Then & Now—Home Sweet Home
The Retriever Weekly announces the new dorms opening in 1970. (UMBC Special Collections)
“Hey UMBC, and welcome to my crib!” That’s probably not verbatim what students said when UMBC’s first dormitories opened for students to call home, but there’s always a possibility. Starting from humble beginnings, UMBC opened its residential doors to the first cohort of 118 on-campus Retrievers on March 15, 1970. More dorms would follow, and apartments, and living learning communities, and here we are in 2025 with an on-campus population of approximately 4,000 Retrievers.
While some may take today’s dorm amenities for granted, a November 1969 edition of The Retrieverreports about the forthcoming dorms promising, “The new dormitories boast of many features not currently found in other residence halls. On-campus residents will enjoy wall-to-wall carpeting, numerous lounges and study facilities, and kitchenette facilities for snacks. Each room will have a telephone and individual climate control (air conditioning included).”
The phone and air conditioning were probably great perks, but what really made a lasting impression on the first residents were the intangibles. Tom Stewart ’74, psychology, remembers how much it bonded him and his friends to the campus.
“It was a bit of a ‘suitcase school’ back then, so when the commuters went home on weekends, we had the whole place to ourselves,” he said. “I was living on the other side of Baltimore and I knew I wasn’t going to get any kind of college experience if I continued commuting.”
Residing in a place of distinction, Stewart’s intramural football jersey hung proudly in the Dorm One lobby. Stewart, a close friend of photographer Nicaise, was the founding member of the Dorm Chargers team.
Making a home of their own
Much like the UMBC we know today, there was always an emphasis on making sure that students who lived on campus and those who commuted still had plenty of opportunities to interact through mixers, concerts, and movie nights, many of these being entertainment options still offered through Campus Life in 2025.
In addition to improving his social life, having a dedicated spot on campus to buckle down and do his work inspired Stewart to grow academically.
“When I started, I was just a slightly above average student, but things really kicked in for me at UMBC,” he said. “For some reason, this really seemed like the environment to take this whole academic thing seriously.”
Cathy Amaya ’26, business technology administration and media and communication studies, (seated on beanbag) loves living in the dorm with her built-in friends. “It always guarantees that you have someone to explore with and go on a few side quests.” (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)
During Homecoming 2024, a group of alumni from the 1970s, including Stewart, got together for a reunion tour of campus and had the opportunity to revisit some of their old haunts, including the dorms and the memories all came flooding back. Stewart and his wife Wendy ’77, sociology, agree that the friends they made at UMBC “are our lifelong friends.” And that’s something we can all agree on, no matter your graduation year.
All photos courtesy of Leo J. “Nick” Nicaise ’75, INDS, unless otherwise noted.
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The Retriever Weekly announces the new dorms opening in 1970. (UMBC Special Collections) “Hey UMBC, and welcome to my crib!” That’s probably not verbatim what students said when UMBC’s first...
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Fri, 30 May 2025 09:57:52 -0400
Fri, 30 May 2025 09:57:52 -0400
CBEE Students Present at AEESP 2025 Research and Education Conference
Sahar Souizi, Marylia Duarte Batista (Environmental Engineering Ph.D. students with Dr. Blaney), and Dr. Blaney attended the AEESP 2025 Research and Education Conference at Duke University from May 20-22. With over 1,000 attendees, the event featured oral presentations, poster sessions, plenary talks, workshops, and networking opportunities. Marylia presented her research titled “Development of hybrid anion-exchange resins with enhanced selectivity and capacity for (ultra)short-chain PFAS” in the “Advances in PFAS Treatment and Destruction” session. Sahar shared her work on “Sustainable nutrient recovery from poultry litter using an enhanced tube-in-tube Donnan dialysis system” during the “Resource Recovery from Waste Streams Towards Circular Economy” session. Both students enjoyed the opportunities to connect with fellow PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and professors in the field.
The conference also offered opportunities for reconnections, such as with Ouriel Ndalamba, a former undergraduate lab member now a PhD student at Princeton.
Additional details and links to Sahar and Marylia's submitted abstracts: https://lee-blaney.squarespace.com/news
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Sahar Souizi, Marylia Duarte Batista (Environmental Engineering Ph.D. students with Dr. Blaney), and Dr. Blaney attended the AEESP 2025 Research and Education Conference at Duke University from...
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Marylia Duarte Batista presents her research at AEESP 2025 Conference.
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Going up for tenure and/or promotion? Let us help!
Greetings, WFNers! It is that time of year again, when those of us going up for promotion and/or tenure are getting our materials together and drafting our statements. We'd love to help!
Please email Kate at
drabinsk@umbc.edu if you would like to have access to our database of self assessments written by faculty at every stage of promotion and tenure, whether on the tenure or lecturer track.
Also, if you have recently gone up for promotion or tenure and are willing to share your statement with others, please email it to Kate to add to our database.
Finally, let us know if you would like to be paired up with a reader for direct feedback. We pair up folks who are at the level you are aiming for, and it can be really helpful to have a pair of eyes that doesn't know a lot about your field, as committees are often diverse. Let us let you know what makes sense to a smart but general reader! We'll circle back near the end of the summer to make sure everyone gets the readers they need.
Happy summer from the Women's Faculty Network!
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Greetings, WFNers! It is that time of year again, when those of us going up for promotion and/or tenure are getting our materials together and drafting our statements. We'd love to help!...
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CAHSS Women's Faculty Network
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Sutton's proposal selected for 2025 UMBC CIDER Award
Jessica Sutton (617/UMBC) is the Principal Investigator on the proposal "Identification of Virga Precipitation Events," which was among the proposals selected in 2025 for UMBC CIDER funding. Her Co-Investigators are
Thomas Stanley (617/UMBC) and
Tejas Gokhale (Computer Science and Electrical Engineering/UMBC).
UMBC's
Center and Institute Departmentally-Engaged Research (CIDER) program's goal "includes supporting and promoting collaborative research between scholars based in one of UMBC’s affiliate centers and institutes and the university’s faculty researchers. Selected proposals are awarded up to $50,000 in seed funding for 18 months."
Dr. Sutton shared their project summary:
"Determining the causes of false detections from satellite-derived precipitation is of utmost importance due to the development and dependence of precipitation estimates in global water cycle modeling, weather forecasting, flood modeling, landslide hazard assessment, drought monitoring, watershed modeling, and climate modeling. One kind of false detection that needs to be addressed is virga or “dry precipitation events”. They are described as “dry precipitation events” because they are considered precipitation events that occur higher in the atmosphere but evaporate before reaching the surface. This means that every satellite-based precipitation product is affected by virga because of the way in which precipitation is derived from satellite remote sensors. Satellite-based precipitation estimates are derived from cloud temperatures, emission-based retrievals, and/or scattering-based retrievals. Regardless of whether satellite-based precipitation estimates are derived from VIS/IR, passive microwave, or both, they are derived from measurements within the atmosphere and not at the surface. As a result, any analysis or model that uses satellite-based precipitation as inputs is problematic.
The purpose of this collaboration is to (1) complete a proof-of-concept project to identify virga events using vertical profiles from ground radar and (2) apply for a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support future work. The proof of concept will include collection of a database of virga events at one radar ground station and building a machine learning tool for flagging virga events. The NSF grant will seek to determine the influence that virga precipitation has on global precipitation datasets and climate modeling."
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Jessica Sutton (617/UMBC) is the Principal Investigator on the proposal "Identification of Virga Precipitation Events," which was among the proposals selected in 2025 for UMBC CIDER funding. Her...
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gestar2
Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research II
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Jessica Sutton smiles and wears a blue sweater.
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Thu, 29 May 2025 15:27:57 -0400
UMBC Named Top Game Design School in Maryland by Animation Career Review
UMBC has been recognized as a leader in game design education in the 2025 Game Design School Rankings published by Animation Career Review. This marks the 12th year the rankings have been released, evaluating more than 150 schools across the United States.
According to the 2025 report, UMBC ranks:
The rankings are based on criteria such as academic reputation, admission selectivity, depth and breadth of programs, and graduate employment data. You can view the full rankings here and the methodology here.
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UMBC has been recognized as a leader in game design education in the 2025 Game Design School Rankings published by Animation Career Review. This marks the 12th year the rankings have been...
https://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-game-design-schools-and-colleges-maryland-2025-college-rankings
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Thu, 29 May 2025 14:39:36 -0400
Provost End-of-Year Wrap-up
Dear UMBC community,
As I reflect back on this past academic year, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Your dedication, creativity, and tireless commitment to our students and to one another have made this year a success in so many meaningful ways. On a daily basis, I am reminded about the critical role you play in making UMBC a great university and a wonderful place to work and educate.
This past year has seen considerable changes on the leadership team. I want to thank you for your patience as we continue to build a team capable of supporting UMBC 3.0 and serving the university community. This coming year we also will have over 60 new faculty members joining UMBC. We will highlight each of our new faculty members throughout the fall semester.
Whether you were teaching in the classroom, supporting students behind the scenes, conducting research, or helping keep our campus running smoothly, your efforts have made a lasting impact. I’m especially proud of the way our community continues to lead with inclusive excellence, creating a learning environment where every student, faculty, and staff member feels supported and valued.
Your work does not go unnoticed, and I hope you can take real pride in what we’ve accomplished together. As we head into summer, I encourage you to take time to rest and recharge. You’ve earned it.
Looking ahead, I also want to share a few updates regarding our fall academic schedule: beginning academic year 2025-2026, Thanksgiving Eve (the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving, this year, November 26) will be an administrative holiday for both faculty and staff. We hope this gives you a little extra time to rest and spend with loved ones during the holiday season. For faculty members with classes on Wednesdays, please be aware that you will have one less class session than in previous years this fall as the semester will start on Wednesday, August 27. While we initially planned to start on a Monday, we will not start on a Monday until AY 2026-2027 to allow for review and modifications (as necessary) of the faculty start/end dates of contracts as well as scheduling of activities prior to the start of the semester. Click here to see the fall academic calendar. Starting AY 2026-2027, the academic year will also include a Fall Recess (Monday/Tuesday in October, specific dates TBD) as recently approved by the faculty senate.
Thank you again for everything you do. Wishing you a restful summer and looking forward to all we’ll achieve together in the year ahead.
Warmly,
Manfred H. M. van Dulmen
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
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Dear UMBC community, As I reflect back on this past academic year, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Your dedication, creativity, and tireless commitment to our...
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Announcements - Faculty and Staff
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