This semester's Culture Conversations are designed to bring staff and faculty together to reflect, share experiences, and explore how relationships shape campus culture. Through facilitated conversations, this series will create spaces for collective sensemaking around connection, care, and belonging in our everyday work.

Session Descriptions

1. Engaging Digital Spaces: Join us for an interactive, conversation-driven exploration of how digital environments can strengthen community, expand access, and support more affordable and inclusive engagement on campus.

Facilitated by Dr. Olivia M. Copeland

Olivia M. Copeland (she/they) is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Kansas. She has worked across higher education contexts, from residential curriculum to LGBTQ+-centered work. Their scholarship centers on the role of identity, power, privilege, and digital spaces in the lives of undergraduate students, using critical interdisciplinary frameworks. View event details here: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/doie/events/149150

2. Sustaining Transformative Relationships: Join us for a facilitated conversation on cultivating relational practices that strengthen connection, reduce harm, and support more sustainable ways of working together.

Facilitated by Janine Silvas

Janine Silvas (they/them/theirs) is imagining what abolitionist praxis looks like in higher education and in daily life. A fat, queer, nonbinary Pilipino American doctoral candidate in Higher Education at the University of Arizona, they write from over a decade in residence life and student affairs, alongside commitments to care, relationality, and justice. Their current work illuminates how student affairs professionals navigate carceral logics and seek more just ways of being with one another. View event details here: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/doie/events/149151

Register for sessions here: https://umbc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9YzNS55VsUBvkuG

To request accommodation(s) or to inquire about event accessibility, please get in touch with each program office directly. All sessions are open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal or state law and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

Keeping with our Mars theme and celebrating the anniversary of NASA's Perseverance Rover landing, we'll be watching one or two short documentaries about the incredible Mars Rover missions! 🚀🔴

Come learn about the science, challenges, and discoveries that have shaped our understanding of the Red Planet.

Snacks and drinks will be provided!

📍 Physics 401
🗓 Wednesday
⏰ 7:00 PM

Bring a friend and join us for a fun and space-filled evening!

Dear colleagues, 

The reporting period for the CY 2025 Faculty Annual Report (FAR) is now open. This communication contains essential deadlines, instructions for submission, and a preview of upcoming system changes.

The FAR informs multiple processes, including merit review processes (where applicable), an annual and comprehensive review of tenured faculty. Some of the data you enter are also aggregated to satisfy reporting to the University System of Maryland (USM).

Remember, you can update your information in Faculty Success throughout the year in anticipation of the spring FAR reporting. 

Who completes the FAR?

All tenured, tenured-track, and full-time instructional and non-instructional faculty are required to complete the FAR. This includes those on sabbatical, fellowship, or unpaid leave, as well as research associates, post-docs, visiting, and those in administrative roles.

Deadlines & Key Dates

• March 31, 2026: Faculty Annual Reports due. Submit a signed copy to your department chair.
• April 10, 2026: IRADS provides feedback to chairs. Any necessary corrections must be made in Faculty Success.
• April 24, 2026: Final deadline for faculty to resubmit revised, signed copies to chairs.
• May 1, 2026: Chairs sign and submit all department reports to their respective deans.

How to Complete Your FAR

Access: Log in to myUMBC, click Guide, and select Faculty Success by Watermark under "Personal Links."

Update: Enter your 2025 data. We encourage regular updates throughout the year to simplify this process.

Certify: Navigate to the "Certify Your Annual Submission – Mandatory" section at the bottom of the main page. Read the statement, check the box, add the calendar year, and click "Save."

Sign: Save your report as a PDF and use the "Fill & Sign" function (or print and sign manually) before sending it to your chair.

For more UMBC-specific questions and information regarding how to complete the FAR, go here.

Interface Update Coming in July

Faculty Success is launching a new interface on July 1, 2026, to improve how you view tabs and tasks. You can explore a preview of the new view now within the system before the permanent transition this summer.

Sincerely, 

Ana Oskoz
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

The AOK Library Gallery is once again offering a series of workshops for graduate students.  See the attached flyer for details.  

TODAY

What are some of the best strategies and tips for writing a literature review? Whether you are just starting out with your research or have been involved in your project for a while, this workshop is for you. 

Note: This workshop is being offered in a hyflex modality, so feel free to join either in person in Library 259, or online via WebEx. 

We are excited to announce a new chapter for The George and Betsy Sherman Center at UMBC! Starting this Fall, the Sherman Center has become the official Maryland affiliate for Invention Convention Worldwide.

The Mission: Beyond Science Fairs

commonvision can help with resume printing! To help with the process email us the following to: commonvision@umbc.edu:

• Your file
• If it's a Google doc be sure permissions are set to be viewed by everyone

• How many copies you would like

• Single or double sided (if applicable)
• Color or black & white
• Paper type, we have a couple of options:
• Our standard paper for color or b&w
• Resume paper (an additional .30 per sheet)
• If you would like to decide this in person after seeing the paper that is fine

Please note that we will only print these once you come into our office. We will treat these emails as walk-ins and won't have them printed ahead of time.

We only accept Retriever Dollars as payment. You can put cash on your card at the CIC (Commons Information Center) desk in the Lobby of The Commons or put money on your campus card via myUMBC 

Alternatively, you can use the mobile print kiosks to print. Instructions on how to use the kiosks may be of help. A few notes about the kiosk:

• The printers can only print in black and white
• 8.5 x 11" (letter size) is the only size it prints - any other size will cause the printer to lock up/not print so be sure to check your settings.

Be sure to give yourself enough time to have your prints completed, we will do our best to assist you in a timely manner. There will be lines and wait times the day before and the day of the Career Fair - consider printing early!

This Friday: Worked-Out Accountability Club 

Feeling overwhelmed or struggling to start a new project?

Join fellow NDAG members for a Virtual Body Doubling (VBD) session. VBD is a productivity technique where working alongside peers helps anchor focus and improve accountability.

• When: Friday, February 20 @ 1 pm

• Platform: WebEx. Details Here

• The Vibe: We'll share goals for 3 minutes (verbally or in the chat), work silently for 50 minutes (cameras on or off, mics off), and check in for 3 minutes at the end.

• Be an Anchor: We want to do this more than once a month! If you would like to host a future session (camera on) please reach out to us.

NDAG Feature: Student Neurodiversity Club Mixer - March 5

Support the student Neurodiversity Club at their March mixer

UMBC's student Neurodiversity Club is hosting a mixer in Lower Flat Tuesdays for their members to build connections. Faculty and Staff are encouraged to drop in. 

• When: March 5. 4:30 - 8 pm

• Location: The Commons, Lower Flat Tuesdays

• The Vibe: There will be stations for board games, special interests, and more.

• Be an Anchor: The student group e-board would very much like for neurodivergent faculty and staff to drop in and show their support. 

National & Virtual Learning (AV Links Included)

The following events are hosted by external groups and are open via webinar.

Preparing Autistic Students for the AI Workforce: Weaving Technical Skills with Social-Emotional Learning

Autistic people risk being left out of AI careers—not due to ability, but because of communication differences and unspoken workplace norms. We describe an NSF-funded program that supports autistic community college students through a multi-week experience combining AI learning, communication practice, and social-emotional skill building, followed by internships.

• When: Thursday,  Feb 19 at 2pm EST

• What: Hosted by The College Autism Network

• RSVP:CAN research presentation

Lexxic Neurodiversity Celebration Week

This UK-based organization is hosting sessions that will showcase best practice in leadership, systems change, and scaling inclusion across workplaces, schools, and communities.

• When: March 15-21

• Sessions Include: Beyond awareness: Building the case for equity; Scaling support, reducing barriers; Leading the way: Neuroinclusive leadership in action; From process to practice: Embedding neuroinclusion in the employee journey; The future of neuroinclusion: Innovation, data, and impact.

• Details:Neurodiversity Week link

Your Ideas Wanted!

NDAG is an employee group. We encourage members to come up with their own ideas for sessions, guest speakers, or social hangouts.

• Have a suggestion? Reply to this post.

• Want to host? If you have a topic or a time for a body-doubling session you'd like to lead, let us know and we can discuss with you.

Opportunities & Research

"ADHD Unstuck," is a new tool from Understood.org and Northwestern University. This free, self-guided activity is designed to help women with ADHD boost their mood and build self-awareness. Get unstuck by learning why mood spirals happen. Try practical mood experiments. And build a personalized action plan of quick wins and strategies that stick.

Try "ADHD Unstuck" here: https://lnkd.in/d9aFPDmv