the academic year (fall and spring semester). We will be verifying! 

Voting will be available Sunday April 26th and will remain open until Friday May 1st. Please note that only active members may vote, and all votes must be submitted using a UMBC email.

Positions available are: 

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer 
• Secretary
• Social Media Manager 

Email us with any questions @ eshah1@umbc.edu or maisak1@umbc.edu 

Good luck!! 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6NYXYYhtVCOIWav8dKVBXbRW285ct5uvSDpEuZzc7-cJH7g/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Dear faculty and staff,

We are delighted to extend an invitation for nominations for two distinctive groups connected to the Office of the Provost: the Faculty Advisory Board and the Staff Advisory Board. We are looking for expertise and insight from a variety of perspectives as we continue to develop the provost's priorities and advance student success. 

The two advisory boards will work in tandem with several groups including the larger Provost Advisory Council and the shared governance oraganizations at UMBC. The boards will be smaller with no more than 12 members serving a single  one- or two-year term.

Members of each advisory board will:

• Provide strategic advice and guidance based on their areas of expertise and experience

• Engage with fellow board members and the Office of the Provost leadership team

• Offer critical feedback on initiatives, priorities, and overall direction to the provost

• Advocate on behalf of the Office of the Provost to respective colleges/divisions and the campus community

Faculty and staff who are interested in being considered for these boards are encouraged to self-nominate, or to nominate others, via the nomination form by Friday, April 24. Once nominations are reviewed, selected members will be invited to a kickoff event at the end of the spring semester with a goal to have both boards stood up and running by the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

If you have questions about this call for nominations, please reach out to Ana Oskoz, chair for the Faculty Advisory Board, and Laila Shishineh, chair for the Staff Advisory Board.

Thank you,

Ana Oskoz & Laila Shishineh

We’re offering an opportunity to pie staff at the end of the semester for those that help us fundraise over Hillel Global Giving Week 🥧

HGGW is our biggest fundraiser of the year, with a $5,000 match, taking place this year May 4-8. If you participate, you will have a personal fundraising page to share with your networks. For every five unique donations made to your page of $5+ you will get to pie a staff member!

Interested? Please reach out to Aliza at asilverman@umbc.edu.

In early April 2026, Taylor West and Kylie Hoffman, both GESTAR II Graduate Research Assistants and members of the Demoz Group at UMBC, defended their doctoral theses. 

On April 2nd, Taylor West successfully defended her Public Policy dissertation, "An Assessment of Air Quality Monitoring Equity in the United States." Her committee was led by Dr. Yusuke Kuwayama with Dr. Belay Demoz as one of the committee members, and her dissertation was presented online.

On April 3rd, Kylie Hoffman successfully defended her Physics dissertation, "Integrated Remote Sensing Observations of Nocturnal Convection Initiation: Moisture Transport and Boundary Layer Convergence Dynamics". Her advisor was Dr. Belay Demoz, Professor of Physics and Associate Director of GESTAR II. Dr. Hoffman has accepted a position with the NASA Postdoctoral Program at NASA Langley Research Center.

Congratulations to Dr. West and Dr. Hoffman!

Kylie Hoffman and her PhD Committee at UMBC! Left to right: Dr. Zhibo Zhang, Dr. Belay Demoz, Dr. Kylie Hoffman, Dr. Pengwang Zhai, and Dr. Sergio Desouza-Machado (all UMBC); attending virtually, Dr. David Turner, NOAA/GSL - Boulder. 

A message on behalf of Mary Ellen Wade, Director of Assessment and Planning in the Division of Student Affairs. Original post here.

Calling all undergraduate and graduate students! The Division of Student Affairs (DoSA) Strategic Plan Steering Committee is developing its strategic plan for the next three years and we need your input! On Monday, April 20 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. stop by Lower Flat Tuesdays in The Commons for free breakfast snacks, beverages, and to offer your feedback about the student experience and how DoSA can better support you. Commuters, we will also have a table at Good Morning Commuters on April 21. 

If you can't stop by, please check out our survey between now and April 24 to provide your thoughts. We want to understand how you define student success, your experience as a student, how our division can do better, and to see if our anticipated strategic plan priority areas meet your needs.

Attached is a document with more info about the departments that make up our division, our draft strategic priority areas, and the questions we want to know more about. We look forward to your insights!

A message on behalf of our colleagues in the Department of English, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, and the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery. View the original post to register for this event. Learn more about UMBC’s National Library Week x Bookfest 2026 and see the full list of events.

Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act, passed in 2024, ensures that “library materials and resources remain accessible to the public and cannot be removed solely because someone disagrees with their viewpoint alone.” Yet, book challenges and censorship efforts are still on the rise across our state and nation.

What can you do to protect the right to read and to ensure access to our nation’s library services? Join us for a panel of distinguished library professionals and advocates to learn more!

• Morgan Miller, Maryland State Librarian

• Stacey Nunn, Library Media Specialist, Southwest Academy Magnet School for Science and Engineering and finalist for School Library Journal’s School Librarian of the Year

• Christine Feldmann, Anne Arundel County Public Library

• Andrea Lewis, President of Citizens for Maryland Libraries

This event is supported in part by the Maryland State Library Agency. Refreshments will follow the program.

A message on behalf of our colleagues in the Department of English, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, and the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery. View the original post to register for this event. Learn more about UMBC’s National Library Week x Bookfest 2026 and see the full list of events.

What should you know about the current assaults on authors, readers, libraries, and librarians? How can you better advocate for libraries, access to reading materials, and the freedom to read? 

Join facilitators Allison Jennings-Roche (UMBC Alum and Associate Director of Digital Initiatives and Collections at The University of Baltimore Library & Archives) and Tif Sutherland (Calvert Library and Maryland Library Association) for a lunch-and-learn.

Participants will...

• Develop an understanding of the historical and political contexts fueling the current surge in censorship and attacks on libraries across the country.

• Learn how libraries, advocacy organizations, and library workers are responding to the threats posed by anti-democratic, pro-censorship movements and how they can support their local librarians.

• Identify and practice rhetorical strategies to respond to the spurious attacks on library workers and collections. They will also brainstorm practical actions that they can take to protect libraries, the freedom to read, and their local communities.

This event requires registration. Lunch will be provided and space is limited to 30 participants, so please secure your spot no later than April 20. REGISTER HERE!

UMBC’s Department of Information Technology has highlighted the work of two of its student security technicians who have played a critical role in ensuring that UMBC’s digital environment remains safe and uncompromised. They are Grace Robinson and Ouwen Dai, who have served in their DoIT roles for the majority of their academic careers and are now taking the next step into the professional world. Both are 2026 graduating seniors who have followed the cybersecurity track in the Computer Science program.

Read more about Grace and Ouwen and their work in DoIT’s Meet the Seniors Behind UMBC’s Cybersecurity post.

Come out to learn about life as a student, doctor, resident doctor, guidance, etc. Come prepared with lots of questions. 

Where: Math and Psych 103 

When: Thursday, April 16, 2026 4-5 pm