The Dresher Center for the Humanities invites applications for a Residential Graduate Student Research Fellowship for Spring 2026. Funding is intended to support and promote promising research in the humanities by graduate students at UMBC. The fellowships are open to all UMBC doctoral and master's level students working on humanities-related research projects that will culminate in a dissertation, master's thesis, or capstone project.  Proposals will be reviewed by the Dresher Center Advisory Board, with decisions on Spring semester fellowships by mid-November.

Fellows will receive up to $3,000 ($1,500 can serve as a stipend while the other $1,500 should be used for research travel, materials, or other directly-related research expenses). They will present a session as part of the CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now series and attend the Humanities Forum and other Dresher Center events and workshops. The Dresher Center will allow fellows to work in Center office space, as available.

After the fellowship semester, fellows will submit a summary of the work accomplished during the semester, as well as a statement on the progress made toward the completion of their dissertation or thesis.

The application for Spring 2026 fellowships is due November 15. Submit proposals and research advisor letters of support to dreshercenter@umbc.edu.

For more information and guidelines, click HERE. 

As The Retriever barks back to life after several years, Ann Tropea, assistant director for engaged media in the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and Arpa Shahnazarian, The Retriever's editor-in-chief, are sharing the story of the paper’s revival in The Nutgraf, a Substack newsletter about student journalism, and presenting at MediaFest, the nation’s largest gathering of media students and their advisers.

Tropea, hired in 2023 to advise and help revive The Retriever, heard from students that WMBC, UMBC’s student-run online radio station was also in need of support, and set out to bring them into the Retriever newsroom. Students from Bartleby, UMBC’s creative arts journal since 1972, were looking for more connection to campus and soon became part of a unique student media collective.

In The Nutgraf article, “Three student media groups merged. Their budget tripled,” Tropea and Shahnazarian describe how the Student Media Collective came to be, including the transformation of the abandoned Retriever newsroom and the invitation to WMBC, which Tropea also helped revive, and Bartleby to share the space. Transformed “...into a bustling hub of collaboration….The move not only revived their physical newsroom but also tripled their budget, secured stipends for previously unpaid students and created a unified voice for student media on campus.”

At MediaFest, Tropea and Shahnazarian will share the Student Media Collective’s story in their presentation, “How to build a media center in 547 days”: “Here’s how we turned an abandoned newsroom into a hub of media production through a strategy of relationship building and radical co-creation in order to unite and revitalize three different media groups on UMBC's campus.” 

The Student Media Collective is a charter student organization with a shared constitution. It is governed by an executive board of six students, two from each publication. From The Nutgraf: “There is no hierarchy within the executive board,” said Tropea, who serves as a non-voting advisor. “It’s all collaborative and run on consensus.”

You can also catch Tropea and Shahnazarian’s WMBC show, “AA Batteries,” on Fridays at 3 p.m. 

Read more about the Student Media Collective in UMBC Magazine.

Read more about Tropea in UMBC Magazine’s “Meet a Retriever.”

thumbnail caption: Tropea and Shahnazarian (front) with members of the Student Media Collective and Dr. Renique Kersh, Vice President for Student Affairs

Where did the ghost get their Halloween costume? At a bootique.

Choice will host a costume pop-up closet--a bootique--for neighbors in Cherry Hill (south Baltimore City) on Saturday October 25, 2-4 p.m. We hope to have 100 costumes to distribute. Do you have any butterfly wings, crowns, super hero get-ups that you would like to donate? I would love to take them off your hands. All sizes welcome.

I have a box outside of my office in Shriver: Public Policy (PUP) 116. Please feel free to drop them off until Thursday, October 23.

Thanks to the many student organizations who are supporting this effort including Sisterhood who held a bake sale to buy ones! And thanks to Division of Professional Studies/Shriver colleagues who have been generous too. 

Why Cherry Hill? It's our mothership! Choice was founded in Cherry Hill in 1988. It's our only residential neighborhood-based office. 

WordPress Accessibility Day is a 24-hour global event dedicated to promoting and learning best practices for creating accessible WordPress websites. Originally started in 2020 by the WordPress Core Accessibility Team, this independent, volunteer-led initiative brings together developers, designers, content creators, and users worldwide to ensure websites are usable for everyone, regardless of ability.

Why Accessibility Matters
An accessible website ensures that people with disabilities—and those using assistive technologies—can fully engage with online content. Accessibility also benefits broader audiences by improving readability, usability on mobile devices, translation accuracy, and overall user experience. Accessible websites truly benefit everyone.

Event Details

• Link to Register 
• Date: October 15, 2025
• Format: 24-hour virtual event featuring presentations from accessibility experts worldwide
• Cost: Free to attend with live captioning and ASL interpretation provided

Learn more and register for WordPress Accessibility Day!

UMBC Commitment to Accessibility
At UMBC, the Office of Accessibility and Disability Services is committed to fostering digital accessibility in all online spaces. As you participate in WordPress Accessibility Day—or create content of your own—we encourage you to review our Six Essential Steps for Accessible Digital Content.

Together, let's make accessibility a shared responsibility and celebrate WordPress Accessibility Day by building content that works for everyone.