Hi everyone!

We're so excited to see you all back on campus for the new school year! We have a lot planned and will be sending out updates very soon regarding Open Play schedules, Competitive Team tryouts, social events, and tournaments. 

In the meantime, please make sure you complete these two important steps:

1. Register on DSE - this is mandatory to participate in club activities. Even if you have created an account in previous years, you MUST update your profile and re-register for the club.
2. Register on Schoolyard Social (SYS) - this is where you will register for our club and be able to sign up for future events.

More details are coming soon, so keep an eye on our Instagram and GroupMe for updates!

We're looking forward to another great year of pickleball with everyone!

To ensure the best possible connectivity experience on campus, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends two primary wireless networks tailored to your needs.

1. Retriever Home (For Residents Only)

Retriever Home is a secure, encrypted network designed specifically for UMBC residence halls to provide a private, "home-like" experience.

• Best For: Connecting all your personal gadgets in your room, including gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo), smart speakers (Amazon Alexa, Google Home), streaming devices (Roku, Apple TV), wireless printers, and mobile devices.

• The Advantage: Unlike standard enterprise networks, Retriever Home allows your personal devices to "see" and communicate with each other, making it easy to print wirelessly or use smart home features.

• How to Connect: You must log in to myUMBC to generate a unique personal WPA2 password. For easy-to-follow instructions, see our Retriever Home FAQ’s. 

2. Eduroam (For All Students)

Eduroam is the preferred, high-speed encrypted wireless network available in all academic and administrative buildings.

• Best For: Laptops, tablets, and smartphones used for coursework, research, and general browsing across campus.

• The Advantage: It provides robust WPA2 Enterprise encryption for superior data security. Additionally, once configured, your device will automatically and securely connect at thousands of participating educational institutions worldwide without needing new credentials.

• How to Connect: Simply run the eduroam configuration tool and follow these easy step-by-step Eduroam instructions to set up each of your devices.
  
  

Need Configuration Assistance?

For detailed setup instructions, troubleshooting tips, and FAQs, please visit our official support page at https://help.umbc.edu or contact the DoIT Technology Support Center.

Picturing Pluralism

Applications are due by September 9, 2026

Call for Nominations: Join the newly launched Center for Religion, Spirituality, & Pluralism and other students, staff, and facultyat UMBC as we use photos to explore how religious, secular (non-religious), and spiritual identities shape our community! Take quick snapshots of campus life as we celebrate diversity, explore difference, and better tell our story(ies).

Important Note: No photography experience is needed, and participants with religious and non-religious (secular) identities are invited to participate!

Please use this form to nominate yourself or someone you know to participate.

About the Project: Picturing Pluralism is a semester-long photography, conversation, and dialogue project that will take place during the Fall 2026 semester with a cohort of 40-50 students, staff, and faculty. CRSP will be partnering with Interfaith Photovoice to guide this group-curated project, with an official gallery opening on Wednesday, December 2nd in the AOK Library Rotunda Gallery. All participants will receive a $250 Retriever Dollars at the conclusion of this project.

Picturing Pluralism seeks to lift up the experiences that campus community members have with the idea of pluralism, which CRSP defines as "engagement with religious, secular, and spiritual diversity towards a positive outcome." This project aims to help lift up UMBC's value of Inclusive Excellence through visual storytelling as we uncover the spaces and moments where our campus community connects across difference. Though this project will emphasize religious, secular (non-religious), and spiritual identities, participants will be encouraged to explore other important social identities and how these identities intersect as they find and create spaces for belonging and meaning-making on campus. 

Time Commitment:

1. Take part in one 1-hour Cohort Introduction Meeting during the week of September 14.
2. Attend a two-day, in-person workshop during UMBC's Fall Break (October 12-13) to discuss, explore, and curate these photos.
3. Share your photos in a curated exhibit to culminate the project on December 2. 

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Earlier this week, UMBC announced that UMBC Transit would begin using the Token Transit mobile app for boarding and introduce paid passes for faculty and staff.

We have heard your feedback. A change of this significance requires adequate advance notice, clear context, and an opportunity for community engagement. We apologize for not providing the notice and context this change deserved.

Effective immediately, we are pausing the Token Transit mobile boarding system and the newly announced faculty and staff fares. UMBC Transit is returning to its previous boarding process, and faculty and staff may continue to ride at no additional cost by presenting their UMBC ID.

Any faculty or staff member who has already purchased a pass will receive a refund within 5-7 business days. No action is required.

The goals behind this work remain important: to modernize our boarding process and ensure that UMBC Transit remains accessible, reliable, and sustainable for the future. During this pause, we will review the app experience and implementation process and engage members of the UMBC community as we determine the best path forward.

We expect to revisit the transition to a mobile boarding system in the future. Any future decisions affecting transit access or fares will include community engagement and will be communicated clearly and well in advance.

Thank you to everyone who shared feedback. We apologize again for any confusion caused by the earlier communication and appreciate your patience as we work to determine the best path forward. Questions about the rollback or refund process may be directed to transit@umbc.edu or 410-455-2454.

Sincerely,

Renique Kersh, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs

Picture a student logging into your course for the first time. They see a homepage with six modules, a syllabus buried two folders deep, and no indication of where to start. So they click around. They open the syllabus, close it, open a module, back out, and eventually give up and email you: "Where do I find the first assignment?"

That email isn't a sign that the student isn't trying. It's a sign the course didn't tell them what to do first.

The good news: fixing this doesn't mean redesigning your course. It means being deliberate about the first five minutes -- the handful of choices a student makes before they've decided whether this course, and this instructor, are going to be manageable. Here's how to make those minutes count.

1. Tell students exactly what to do first. 

Navigating an unfamiliar course shell creates immediate cognitive friction; vague directives like "explore the course" heighten ambiguity and executive function stress. Direct, sequential micro-steps such as "Read the syllabus, watch the two-minute tour, then post your introduction" remove guesswork and streamline onboarding. 

• Put it at the top: Place instructions at the very top of your course landing page, not buried inside a syllabus PDF. Providing explicit start-up instructions supports structured, low-friction onboarding, which is a documented best practice in course design (Quality Matters, 2023) and reduces extraneous cognitive load by structuring task demands early (Sweller, 1988). 

• Number your steps: Use a numbered list so students can visually track and check off tasks as they complete them. Sequenced task design supports self-regulated learning and executive functioning. 

2. Introduce yourself like a person, not a policy. 

Online environments can easily feel transactional. A short video or warm greeting introduces an authentic human connection before diving into administrative rules.

• Clarify communication: Share your preferred name, title, and primary contact methods, such as email, web conferencing, and phone number. 

• Add one human detail: Share your teaching philosophy, passion for the discipline, or a brief personal interest. Establishing early instructor Social Presence within the Community of Inquiry framework increases course satisfaction, instructor approachability, and overall student persistence (Garrison et al., 2000).

3. Give a quick tour of the course itself. 

A 3- to 5-minute screen recording demonstrating where the syllabus, assignments, and grades live saves students from a week of trial-and-error frustration.

• Keep it brief: Focus strictly on essential navigation. Research in Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (2005) demonstrates that concise video overviews prevent cognitive overload while orienting learners spatially. 

• Reinforce with low stakes: Pair the video with a brief "scavenger hunt" assignment. Interactive orientation tasks build early digital self-efficacy, ensuring students master Blackboard mechanics before facing high-stakes academic tasks. 

4. Invite students to introduce themselves, too. 

Once students meet you, offer a simple, low-barrier way for them to share their own voices in the learning space.

• Keep it low-pressure: Use a brief discussion thread, short survey, or light icebreaker. 

• Build early community: Peer interactions in week one establish early social integration without heavy academic strain. Cultivating a psychological sense of belonging early in the term is a primary indicator of online student retention (Rovai, 2002). 

Why It’s Worth the Effort

None of this requires new tools -- just gathering what you likely already have into one obvious, clearly labeled spot. Confident students will move through it quickly, while students who need extra support get the exact scaffolding they require. Either way, you will field significantly fewer "Where do I find..." emails during the first week of class!

UDL & Accessibility in Practice

Providing a predictable, structured onboarding experience directly supports Universal Design for Learning (UDL) -- specifically, reducing unnecessary cognitive load and anxiety while clarifying expectations to support executive functioning. Establishing a clear visual hierarchy also supports digital accessibility navigation standards.

Ready-to-Use Templates & Next Steps

Don't start from scratch! Grab this pre-formatted template to adapt for your course:

• Copy: Course Navigation & Syllabus Scavenger Hunt Activity - This Google Doc can be adapted as an assignment or Blackboard quiz. Clicking this link will copy the template to your Google Drive.

• Blackboard Template: Every UMBC Blackboard course includes a Start Here area that you can customize! It's also prepopulated with essential links and helpful resources. 
  Image: UMBC's default Blackboard template provides a convenient Start Here area for instructors to customize.
  

• Additional Tools You Can Use

  • Blackboard Learning Modules & Folders, Documents, and Web Links
  • Announcements (text or video), Discussions & Quizzes
  • YuJa video recordings

Need help getting started? Visit our FAQs, submit a ticket through RT, or request a one-on-one consultation with our team.

-----

References

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00016-6

Mayer, R. E. (2005). Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp. 31-48). Cambridge University Press.

Quality Matters. (2023). Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric (7th ed.). Download the Rubric from UMBC Box (login required).

Rovai, A. P. (2002). Building sense of community at a distance. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 3(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v3i1.79

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4

Looking for Private Accommodation Near UMBC – Starting October / Dec. 18–21

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for a private accommodation near UMBC starting in October. Ideally, I would like to have a lease beginning around October, as my mom may be visiting around that time and would need a place to stay close to UMBC. It is not 100% confirmed whether she would be coming or not.

I will also need the accommodation for December 18–21, as I’ll be attending UMBC Commencement on December 18 and have a flight on December 21 at 9:20 PM. After December 18, I am no longer allowed to live on campus.

I’m specifically looking for an entire private place where I can stay by myself, with no roommates or shared accommodation (such as a studio, apartment, guest suite, etc.).

My mom may be coming to attend my convocation, although her arrival date is not confirmed yet. If she comes, she would likely stay with me and leave on December 20, the day before my flight. So ideally, the accommodation would be suitable for 1–2 guests.

Preferred areas: Catonsville, Arbutus, Halethorpe, or somewhere reasonably close to UMBC.

If you have a private place available starting in October, or know of one, please DM me with the location, availability, lease terms, and price.

Thank you!

Every morning this summer, junior biological sciences major Magdalen Ruth made her way to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda—a dense hub of biomedical research. There, at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, she helped investigate a genetic mutation in a patient with a rare form of juvenile arthritis known as Still’s disease, connecting her UMBC training to work that could improve patients’ lives. She is one of four CNMS students whose recent internships at Maryland-based companies and agencies show how local opportunities are helping Retrievers build skills, find mentors, and advance discoveries that matter here and beyond.

“I feel like I’m doing really important work,” Ruth, a Meyerhoff and U-RISE scholar, says. “Getting to know the patient’s diagnosis and being able to see that what I’m working on is affecting an actual person in real time has been awesome.” The internship has confirmed her interest in pursuing a career in pharmacology. It’s also stretched her communication skills. While familiar with presenting her work to colleagues in Deepak Koirala’s lab group at UMBC, communicating her research to a mix of researchers and clinicians—who don’t all share the same jargon and expertise—taught her the nuance of communicating with technical and non-technical audiences. 

The Meyerhoff community helped make the opportunity possible. “I would not be in the place I am without Meyerhoff,” she notes. On campus, Ruth balances research and leadership as vice president of the STEM Ph.D. Society, a student-run organization designed to help students connect with scholarships, internships, graduate schools, and more. She also takes dance classes, is pursuing a music minor, and volunteers at her family’s Catholic parish—nurturing connections that ground her amid rigorous academic work.

Protecting lives, growing a career

Mark Harrison, a senior biological sciences major who started in chemical engineering, is in his third summer at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), a U.S. Army installation in Aberdeen, Maryland. His work involves designing and testing gas masks, bridging his early engineering training and his understanding of physiology. “I’m able to bring an understanding of what a warfighter may be experiencing in their body while wearing a gas mask in a way that others at APG may not,” Harrison says. 

His mentors at APG, Jon Sampson ’03, mechanical engineering, and Edward Parshley ’06, chemical engineering, value the perspective Harrison brings and have supported his growth. “They made it clear that they want to reach back and offer opportunities to those coming behind them,” he says. They are making good on that commitment: Harrison will stay on board at APG this fall, and the plan is to transition him into a full-time position after he graduates in December. “They were always asking me what I wanted to learn and then giving me related opportunities,” Harrison says. “I could ask anyone how something worked, and they’d take the time to explain it to me. I’m so grateful for the way they’ve invested in me.” 

Interning in a fast-paced, interdisciplinary environment has also changed how Harrison operates in the classroom. “I learned how to learn at APG,” he says. “Now I don’t have to spend as much time studying, because when I leave class I already have a good understanding of the material. I’m connecting the dots so much better than before.” For Harrison, the work has taken on personal meaning, as well. “I’m fighting right now to try to protect American lives—that’s why I’m here.”

Translating discovery into treatment

Zainab Idowu, a senior biochemistry and molecular biology major and a Meyerhoff Scholar, interned at pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in Gaithersburg, Maryland, joining a robust group of Retrievers who’ve grown their skills there. Her project involved testing flow cytometers, which count and characterize individual cells and are used in manufacturing cell therapy treatments. Her goal was to determine the instrument and protocols that would be simplest and most effective for manufacturing teams to implement. The experience shifted Idowu’s focus toward translational medicine and reinforced her plans for an M.D./Ph.D. after UMBC. But the people around her made the biggest impression.

“I love everyone on my team,” Idowu says. “My managers, Ashley Ruddy and Jen Fox, were really insightful—giving me advice on what I want to do post-grad and what I should do my senior year to make sure I’m well-positioned for after graduation.” And when she had questions, the collaborative atmosphere showed her how scientists work together. “They were able to give recommendations and point me to scientific literature to help me along,” she says.

Opportunities through Meyerhoff gave her the chance to connect with AstraZeneca staff, which helped her secure the internship. “I was able to talk to them about my passions for research,” she says. Roles with UMBC’s chapters of the Society of Women Engineers, the international professional medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the African Students Association have also enriched her UMBC experience. These organizations, she says, offered “a place to be ourselves, find new friends, and really build a home here at UMBC.”

The benefit of seeing both sides

Saeed Damadi recently defended his Ph.D. thesis in applied mathematics after beginning in electrical engineering. This summer at the FDA, he developed a mathematical model for how illicit drugs taken during pregnancy transfer to the developing baby through the placenta—increasing important understanding in a situation where human testing would be profoundly unethical.

While the math was familiar, Damadi welcomed the new challenge of jumping into biology. “I learned so many things, and I am still learning,” he says. Yet he found that his interest in how to describe randomness mathematically, which led him to complete a master’s in statistics on the way to his Ph.D., was highly relevant to studying the quirks of the human body. Looking ahead, he wants to continue work at the interface of biology and mathematics. 

“Hopefully in the future I can make a contribution by bridging fields,” Damadi says, “because you can computationally simulate millions of parameters and patients at once, which makes the rate of iteration and discovery much faster.” The work Damadi and colleagues do with simulations can help effectively target limited resources for expensive and lengthy clinical studies, he explains. 

Damadi and his wife, Sepideh Hematian, M.S. ’23, data science, and a former data scientist at the Maryland Department of Human Services, are planning to build their lives in California. They are both thriving, but “sometimes I get emotional thinking about UMBC,” Damadi says, “because after I arrived nine years ago from Iran, it became like a home to me and my wife.”  

Damadi has given back through his teaching. As an engineer, “I just learned how to use the mathematical tools without understanding what was going on behind the scenes,” he says. Whereas, in math, “you learn the origins of all the theorems and how they work, but not necessarily how to apply them. I feel super lucky to get to see both sides.” So, in undergraduate calculus and linear algebra courses, “I just wanted to explain to my students, ‘Why do you need these equations? Why are they important?’ and give them a feeling of gratitude.”

Gratitude threads through all four of these journeys—for mentors who reach back, for teams that invest in their members, for communities that feel like home, and for the chance to do work that matters. As Magdalen Ruth at NIH puts it, “I’ve just found myself in a great spot with UMBC. I feel really blessed to have had all the opportunities I’ve had. Being able to do these internships has seriously been great.”

Fall 2026 Paid Internship: Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY)

Job title: General Intern

Location: Remote or hybrid, Washington DC

Classification: Temporary, part-time, non-exempt

Organization: Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY)

Due: Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis

Position Available: September 28, 2026

Overview of the position:

The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth is hiring an intern for the Fall 2026 term! Founded in 2009, the CFSY works to ban juvenile life without parole in the United States and create opportunities for those directly impacted by extreme sentencing to thrive and lead.

Interns work up to 19 hours a week in a part-time position for a 12-week term and assist the CFSY staff by responding to letters from incarcerated individuals, assisting with communications projects, and performing program support and administrative tasks.

College credit eligibility can be provided upon successful completion of the internship.

Over the course of the employment period, interns will become familiar with national and state efforts to end juvenile life without parole and other extreme sentences for children. 

The Fall 2026 Internship will be remote or hybrid.

The intern reports to the Outreach & Advocacy Associate and works across each department over the course of their term.

Compensation, Benefits, and Culture:

The hourly wage for this position is $18.40. This position is temporary, part-time, and non-exempt; the Intern will work up to 19 hours/week for 12 weeks.

Click here to learn more!

Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery Fall Semester Hours begining August 24

Building, Study Spaces, and Circulation Desk

Monday - Thursday: 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday: 12:00 PM - 10:00 PM

The Atrium and Retriever Learning Center (RLC) are available 24/7 to current students, faculty, and staff. Swipe your Retriever Card for access after hours.

Public Services

Digital Media Lab

Monday - Thursday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
On-call and appointment service available from 6-8 PM.
Friday: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Research Help Desk

Monday - Thursday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Select Sundays: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
August 30; September 13 & 20; October 4, 8, & 25; November 8, 15, & 22; December 6 & 13

Research Help Chat

Monday - Thursday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Select Saturdays: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
August 29; September 12, 19, & 26; October 3, 17, & 24; November 7, 14, & 21; December 5 & 12
Select Sundays: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
August 30; September 13 & 20; October 4, 18, & 25; November 8, 15, & 22; December 6 & 13

Alan & Wendy Wilson Innovation Lab

Monday - Friday: 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Library Gallery

Monday - Wednesday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday - Saturday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday: 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Special Collections Reading Room

Monday - Wednesday: 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Thursday: 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Friday: By appointment

Hello everyone! 

We hope to see you there!