Westat's 11-week summer internship experiences will be hosted virtually, or on-site at our U.S. office-based locations. Our interns can expect to work 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday.

Whistling Hens, comprised of Natalie Groom (Affiliate Artist of Clarinet at UMBC) and soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick (Director of Music & Professor of Music (Voice) at Queens University of Charlotte) are the recipients of the inaugural Iranian Female Composers Association Award. An award accepted in partnership with composer Mojgan Misaghi, the award contributes to a new commission to come in 2024.

Mojgan Misaghi is an Iranian composer, violinist, and improviser based in Texas. Misaghi explores the relationship between language, culture, and music, and her structures are inspired by Persian Literature. Misaghi is the winner of the Texas New Music Ensemble Student Composer Competition, and Misaghi's music has been performed by ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, Texas New Music Ensemble, loadbang Ensemble, and Kazoku Quartet, and she received commissions from the Indiana Art Commission and the University of Houston public art.

Follow this project at linktr.ee/whistlinghens.

Another exciting morning at UMBC! At today’s undergraduate commencement, twenty-five GES majors donned their caps and gowns and walked on stage to receive their degrees. Our first photo features, from left to right: Amal Hussain, Thirandie Bambaradeniya, Aaron Chin, Sarah Johnson, and Langston Smith. The second photo includes the same students along with Dr.’s Andy Miller, Maggie Holland, and Alan Yeakley.

We’re fortunate for their hard work, their aptitude, and for the support they have provided to other GES students in their studies. (That upperclassmen wisdom goes a long way!) This is only the beginning for these twenty-five bright and promising futures. Best of luck!

“It is in times of great conflict and great challenge that higher education’s purpose is most revealed.”

UMBC president Valerie Sheares Ashby addressed the crowd at the 2023 winter Commencement ceremonies by acknowledging the turbulence of this past year and noting the importance of the degrees this year’s graduates received. Then nearly 1,000 Retrievers donned robes and mortarboards and made their way across the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena stage this week to become the latest members of the UMBC alumni community.

Representing the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, Anwer Hasan offered advice to the graduates saying, “As you go forward, take what you’ve learned and use it for good. Give back to the community and the world. Build that brighter future for yourselves and for others.”