Blackboard course shells for Summer 2026 were created on April 16, 2026.

All Summer 2026 courses listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), regardless of designation as lecture, lab, etc, or instructor assignment, now have a Blackboard presence. RT requests are no longer needed for research, independent study, or practicum courses. As new course sections are added to the SOC by Department Scheduling Coordinators, corresponding Bb shells are automatically generated overnight. 

• If you are an instructor and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please contact your Departmental Scheduling Coordinator to resolve the issue. Once you are listed in the SOC, your access to the Bb course shell will be updated automatically.

• If you and your Department Scheduling Coordinator believe you are correctly assigned as the instructor of record in the SOC and you do not have access to your course shell in Blackboard, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket via my.umbc.edu/help.

Course Merge Request Process

As announced by DoIT in April 2025, instructors teaching multiple sections of the same course will find a separate Blackboard course shell for each section or course component. Courses will not be merged by default. Instructors planning to use separate shells will no longer need to submit an RT request. Cross-listed and combined courses will be merged automatically. Courses with multiple components will not be merged by default.

Course shells may be merged or removed upon request using the new Blackboard Course Merge or Removal form(UMBC login required), which we recommend submitting at least one week before the semester starts, if not as soon as courses are created in Blackboard. NOTE: Courses should not be merged or split after student grade data and engagement activity is recorded, since it will be purged as part of the separation process.

Create an Inclusive & Accessible Course Environment

Plan your accessibility and Universal Design for Learning strategy before students begin working with course materials. Ally, an accessibility tool, is enabled in all course shells. Ally automatically scans uploaded and created course content, then performs a series of steps to make that content more accessible. Please review the Ally FAQs for more information about the accessibility indicators on course content andalternative formats, or attend an upcoming training session.

UMBC instructors are invited to "enroll" in the self-paced, online Course Roadmap to Equity (CoRE) Foundations training, which provides practical tools to achieve the ‘Strive for 85’ digital accessibility goal -- an overall Ally course score of 85% or better by the end of 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
• UMBC Digital Accessibility| Ally FAQs | Ally Demo | Ally Report (VPN required)
• PIVOT | Academic Continuity |Keep On Teaching |Student Technology Resources

The 2026 UMBC Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey was launched! Information gathered from the survey will be used to inform our ongoing education, prevention, and response work, and is an important component in campus-wide efforts to stop, prevent, and remedy the effects of sexual misconduct at UMBC.

All students who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing to win one of five $100
UMBC Bookstore gift cards.

You can access the online survey here. The survey will be open from Wednesday,
April 15 until Thursday, April 30, and will take about 15-25 minutes to complete.

This survey is anonymous and confidential. After completing the UMBC Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey, you will be prompted to enter your name and email address in a separate voluntary survey to enter for a chance to win one of the gift cards.

Content note: This survey asks some questions about personal experiences with sexual and
interpersonal violence. Some of the language used in this survey is explicit and direct and
may be triggering or uncomfortable for some participants. Information on how to get help, if you need it, appears before and after the survey and is available on the ECR website.

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Shared from the Office of Equity and Civil Rights. 

Reminder that we will be having a meeting today from 4-6 PM at the Harbor MPR, and if you are interested in the picnic to fill out the form below. We hope to see you all there!

https://forms.gle/kWWGjkex7pwK4adM8

This event is part of the daylong Global Asias Symposium & Celebration on Monday, May 4! Full information is available on myUMBC and the event website.

Join us on Monday, May 4 for a celebration of the many accomplishments of the Global Asias Initiative here at UMBC! The Global Asias Initiative, a three-year initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation, has created a forum for engaging in conversations in the fields of Asian American Studies, Asian diaspora studies, and Asian Studies. The Initiative has has created connections across disciplines, institutions, organizations, and communities here on campus and beyond. 

Welcome & Belonging and Community Luncheon: Conversations on Asian experiences at UMBC
Monday, May 4
11:00am-12:30pm

Join us for our Belonging and Community luncheon to kick off the Global Asias Closing Symposium, which is dedicated to the power of storytelling, creative expression, and community. We will share personal stories through art and reflection to celebrate the joy, calm, and cultural heritage that sustain us. From these individual stories, we will build a shared vision of grounded community and understanding of Asian experiences at UMBC. Through a series of collaborative art activities and dialogue, we will turn our hopes for connection and belonging into a visual representation of our future at UMBC. Hosted in partnership with the Mosaic Center, the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and the Office of Residential Life.

Location: Fine Arts Room 011
Lunch is Provided

*

This events are open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

See the original post and RSVP here. 

Hear ye, hear ye! Word from the castle: Mini Hack Registration is closing today at 11:59pm!

Reminder:

Join us for a 12-hour Mini Hackathon where you can sharpen your skills, enjoy free food, and compete for a chance to win a Nintendo Switch 2!

📅 Date: April 18th, 2026

🕗 Time: 8am – 8pm 

📍 Location: ITE 231, 233, 237

Whether you're a seasoned coder or just starting out, this is your chance to gather your courage, show off your cunning, and build something amazing. Glory, growth, and grand rewards await those bold enough to enter! Use the link below to secure your spot on this adventure!

Come out and be part of the fun! We hope to see you there!

Mini Hack Sign-Up Link

Sign up on the Visual Arts myUMBC post

Friday, May 1
2-3:30 PM
AOK Library Gallery

Taking migration as a central premise, artist Wei Leng Tay will share about modes of narrative-making in her art. From her beginnings in journalism to her current practice, she will speak about shifting ideas and uses of representation and materiality in relation to the photographic medium. She will discuss ways migration moves through some of her works, from topic to medium to form. The Other Shore, a photographic and interview-based audio work, tells a story of a new generation of mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong. you think it over slowly, slowly choose…, considers statelessness through the materiality of the photograph. Works in Untitled (family slides 60s-70s) question how the objecthood of photographs shape the ways personal and collective memory converge, and how photographs can constitute ideas of history. Through these examples, Tay will surface the complex relationships between history, embodiment, and representation entangled with the photographic image. 

Bio

Based in Singapore, artist Wei Leng Tay works across photography, video, and installation and explores constructions of identity, memory, and history through her practice. Her works draw on long-term engagements with individuals, families, and communities, and include research into photographic archives, interviews, and collaborative processes. Central to her practice is a sustained inquiry into the medium of photography through its materiality, modes of circulation, and communicative possibilities. By working at the intersection of the intimate and the structural, Tay unpacks the complexities of belonging, displacement, and the politics of representation, bringing attention to what it means to be human within today's shifting political and cultural contexts.

Originally trained in biology at McGill University, Tay's early professional experience was in photojournalism, working as a photo editor and photographer for news organisations such as TIME Magazine's Asia edition in Hong Kong. This background continues to inform her inquiry into the instrumentalization of photography and the politics of image-making. Tay later completed her MFA at Bard College and has since developed a practice that bridges research, pedagogy, and collaboration. She was most recently a lecturer of art practice at Yale-NUS College and remains invested in teaching as a form of knowledge exchange and artistic inquiry.

This artist talk is supported by the Department of Visual Arts and CIRCA, with additional support from the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery, the Asian Studies Program, the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture (CADVC), and the Global Asias Initiative.

The bi-annual Art Symposium and Exhbition hosted by the Association of Black Artists (ABA) will be here soon!

From ABA (check out their group page too!):

It's HERE! Join ABA for our bi-annual Art Symposium and Exhibition, Cover to Cover, on Monday, April 27th at 6:30-9pm on University Center, 3rd Floor. Come out for a night filled with music, artistry and love (and light refreshments) as we support the artists showcasing their work!

We encourage attendees to dress as though they are attending their own Cover Photoshoot (aka Cover Shoot), in coordination with our theme. However, we welcome everyone to come no matter how dressed up or down, as your presence and support are the most important part! We are so excited and can't wait to see you there!

The Accounting Club is officially opening elections for our Fall & Spring E-Board! If you're passionate about accounting, leadership, and building community at UMBC, we want to hear from you.

Open Positions:

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Becker Ambassador

Interested in running? Fill out the application form using the link below. The form closes on April 27th at 12:00 PM.

Accounting Club E-Board Interest Form 2026-2027

Election Timeline:

• April 27 @ 12 PM — Application form closes
• April 28 — Voting form sent out
• May 4 — Voting closes
• May 8 — Results announced

Part I of an Introduction to Generative AI in Teaching Series.

This session introduces UMBC faculty to the basics of generative AI and its implications for teaching and learning. It focuses on AI literacy by examining what these tools are, what they can and cannot do, basic prompting, ethical and responsible use, and how they may impact classroom practice. Faculty will see short demos of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Faculty can get more information and register here.

This is a repost from the Division of Student Affairs Assessment myUMBC group. Please refer to the original post for the latest information.

Please share with students!

Calling all undergraduate and graduate students! The Division of Student Affairs (DoSA) Strategic Plan Steering Committee is developing its strategic plan for the next three years and we need your input! On Monday, April 20 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. stop by Lower Flat Tuesdays in The Commons for free breakfast snacks, beverages, and to offer your feedback about the student experience and how DoSA can better support you. Commuters, we will also have a table at Good Morning Commuters on April 21. 

If you can't stop by, please check out our survey between now and April 24 to provide your thoughts. We want to understand how you define student success, your experience as a student, how our division can do better, and to see if our anticipated strategic plan priority areas meet your needs.

Attached is a document with more info about the departments that make up our division, our draft strategic priority areas, and the questions we want to know more about. We look forward to your insights!