This semester, the Center for Social Justice Dialogue had the pleasure of reintroducing the InterACT dialogue program to campus. Here are some highlights:

You can meet in-person with a TIAA rep to discuss your retirement outlook and any questions you may have. It’s at no additional cost and included as a part of your retirement benefits. 

You can discuss these questions and more:

• Am I invested in the right mix of investments to help meet my goals?
• Am I saving enough to create the retirement income I need?
• How do I take income from my retirement account after I stop working?

Congratulations on making it this far in your academic career! You've put a lot of hard work into getting this far, and it's almost time to graduate, but before you move on to the next chapter of your career, make sure you take the next steps to ensure you keep any important records from UMBC!

Once you become an alumnus of UMBC, there will be changes to what services you can have access to, primarily Google Suite, Microsoft Suite, and Box. With Microsoft Suite and Box, your access to these services expires 30-90 days after graduation. This means any documents or files you had stored in OneDrive, Office 365, and Box will be deleted if they are not copied or moved to another storage device. 

To maintain access to your UMBC Google Suite, which includes your Google Drive and UMBC Gmail, you will need to sign into your myUMBC account at least once every 12 months.

Note: We strongly recommend that you migrate any important data and have your UMBC mail forwarded to a personal account.

• Storage: Your Google storage will be restricted to a total of 5GB os space. Please review the resources below to help cut down on you storage usage and assess what should stay on the UMBC cloud before your account is adjusted to the alumni quota limit

• Migration: For long-term accessibility and data security, please migrate any critical files a personal cloud or storage space

To see how much storage you're using, click here:

Check my Google Storage Usage

Below you will find many resources on how to cut down on cloud storage and manage your files going forward. 

Your Digital Transition: UMBC Alumni Tech Guide

Tips and Best Practices for Managing Your Cloud Storage

Take Control of Your Google Drive: A Guide to Freeing Up Space

Declutter Your Inbox: A Guide to Cleaning Up Your Email

Cloud Storage Quotas & Changes - UMBC FAQs   

Passionate about economics, leadership, and creating impact on campus? The UMBC Economics Council is now accepting applications for our 2025–2026 Executive Board!

Whether you're interested in event planning, marketing, finance, or outreach, this is your chance to build your resume, grow your leadership skills, and make a difference in UMBC's econ community.

Positions include:

• President

• Vice President

• Treasurer

• Secretary

• Marketing Manager

• Events Coordinator

Apply here: https://forms.gle/K6n2JoB6c72DQv8Q6

Deadline: Wednesday 19th, 2025 

Help lead the Economics Council into another great year of growth and collaboration!

Name: Prajita Shrestha

Pronouns: She/ Her 

Semester of Internship: Summer 2025

Major: Computer Science

Current Class Level: Senior

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

Internship, Co-op, or Research Site (Company/Organization Name): Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Location of the Organization (City, State): Laurel, MD

Title of position: Software Engineering Intern

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities:

I had the opportunity to intern for a group that developed and managed a data analytics software. Throughout my internship, I mainly worked on adding smaller features for the program. My main task was to create a summary tool to highlight the differences between data types to streamline workflow for analysts. My day-to-day mainly consisted of stand up meetings with the whole team, check-ins with my mentor, and coding. 

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I learned about APL through the career fair hosted by UMBC. Initially, I applied to around 3 intern positions for APL, which did not work out. In December, I applied to another intern role at APL that I found on Handshake and got an email to schedule an interview in January. The interview was mainly behavioral questions, where I discussed my previous experience and skill level. 

What resources did you use to find your current experience?

UMBC Career Center, Career Fairs, Handshake

What have you enjoyed the most about your position and organization?

My favorite part about APL was the group's welcoming atmosphere and flexibility. As an intern, I was given the flexibility to choose from different tasks of varying difficulty and give my own input on features and tasks to work on. On Fridays, I was able to work from home and was given the flexibility to choose my times to come in and leave work. 

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I believed that I made an impact by developing tools that made analyzation faster for analysts. My tool will save analysts significant time when they are comparing and creating new data types.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

My main advice would be to not give up and keep searching for roles. A lot of internships come out during the fall season but it is not the end of the world if you do not land one then. My internship interview and offer came during an unexpected time. Make sure to look out for the various opportunities on campus such as teaching assistant and research assistant positions. I think the main reason I got my internship was because of my research experience. 

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / working with the Career Center.

I loved how this internship gave me the opportunity to work alongside highly skilled professionals and grow my technical skills. The Career Center's resume review sessions and resources played a big role in helping me land my interview and internship.

Navigating Change Conversation Series Special Edition: Building Research Resilience: Strategies for Sustainable Impact

Thursday, December 4, 2025
2-3 PM

Register here for free

Presented by Dotty Waters (Director of Sponsored Research and Programs, Virginia State University) and Matthew Kingore (Sr Solutions Consultant, Team Lead, Cayuse)

Navigating Change Conversation Series:  Hot issues in Grants – 2025 Recap and 2026 Outlook

Tuesday, December 16, 2025
2-3 PM

Register here for free

 Presented by Gil Tran, CPA (Senior Specialist Leader, Attain Partners)

Business Services & Accounts Payable – Holiday Notice

As we approach the upcoming holiday break, please be mindful of the end-of-year deadlines for submitting items to Business Services. To ensure timely processing and submission to the State of Maryland prior to the close of the calendar year, all items listed below must be submitted to Business Services with all required departmental approvals no later than close of business on Thursday, December 12th:

• Payment Requests

• Invoices

• Travel Reimbursements

• Working Fund Requests

Items received after December 12th will be processed in the new calendar year, as State processing timelines will pause for the holiday period.

We appreciate your attention to these deadlines and thank you for your cooperation.

Linda S. Rothfus
Manager, Business Services & Accounts Payable

Adam Drutz-Hannahs
Assistant Manager, Business Services