In recognition of the annual student staff banquet this Thursday, the physical Residential Life office will close at 4:00pm on Thursday, May 7. Please plan any in-person visits accordingly. 

Thank you for your understanding.  Please contact campus police in the event of an emergency.

Did you know that UMBC Public Health has a LinkedIn group? We love to connect with our alumni, share jobs and internship opportunities, and coordinate events for students and alumni. Request to join the group. It is a private group, so if you reach out to someone there, they will know you are a UMBC student or alumnus. All members are vetted by our administrators. Vetting may take several days. Majors and minors welcome!

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8763237/

What does digital accessibility look like in practice -- and how can busy faculty make meaningful progress without redesigning their entire course?

Professor Nancy Kusmaul -- outgoing Faculty Senate President and incoming Chair and Associate Dean of the School of Social Work -- offers a perspective grounded in everyday teaching. 

Rather than describing accessibility as an added task, she emphasizes that it often builds on what faculty are already doing. Small adjustments - checking a document or considering how course materials are shared - can make a meaningful difference to students. Her advice to colleagues? Start small and stay consistent.

“The best first step is to just take it a little bit at a time.”

Kusmaul encourages faculty to focus on manageable actions -- reviewing one week’s material, running one accessibility checker, or making incremental changes as the semester progresses. This approach not only reduces feeling overwhelmed, it can build sustainable habits over time. She also underscores an important shift in mindset: accessibility is not about perfection.

“What can you do today to make your content a little bit more accessible than it was yesterday?”

Perhaps most importantly, Kusmaul reminds us why this work matters. Accessible course materials support not only students who request accommodation, it also helps those who may never ask -- removing barriers before they impact learning.

How can you get involved?

If you’re an instructor curious about your course’s accessibility score, Ally’s course report is available directly in Blackboard - look for the Ally Accessibility Report under Books & Course Tools. 

For more information, see the following resources:

• umbc.edu/go/allydemo
• umbc.edu/go/allytraining 
• umbc.edu/go/allyfaqs
• umbc.edu/go/allyreport (requiresUMBC VPN to view from off-campus)
• UMBC Digital Accessibility
• USM Digital Accessibility Hub

A HUGE thanks goes out to Melody Wright for conducting a "Personal Branding, Networking, and Influence" workshop yesterday.  We were taught tips for managing our personal branding like listing our strengths, what we want to be known for and other details in order to develop our Value Statements.  Also pointers on networking were provided.  Good conversations in groups and good instruction from Melody.

Melody was gracious enough to share her Personal Branding, Networking and Influence slides.

I am planning to move out around mid-June, but my Apt lease ends on August 31. If anyone is looking for a Apt before then, feel free to contact me!

Location: Maiden choice Apartment

Apartment Details:• 2 Bedrooms• Separate Living Room• 1 Kitchen• 1 Bathroom

Rent: Around $1650/month (including utilities)

Please message me if you’re interested or want more details! 

Turnip Time Tumble

An interactive reading by Prof. Terry's ENG 375 Class

Monday, May 11, 4-5:15pm

PAHB 132

Turnip Time Tumble is a choose your one adventure-style novel written this semester by Professor Chris Terry's ENG 375 Pick Your Path class. At this event, the class will read from the finished book, with input from the audience.

In Turnip Time Tumble, the main character goes to the farmers' market for soup ingredients, and is distracted by a mysterious vendor with a selection of intriguing books. The reader is then sucked into whichever book the character picks up: helping mermaids escape cruel scientists, time-traveling between the Wild West and a medieval castle, or inheriting a crumbling estate with a mysterious secret passage.

Our final meeting of the semester is here and we're going out with a bang! 🎉

Join us Wednesday May 6 at 7:00 PM in Physics 401 for a movie night ! We'll have plenty of pizza —  bring a friend .

It's been an amazing semester and we can't wait to celebrate with everyone. See you there! 🪐

Hello everyone!

Retriever Essentials will have an early closing at 4:45pm on 5/15/2026. 

We apologize for any incoinveinces, and please plan your trip accordingly.

Two exceptional CNMS faculty members from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have received 2025 – 2026 University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents Faculty Awards. These prestigious awards recognize distinguished performance that consistently exceeds ordinary expectations.

Tara Carpenter, teaching professor, has been awarded the Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. This honor highlights faculty who demonstrate outstanding pedagogy, promote measurable gains in student learning, and innovate to support broad student success.

(Tara Carpenter, courtesy of Carpenter)

Carpenter teaches UMBC’s largest introductory chemistry courses, reaching more than 1,000 students per year—mostly first-year students and non-majors—in sections exceeding 250 students. Beyond delivering rigorous content, she focuses on teaching students how to learn, helping them build a growth mindset—the idea that abilities can be developed, rather than being innate—and succeed in college and beyond.

Over time, Carpenter’s efforts have significantly lowered drop-fail-withdraw (DFW) rates in General Chemistry I and II and strengthened students’ preparation for later courses such as Organic Chemistry. Carpenter consistently receives glowing student evaluations, and her work has influenced department- and campus-wide practices for over 15 years. She regularly shares her methods and results with national audiences of teaching professionals through scholarly publications and conference presentations.

“This award is deeply meaningful to me, because it reflects years of work focused on implementing evidence-based teaching practices at scale,” Carpenter says. “I firmly believe that every student can succeed in chemistry, which is why I integrate principles from the learning sciences into my teaching. Seeing students adopt a growth mindset and master concepts they once thought were out of reach is, and always will be, my driving passion.”

Professor Michael F. Summers has received the Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring. This award recognizes sustained excellence in mentoring that fosters student development, retention, and post-baccalaureate success, with a strong emphasis on inclusive excellence.

(Michael Summers, courtesy of Summers)

A longtime leader in UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars and G-RISE programs, Summers helped build nationally recognized models for increasing underrepresented minority (URM) success in STEM. Under his direction, Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows achieved a 90 percent retention rate—far above national averages of 55 – 64 percent for all Ph.D. students in STEM—and has produced 229 URM Ph.D. graduates since 2001.

In his own laboratory, 313 undergraduates and 74 graduate students/postdocs have received mentorship, either from Summers directly or from more advanced students he coached, creating a rich and resilient community of mentorship in his group. Many alumni from Summers’ laboratory have become faculty at institutions such as Harvard and Oxford, leaders in industry, and champions of the Meyerhoff philosophy elsewhere. His approach creates a strong sense of belonging, enabling students—often the first in their families to attend college—to conduct and publish high-impact research in top journals and reach their career goals.

“Mentoring is at the center of all we do in our lab,” Summers shares. “I often wake up in the morning excited and motivated by our latest lab experiments, but I go to bed at night thinking about the students—their own dreams, where they are now and where they are going. And my former mentees are so inspiring! It is my work with students that has brought me the greatest sense of satisfaction.”

Please join CNMS in congratulating Tara Carpenter and Michael Summers on these well-deserved honors. Their dedication to student success and inclusive excellence reflects the very best of UMBC.

Our summer writing group is back! The Dresher Center will host weekly writing sessions for all faculty, staff, and graduate students who are interested in participating.

Wednesdays from May 27 to August 12, 10am to 12pm

Register for the writing group now!