Dear Colleagues,

Since the beginning of 2025,  faculty members across the university may have experienced disruption to their research, teaching, and service activities due to White House executive orders and federal actions. In light of these ongoing impacts, we are continuing modification of protocols surrounding promotion and tenure reviews for the AY 2026 – 2027 cycle.

Faculty research may have been impacted in various ways: stop-work orders to federal grants; inability to access datasets or databases housed in or sponsored by federal agencies; or challenges in travel to present their work at national or international conferences or conduct international research. 

Also, there may have been potential impacts on the faculty’s ability to hire students and staff to support their research using federal support. In other instances, faculty members’ community-engaged scholarship, teaching, and service may have been severely impacted due to programs being curtailed in both the public and private sectors and due to lack of resources to conduct the work. 

Faculty whose scholarship and teaching could be categorized as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) may have to spend considerable time navigating the current political climate in the process of conducting and publishing their work.

Provost's modifications of tenure track faculty and librarian faculty promotion protocols: AY 2026 – 2027 Cycle

To address the potential impact of  executive orders and federal actions related to research funding, curtailment or termination of DEIA initiatives, and related topics on faculty’s research, teaching, and service, the following modified protocol will be continued in academic year 2026 – 2027 faculty promotion and tenure (P&T) reviews. These modifications will be communicated to each level of P&T review through the provost’s annual P&T instructions, through the deans’ instructions for the development of letters to external reviewers, through the provost’s charge to the University Faculty Review Committee, and in deliberations made by department promotion and tenure committees.

1. If there have been any impacts on their research, teaching and/or service as a result of the executive orders and federal actions, candidates for P&T review are encouraged to reflect on such impacts in their self-assessment.

If the candidate mentions impacts in their self-evaluation: 

2. Every level of review, including outside reviewers, must consider the described impact of such executive orders and federal actions on the usual progression of our faculty towards promotion and tenure when evaluating both the work performed during this period of disruption and their potential as a scholar after promotion and/or tenure when performing on- and off-campus activities.

3. Each level of review must include a Statement of Affirmation that their review, and all previous levels of review, has taken into full consideration the impact of executive orders and federal actions beginning in 2025 on the candidate’s progression. 

[I] affirm that [my] review took into full consideration any impacts of current executive orders and federal actions on [X’s] candidacy.

If it is determined that any prior level of review has failed to do so in a way that may have resulted in negative consequences for the candidate, the current level of review shall inform the provost in their own report.

4. All letters providing guidance to external reviewers must include the following statement regarding the impact of executive orders and federal actions on P&T recommendations. 

When considering your recommendation regarding this P&T decision, please make sure to consider any potential disruptive effects described by the candidate associated with recent federal executive orders and federal actions impacting research, teaching, and service. This impact might include, but it is not limited to, the termination of federal support or faculty’s inability to present at conferences outside the United States. 

This statement recognizes the impact that current executive orders and federal actions might have on the research, teaching, and service of faculty going up for promotion and tenure.

This policy applies to the academic year 2026 – 2027 review cycle. The Office of the Provost will provide additional guidance for any promotion and tenure modifications in subsequent cycles as the impact of the executive orders and federal actions evolve. 

Sincerely,

Ana Oskoz
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Watch your email, myUMBC and Blackboard for notifications regarding online Student Course Evaluations beginning April 28th. 

The survey window for Spring 2026 is April 28th through May 12th. 

The secure online system grants students 24/7 access during the evaluation period. Surveys must be completed before the May 12th deadline. 

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

See the IRADS website and Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

Hi Honors Students,

Before getting down to the business at hand, we need to thank the Honors College Council's Executive Board of 2025-2026 for giving us such a fantastic year of events! Special appreciation goes to our graduating seniors: President Vunnathi Ankem, Social Media manager Kayla Nemirovsky, and External Events chair Isabel Kendall--we will miss you!

And what is the business at hand? VOTING! Click here to access the ballot and to see who is running for what--there are some great candidates to choose from. Note that some people are running for more than one position, so read carefully!

Thank you in advnace for voting :-)

Circa 2016

Hey everyone,

Our second range trip of the semester will be on Sunday, May 17th at Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore in Marriottsville. Range opens at 9:00 and we will be there until the early afternoon.

The range is located at 11518 Marriottsville Road, with the entrance located just past a turn onto Wards Chapel Road. There's parking space for guests immediately inside the entrance from the road. See here for directions from UMBC.

We expect to have access to three lanes, with one person in each at a time. Guests must check in at the range house, provide a photo ID, and pay a $20 fee.
Range rules can be found here. Make sure to give them a look and reach out if you have any questions. We will have a few extra sets of ear and eye protection if you need it.

Finally, make sure dress appropriately. No open-toed shoes and check the weather beforehand.

Thanks, we hope to see you there!

Join EESA for our Buna time GBM! Another relaxing GMB, to chill, chat with friends while enjoying some snacks! Bring your friends and come out on Wednesday, March 11, in ILSB 116B at 7:30 PM for a night you won't forget! 

Date: Wednesday, April 29
Location: ILSB 116 B
Time: 7:30 pm

Click here to follow our Instagram Page!
Click here to see our TikTok and Linktree Page

Wrap up the semester with a Karaoke Night this Thursday! 🎶There will be free snacks, games, and plenty of fun so come sing your heart out and celebrate the end of the semester with us!

Hello all,
We have only 2 weeks left of club before finals roll around. And due to timing, this week is our final Workshop of the semester, focused on letting you all bring in any pieces you've made to receive critiques and see what works, what doesn't, and how we can improve our writing.

We ask that you bring in pieces that can be read in less than 20 or so minutes, this being so that others can properly go over your piece as well as give others a chance to get feedback on their own work. Take the time to read your piece at a normal and relaxed pace and see if it might be too long for what this session will be about. Your piece can be any length, but we'll only go up to 20 minutes if it's long.

As for our final meeting next week, we usually go silly and have something fun, especially with how close finals are at the time. This semester our final meeting will be a PowerPoint Party.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, participants bring to the meeting a PowerPoint they will present on any topic they want (and we mean any). It could be about your favorite book you've read; the lore you've written for your story; the different varieties of Crocodilians; necklaces that Marie Antoinette wore throughout her reign that belong in the dumpster; all the childhood cartoon characters that turned you into a furry; whatever you want to present on, from well-known to hyperniche.

A writer needs to be able to present an idea to their audience in an effective, time-efficient, and captivating way, so consider this practice for your own writing skills.

Some rules and guidelines for the presentation

• Try to keep your presentation under 15 minutes, both so others have time to present and because people can really start to lose interest by that length.
• We're all college adults so we can handle mature things, but don't do something pornographic or like that. Be smart about this.
• The more pictures, the better
• Themes are always great
• Good tools to use are Google Slides, Prezi, PowerPoint, Canva, any sort of presentation tool

Just like with our normal meetings, you don't have to actually bring something to attend the meeting. This is fully optional

Hello, Community! 

Did you graduate in December '25, or are set to graduate in May '26? Are you a user of The Gathering Space, and/or a member of any faith or spirituality-based organization on campus?  
Want to be recognized at our End of Year Sending and Celebration on May 13th from 5pm-6:30pm in CWB 103?

Sign up here by May 11th!

This is a friendly reminder about the upcoming UMBC Institute of Politics event for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month:

Politics Everywhere: Understanding the AAPI Vote

The event explores Asian American and Pacific Islander political engagement and voting behavior, featuring a keynote address and panel discussion with AAPI leaders in Maryland.

📍 Skylight Room, The Commons
📅 Wednesday, May 6, 2026 | 6:45–8:30 PM

Free to attend, but an RSVP is required, and space is limited.

Please see the attached flyer for more details and RSVP here: https://politics.umbc.edu/aapi/