The Maryland Historical Society seeks a full-time Associate Registrar for a three year period to assist the Director of Collections and the entire Museum Department to complete day-to-day registrarial tasks as well as assist in a large collection move. Successful candidates are detail-oriented, highly organized, self-motivated individuals who are able to think on their feet and to work both individually and as a member of a team. This position reports to the Director of Collections and works in coordination with the Museum staff.

Responsibilities

On UMBC’s second annual Giving Day last week, campus and social media buzzed with creative call-outs and challenges for 1,000 donors to participate in the 24-hour window. Mama’s Boys, True Grit, and other student-led entertainment drew a crowd to Main Street where the festivities celebrated the ongoing gifts rolling in, while different departments and athletic teams took to Twitter to playfully compete with each other, using car karaoke and other incentives to spur on supporters.

In typical UMBC fashion, students, staff, and alumni rallied to go well beyond the goal and by midnight, 1,554 donors had raised $106,906 to support an array of campus programs and scholarships.

So what did this Black and Gold Rush of philanthropy look like on campus and beyond?

Grateful Dawgs

The day underscored UMBC’s culture of gratitude and generosity. By 9 a.m. the University reached 25% of the donor goal, and while most of the giving was online, the IRL experience was just gearing up. Main Street in The Commons came to life as employees and student volunteers set up for a massive thank you card writing effort awash in black and gold. Students also participated in philanthropy trivia, earning prizes and snacks.

Soon hundreds of grateful notes filled the space. “I can achieve because you gave. I will achieve because you supplied opportunities,” wrote student Sam, ’21.

Chalese Cathran ’20, psychology and education, took part in the events and paused to consider the impact of donations as she wrote a thank you note to donors. “I learned that 54% of new freshmen receive scholarships. I’m one of those students. I didn’t realize how many of us there were.”

The Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund and the Scholars Programs were two of the top three recipients of donations, underscoring UMBC’s emphasis on providing resources for students to break through financial barriers. The Women’s Center was another program rewarded by their ongoing social media outreach, earning support from 78 individual donors.

Rising to the Challenge

“At one point, it felt like there was a gift coming it at every second,” said Joanne Meredith, director of annual giving, who credits the success of the day to involvement at every level. New to 2019 was the Quest, a game created to engage current students in the day’s activities. “This is going to be our next generation,” said Meredith. “Some of them now may be receiving scholarships or financial aid and this helps them understand why we do this Giving Day.”

The campus-wide game gave students clues to locations that featured a life-sized cut-out of mascot True Grit. After finding the correct spot and posing with philanthropy-related factoids, students from 26 different teams walked away with a better idea of the effect giving has on their student experiences.

One group of four was organized by Marygrace Reyes ’20, environmental science, who roped her friends into participating. “This gets me out there, having fun and being involved. And a free t-shirt,” said Nick Le ’21, information systems, joking that Reyes also rescued him from doing homework.

Navigating the Quest clues landed them at Lecture Hall 1, the entrance to The Commons, the Resource Learning Center, and the Residential Life office.

“This sounds really cliché, but I might actually go donate something,” said Lauren Chua ’21, mathematics and statistics, reflecting on what she learned during the Quest. “It doesn’t take that much time or money to help.”

In the 25 minutes it took Reyes and her friends to accomplish their task, the donor tally grew from 449 to 539, meaning the marathon surpassed half its goal right as the time hit the halfway mark at noon.

Raising the Bar

By 2:30 p.m., 75% of the goal had been reached but the day was far from over. The UMBC Swimming and Diving Team led the charge on social media and their supporters made a huge splash, earning the team the highest spot of the list of University ambassadors – as well as donors and dollars raised – for Giving Day.

While the whole UMBC community benefits from the philanthropic endeavor, an ongoing leaderboard tracked the top offices designated by donors to receive funds. Athletics encouraged donations with lively social media feeds that included car karaoke and other entertaining livestreams.

Other standout feeds worth following included the UMBC Bookstore, who highlighted staff and students in an impressive roundup of UMBC impact stories over the course of the day. The College of Engineering and Information Technology also stepped up to the plate, with Dean Keith J Bowman leading the charge, shamelessly using his pup Odo to elevate his college to fourth place in donors and donations.

As the clocked ticked down to midnight, support continued to pour in beyond the original goal. “UMBC is such a great community so this doesn’t surprise me, but when you raise the bar, they always jump to reach it,” said Meredith. “There is this grit here that leads to greatness.”

Unless from social media, all photos courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC Magazine.

The month of March is a favorite for Retriever Nation, with America East playoffs on the horizon and memories of UMBC’s 2018 March Madness victory on everyone’s mind.

This year, both UMBC’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will compete in America East postseason play. The winners will then go on to compete in the 2019 NCAA Championships at the end of March.

Tyler Moore ‘20, psychology,and graduate student Joe Sherburne ‘18, financial economics, are leading their teams on and off the court. These team captains have both been standouts in 3-point field goals, and have each earned 2019 Academic All-District 2 First Team (CoSIDA) honors.

Women’s basketball ready for America East quarterfinals

Janee’a Summers ‘21, psychology, joins Moore as co-captain of the women’s team. Even as one of the youngest teams in the nation—with no seniors this year—the team has finished the regular season strong to earn the No. 7 seed in the America East tournament.

Among this season’s most exciting contests, the Retrievers upset UAlbany in a late season game. Later on, with their playoff fate on the line, they won at New Hampshire, 55-47, to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

The Retrievers will take on second-seeded Hartford in West Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ (see game info). Students can enjoy the game with friends and popcorn at a watch party in the Sports Zone, also starting at 7 p.m.

Men’s basketball heads into postseason at No. 3

The 2018-19 season figured to be a challenging endeavor for the men’s team, led by head coach Ryan Odom. Standout guards Jairus Lyles ‘17, sociology; K. J. Maura ‘18, sociology; and Jourdan Grant ‘18, media and communication studies, completed their UMBC careers in 2018. The Retrievers’ phenomenal NCAA success in 2018 also assured they’d be considered a team to beat by this year’s opponents.

The Retrievers’ record stood at 9-9 and 1-2 in America East play in mid-January. Moreover, starting forwards Max Curran ’20, sociology, and Daniel Akin ’21 suffered season-ending injuries in December and January respectively. But the tide soon turned.

With a strong defense, the team earned ten wins in the final 13 games. UMBC defeated eventual regular season champion Vermont twice in that span, including a 65-56 win before a national television audience (ESPNU) at the UMBC Event Center on February 21.

To cap the regular season, UMBC rallied from an 18-point second half deficit to defeat New Hampshire, 56-53, on March 2. Freshman guard José Placer’s 3-point field goal with 2.4 seconds left on the clock punctuated the comeback.

As a result, UMBC earned the No. 3 seed in the America East Tournament and will host No. 6 UAlbany at the UMBC Event Center on Saturday, March 9. Students are invited to a pre-game social in the Sports Zone, starting 11:30 a.m. Tip-off time is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tickets are now available online for both students and the general public. 

Featured image: UMBC team captain Joe Sherburne during a game against Vermont. Photo by Gail Burton.

This article was written by Steve Levy, UMBC Athletics.