Happy July NESSies!
Please see our latest CUSS newsletter-- the awards edition! and a nice column from Roy. It's more beautiful in Sway, but I've also attached the pdf version.
Happy July NESSies!
Please see our latest CUSS newsletter-- the awards edition! and a nice column from Roy. It's more beautiful in Sway, but I've also attached the pdf version.
Today's noon walk will be canceled. We apologize for the late notice and hope you all will still get some fresh air and movement. We hope to see you tomorrow morning for our walk if you were unable to make it this morning.
Please reach out to us at womenscenter@umbc.edu with any questions or concerns.
The Women's, Gender, & Equity Center is open to full participation by all individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal and state law and the University's nondiscrimination policy.
The Women's, Gender, & Equity Center is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive environment for all students, staff, faculty, and visitors. If you have difficulties accessing any of the materials on our site or any of our events or discussions, please contact us so that we can provide an alternative format and/or remedy any accessibility challenges.
]]>UMBC has once again earned the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge's Highly Established Action Plan seal of recognition for its latest voter engagement plan. Highly Established is the highest possible rating, which the university has received for each of its plans (submitted every two years) since the recognition was established in 2022.
ALL IN has developed this seal of recognition for higher education institutions with strong action plans to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement by promoting civic learning, political engagement, and college student voter participation.
Congratulations to Ricky Blissett, Ph.D. ‘11, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, and Trentqual Rhone, coordinator for political engagement, who have been driving the work on which the plan is based, and to Dr. Blissett for organizing and drafting the plan.
“This recognition belongs to the people working to create opportunities for students to better understand, navigate, challenge, and reimagine the systems of power shaping the world around us. I want to honor the slow, steady work that often goes unnoticed until moments like this make it visible,” says Rhone. “I’m thankful to our students, faculty, and staff whose time, ideas, commitment, and care made this recognition possible, and to all those who’ll continue showing up semester after semester because this work will always matter. And I challenge us to keep working to ensure students are empowered to build the world they want to see, during election seasons and beyond.”
Blissett adds, “We have so much good work that happens across the university, and this recognition reminds us of the opportunities we have to do this work as a connected campus community.”
The Sayyida Zainab shrine, near Damascus, Syria, is capped by a gold leaf dome atop a building wrapped in interlocking glazed tiles. The aquamarine, gold, amethyst, and brown tiles create geographic tapestries of swirls and intricate flower patterns. It’s a beautiful place of splendor inside and out, where thousands of Shi‘i Muslim pilgrims and visitors worldwide gather, pray, and honor the resting place of Zainab bint ‘Ali, Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter. The shrine’s roofline is decorated with cobalt blue tiles that repeat the phrase, “Peace be upon you, oh mother of sorrows and hardships” in white Arabic calligraphy—a testament to the trials Zainab endured throughout her life.
When Noor Zaidi, assistant professor of history, visited the shrine on pilgrimage with her family more than 20 years ago, she was mesmerized. The shrine then inspired her graduate research, and now Zaidi is a scholar of the Middle East and South Asia specializing in the history of gender and sectarianism.
Her new book, Traces of Zainab: Ritual, Memory, and Place in Shi’a Islam, is a study of the woman who became a symbol of resistance for Shi‘i Muslims worldwide. Now Zaidi is leading an international interfaith team to preserve, restore, and digitize the shrine’s archives. With the support of Father Columba Stewart of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) in Minnesota, the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon, and the Mourtada family from Damascus, who have been the custodians of the shrine for over 800 years, the world will learn about one of the very few shrines to a woman in Islam and the community that has preserved it with love.
“We are delighted to return to Syria in support of this historic project,” says Stewart, executive director and CEO of HMML, at Saint John’s University—one of the world’s leading organizations funding the preservation and digitization of endangered archives to create open access collections. “Partnering with this historic shrine lies at the very heart of HMML’s mission to preserve and share the world’s handwritten past to inspire a deeper understanding of our present and future.”
Zaidi notes that this is not just about preserving. It’s about teaching students what it takes to be historians, stewards of a past with many missing parts, and to be aware that their work cannot happen in isolation. “There is a story to tell in the construction of this work that also tells us about the discipline of history, at this moment in time,” says Zaidi. “It’s a story of how to teach students to be conscientious scholars: to not just look at newspapers and documents but take into account what’s not being told, what history is being erased, and ask whose voices are not being heard.”
A: Zainab bint ‘Ali has meant many things to many people: woman, emblem, whisper in the past, shout in the street. Her presence, body, and words have been central to the construction of a distinct Shi‘i Islamic identity, yet large parts of her life were absent from view.
At six, she witnessed her grandfather Muhammad’s death, the singular political and religious leader of the Muslim community. Her father, ‘Ali, became the fourth successor to the Prophet Muhammad in 656 AD. His followers considered him the first Imam, God’s spiritual representative on earth. Before he was killed five years later, he passed on the leadership to his sons.
In Karbala, present-day Iraq, in 680 AD, Husayn ibn ‘Ali, Zainab’s brother, refused allegiance to Caliph Yazīd ibn Mu‘awiyah, viewing his rule as illegitimate. A battle ensued, and Husayn’s 72 male companions were killed along with his eight sons, nephews, and cousins. Husayn was beheaded. Zainab and the other women witnessed the massacre. After she was taken into captivity and paraded unveiled to Damascus, it is said that she delivered sermons recounting the events at Karbala. Zainab became a symbol of resistance—the few against the many.
For Shi‘i Muslims, the battle at Karbala became central to constructing their distinct identity, collective memory, theological frameworks, devotional practice, and traditions of mourning.
A: The shrine is a transnational space with people, materials, and ideas moving in and out of it. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many Shi‘i shrines in Iran and Iraq began to take on a similar appearance, usually attributed to Iranian patronage. A lot of money was invested in maintaining these shrines. The mausoleum is surrounded by silver and gold grilles with Zainab’s grave beneath. They were replaced over the centuries through donations. One came from Pakistan in the 1950s, while others came from Iraq and Iran. The gold leaf, some of the tile colors, and the carpets have all come from different countries. However, the Mourtada family was very deliberate in the renovations, using local craftsmen and an Arab Damascene style of tilework to keep the local cultural heritage embedded in the shrine.
Top row: Inside Sayyida Zainab shrine. (Images courtesy of Zaidi) Bottom row: Local craftsmen renovating the shrine. Constructing the golden dome. (Images courtesy of Makam Sayyida Zainab)
Long before the politics of the present, the shrine was part of the shared sacred geography of Damascus. Its history is entwined with the devotion of countless people who have passed through it over centuries. Syrians of many different backgrounds—including Muslims, Christians, and Jews—have visited the shrine over the centuries. Queen Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary of Iran gave funding to build an electrical system, and Sunni Muslim Muhammad Ali, the American professional boxer and activist, also visited the shrine and paid tribute. Their visits helped raise awareness and respect and brought support from outside the Shi’i community.
(l) Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, at the Sayyida Zainab shrine. (r) Boxer Muhammad Ali at the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab (Images courtesy Makam Sayyida Zainab)
While the shrine’s story can be told through violence, conflict, and upheaval, we chose to tell the story that often gets buried. When Zainab was asked what she thought of her dead brother, she said, “I see nothing but beauty.” We see nothing but beauty. This is the story the project chooses to tell.
A: When I first visited for research in 2012, there was almost nobody there. The shrine was under constant threat, and the atmosphere was one of uncertainty. During that visit, I met Hani Mohsen Mourtada, the head custodian, former Syrian Minister of Higher Education, and former president of the University of Damascus. I think he was genuinely surprised that someone was willing to come under those conditions. He gave me access to photographs, legal documents, and virtually everything the shrine held in its archives. We built a close relationship. I interviewed him several times as the project developed. I returned to Syria in 2019 and again in 2021, but he was in Beirut. Sadly, he passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I never had the chance to see him again.
As I neared completion of my manuscript, I needed to revisit the archival materials and get legal permission to use them. After Hani Mohsen’s death, custodianship passed to his son, Sayed Mazen Al-Mourtada. I connected with him, and Mazen agreed to give me access. He explained that he had moved the oldest records to Beirut because he feared they might not survive the war. Although there was widespread looting and destruction when he moved the records, Mazen recovered much of what I needed. There are many major Shi‘i shrines around the world, but not all of them make their archives available in this way or welcome the same level of transparency. That made this project especially meaningful because Mozen was willing to do exactly that.
Manuscripts from the Sayyida Zainab shrine. (Images courtesy of Makam Sayyida Zainab)
For historians, the history we write is so often incomplete and shaped by these absences and losses. Rather than presenting itself as complete, the digital archive will clearly identify documents destroyed through conflict and explain how historical archives are often incomplete collections of surviving materials. Understanding this is crucial for students as they embark on research.
A: History as a discipline is changing. We’re reading documents, translating them, and making meaning from them. Our research process is part of that history. While I was writing the book, my colleagues at UMBC told me that I should be in the story. I wasn’t used to that. The book is divided into three parts: Zainab’s shrine, the Bibi Pak Daman shrine in Lahore, Pakistan; and the al-Rashād prison for women in Iraq. In each section, I invite the reader to take a journey with me. I was so much a part of the process that while I was writing the book, I became part of the story. I learned that if I’m interviewing these women, they are not speaking to a wall—they were speaking to me.
Being a historian is a labor of love. You don’t do things this long unless you care and find them interesting. I have been studying the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab for about 15 years. For much of that time, Syria was caught in civil war and proxy war. The shrine was regularly targeted by jihadist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda, and for more than a decade it was extraordinarily difficult to travel in and out of the country, and then the pandemic happened. Many times, I was told to reframe the book or to change the topic. I didn’t give up.
This archive is my way of contributing something meaningful to the people and place that shaped my research. Although I continue to worry about the shrine’s future, preserving these materials offers hope that, should anything happen to it, its history will not disappear. In that sense, preserving the shrine and its documents is about preserving a piece of our common humanity.
Learn more about UMBC’s history department.
]]>This is the third post in our series on the new LER briefs. Catch the intro post here if you missed it.
If you've earned a UMBC microcredential, do you know what's actually in it?
Not the badge image, the record behind it. Because it's more than a nice-looking icon for LinkedIn. Every UMBC microcredential is built from four specific pieces:
The skill — a specific, named competency. Not "teamwork," but something concrete, like "facilitated cross-functional team decision-making."
The evidence — a description of what you actually did to earn it: the project, the task, the work you produced.
The assessment — how it was evaluated, the criteria you had to meet, and confirmation that you met them.
The issuer — UMBC. Which means anyone who looks at it can verify it's real, not just self-reported.
That combination is the whole point. It's the difference between saying you can do something on a resume and actually proving it.
Employers are leaning more heavily on skills-based hiring than ever, focusing on what candidates can actually do, not just where they went to school. And with AI-generated resumes and cover letters becoming the norm, a verified, UMBC-backed record of what you did and how it was assessed carries more weight than another bullet point that reads like everyone else's.
Add it to LinkedIn. Accredible makes this simple: it appears as a clickable, verified credential.
Use it in applications. "I have a UMBC-verified credential in [skill]" lands differently than "I'm familiar with [skill]."
Bring it up in interviews. It hands you a concrete story: what you did, how it was assessed, what you learned. That specificity is what people remember.
Put it in grad school or scholarship applications. A verified competency makes a stronger case than a course title ever could.
Include it in your digital portfolio. Verified credentials can help demonstrate skills alongside class projects, internships, and research experiences.
Some microcredentials are built directly into coursework; complete the assignments, and the badge comes with your grade. Others live outside the classroom entirely: Shriver Center programs, student leadership roles, research opportunities. If you're not sure what's available to you, your academic advisor is a good place to start.
This is yours. It doesn't expire when you graduate, and it doesn't depend on anyone else remembering what you accomplished. Whether you've already got one or you're just learning this exists, it's part of your story — worth telling.
Want the full guide? Read the full student brief here.
Questions? Submit a support ticket or reach out to the DCI team directly.
]]>MSRP webinars are open to all Faculty and Staff, regardless of their retirement plan.
Registration closes 2 hours before the start of the webinar.
Social Security: Fundamentals for Every Age
Social Security isn't just a retirement issue - it's a lifelong planning topic. Learn the fundamentals of how the program works, what affects your future benefits, and how to plan smarter at every stage of life.
Unlock Your Retirement Savings: How to Enroll in MSRP
Your retirement savings journey starts with enrollment. This webinar will guide employees through the steps to enroll in MSRP (457(b)/401(k) plans, explain contribution choices, and highlight important features and resources available to help make the most of their Supplemental Retirement Plans.
(Presented by Empower, MSRP's Contractor for Plan Administrator)
Getting to Know EMPOWER: Participant Technology in Action
Explore the tools, technology, and experiences that help participants make the most of their retirement journey with EMPOWER. (Presented by Empower, MSRP's Contractor for Plan Administrator Services)
Your MSRP 457(b) and 401(k) Benefits: A Smart Start To Financial Security
Join MSRP for a comprehensive overview of the State of Maryland’s 457(b) and 401(k) Supplemental Retirement Plans, designed to help employees make the most of their available retirement benefits. Whether you are a new employee or looking to refresh your knowledge, this session will explain how these plans work, outline their key advantages, and show how they can support long-term retirement goals for public sector employees.
Your Pension, Social Security, and MSRP: Retirement Income For Life!
Wondering how much income one needs in retirement, when to claim Social Security, and how State Pension and MSRP savings fit together? Join MSRP to learn how to estimate benefits from all your retirement income sources and plan with confidence.
Includes: All utilities + WiFi and maintenance with cleaning. Location:
• 5-minute drive to UMBC
• 3 minute walk to the Westland UMBC shuttle stop
• Across from Giant on Maiden Choice Lan
Room & Home Details:
• Private, lockable bedroom (upstairs for added privacy)
• Full shared bathroom
• Shared kitchen, dining room, and living room (1st floor)
• Laundry room in basement
• Designated parking spot behind the house
• Security surveillance installed around the property
Tenant Requirements (Strict):
• Female tenants only
• No couples
• No room sharing
• No drugs, alcohol, smoking, or parties
Preference:
Female UMBC graduate students or undergraduate seniors
Availability:
Available July 2026
Hi! I need a Muslim female roommate to share an apartment with starting Fall 2026. I'm an incoming transfer student, 20 y/o. Email me at wasif2@umbc.edu if you know anyone, or to discuss more!
]]>Tomorrow, Wednesday 7/29, the Women's, Gender, & Equity Center will be closed for a Divisional Retreat off campus.
The summer walk and chair yoga will continue as planned (more information here!)!
We will resume our normal 10-3 summer hours on Thursday, July 30th.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns at womenscenter@umbc.edu
Women's, Gender, & Equity Center is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.
The Women's, Gender, & Equity Center is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive environment for all students, staff, faculty, and visitors. If you have difficulties accessing any of the materials on our site or any of our events or discussions, please contact us so that we can provide an alternative format and/or remedy any accessibility challenges.
]]>To all chip users,
The maintenance on the chip cluster scheduled for Tuesday, July 28th, has been successfully completed, and the cluster is now back online and accessible. We appreciate your patience while we performed this work to optimize our storage architecture and update our software module system.
A couple things to note:
The module branches for 2018 and 2021 nodes have been separated. We're still working to build the modules you use most, but if you notice a module that seems to be missing from the 2018 hardware that you've used before, please file a ticket with us and we can get it rebuilt ASAP.
We’ve migrated all user home directories to the RRStor ceph storage cluster. Due to the change in filesystem, some users may have more or less space than they did on the old storage server. This is not a result of lost data.
If you encounter any issues, please submit a support ticket here: https://rtforms.umbc.edu/rt_authenticated/doit/DoIT-support.php?auto=Research%20Computing
For additional information, you can check our documentation at: https://umbc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/faq/pages/1082589207/UMBC+HPCF+-+chip
Thank you,
Gregory Ballantine
HPC Specialist