The USM Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation shared the resources from the Ready, Set, Accessible! Fall Course Prep Day.

Held on August 3rd, this half-day virtual event was designed to help faculty take practical, manageable steps to improve the accessibility of their courses before classes begin. Whether you're updating an existing course, preparing new materials, or looking for a realistic place to begin, these resources offer concrete strategies, examples, and tools you can apply right away

Session 1: Digital Accessibility 101: A Coffee Chat Refresher 

Nancy O’Neill, Executive Director, Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, University System of Maryland

• Digital Accessibility 101 (YouTube recording) 
• Digital Accessibility 101​​ ​(slide deck)Digital Accessibility 101

Resources Shared: 

• Accessible by Design: PDF Practices that Promote Digital Accessibility
• Boosting Course Accessibility Faculty Fellows Call for Applicants
• Course Accessibility Self-Paced Guide
• WCAG 2.1 Guidelines 
• USM Digital Accessibility Checklist 

Session 2: Before You Assign It: Checking Course Materials for Accessibility

Haley Cristea, Instructional Designer, Salisbury University

• Before You Assign It (YouTube recording) 

Links Shared: 

• How to Create Accessible PDFs (when necessary) 
• Color & Contrast Quick Fix Guide 
• Coloring for Colorblindness 
• WebAIM Color Contrast Checker 
• YouDescribe (Audio Description for YouTube) 

Session 3: The 10-Minute Assignment Makeover 

Teresa Valais, Senior Instructional Designer, Towson University

• The 10-Minute Assignment Makeover (YouTube video recording) 
• The 10-Minute Assignment Makeover (Presentation Slides) 

Links Shared: 

• CAST UDL Guidelines 
• TILT Higher Ed Website 
• AI Prompt Template for Assignment Redesign 
• UMBC Academic AI Resource 
• TILT Resources for Teachers 

Session 4: Sense-Sational Design: A Full Spectrum Approach to Accessible, Inclusive and Interactive Learning 

Karen Silverstrim, Instructional Designer, Salisbury University

• Sense-Sational Design: A Full Spectrum Approach (YouTube video recording) 
• Sense-Sational Design: A Full Spectrum Approach Presentation Materials 

Links Shared: 

• CAST UDL Chart 
• Karen Silverstrim’s Website/Portfolio 

All recordings will also be available on the Digital Accessibility Hub in the coming days.

Watch your email, myUMBC and Blackboard for notifications regarding online Student Course Evaluations beginning August 10th.

The survey window for Session One (12 week) and Session Two (6 week) Summer 2026 is August 10th through August 14th 11:59pm. 

The secure online system grants students 24/7 access during the evaluation period. Surveys must be completed before the August 14th deadline.

Survey results available to instructors after Summer 2026 grades are posted.

The Mentor newsletter for Summer 2026 is now available!

 The Mentor is the MD State Retirement & Pension Agency's newsletter for Active members. The newsletter provides news, information, and legislative updates.

 The Summer 2026 edition of The Mentor features: 

• How and why employees in the Pension should set up their mySRPS account.
• Tips for how to properly fill out paperwork.
• Awareness of the rules regarding reemployment for retirees.
• The importance of making sure your beneficiary information is up to date.

Have you signed up for your mySRPS account? The mySRPS account allows members to access their current account balance, update their beneficiary information, run estimates of their future monthly benefit, and much more! 

The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System administers death, disability and retirement benefits for more than 430,000 members and retirees. 

Name: Vinodhini Vijayakumar

Pronouns: She/her

Semester of Internship: Summer 2026

Major: Information Systems

Current Class Level: Master's Student

This semester I completed a(n)...: Internship

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site (Company/Organization Name): Tata Consultancy Services

Location of the Organization (City, State): Edison, NJ

Title of position: Software Engineering Intern

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities:
At TCS, I’ve had the opportunity to work on the eSigner team supporting a Citibank data migration and analysis project where I develop Python scripts to validate and compare large datasets between legacy and target systems. My daily responsibilities include writing and testing code, troubleshooting data inconsistencies, collaborating with cross-functional teams to understand Citibank’s business requirements, and presenting findings to stakeholders. What stands out most is how my mentors have guided me through every step from initial code reviews to architectural decisions making each task a learning opportunity rather than just a checkbox.


Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I found the TCS internship through LinkedIn, and was impressed by their focus on mentorship and ownership of real projects. I applied the same day and received an immediate response from the hiring team, which is great confirmation of TCS's commitment to talent development.

What resources did you use to find your current experience?
LinkedIn or other social media

What have you enjoyed the most about your position and organization?
The mentorship has been exceptional. My team leads and senior engineers invest genuine time in my growth they don’t just assign tasks, they teach the “why” behind every decision. The positive, collaborative culture at TCS makes coming to work energizing. I’ve also appreciated how the organization trusts interns with meaningful projects that directly impact real clients, which made me feel valued from day one.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
I’ve developed Python scripts that automated data validation across multiple address fields, reducing manual checking time by hours and catching inconsistencies that would have caused migration issues. More importantly, I’ve created documentation that helps other team members understand the analysis process, extending the impact of my work beyond the project.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Don’t just chase big company names, seek mentors who genuinely care about your development. Ask questions constantly, volunteer for projects outside your comfort zone, and maintain a positive attitude even when debugging takes longer than expected. Your attitude and willingness to learn matter more than your current skill level.

Whether you’re a new or returning undergraduate student, transfer student, or graduate student, welcome to the fall semester at UMBC!

The Career Center team is excited to support all UMBC Retrievers throughout your career journey. Whether you’re exploring majors and career options, preparing a resume, looking for an internship or job, getting ready for an interview, building your network, or figuring out what comes next, we’re here to help.

Meet with the Career Center

We offer both in-person and virtual appointments Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.–5 p.m., with select evening appointments available.

Schedule an appointment:

• Online through Handshake- simply click Career Center in the menu bar to schedule your appointment.
• By phone at 410-455-2216
• In person at the Career Center, Math/Psychology 201

Need Quick Career Help? Stop By!

No appointment? No problem! Drop-ins are available Monday through Thursday from 2–4 p.m.

These 15-minute, in-person sessions are perfect for:

• Resume and cover letter reviews
• Handshake questions
• Quick career questions
• An introduction to Career Center resources and services

Simply stop by Math/Psychology 201—no appointment needed.

Make This Semester Count

The Career Center is offering a full lineup of career fairs, employer events, workshops, networking opportunities, and industry programs throughout the fall semester. Whether you’re searching for your first internship, preparing for graduate-level opportunities, looking for a full-time position, or simply starting to explore what’s possible, there’s something for you.

Don’t wait until you need a job to connect with us. Get started early, explore your options, and make the most of your UMBC experience. We hope to see you soon!

HANDSHAKE

Handshake is UMBC’s official career platform. Use Handshake to schedule appointments, register for career events, and explore hundreds of internships, jobs, and on-campus opportunities.

Jump to:

Hours & Contact Details

In-Person & Virtual Appointments

Workshops & Events

Internship & Job Search Support

Prepare Your Documents: Resumes & Cover Letters

Hello everyone!

Retriever Essentials will be closed tomorrow (8/10/2026) for relocating back to our space.

We apologize for any inconviences, and will see you on Tuesday!

Blackboard's August update is one of the bigger releases we've seen in a while, touching grading, navigation, assessments, and course workflows all at once. Here's what's changing, organized by where you'll notice it first.

Grading & the Gradebook

The biggest change in this release is a rebuilt Gradebook Grid View. Since the gradebook is where most instructors spend the most time in Blackboard each week, this one's worth knowing: instructors get a reorganized layout and a new way to manage grading tasks, arranged so you spend less time hunting for the right cell and more time actually grading.

Image 1: Example of redesigned Blackboard gradebook featuring streamlined grid view

• Learn more: Redesigned Blackboard Gradebook Hub

• Sign up: Navigate the New Gradebook (8.14 or 8.19)

Navigation & Course Content

Blackboard also reworked how students and instructors move through course content. The four changes below are small individually, but they touch every course, every day. Faculty and students alike should notice fewer wrong turns and mis-clicks once they adjust:

• Full pages, not panels: Learning modules, folders, and individual items (documents, assessments, links) now open as full pages instead of sliding panels.

• Breadcrumbs: New breadcrumbs on content pages show exactly where you are within a course's module and folder structure.

• A clearer exit: The purple "X" for closing content is replaced with a labeled exit option in the navigation banner.

• Home button, redefined: Selecting Home from inside a course now takes you to the Courses page.

Image 2: Content now opens as a full page with consistent headers and breadcrumb navigation, rather than as stacked overlay panels. The exit option now sits within the navigation banner, reducing accidental page closure.

Assessments & Student Engagement

Two changes aim to help students stay focused and on schedule: a new focus state reduces the chance a student wanders off mid-quiz, and a new to-do list gives students one place to see what's due, which may mean fewer "I didn't know this was due" emails in your inbox.

• Focus state for tests and assignments: When students begin a test or assignment, navigation and visual distractions minimize automatically. Grading and assessment functionality don't change, and students can still navigate away if they need to.

• A student to-do list: A new "Your Top To Dos" component on the Courses page surfaces up to five of a student's most urgent, deadline-driven tasks across all their active courses.

Workflow & Collaboration Tools

A handful of updates cut down on repetitive setup work for faculty running content-heavy or group-based courses. None of these change what you can do in Blackboard, but they change how long it takes to do it, and for anyone managing group projects or long-running discussion boards, that adds up:

• Duplicate content items: Instructors can now duplicate items directly on the Course Content page, retaining all original content and settings (LTI items aren't supported for duplication).

• Faster group setup: Drag and drop now manages group membership, and instructors can create multiple groups at once instead of one at a time. This is a real time-saver in large courses.

• Discussion sorting: Instructors and students can sort discussion posts newest-first or oldest-first. The chosen order is remembered per discussion, applies to nested replies, and works the same on mobile.

Image 3: Instructors can drag and drop students to assign them to a group.

Also New This Release

• Export question banks: Instructors can export a question bank to their local device to back up content or share it for reuse across courses.

• Targeted answer feedback: Students now see answer-level feedback only for the multiple-choice options they selected. Instructors still enter feedback for all options the same way.

• Journal-based release conditions: Instructors can set release conditions based on a journal's submission status, supporting more personalized learning pathways.

• Automation sender control: Anyone with automation editing permissions can now set who automated messages appear to come from, separate from who authored the automation.

When can you expect the update?

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around August 8, 2026. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on August 11, 2026; release notes will be posted to the What's New in Ultra page. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Blackboard.

For additional information about the latest updates to Ultra, and to get a sneak peek at upcoming releases, please register for our Discover What’s New in Blackboard for Teaching & Learning FA2026, scheduled for Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

Connect with Instructional Technology

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

• Check our extensive FAQ collection

  • What's new in Ultra? |Known Issues

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult with instructional technology staff

It's not too late to complete your required internship this fall! While most of our internal internships are closed, there are still external internship opportuntities available. If you secure a fall internship and want to count it as your required experiential learning you must register for PBHL 470 or 471 during the semester you complete your internship hours. If you have secured an internship, are looking for an internship, or want to be on the waitlist for new internships for this fall you can fill out the Google Form to indicate your interest.

Spring internship applications for internal partners are also open! Fill out the Google Form befor Novemeber 1st to apply for internal positions. Look for our Internship Information sessions in early September for more information on the internship process for Public Health majors.

Internship registration for PBHL 470 and 471 is limited to Public Health majors but minors are welcome to use the internship resources on the SAPH website to complete a non-credit internship. Don't forget to check out the UMBC Career Center website as well!

https://www.bcpl.info/blog/2026/support-librarys-school-supply-drive

I have some items from home that I will be dropping off to this school supply drive in the upcoming weeks.  If anyone has personal items of this nature they no longer need, bring them to me in the TRC and I'll drop it all off in one haul.

Items on the list:
Book Bags / Backpacks
Colored Pencils
Crayons
Dividers
Erasers
Folders
Glue/Glue Sticks
Highlighters
Markers
Notebook Paper
Pencils
Pencil Case
Pens
Post-it Notes
Rulers
Three-ring Binders

If you're willing to bring the items to the TRC, I'll load them up in my van and drop them off.  Just drop off your stuff in TRC 105 or 105A.  Email me to schedule a time, if you'd like.

NOTE:  This is NOT for UMBC-owned items, which must remain with State Government operations.

All,

The building and pehaps the campus overall seems to have experienced a sudden but transitory increase in the pH of the water during the past 7 - 10 days. I'm going to suggest that everyone flush both their purified water (RO) and domestic water at the laboratory sinks for the next few days before use. 

I have scheduled Hydro to replace the high capacity resin and carbon tanks for the building RO to address any residual issues for the purified water, that work will be completed on Tuesday 8/11. The system should be available while that work is completed. Until that time, give all taps in the building at least a few minutes to flush.

I have never seen anything like this before, but we have seen the same issue occuring in at least one other building during the same timeframe. 

Never hesitate to report anything anomolous you see in the building. If you think something seems weird in the building, it's worth investigating.

Thank you!