Renaissance Fine Arts is searching for a dynamic individual to join our team as a full time Gallery Administrative Assistant.

About the Gallery:
For over 40 years, we have been helping our clients create beautiful and unique collections. With three locations, we house the largest collection of art in the Mid-Atlantic region. We are dedicated to providing our clients with the highest standards of service and finest artwork and custom framing available.

Noted Maryland poll founder Mileah Kromer will be center’s inaugural director 

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) President Valerie Sheares Ashby announced today the founding of the UMBC Institute of Politics (IoP)—an academic, political research, and public outreach center that will harness the university’s robust research capacity and civic-focused public mission to provide a regional base for local, state, and national political analysis. 

The IoP will open with the start of the fall 2024 semester on August 28, and will begin public opinion polling and other public-facing initiatives on issues related to the 2024 general election and the upcoming 2025 Maryland state legislative session. The IoP’s most important purpose will be to provide UMBC students with unique opportunities for experiential learning and to build career-ready skills. 

Mileah K. Kromer, will serve as the IoP’s inaugural director. She will join UMBC’s Department of Political Science as an associate professor and teach courses on American politics, Maryland state politics, and survey research methodology. Kromer previously served as director of the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College and founder of the influential Goucher College Poll.

“There has never been a more crucial time in our democracy for credible, high-quality research and information on our political systems and electoral processes,” said Sheares Ashby. “As a public R1 institution located in the greater Washington, D.C., region, UMBC is ideally situated to enrich political understanding, elevate the level of public discourse, and better prepare our students to be active, engaged citizens of our state, our nation, and our world. We are delighted to welcome Mileah Kromer to the UMBC family and excited to add the Institute of Politics to our campus community.”

The IoP will be housed in UMBC’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and will build on the civic engagement, public affairs, and social science research work already being done by the university’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life, Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, and Center for Social Science Scholarship. Ian Anson, associate professor of political science, will serve as associate director.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to build an Institute of Politics at UMBC. As a first-generation college graduate, I know firsthand that public institutions like UMBC—with their focus on inclusive excellence—have the power to change the lives of students from all backgrounds,” said Kromer. “I’m excited to build an institute that supports learning opportunities for the next generation of policymakers and builds on the already excellent work done by faculty in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.”

About the Inaugural Director 

Since 2012, Kromer has led the Sarah T. Hughes Center for Politics at Goucher College, where she founded and directed the Goucher College Poll. She brings with her nearly two decades of public opinion polling and teaching experience from Louisiana State University, Elon University, and Goucher College. 

Kromer is a recognized expert on Maryland politics and public opinion polling. Her opinion writing has appeared in POLITICO Magazine, CNN, The Washington Post, The Hill, The Baltimore Banner, Maryland Matters, and The Baltimore Sun. She is a frequent guest on state and local public affairs programs like WYPR’s Midday with Tom Hall, WBAL-TV’s 11 TV Hill, and MPT’s State Circle, among others.

Kromer is the author of Blue State Republican: How Larry Hogan Won Where Republicans Lose and Lessons for a Future GOP (Temple University Press, 2022). Her work has also appeared in Gender & Politics, Survey Practice, Social Science Quarterly, and the Social Science Journal.  Her forthcoming article in State and Local Government Review examines how academic-based survey centers can play a role in real-time state and local political discourse.

Kromer earned her B.A. in economics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2003 and a Ph.D. in political science from Louisiana State University in 2008.  

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University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a top-ranked national university with an inclusive culture that connects innovative teaching and learning, research across disciplines, and civic engagement.

For more information contact Cherie Parker, Director of Media Relations, at cheriepa@umbc.edu or 240-930-1169.

Happy Fall, SDS Students!

The Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) would like to welcome you and highlight some important reminders for working with our office to ensure you have the access you need to be successful.

NEW: Please note that the wording for some of our accommodations may have changed, based on feedback from you and faculty, in order to provide clarification and other resources.

1. Semester Requests:
   If you have not done so, please submit your request for your accommodation letters to be sent to your faculty members now. How? https://sds.umbc.edu/accommodate-semester-request/
   
   If you wish to use your approved SDS accommodations in your current courses, you need to have submitted a “Semester Request” for the Fall 2024 semester in the Accommodate online student portal on the SDS website. Log in, review and select your accommodations and courses, and click Submit.
   
   If you have added/changed a course since you first submitted your Semester Request, please submit a new Semester Request. **NOTE: Your faculty will not get your letters and you will not be able to schedule in-person tests through Accommodate (or at USG) without a Semester Request submitted to SDS for Fall 2024.**
   
   
2. Accommodated testing:
   The deadline for scheduling in-person proctored testing on the Main Campus is 96 hours prior to the test date/time (4-5 days advance notice)!
   
   You should schedule ALL of your (in-person) main campus tests in the Accommodate portal at the beginning of the semester, so that you never miss a deadline.
   
   SDS testing hours:
   9 AM - 4 PM, Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
   9 AM - 6 PM, Tuesday and Wednesday.
   
   a. If you are taking online or hybrid courses, you will likely take the tests online. You will NOT schedule these tests in SDS. Instructors can provide extended time in the platform they use (if a test is timed). Remind your instructor(s) that you have testing accommodations before each test.
   
   b. For in-person tests for courses on the UMBC-Shady Grove Campus (USG), you will need to follow the procedures of the Macklin Center for Leadership & Communication (MCLC) DSS office - see  https://shadygrove.umd.edu/student-affairs/leadership-communication/dss.
   
   
3. Notetaking assistance:
   If you are approved for notetaking assistance as an accommodation, SDS recommends using assistive technology for notetaking support. We are transitioning from Glean web-based notetaking software to Otter.ai software, with the full transition to occur by January 2025.  More details will be coming soon.
   
   Students report significant benefits from the software’s audio recording and transcription features.  Check out Otter.ai on the web at https://otter.ai.
   
   If you are experiencing a disability-related barrier that prevents you from taking your own notes, please send an email to SDSnotetaking@umbc.edu to discuss solutions.
    
   Notetaking support information is on the SDS website: https://sds.umbc.edu/note-taking-assistance/ and https://sds.umbc.edu/assistive-technology/notetaking-support/
   
   
4. SDS office hours:
   Staff are available Monday through Friday during regular office hours, 8:30-4:30 PM. Appointments are available in person, via Webex, and by phone. Please schedule appointments online using the Accommodate portal or contact the front office for assistance at disability@umbc.edu or (410) 455-2459.
   
   Please contact SDS if you experience disability-related challenges in your courses as soon as possible. We are here to assist you in navigating what may be unfamiliar procedures to ensure that your accommodations are implemented when needed. Staff are available to review accommodations and assist in finding solutions if any new challenges arise.
   
   
5. MyUMBC group: 
   Please follow our group page, where we list events, reminders, changes, or updates related to disability services.
   Click on the link at https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/sss.
   Click the "follow" button, and under the "Notifications" button, please be sure to click "All Updates" to receive all of our posts.
   And check your UMBC email regularly to avoid missing anything we want to share.
   
   
6. Helpful Resource Links:
   
   Academic Success Center (Main Campus): academic advocacy, tutoring, academic support, success meetings: https://academicsuccess.umbc.edu/
   
   Retriever Integrated Health (RIH) for Counseling & Health Services: https://health.umbc.edu/
   
   We look forward to working with you and wish everyone a wonderful semester.
   Go, Retrievers!

The Student Disability Services (SDS) staff
Office of Accessibility & Disability Services
Email: disAbility@umbc.edu  
Phone: 410-455-2459  
Website: https://sds.umbc.edu/