On Saturday, April 13^th, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Catonsville High School is hosting our second annual Color Run. We are looking for college students that might be interested in face-painting and/or photography for our event. The face-painting can be for profit, the photography would be a volunteer position.

Please feel free to share this e-mail with any students that you think would be interested, and they can contact me at Rmello@bcps.org with any questions or to let me know that they are interested.

Thank you so much for your support of Catonsville High School!

In 2018, UMBC made magic in the NCAA tournament. Now, they are looking to do it again. While the team was unable to make the tournament this year, they still have a shot at doing something that could make everyone remember just how special they really are. A few UMBC students, including The Retriever’s very own Zac McCord, are gathering players, graduates and alumni, to participate in the 6th annual TBT, better known as The Basketball Tournament. This tournament is comprised of 64 teams that come from all over the world. This year’s Hilltop Dawgs will be represented by basketball alumni Joe Sherburne, Sam Schweitz, K.J Maura, Nolan Gerrity and four other former players.

Last year, the team participated in the Richmond Regional where they were one and done, having only five players available to play. The team has three managers with McCord, Jeff Kee and Nick Lorenzen, each of whom brings a different style to the table. Lorenzen is a high school intern for the athletic department who also runs the UMBC fan page. Kee, on the other hand, has been involved in numerous UMBC programs, including being the head of SGA at one point.

Kee became the head general manager last year after having talks with UMBC basketball alumni Ray Barbosa and Andrew Feely. Together they decided on Kee becoming a general manager considering his illustrious background with the school and the sport of basketball. I was able to catch up with Kee who talked more in-depth about the team. “We created the Hilltop Dawgs as a way to showcase the most accomplished talents who have played for the program,” Kee explained. “A lot of people think we’re a one-hit-wonder program, but this tournament will showcase the fact that we’ve had a lot of extremely talented players represent our team,” said Kee.

Those words are very accurate as the program has had a strong boast of players, including Jairus Lyles who is making a name for himself in the G-League as a member of the Salt Lake Stars. The final co-manager McCord has been a beat writer for the men’s basketball team for three years and has seen how much the team has improved since his first year here. He also believes the management is something special. “This is a good mix of experiences from the fan page to journalist to basketball lifer, we’ll mix our skills together and try to get this team some dubs,” said McCord.

In order for the team to qualify for the tournament, they must be one of the top voted teams. If they are able to qualify they would have a chance to win 1.8 million dollars in prize money. This tournament could open the doors for many players and may even lead to an overseas contract. Everyone should go out and vote and give the Hilltop Dawgs a fighting chance to make the tournament and honor our school proudly.

Times Higher Education has just named UMBC #3 in the nation in achieving social and economic impact. This 2019 University Impact Ranking measures how well universities deliver on UN Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted in 2015 by all United Nations Member States as a blueprint for global peace and prosperity.

Core values

“The new Times Higher Education impact rankings are distinct from other university rankings in that they are a measure of the difference UMBC is making in the world,” says Katharine H. Cole, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. “It is not surprising that UMBC is ranked so highly as it is this type of societal and economic impact that is at the very core of UMBC’s mission and values. This is a place where people are committed to taking on global challenges to make the world a better place.”

The new ranking from the London-based international publication examines university performance in 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UMBC led among U.S. universities in several categories, and ranked just after UNC Chapel Hill and Arizona State University overall. In the full global ranking, which includes hundreds of universities from 76 countries, UMBC was recognized as #62 overall.

“UMBC’s highly-recognized emphasis on inclusive excellence is well-aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals recognized by this impact ranking,” says Karl Steiner, vice president of research. “Our position among the top institutions recognizes our focus on social and economic impact across the nation and the world.”

Highlights

UMBC was highlighted as a top university in promoting sustainable cities and communities (#5 in the U.S., #36 in the world). This area extends across a broad range of fields. UMBC’s highlighted strengths range from atmospheric physics research to scholarship that rethinks the relationship between art institutions and the public, to the university’s work to decrease its carbon footprint, even at a time of significant growth.

UMBC’s particularly strong ranking in the area of gender equity (#5 in the U.S., #56 in the world) recognizes the university’s work to support women in STEM at all levels — undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate, and faculty. Highlights include the Center for Women in Technology and its CWIT Scholars Program, as well as UMBC ADVANCE, which supports the development, hiring, and advancement of women faculty in STEM.

UMBC was also #2 in the U.S. in both work to reduce inequalities (#23 globally) and the development of partnerships for the goals (#47 globally). The University was #3 in the U.S. for climate action (#23 globally) and #5 in the U.S. for promoting decent work and economic growth (#101 globally), and #55 globally for promoting responsible consumption and production.

This new ranking comes on the heels of U.S. News recognizing UMBC’s graduate programs as among the best in the nation, and NSF ranking UMBC as one of the top 150 U.S. universities in federal research funding. With its unique approach, this new measure brings together UMBC’s achievements in teaching, research, and creative achievement, and commitment to serving as a model for inclusive excellence.

Learn more about the full rankings and the methodology behind them.

Featured photo: Chemical and biochemical engineering Ph.D. student Adam Day (left) works with Prof. Erin Lavik (right) in her lab, which focuses on polymer synthesis and processing, drug delivery, and stem cell biology to create new therapies. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.