* WE WILL MEET IN ROOM ADM 1005. 

If you need to connect virtually, please email Thania at munozt@umbc.edu 

Meet and Greet with President Valerie Sheares Ashby Wednesday, February 19th. 12:00-1:30 pm.

Hope to see you there! 

The State Wellness Program is here to motivate, inspire, and educate employees through monthly wellness webinars (live and on-demand), healthy challenges, guided meditations, wellness coaching, and much more. 

Highlighted webinar: 

Tuesday, 2/11, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Building Wealth in the Black Community

Closing the racial wealth gap isn't a simple fix, but many experts say that financial education is a great way to start. In this easy-to-follow workshop provided by MetLife, you will gain insight into the importance of credit scores, life and disability income insurance, investing, and legacy planning.
Register for 2/11 Building Wealth in the Black Community

Mindful Mondays: Finding Joy

Monday, 2/24, 11:00 am - 11:30 am: The Benefits of Positivity at Work

Adopting a positive mindset at work has been shown to help you stay motivated, work better with others, make good decisions, recognize opportunities that come your way and more. Learn how to put a positive spin on work to truly appreciate what you do! 

Register for 2/24 The Benefits of Positivity at Work

Tuesday: Dishes to Make Your Taste Buds Dance!

Tuesday, 2/18, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Decadent Chocolate Brownies

Valentine's Day celebrations continue! These moist yet chewy brownies with a perfect crispy-crackly top are gooey in all the right places and come together in a snap. Harvard researchers found that the flavonoids in chocolate support heart health!
Register for 2/18 Decadent Chocolate Brownies

Healthy U Wednesdays: Love Your Heart

Wednesday, 2/12, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Heart Healthy Diet

Nutrition is a controllable factor that can help keep your heart in tip-top shape. In this webinar, you'll get tips on how to easily add healthy and delicious foods that are within your budget.

Register for 2/12 Heart Healthy Diet

Wednesday, 2/19, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Stress and Your Heart Health

While stress may not directly cause heart attacks, it can lead to high blood pressure, increased plaque buildup in arteries, and reduced blood flow to the heart. All of these increase your heart attack risk. This webinar presents more information on how stress impacts heart health and suggestions for stress management.

Register for 2/19 Stress and Your Heart Health

Wednesday, 2/26, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Sleep and Your Heart Health

Sleep plays a crucial role in heart health and getting enough quality sleep is essential. In 2022, the American Heart Association added sleep to their checklist of health and lifestyle factors for good heart health. Learn more about the relationship between heart health and sleep and get recommendations for better quality sleep.

Register for 2/26 Sleep and Your Heart Health

Thursday Wellness Focus:  Show Your Heart Some Love!

Thursday, 2/13, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Cholesterol and You

Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in your blood. Your body needs cholesterol to build healthy cells, but high levels of cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease. Learn how to prevent and manage high cholesterol. 

Register for 2/13 Cholesterol and You

Thursday, 2/20, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: What the Heart Wants

Give your heart what it wants - good health! Join this engaging webinar led by a physician to discover how to maintain a healthy heart and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Register for 2/20 What the Heart Wants

Thursday, 2/27, 11:00 am - 11:45 am: Heart-Healthy Smile

90% of systemic conditions like heart disease impact oral health, and the reverse is true - oral health issues can negatively impact heart health. Learn more about this fascinating relationship and ways to manage oral health for optimal health outcomes.

Register for 2/27 Heart-Healthy Smile

Fridays: Guided Meditations for Heart Health

Friday, 2/14, 11:00 am - 11:15 am: Daily Practice for Love and Happiness

What better day than Valentine's Day to remember that we all want the same thing - to be loved! In this guided meditation, you'll experience appreciation and love for yourself and others. This will be so uplifting that you'll want to practice this every day of the year!

Register for 2/14 Daily Practice for Love and Happiness

Friday, 2/21, 11:00 am - 11:15 am: Mind Appreciation

Express wonder and appreciation for your miraculous mind and the variety of thoughts that flow through it. Express gratitude for its complexity such as its ability to understand, process, and reflect what has happened and what your future will bring in this enlightening guided meditation.

Register for 2/21 Mind Appreciation

Friday, 2/28, 11:00 am - 11:15 am: Giving Gladness to Your Heart and Mind

Offer gratitude and kindness to your thinking mind to bring it a sense of peace. This peace will benefit your heart as your heart beat slows and your breathing deepens. Enjoy this opportunity to give gratitude to your thinking mind - your heart and mind will thank you back!

The State Wellness Program is here to motivate, inspire, and educate employees through monthly wellness webinars (live and on-demand), healthy challenges, guided meditations, wellness coaching, and much more. 

Let us support you as you embark on your heart health 2025 Thrive Journey!

Fridays Special Heart Awareness webinars!

Friday, 2/14, 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Healthy Heart

A healthy heart is essential to a healthier life. During this presentation, Nurse Kathleen will explain the importance of making certain healthier choices known to improve heart health.

Register for 2/14 Healthy Heart

Friday, 2/21, 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Understanding Heart Disease

Nurse Kathleen will share the signs and symptoms of heart disease, the risk factors that contribute to developing heart disease, and how to support your heart health.

Register for 2/21 Understanding Heart Disease

Friday, 2/28, 11:30 am - 11:45 am: Heart Healthy Nutrition

The DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) eating plan is a healthy way to nourish your body and prevent cardiovascular disease. The DASH plan may even lower your cholesterol in as little as two weeks! Join Nurse Kathleen to learn how to make heart healthy eating fun, delicious and affordable by incorporating the DASH plan.

Register for 2/28 Heart Healthy Nutrition

Public Policy Professors Nancy Miller, Zoë McLaren, Mir Usman Ali, and student Zach Starr published a new working paper with the Retirement and Disability Research Center at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

The paper "Assessing the Prevalence of COVID-19 and Post-COVID Condition in Adults with Disabilities in the United States: A Systematic Review" explores how COVID-19 impacts the health of people with disabilities compared to the general US population, through a systematic literature review.

Read more here.

These financial webinars are open to all Faculty and Staff, regardless of your retirement plan or vendor. 

Classes can be postponed (or canceled) due to inclement weather, utility and infrastructure breakdown, widespread illness, or other emergencies. By preparing a Go Online (GO) Kit, you’ll be ready to transition seamlessly when in-person classes aren’t an option. Here are five steps to help you stay on track.

1. Stay connected and up-to-date on issues impacting whether your class might get canceled or postponed.

• Sign up for UMBC Emergency Alerts to receive text notifications about closures, delays, or campus-wide emergencies.
• Follow Campus Announcements on myUMBC to stay up to date on any university-wide decisions affecting classes.

2. Identify instructional technologies you can use to support content distribution, active learning, and assessment.

• Familiarize yourself with instructional technologies that support academic continuity using online teaching strategies and tools,
• Blackboard for content distribution, assessments, and discussions.
• Web conferencing tools (Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex) for live class sessions.
• Panopto and VoiceThread video recording for asynchronous lectures.
• Cloud storage (Google Drive, Box, or OneDrive) for large file sharing.
• Other instructional technologies
• Test your setup in advance -- check your internet connection, explore Blackboard and other instructional technologies, and practice using web conferencing tools so you can troubleshoot issues to minimize disruptions when switching to online instruction.

Name: Sairam Bokka

Pronouns: He/Him

Semester of Internship: Summer 2024

Major: Cybersecurity

Current Class Level: Master's Student

This semester I completed a(n)... Internship

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site (Company/Organization Name): Tenable Network Security

Location of the Organization (City, State): Columbia, Maryland

Title of position: Software Engineering Intern

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities:
My focus during my time at Tenable was to develop a bot that can handle Technical Support and Customer queries about flagged CVEs and Advisory information. Based on the status of a package, the bot would reply to the Tech Support team with relevant information. As part of this project, I had to set up a Docker environment and start writing Python scripts with unit tests for each function I developed. At the end of my internship, I used Jenkins to automatically build the bot from source and deployed a bash script to automatically pull a new image after the build process was completed.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?
I was able to obtain this position through the BEYA Conference in February 2024. I met with the Talent Acquisition Manager at one of the Tenable booths and explained my qualifications and projects, highlighting the technologies I had used. She identified a position that was a great fit for my skills. I followed up with her on LinkedIn later and sent my resume. She then set up interviews with a Senior Software Developer and the Hiring Manager of the team I was going to join.

What resources did you use to find your current experience?
Career fairs, networking events (UMBC Connects, Info Sessions, Arts With a Purpose, etc.), LinkedIn, and other social media platforms.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position and organization?
I enjoyed learning new things every day with the help of my mentor. He was supportive throughout my journey as an intern at Tenable. The HR team made the experience informative and fun through multiple networking events, listen-and-learns, and fun activities after office hours.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?
My work significantly improved response times for common queries from customers and tech support engineers. The bot I developed was able to provide an instant response on Slack automatically when asked about a specific CVE. This eliminated the manual process in place, which required engineers to manually go through repositories to find a fix version for the CVE in question.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?
Start early, apply for positions that match your profile, and attend as many networking events as possible. The formula for success in today’s job market is Applications + Networking + Follow-ups. For help crafting your resume, cover letters, and general interview tips, make use of Career Center resources. They are professionals and your best allies during your job search.

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.
Continuous learning was an integral part of my work at Tenable. I was learning something new every day as part of my work. The hybrid work environment allowed me to meet my team in person two days a week, which helped me understand the project structure better and provide value in every sprint. The Career Center helped me craft the perfect resume for my internship, prepare for interviews, write cover letters, and improve my networking skills.