A HUGE thanks goes out to Melody Wright for conducting a "Personal Branding, Networking, and Influence" workshop yesterday.  We were taught tips for managing our personal branding like listing our strengths, what we want to be known for and other details in order to develop our Value Statements.  Also pointers on networking were provided.  Good conversations in groups and good instruction from Melody.

Melody was gracious enough to share her Personal Branding, Networking and Influence slides.

I am planning to move out around mid-June, but my Apt lease ends on August 31. If anyone is looking for a Apt before then, feel free to contact me!

Location: Maiden choice Apartment

Apartment Details:• 2 Bedrooms• Separate Living Room• 1 Kitchen• 1 Bathroom

Rent: Around $1650/month (including utilities)

Please message me if you’re interested or want more details! 

Turnip Time Tumble

An interactive reading by Prof. Terry's ENG 375 Class

Monday, May 11, 4-5:15pm

PAHB 132

Turnip Time Tumble is a choose your one adventure-style novel written this semester by Professor Chris Terry's ENG 375 Pick Your Path class. At this event, the class will read from the finished book, with input from the audience.

In Turnip Time Tumble, the main character goes to the farmers' market for soup ingredients, and is distracted by a mysterious vendor with a selection of intriguing books. The reader is then sucked into whichever book the character picks up: helping mermaids escape cruel scientists, time-traveling between the Wild West and a medieval castle, or inheriting a crumbling estate with a mysterious secret passage.

Our final meeting of the semester is here and we're going out with a bang! 🎉

Join us Wednesday May 6 at 7:00 PM in Physics 401 for a movie night ! We'll have plenty of pizza —  bring a friend .

It's been an amazing semester and we can't wait to celebrate with everyone. See you there! 🪐

Hello everyone!

Retriever Essentials will have an early closing at 4:45pm on 5/15/2026. 

We apologize for any incoinveinces, and please plan your trip accordingly.

Two exceptional CNMS faculty members from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have received 2025 – 2026 University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents Faculty Awards. These prestigious awards recognize distinguished performance that consistently exceeds ordinary expectations.

Tara Carpenter, teaching professor, has been awarded the Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. This honor highlights faculty who demonstrate outstanding pedagogy, promote measurable gains in student learning, and innovate to support broad student success.

(Tara Carpenter, courtesy of Carpenter)

Carpenter teaches UMBC’s largest introductory chemistry courses, reaching more than 1,000 students per year—mostly first-year students and non-majors—in sections exceeding 250 students. Beyond delivering rigorous content, she focuses on teaching students how to learn, helping them build a growth mindset—the idea that abilities can be developed, rather than being innate—and succeed in college and beyond.

Over time, Carpenter’s efforts have significantly lowered drop-fail-withdraw (DFW) rates in General Chemistry I and II and strengthened students’ preparation for later courses such as Organic Chemistry. Carpenter consistently receives glowing student evaluations, and her work has influenced department- and campus-wide practices for over 15 years. She regularly shares her methods and results with national audiences of teaching professionals through scholarly publications and conference presentations.

“This award is deeply meaningful to me, because it reflects years of work focused on implementing evidence-based teaching practices at scale,” Carpenter says. “I firmly believe that every student can succeed in chemistry, which is why I integrate principles from the learning sciences into my teaching. Seeing students adopt a growth mindset and master concepts they once thought were out of reach is, and always will be, my driving passion.”

Professor Michael F. Summers has received the Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring. This award recognizes sustained excellence in mentoring that fosters student development, retention, and post-baccalaureate success, with a strong emphasis on inclusive excellence.

(Michael Summers, courtesy of Summers)

A longtime leader in UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars and G-RISE programs, Summers helped build nationally recognized models for increasing underrepresented minority (URM) success in STEM. Under his direction, Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows achieved a 90 percent retention rate—far above national averages of 55 – 64 percent for all Ph.D. students in STEM—and has produced 229 URM Ph.D. graduates since 2001.

In his own laboratory, 313 undergraduates and 74 graduate students/postdocs have received mentorship, either from Summers directly or from more advanced students he coached, creating a rich and resilient community of mentorship in his group. Many alumni from Summers’ laboratory have become faculty at institutions such as Harvard and Oxford, leaders in industry, and champions of the Meyerhoff philosophy elsewhere. His approach creates a strong sense of belonging, enabling students—often the first in their families to attend college—to conduct and publish high-impact research in top journals and reach their career goals.

“Mentoring is at the center of all we do in our lab,” Summers shares. “I often wake up in the morning excited and motivated by our latest lab experiments, but I go to bed at night thinking about the students—their own dreams, where they are now and where they are going. And my former mentees are so inspiring! It is my work with students that has brought me the greatest sense of satisfaction.”

Please join CNMS in congratulating Tara Carpenter and Michael Summers on these well-deserved honors. Their dedication to student success and inclusive excellence reflects the very best of UMBC.

Our summer writing group is back! The Dresher Center will host weekly writing sessions for all faculty, staff, and graduate students who are interested in participating.

Wednesdays from May 27 to August 12, 10am to 12pm

Register for the writing group now!

The application is LIVE for the 2026-2027 Exempt Staff Mentoring Program with a deadline of Friday, May 8th. The new cohort of the program will kick off in July 2026 and run through June 2027. New exempt staff members (typically at UMBC for less than 3 years) are encouraged to apply to be mentees, and all exempt staff members (typically at UMBC for 3 years or longer) are encouraged to apply to be mentors!

Apply here! - ESS Mentoring Program Application

Contact Jess Wyatt (jwy@umbc.edu) or Steve Harris (stevenh1@umbc.edu) directly with questions.

Calling all current graduate students! Looking to level up your data storytelling skills this summer? The Division of Student Affairs is hiring a Graduate Student Intern – Data Visualization & Reporting Analyst for summer 2026! In this paid, highly flexible hybrid role ($21.39/hr, 10–12 hours/week), you’ll design interactive dashboards, translate complex datasets into meaningful insights, and have an opportunity to collaborate with student affairs leaders on data analysis projects. This internship is open to all current UMBC graduate students that have prior Tableau experience. Recent graduates cannot be considered for this role. This internship will provide a great opportunity to build portfolio-worthy solutions. Application review begins May 20.

How to Apply:
All interested candidates must apply on Handshake, visit our job posting here.

Candidates should submit two documents: a resume and a cover letter that includes a statement of interest and an outline of your relevant experience and skills. Your cover letter should also include a link to a Tableau dashboard project you have personally developed. As a reminder, the UMBC Career Center website has some helpful materials about crafting a cover letter.

Questions? Reach out to Dr. Mary Ellen Wade, Director of Assessment and Planning at mewade@umbc.edu 

Most finals must be booked in SDS by May 9th

For students with SDS testing accommodations at the UMBC main campus, please use our Accommodate software (https://sds.umbc.edu/accommodated-testing/) to schedule your in-person final exams. During finals (May 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, and 20th), SDS will be open for testing between 8:30 am and 6:00 pm each testing day.  Remember that most finals must be booked in SDS by May 9th but no later than May 13th (the last day of classes). You should schedule all of your finals NOW. If we run out of seats, we can advocate for additional rooms for Finals if we know the demand in advance. Please?

For students registered with SDS who take classes at Shady Grove (USG), please follow the directions on the USG testing website at https://shadygrove.umd.edu/student-affairs/leadership-communication/dss-current-students. In general, USG test request forms must be submitted at least seven days before the exam date.  The finals schedule for UMBC-USG course is included in the Regular Final Exams schedule linked below.

Important Notes:

• Online finals: If your course is online, then your final exam is likely to be online. Your instructor will set extended time in the testing platform, and you do not need to schedule it in SDS unless your instructor requires that it be proctored or you need accommodations that can't be used online.
• Common Finals vs Regular Finals: Check the Common Finals schedule first - if your course is not listed then check the Regular Finals schedule.  Both schedules are linked below. Also, check your syllabus for each class to determine if your class will have a final.
• Most finals are 2 hours long, so your extended time will be longer than usual. You must check that your finals do not overlap or exceed testing center hours when you apply your extended time.
• Scheduling Conflicts?: If your final exams will overlap in time or if you have more than two finals on one day, please communicate this information directly to your instructors with your plan for how you would like to schedule your test time with accommodation(s). If there are any difficulties in scheduling alternate test arrangements, don't hesitate to contact SDS for assistance.
• Also, please remember that your instructor must email SDS at disability@umbc.edu to notify us of their agreement to your test time when it differs from your class's scheduled test day/time.
• Please double-check your final exam times with your instructors.
• You cannot schedule exams in SDS (or DSS at Shady Grove) unless you submitted a Semester Request for Spring 2026 in Accommodate and had your Letter of Accommodations sent to your instructors.

Don't hesitate to get in touch with our office via email (disability@umbc.edu), phone (410-455-2459), or drop by (Math/Psych 212) if you have any questions or if we can assist you in scheduling your finals on the Main Campus.

~~Student Disability Services

Resources:

Scheduling a test at UMBC main campus SDS instructions: https://sds.umbc.edu/scheduling-exams-in-accommodate/

UMBC Finals Schedules

• Common Finals - Check this first:
  https://registrar.umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2026/04/Common-Final-Exam-Schedule-Spring-2026.pdf
• Regular Finals (includes the schedule for USG classes on page 2):
  https://registrar.umbc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2026/01/Spring-2026-Regular-Exam-Schedule.pdf