UMBC Magazine caught up with UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski at his home office to talk about alumni leadership during the pandemic, UMBC’s Golden Commencement, and a symbol of hope in tough times.

UMBC Magazine: Given the challenges we’re all facing, it’s wonderful to hear about UMBC alumni making a difference in so many ways. We see Retrievers in health leadership, such as Kizzmekia Corbett ’08, M16, working at the National Institutes of Health on COVID-19 vaccines; U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams ’97, M4; Baltimore Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa ‘03, M11; and  Kaitlyn Sadtler ’11, leading a new COVID study at NIH on asymptomatic patients. We have Mark Doms ’86, the new chief economist of the Congressional Budget Office, and artists like Jill Fannon, M.F.A. ’11, photographing healthcare providers…and so many other inspiring people. How does it make you feel to see our alumni making their mark in these ways?

Freeman Hrabowski: We have produced well-prepared leaders who are committed to the public good all along, from the Maryland Speaker of the House and the Baltimore County Executive to the Chief of Staff for the Governor and the Maryland Secretary of Labor, all the way over to the heads of the Associated Black Charities and the Center for Urban Families. All of these people in a variety of policy and public service roles are leading our country and our communities in supporting children and families.

And we’ve got alumni leading and doing important work across the board, from the arts to the sciences. So across the disciplines, looking through different sets of lenses, people are working to understand and support people in their time of need. And it is very inspiring.

UMBC Magazine: We’ve been thinking a lot about our graduating class, the Class of 2020, and what this semester meant to them, but it’s also the 50th anniversary of UMBC’s first Commencement. Do you feel there are connecting points between the Class of 1970 and our newest graduates?

Hrabowski: I think many people would call the period of the ’60s another generation-defining moment in American history. From the Civil Rights Movement to Vietnam to changes in voting rights in our country, we saw civil unrest, and we also saw some progress. We saw the assassination of a president, John Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy—all in an eight-month period during the ’60s. People who were graduating in the ’70s had been through those times of great uncertainty and tragedy, very much so, and I relate to and resonate with UMBC’s Class of 1970 because that is also the year I graduated from college. My wife and I were supposed to be going down to Hampton University this spring for our 50^th reunion.

The Class of 1970 experienced those things in high school and college—the unrest, the tragedy, and fear—and right now our graduating class of 2020 is having the same type of  experiences. Yet beyond the fear about the future, the uncertainty, and the tragedy, we also are seeing Americans come together with people from around the world to help each other. The most important message in both periods, in the midst of the uncertainty, is that we will get through this. 

And so there’s this theme of hope in the midst of the chaos and fear and uncertainty. In 2020, as in 1970, we are at a point where we are being tested as human beings and as a society to show who we are at our very core. And the good news, the encouraging news, is that when we as human beings get knocked down, we have this indomitable spirit that pushes us to get back up and to say we can do this. We can go through this, and we can do this. And that’s why the celebration of 2020, as it was in 1970, is a message of hope for humanity. 

You know, I saw this picture of the sunrise on campus, and one word popped into my head—hope. My grandmother used to always say, “Just remember that the sun will come back.” That’s a powerful message.

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Have a question for President Hrabowski? Share it with us at magazine@umbc.edu, and read more interviews online at https://umbc.edu/tag/up-on-the-roof/.

Header image by Corey Jennings ’10.

The Center for Social Science Scholarship invites applications for Faculty Working Groups to promote intellectual exchange in the social sciences and across campus. These collaborative scholarly learning communities will meet regularly to engage in such activities as: working on research projects, reading key literature, exploring new methodological approaches, and/or engaging in matters of public interest related to the social sciences.

Up to four Faculty Working Groups will be selected by the center director and advisory board members. Groups should be faculty-led and must include at least one faculty member from a social science department at UMBC. Additional priority will be given to groups whose members and/or areas of interest are multi- or interdisciplinary. Advanced graduate students may participate as Faculty Working Group members but may not serve as leaders.

Faculty Working Groups can apply for up to $1,000 in annual support ($500 per semester); groups will also be able to apply for continuation funding. Groups may use funds for such items as: supporting regular group meetings; purchasing software, books, or other materials; hosting external speakers; creating scholarly resources; traveling to external sites for research or public engagement purposes; and other similar activities. A brief report of the group’s activities will be due at the end of the funding period.

Apply by May 30, 2020, for groups to begin in Fall 2020.

Click on the attached file to download the application form. 

Applications should be submitted via email to socialscience@umbc.edu. Questions may be directed to Christine Mallinson, Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship.

Good Afternoon AAOU SSC Departments,

Recently, the AAOU SSC posted instructions explaining how to route documents through DocuSign in order to obtain the appropriate signatures. It has been brought to our attention that some do not have “Initiator” access within DocuSign, and are running into an issue where the option to create a “New” DocuSign envelope is not available. If you are running into this issue, please submit an RT ticket to DoIT requesting initiator access, which will enable the functionality to create new signature envelopes.

Please use the following link to request help: 

https://doit.umbc.edu/request-tracker-rt/doit-myumbc-tsc/. 

Once on the request page, please select “DocuSign” under “Request Type” and in the message section, specify that you are requesting initiator access to DocuSign.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Thank you,

AAOU SSC Team

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the Office of Financial and Scholarships has elected to forego taking action on academic reviews for the Spring 2020 semester for all UMBC Merit Scholars.  Therefore, any general merit scholar student below the minimum requirements of their scholarship agreement, will be automatically placed on scholarship probation but will retain their full award amount for the upcoming Fall 2020 semester.

In an effort to ensure academic progress for the subsequent semesters, the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will provide scholars experiencing academic challenges information on campus resources to include support from our Academic Success Center.  Scholars will also be encouraged to develop Academic Improvement Plans, where necessary. 

Any merit scholar student currently on Spring 2020 probation will be removed from probationary status if they have successfully reached the required grade point average (GPA) and/or enrollment completion this semester. 

The normal academic review process will resume at the conclusion of the Fall 2020 semester.

If you have any questions, we welcome you to contact a UMBC Scholarships Staff Member at: scholarships@umbc.edu