This year, the theme for Black History Month is "African Americans and the Arts."  When discussing health, wellness, and well-being, art is an essential component for many people.  Whether the medium is music, paint, literature, film, or any other forms of artistic expression, art allows people to express their emotions and find themselves in the art of others.  It plays a role in helping break down stigma around mental health and treatment and it also brings joy into people's lives.

For some, creating art can be an expression of their own struggles with mental health or bringing to light the struggles that others might face.  In his song "u," Kendrick Lamar puts his own experiences with depression and suicidal ideation into his music.  Painter Malik Roberts created the "Blk & Blue" show at the ABXY Gallery and through his work demonstrates how PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges manifest within African American communities as a result of historical and environmental factors.  In her memoir "Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression," Nana-Ama Danquah shares her experience with Postpartum Depression, its impacts on her life and relationships, and what it means to survive.  

Creating art can be a powerful coping mechanism for some, the act of creation allowing healing to occur.  But even if someone isn't comfortable creating themselves, the act of consuming art can be healing as well.  It might be looking at or listening to art about mental health, like some of the examples above, but it could also be consuming any sort of art that brings joy into someone's life.  A song or movie doesn't have to talk about mental health to lift the spirit and help create a sense of well-being.

Art also has the capacity to help break down stigma surrounding mental health without having to explicitly be about mental health.  By incorporating characters who experience mental illness and real reactions to difficult life events, people are able to see pieces of themselves reflected back and understand they are not alone.  Romance author Talia Hibbert incorporates real, well-rounded characters into her books, like "Take a Hint Dani Brown" who experience challenges with their mental health, but aren't defined by it.  Even wildly popular movies like Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" and "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" help destigmatize different experiences with grief and loss, showing that there is more than one way to cope with the challenges that people face.

While art can be a key component in mental health treatment, it is certainly not the only avenue people are able to utilize.  Retriever Integrated Health can support Black and African American students through our free and confidential counseling services, as well as medical services.  Students can connect to our services by calling (410) 455-2542 or scheduling an Initial Consultation appointment through the RetrieverCare portal.  The Maryland Department of Health also has compiled a list of Mental Health Resources for the Black Community that students can access to support themselves and their families on their mental health journeys.

So as we celebrate African Americans in the arts this month, we also celebrate how the black community has embraced and utilized art as a way to speak to mental health and a healthy inner life.

UMBC has been awarded a $30,000 Advancing Religious Pluralism Grant by Interfaith America to "further interfaith cooperation and learning on campus." The grant will allow Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion, and Belonging (i3b) to expand their interfaith infrastructures and, in collaboration with campus partners, to strengthen strategic plans, programs, initiatives, resources, and staff development across the University in order to equip students to engage across lines of religious differences in contributing to a sustainable and thriving democracy.

Matt Hoffman, assistant director in i3b, manages the Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being and is serving as team leader for this initiative. The team includes Dr. Ciara Christian, M.A. '18, Ph.D. '22, acting director of i3b; Darcie Adams '23, M.P.S.'25, i3b graduate assistant in the Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being; Dr. Renique Kersh, vice president for student affairs; Tanyka Barber, chief diversity officer and vice president of institutional equity; Dr. Laila Shishineh, director of Academic Engagement & Transition Programs; Rev. Kiran Sankhla, UMBC Hindu chaplain; and Aliza Silverman, interim director of UMBC Hillel.

Hoffman explains, "As i3b has grown its diversity, equity, and inclusion work, the two-year-old Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being in the Center for Well-Being has become the hub of religious and spiritual life--during a challenging time when increasing interfaith understanding and collaboration is more important than ever. While intentional interfaith work has been one focus in i3b, we recognize the need to develop new sustainable programs and educational opportunities that support our undergraduate and graduate students. Our goal is to create hallmark curricular programs that teach skills and provide a laboratory for students to learn how to create and facilitate interfaith conversations and programming.

"The timing for this grant is excellent as UMBC begins to develop a strategic plan that includes broad plans for students' comprehensive belonging and cross-cultural competency development, including leveraging the institution's compositional diversity in order to increase cultural and global competencies of students; promoting student health and well-being; and increasing opportunities for applied learning experiences," Hoffman adds.

UMBC will use the grant to develop two programs:

The UMBC Interfaith Fellows Program will be a stipended year-long fellowship program, with curricular (non-credit) and co-curricular experiences to develop student leaders committed to engaging across religious and spiritual traditions. It will also serve as an entry point for students who identify as spiritual but don't necessarily connect with a religion or defined worldview. Through a series of weekly meetings and campus-focused projects, students will gain practical and theoretical experience to develop communities committed to justice, dedicated to lifting up diverse identities and energetic pluralism. Fellows will be responsible for shaping campus culture to make interfaith engagement a campus norm. The capstone experience will be an opportunity for participants to lead a series of interfaith programs on campus, aimed at applying their skills and knowledge to address the growing, shifting, pluralistic community at UMBC and how the institution can continue to develop proactive systems to develop graduates to address emergent issues.

The UMBC Bridge Builders Program will be a semester-long program focused on dialogue across differences, related to pressing global issues in religious/spiritual spaces. In this weekly program, a small group of students will develop skills and competencies connected to dialogue, identity exploration, and community building that center restorative practices. Each Bridge Builders series will focus on one contemporary, contentious issue connected to religion and spirituality. Bridge Builders will proactively address such needs through the creation of an intensive, relationship-building dialogue-centric program. Participants will commit to a semester of engagement, developing relationships and skills for dialogue before engaging in a specified topic of conversation. This dialogue program will engage in the work of restorative practices to help participants learn how to respond and engage after harm has been done. 

Interfaith America's mission is to inspire, equip, and connect leaders and institutions to unlock the potential of America's religious diversity. Interfaith America seeks partnership with campuses who recognize that American colleges and universities have a unique role and responsibility to help our communities and our nation explore and learn how to embrace differences while maintaining a common life together.

Poll Everywhere recently launched a new Attendance Management tool, which is available to users with a presenter role in Poll Everywhere. Using geolocation, Attendance Management allows instructors to track in-person attendance when students check-in and respond to polling activities. This feature is part of a beta release for the Spring 2024 term; Instructional Technology will gather feedback from instructors and students using Attendance Management during this period.

Join Instructional Technology on February 26th for our upcoming Explore Poll Everywhere Attendance Management Tool webinar. We will demo the Attendance Management tool and other Poll Everywhere settings to support academic integrity.

Enable Attendance Management

Instructors may access and enable Attendance Management from the My Activities panel or their Poll Everywhere profile settings. Up to 10 geofence locations may be added to an instructor's profile to match their teaching locations.

Image 1. Access Attendance Management from the profile and add check-in locations.

Student Check-In & Location Data

When geolocation is enabled, Poll Everywhere will prompt students to check-in before they may respond to polling activities. If geolocation is enabled and a student does not check in to the physical location check-in point, their responses will still be recorded for participation, but they will not receive credit for attendance. Students who check-in successfully and respond to polling activities will receive credit for both attendance and participation.

Image 2: Student view of check-in prompt.

Important

Student location data is not stored by Poll Everywhere and instructors are not able to see student location data, other than to view a "checked-in" or "not checked-in" status. Additional information about student and instructor privacy is available in the Poll Everywhere Attendance Management privacy statement and privacy policy.

Poll Everywhere Resources

For Attendance Management resources, please see our FAQ articles:

• How do I manage Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (instructors)
• How do I check in for Attendance with Poll Everywhere? (students)

For additional Poll Everywhere information, please see our Poll Everywhere FAQ collections:

• Poll Everywhere for Students and Participants
• Poll Everywhere for Instructors and Presenters

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
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

Good afternoon,

I am writing to let you know that I have accepted a new position as the business manager for the Administrative Shared Services Center, effective February 12. This position is not a NESS-eligible position. Consequently, I will be stepping down as the president of the Non-Exempt Staff Senate. 

Helena Dahlen, as Vice President, will be stepping into the role of President for the remainder of the academic year.  Barbara Smith, as Treasurer, will be stepping into the role of Vice-President.

These changes will leave an opening for the position of treasurer for the remainder of the academic year.  Please email Helena if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else for this role and there will be a vote for the position at the February 14th meeting.  Please note that the senate members eligible for nomination are NESS's current senators.

Additionally, I will be attending the meeting on February 14th to review the last bit of information and updates I have for our group.

It has been a pleasure working with each of you. I look forward to seeing anyone that can attend the meeting next week.

Best,

Desiree