From 05/25 – 06/07: The High Temp Hot Water System will be shutdown for annual repairs and maintenance. This outage is performed annually at this time of year. It is a shutdown of our campus main heating system referred to as the High Temp Hot Water (HTHW) system. The heat for this system is generated at the Central Plant and circulated throughout most of the academic buildings on campus. This outage is needed so that annual maintenance and repair can be performed on this system. Doing this work now is critical to ensuring it is working during the winter months when it is most needed.

This heating system is also part of the cooling system. To remove the humidity that spikes this time of year, the air circulating in a building is cooled down to about 55 degrees. This causes moisture to condense out of the air. Then the heating system heats the dryer air back up to comfortable temperatures. Because the heating system is turned off, the air may feel cooler than usual. The air conditioning needs to remain on to remove the humidity. If the AC is turned off, buildings would “sweat” on the inside and cause many other concerns.

This is the best time of year to do this. This outage cannot be performed in the winter because it is our main heating system. This outage cannot be performed later in the summer because the humidity is just too high and would cause more issues. The period right after commencement is the best time to perform this work due to the weather conditions and the low population on campus.

Please be aware that FM may not be able to address work orders for hot/cold situations during this period. If you believe there is an issue with the heating/cooling, please go ahead and submit the work order and FM will check it out, however, some of those conditions may be as close to "normal" as it can be until the outage is over and the heating system is back on. FM suggests that folks dress in layers to adjust to too warm or chilly conditions inside the building.

As always, thank you for your support and cooperation.

Are you thinking about graduate school?

Take advantage of Free Graduate Application Week running from May 27 to June 3. Use code Retriever2026 to get your application fee waived. Additionally, the application deadline has been extended from July 1 to August 1! 

Apply at umbc.edu/freeapp.

The CBEE graduate program has a unique, vibrant research environment that encompasses interdisciplinary approaches to major questions in chemical, biological, and environmental engineering. Our work runs the gamut, from computational analyses to experimental in vitro and in vivo systems, clinical studies, and field work. Interested? We encourage you to visit our website and apply!

More information about our graduate programs can be found below: 

MS in Biochemical Engineering
PhD in Biochemical Engineering

MS in Environmental Engineering
PhD in Environmental Engineering

Please see the arena's website for a full list of graduation ceremonies.  We can expect heavy traffic for an hour before and immediately after each event.  Parking Services says that anyone with a valid UMBC parking permit will be allowed to park in any legal space across campus on graduation days.

What if a wrong answer could teach just as much as a right one? This month’s Blackboard update brings tools that let instructors do exactly that: Guiding students not just to the correct response, but to a clearer understanding of why other options don't fit. Paired with a few improvements to how rubrics work in practice, this is a helpful update for anyone who invests time in thoughtful assessment design.

Answer-Level Feedback gives instructors a new way to turn multiple choice and multiple answer questions into active learning moments. When creating or editing a question, instructors can enable Option Feedback to reveal feedback text boxes beneath each individual answer choice. This makes it possible to explain why a particular option is correct or, just as usefully, why a common wrong answer misses the mark. Whether you're addressing frequent misconceptions or helping students self-correct on formative assessments, answer-level feedback adds a layer of guidance that goes well beyond a simple right/wrong indicator.

Image 1: Instructors can enter answer-level feedback.

Complementing this, Lock Answer in Fixed Position gives instructors precise control over how answer options behave when randomization is enabled. Specific choices, typically those like "None of the above" or "All of the above", can now be pinned to a fixed spot in the list, so they always appear where they belong regardless of how other options are shuffled. It's a small but meaningful quality-of-life improvement that keeps question logic intact without requiring instructors to abandon randomization.

Image 2: Instructors can select the lock icon next to the answer option to lock that option in place. To trigger the lock icons, select Randomize answers in the Assessment Settings.

Rubric Usability Improvements address several practical friction points that instructors have encountered when grading with rubrics. First, instructors can now override a student's grade without locking the rubric, preserving the ability to go back and adjust rubric-based feedback after a grade has been modified. Second, criterion-level feedback is now available for both single and multiple attempts, giving instructors a place to leave targeted comments at the row level, not just at the overall submission level. Discussion and journal grades now save at the attempt level, improving consistency across multi-attempt workflows. Lastly, when a grade is entered directly in the rubric grade pill, it immediately updates the attempt grade, eliminating the extra step of manually syncing the two.

Finally, Instructors can now check which announcements a student has or hasn't read on the new Announcements tab of the Student Overview page, making it easier to follow up with students who may have missed important course communications.

When can you expect the update?

Faculty should see the latest updates in their Ultra courses around June 4-5, 2026. The next update to our Ultra test environment will take place on June 9, 2026; release notes will be posted to the What's New in Ultra page within two weeks. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

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

The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has identified an issue affecting Google Calendar add-ins (such as Webex, Microsoft Teams, and others). A recent update starting on or around May 26th, 2026 from Google has interfered with these integrations, causing some users to experience connectivity errors or authentication prompts when trying to use them.

How to Fix It: The remedy requires clearing the cached data for the affected add-in within your Google account to re-initialize the connection.

We have published a detailed FAQ document with step-by-step instructions on how to quickly resolve this issue: 👉 Page: How to Re-add Cisco Webex Add-In access for Google Calendar

Need Assistance? If you follow the steps in the FAQ and continue to experience issues, or if you need additional help walking through the process, please contact the Technology Support Center (TSC):

• Phone: 410-455-3838

• Online: Submit a support ticket at https://help.umbc.edu

Thank you for your patience as we work to ensure all campus collaboration tools are functioning smoothly.

Sincerely,

Division of Information Technology
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Congratulations to the students from the CBEE department who took home awards in the student poster competition at the 2026 COEIT Research Day, held on May 1, 2026.

The following students were recognized for their outstanding research, and each received a COEIT Research Day Student Poster Award:

• Rebecca Boese (PhD) – Jackman Burden Lab
• Cynthia Chikomoni (MS) and Urvi Jain (BS) – Jackman Burden Lab
• Revati Kadolkar (PhD) – Frey Lab and Rao Lab
• Sudarshan Bollapragada (MS) – Jackman Burden Lab
• Damilola Fapohunda (BS) – Garcia Lab (not pictured)

COEIT Research Day brings together faculty, students, collaborators, and industry partners to celebrate the exciting research being done across the college and to create pathways for future interdisciplinary projects. Well done to all!

Traffic around the arena will be very heavy beginning at 7:30am on Friday 5/29/2026 and throughout the day to accommodate two high school graduations. Faculty, staff, and students are strongly encouraged to avoid entering campus from I-195 and anyone with a valid UMBC parking permit will be allowed to park in any legal space across campus. 

All,

The work at the east side entrance of the building has gone quicker than anticipated. That portion of the work will be completed around noon today. Once that work is inspected and approved, the crew will be moving to the west (quad) side entrance and will start demolition of the ceiling. All entry will be through the east entrance, egress will be through the east entrance or the stairs beyond the passenger elevators facing the tennis courts. 

Thank you for your flexibility. 

Hi everyone!

We're back with our weekly Free Farmer's Market 2-2:45pm in the Apartment Community Center. See you soon!  

As an esteemed culinary historian, educator, and James Beard Award-winning author, Michael W. Twitty has carved out a unique and profound space in American cultural dialogue. He masterfully illuminates the intersections of his identities as an African American, a gay man, and a Jewish American.

Rather than viewing his heritages as separate or competing, Twitty treats them as deeply intertwined strands of a singular tapestry—a concept he famously explores through his writing, teaching, and what he terms "identity cooking."

A Childhood Calling and the Journey to Judaism

Raised in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (including Silver Spring, Maryland), Twitty grew up in close proximity to vibrant, observant Jewish neighborhoods. He felt a spiritual calling to Judaism at a very early age. 

"Kosher Soul" and Culinary Intersectionality

Twitty is widely recognized for his groundbreaking work in food history, using the kitchen as a site for historical excavation, healing, and cultural synthesis. Under his personal brand, Kosher/Soul, he explores how complex multi-ethnic identities can be expressed through food.

His critically acclaimed 2022 memoir,Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew, serves as a masterclass in this intersection. He highlights the striking commonalities between African American and Jewish culinary traditions, noting that both are defined by:

• Cuisines of Diaspora: Foods shaped by migration, exile, and the crucial reliance on collective memory to preserve a sense of home.

• "Struggle Meals" Born of Resilience: The creative brilliance of making celebratory, deeply meaningful food out of poverty and oppression (such as comparing the cultural weight of gefilte fish to dishes like gumbo).

Twitty famously brings these worlds together on his own dinner table, crafting inventive hybrid dishes for Shabbat and holidays—such as West African brisket, mac-and-cheese kugel, matzo ball gumbo, and kosher "soul-rolls" stuffed with pastrami and collard greens.

Before achieving widespread fame as an author, Twitty spent years working directly within the Jewish community as a Judaics and Hebrew school teacher, instructing students across Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Renewal streams.

Through his lectures, food demonstrations, and public speaking, he uses the Hebrew concept of L'dor V'dor ("from generation to generation") to emphasize the critical importance of ancestral memory. By introducing audiences to the shared histories of trauma, survival, and ultimate resilience within both Black and Jewish experiences, Twitty serves as an invaluable bridge-builder—proving that food can be the ultimate vehicle for cultural preservation and communal healing.