Ramping up to the end of the Retriever 2024 – 2025 academic year, UMBC’s Office of Student Engagement and Belonging gathered students, faculty, and staff to celebrate their accomplishments and invaluable contributions with the communities closest to them. Angelina Jenkins, assistant director of UMBC’s Mosaic Center, which provides the campus community with resources and community building, was at the helm of the three Cultural and Affinity Celebrations and Awards, with a cadre of co-chairs making the Asian, Lavender, and Black/Latine/x events a reality.

Thania Muñoz, associate professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, served as the co-chair for the 5th Black and Latine/x celebration. Priya Bhayana, project manager for UMBC’s Global Asias Initiative, served as the co-chair for the inaugural Asian Cultural Celebration and Awards gathering. Zoe Brown, program coordinator for the Women’s Center and current M.P.P. student, co-chaired the Lavender event with Darcie Adams, graduate assistant for UMBC’s Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being, who supported all three events.

“The Office of Student Engagement and Belonging strives to collaborate with a team of interdisciplinary partners across campus to create a true emphasis on our narrative that inclusive excellence and belonging are a reality for everyone at UMBC,” said Jenkins. “Your stories belong here. Our collective UMBC story and community are made better by them.”

Inaugural Asian Cultural Celebration and Awards

Gathering Retrievers from all corners of the world is something that Meghna Chandrasekaran ’25, political science and biological sciences, is skilled at as the president of the Student Government Association and vice president of undergraduate affairs on the University System Student Council. She hosts “Chai Chats with Meghna!” where she serves piping hot tea and fosters camaraderie throughout the year. “Because of my role as the associate director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, as well as my lived experience as both Chinese and Jamaican, I’m honored to have been asked to participate in this inaugural event to present the Another World Is Possible Award to Meghna Chandrasekaran,” said Ricky Blissett ’11, bioinformatics and computational biology. He was proud to add to Chandrasekaran’s long list of accomplishments include her workshops on intersectional leadership and Tamil-language teaching. “She doesn’t just imagine a better world—she builds it, step by step, with humility and resolve.”

“UMBC was my first experience stepping out of India without anyone to look after me,” said graduate keynote speaker, Sairam Bokka, M.A. ’25, cybersecurity, a leader in UMBC’s Retriever Essentials addressing food insecurity on campus. “I arrived here unsure, quiet, and content with staying in the background. But thanks to the people I met, the support I received, and the opportunities I embraced, I’m walking away from UMBC more open, confident, and purpose-driven. May we all continue to grow, serve, and seek out new paths, even when we feel uncertain. That’s where the real magic happens.” (Bradley Ziegler/UMBC)

12th Annual Lavender Celebration and Awards

As Lorae Bonamy-Lohve, the new assistant director of UMBC’s Pride Center, made the opening remarks for the Lavender Celebration and Awards, she had a clear message for her new Retriever community. “Lavender is a color long tied to liberation, strength, and the beauty of our community,” said Bonamy-Lohve. “Today’s ceremony is about how you made it easier for the next generation of students like you to imagine themselves here, thriving, loved, and affirmed. Let this celebration not only be a moment of joy, but also one of remembrance and responsibility, a reminder that liberation is collective, and that we carry many histories as we move forward.”

Love and history are two intrinsically intertwined concepts for Sanai Eaton-Martinez ’25, a political science pre-law track transfer student and Grit Guide. “My first words were ‘Te quiero mucho.’ [I love you] Love is what we give, but respect is what we’re owed. UMBC allowed me to keep my path forward, and it soon became my home,” said Eaton-Martinez, the Lavender Celebration and Awards undergraduate keynote speaker and founder of UMBC’s Sisterhood: A Women of Color Coalition. “We have raised thousands of dollars to better our community and now have 200 members. Sisterhood is a labor of love. It has taught me so much more than I could have imagined. Not only did I gain a community, but I gained a family.”

When Adams was designing the student art gallery for the Lavender Celebration and Awards, he reached out to Key Gallagher, an English junior, sophomores Jamar James, a computer engineering major, and Qaiyah Dawson, a biological sciences major with a photography minor, to display their crocheting, robotics, and photography skills, respectively. This is Dawson’s first photography exhibit, but James is an avid robotics competitor, and Gallagher’s whimsically crocheted stuffed and wearables sell quickly at campus events.

“I’ve been crocheting for two years now. I have ADHD and need to work with my hands, or else I can’t focus. I finished this piece today. It is a piece of advice that my therapist gave me about not letting fear stop me from experiencing life. It’s a way to express myself,” said Gallagher, a critical disabilities minor, of his ‘Do It Scared’ banner, which took 16 hours and 7,500 stitches to make. “It is amazing when someone comes to my table and sees their flag. Their eyes light up. It’s a great way to connect with people and say, ‘I see you. You are safe here.’”

“I was here for the first Lavender Celebration back in 2014. I received the 2016 Student Leader of the Year Award,” said Leizear, a geography and information systems specialist for The Nature Conservancy. “I think it’s amazing that this is still happening. The people I met here became my friends and are now friends for life. It’s great to be back and see everything happening—bigger and better than ever.”

5th Annual Black and Latine/x Celebration and Awards

“This moment is a combination of dreams, both spoken and unspoken,” said Marian Saunder White ’87, information systems, a member of UMBC’s Alumni Association Awards Committee, at the 5th Annual Black & Latine/x Celebration and Awards. “It is the legacy of your ancestors who survived the unimaginable so that you can imagine freely.”

Legacy is something Janerra Allen, Ph.D. ’25, electrical engineering, (above second from the right), has had on her mind, as a first-generation college student, more so now that she will begin her postdoctoral research at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory this summer. “When I told my grandmother, she cried. She didn’t know what a postdoc was, but she knew her granddaughter had made it,” said Allen, the Graduate School keynote speaker. During her time at UMBC, she served as a graduate senator for the College of Engineering and Information Technology, secretary of the Graduate Student Association, and president of the Black Graduate Student Organization. “Wherever you go next, know this: You carry the power of every obstacle you’ve overcome and every hand that helped lift you. You are not alone. You are part of a legacy that is unshakable. So take pride. Take your rest. And take up space—because you deserve it.”

Hunt, the 2024 Black/Latine/x Excellence Award, was excited to surprise this year’s recipient. Bosola Jerry-Asooto ’25, biological sciences, (left) was shocked when he announced she is the recipient of the 2025 Black/Latine/x Excellence Award.”From student government to residence life, health advocacy to academic mentorship, they’ve consistently stepped up—not for recognition, but to ensure others are seen, heard, and supported,” said Hunt. (Bradley Ziegler/UMBC)

As the curtains close on another year, the Office of Student Engagement and Belonging is already thinking ahead on how to top these years’ ceremonies. The Cultural and Affinity Celebrations and Awards ceremonies aren’t just about recognizing achievements. They are about praising the journey, the effort, the laughs, and speed bumps along the way, and the promise of what’s still to come.

Learn more about student engagement and belonging at UMBC.

At UMBC, students get a versatile education that Retrievers can draw on to succeed no matter where their career lands them. But sometimes, you hit the home run and end up with your dream job. For Kennedy Lamb ’20, English—who also played softball for UMBC—that meant a role in the storied legacy of National Geographic. But dream jobs don’t land because of random luck or chance. Lamb knew early on that she wanted to lean on her love of science in her English degree and topped off her UMBC education with a graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University’s program in science writing. Ultimately, when she applied for the gig at Nat Geo, she’d loaded her bases and was ready to knock it out of the park.

Seven years ago, I sat in my academic advisor’s office in the Performing Art and Humanities Building mulling over which classes to take next semester. The meeting, like all meetings with English professor Christopher Corbett, mostly consisted of discussing select passages from Phillip Lopate’s Art of the Personal Essay, the Baltimore Orioles’ record, and Babe Ruth. I always looked forward to them. 

“What do you want to do after college?” he asked, chuckling good-naturedly. I smiled politely and fiddled with my earrings. At 19, the prospect of securing a full-time job was daunting. I knew I loved to write. I knew I loved science. I did not know how to combine the two. “I’m not sure,” I said. “Write, I guess.”

Corbett took a sip out of his coffee mug and sat back in his chair. “Well, I can tell you where others have gone on after college, if that would help.” I nodded. In his Maine drawl, he rattled off a few media outlets, some of which I was familiar with. Nothing piqued my interest.

 “And one alumna went to write for National Geographic,” he said, almost as an afterthought. I looked up at him. “Really?” I replied.

Corbett hadn’t heard me and continued recounting the various places alumni from the English Department went on to work. But my mind was stuck: National Geographic. Now that would be something special. I pictured the iconic yellow borders in my head and pondered the pathway from college sophomore to Nat Geo writer. 

At the end of the meeting, I had signed up for a handful of writing seminars, an introductory biology class, and Deborah Rudacille’s science writing class. As semesters turned into years and my time at UMBC came to a close in 2020, the dreams of National Geographic lingered in the back of my mind. What if? I would wonder. And how?

Fast forward to 2025, and that dream has become a reality. I am a communications specialist at the National Geographic Society, the centuries-old nonprofit dedicated to illuminating and protecting the wonders of our world. As a public relations professional, I’m tasked with translating stories of scientific discovery into well-packaged pitches to writers around the world.

Left: Lamb poses with a copy of The Wall Street Journal featuring the “mega coral.” Photo courtesy of Lamb. Right: A diver measures the world’s largest coral in the Solomon Islands. October 2024. Photograph by Manu San Félix, National Geographic Pristine Seas.

No two days are alike. Some days are spent decoding technical science papers about extinct human ancestors or writing a press release about cutting-edge conservation tactics that aim to save a slimy snail. Other days are spent digging through National Geographic’s colossal photo archive to find just the right picture for a reporter or presenting to leaders from Pacific Island countries about how to communicate the benefits of marine protected areas.

Perhaps my proudest moment came when a team of scientists and filmmakers from National Geographic Pristine Seas uncovered the world’s largest piece of coral (dubbed the “mega coral”) while on expedition in the Solomon Islands. After being briefed on the discovery by the expedition team and Solomon Islands scientists, our communications crew began a two-week sprint to craft a press release and press kit, organize a press conference, and pitch the story to reporters across the globe. 

And that work paid off: The story went viral. In three weeks, the story was picked up by over 3,000 outlets in 50 countries. The mega coral graced the front page of The Wall Street Journal, was featured on Germany’s largest television show Tagesschau and even became the butt of a joke on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (All press is good press, right?)

In moments like this, I’m reminded of the privilege of working for such an iconic brand. It’s easy to trudge to the next assignment and never truly celebrate the amount of work that went into making a piece of coral in the Pacific Ocean a viral sensation. But after the story had run its course, I reflected on what got me to this moment.

What I realized is that there is no secret to landing a dream job. It is hard work with a healthy serving of serendipity. I took nearly every internship offered to me (including one at UMBC Magazine!) and tried to view even the most mundane task as a chance to learn something new. When it came time to apply to the National Geographic Society, I trusted my skills.

All writers know there is no such thing as perfection. Instead, I try to strive for the asymptote of perfection. It is demanding and, at times, downright exhausting. But because I know the impact of conservancy in action—from coral reefs to slimy snails—I wouldn’t have it any other way.

— Kennedy Lamb ’20

Meet Alan Aymie’94, theatre. After graduating from UMBC, Alan went on to work professionally in D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles. As a playwright, he has been produced across the country and has optioned several screenplays. In 2021, the actor published his first book, Turning Points: Tips, Tales, and Tactics of a Revolutionary Teacher, a memoir of his years teaching in South LA. He currently lives in LA with his wife and family. Take it away, Alan!

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: I originally moved to Baltimore from Boston following a promotion in my career. Uninspired and unfulfilled in that career, I made the choice to pursue a second degree after seeing a production of the UMBC Theatre Department’s Shakespeare on Wheels (S.O.W.). I had never acted before, but was inspired by what I saw. I applied to the department, met the department chair and some of the professors, and was accepted into the department, where I met so many creative and passionate people. I performed in S.O.W. the following year. 

Q: Can you talk more about the impact of the Theatre Department?

A: Being a part of the UMBC Theatre Department was my first real experience of community. It greatly influenced my life as an artist and as a person. Currently, I am a producer for Rogue Machine Theater’s RANT & RAVE here in LA, and I get to bring those same lessons to this community.

Q: Where did you find support while at UMBC?

A: I was blessed to have many amazing professors who inspired me in various ways, including Sam McCready, Xerxes Mehta, Wendy Salkind, and Alan Kreizenbeck. I was also fortunate to make many great friends during my time at UMBC, who provided support, direction, and guidance, including James Brown-Orleans ’05, theatre. James has directed me in some of my work, acted in others, and has been a constant supportive voice.

Photo right: Alan Aymie ’94 with James Brown-Orleans ’05 before the latter goes onstage with Broadway’s The Lion King.

Q: Can you tell us about your current job and your book?

A: I am an actor (SAG/AFTRA), playwright (Dramatist’s Guild), and author. After graduating from UMBC, I landed a national commercial and a few films, Guarding Tess and Foreign Student, which earned me enough money to move to LA to study with Sanford Meisner. Once in LA, I booked roles on stage and in commercials, film, and TV before being an official selection of the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival, a teacher, and, more importantly, a father. 

When my second child was diagnosed with autism, I wrote about it in the now critically acclaimed solo play, A Child Left Behind, which was seen across the country. For the next 10 years, I performed solo work, did stand-up, starred in a short film that featured Kyle Bornheimer, Wolfgang Bodison, and Scoot McNairy, and wrote the award-winning Best New Play, RAP. In 2021, I published my first book, Turning Points: Tips, Tales, and Tactics of a Revolutionary Teacher, which details my journey from struggling Hollywood actor to a heralded school teacher and the lessons I learned along the way.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

In her day job as a vice president at the advanced technology company Booz Allen Hamilton, Catherine Ordun, Ph.D. ’23, information systems, leads teams of engineers working on far-out AI tech. In the evenings, she crafts a different type of futuristic world, putting the finishing touches on a sci-fi trilogy featuring two alien brothers at odds with each other over a plan to invade Earth, which she hopes to publish in early 2026.

Ordun started writing the books in 2022, as a break from her intense computer science Ph.D. research work, which she completed in 2023 under the direction of UMBC assistant professor Sanjay Purushotham. Although fiction writing and coding seem to call for different skill sets, the two pursuits share some defining features, from the mental challenge of connecting ideas to the satisfaction that comes from completing a herculean task. In both, Ordun embraces the thrill of creating—whether an imaginary world where characters grapple with technologically infused questions of identity and purpose, to the seemingly sci-fi, yet very real, AI tools that will shape our own tomorrows.

Tools of the trade

• A thirst for knowledge
• A pen and paper (when you need old fashioned tools)
• Computer (when you need digital assistance)
• Vision and discipline
• Lots of coffee

Step 1: Hit the books

Ordun voraciously consumes knowledge and ideas. Although she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology, not computer science, she became deeply interested in machine learning around 2015, while working as a data scientist for Booz Allen Hamilton. “I became fascinated by the idea, just like really, really obsessed,” she says. “And for five years, I taught myself.”

Ordun’s favorite book from this time was Deep Learning, by Google AI researcher François Chollet. “It is like dogeared to the max. I went through every page and I typed out every line. I learned so much, from natural language processing to computer vision.”

When Ordun decided she needed a brief break from technical research, she kept right on reading—though she turned to sci-fi books, from the cyberpunk novels of William Gibson to the technically elaborate works of Neal Stephenson. “At the time, I was also very interested in simulation theory, this kind of Matrix-like idea that we could be living in a computer simulation.

And I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to write my own sci-fi book, so I can explore this idea.’”

Step 2: Get your hands dirty

Once you have some background knowledge, it’s time to dive in. Ordun wrote the first draft of her novel (which she eventually split into three parts and named the Morfyk Trilogy) in under three months. “It was a horrible, horrible first draft. And it was huge, like 600 pages long,” she says. She revised it multiple times herself, and then hired a professional editor. 

Ordun says working on the books has become a nightly ritual. “Every night, even if I’m dead tired, I tell myself to just put five words down, it’s better than zero.” 

In her AI-work, Ordun tackles problems on a similarly compressed timeline. “One team I lead is called AI rapid prototyping, and we basically crank out prototypes for exquisitely hard AI problems in about four weeks.”

Ordun isn’t committed to any one way of transforming ideas from her brain into a tangible object. Sometimes she reaches for pen and paper, other times she is coding and typing on a digital screen. What unites the efforts is the desire to build, be it novel AI-tools for a client or a different universe she can escape to when the work day is over. 

Step 3: Tackle the hard problems

Book authors and scientific researchers share the challenge of birthing something entirely new. When searching for the fertile ground that could yield unique knowledge, tools, or stories, it helps to lean into profound, hard problems. 

Ordun says the most rewarding part of her Ph.D. work was tackling a long-standing challenge in computer science—how to match up differently sized images of the same object, and finding a new way for computers to train themselves to do it. 

She says her book writing also took a more fulfilling turn when she started to reflect on her own traumas and anxieties and the big themes of purpose and identity. She explored morality, the nature of reality, and her characters’ fluctuating sense of themselves. “I found I was pouring a lot of my own self into this book, so it became much more than “What if we live in a simulation?”

Step 4: Assemble your team

The work of creating new worlds is monumental, so it helps to have a solid cast of characters supporting you. Ordun praises the engineers she leads at Booz Allen, who she says are tackling some of the toughest technology challenges out there and pioneering innovative solutions. 

In the writing sphere, she credits editors and volunteer readers for helping her hone her “horrible first draft” into polished prose. 

More recently, Ordun has turned to teaching, in a sense educating future collaborators. She joined UMBC as an adjunct assistant professor in summer of 2024, and she regularly engages with aspiring young computer scientists on TikTok, answering questions and commiserating about coding problems. 

“I learn by imagining having to teach a concept to someone else,” says Ordun. “So now I’m actually teaching and it’s something I really enjoy doing.” 

Step 5: Celebrate your successes

Ordun isn’t shy about admitting setbacks. She talks about her strings of rejected papers, the coffee-fueled problem solving sessions that turned into pure error finding missions, and the red ink-filled drafts that her book editors send her. Sometimes to release stress, she needed to lace up her shoes, grab the dog, and just go for a run.

Obstacles are a natural part of any pursuit where you push into the unknown. And so, when you do have success, it’s important to take a moment and take it in. “The moment I finished my book, I was out on my deck, it was 10 p.m. at night. I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but I almost cried,” Ordun says. “I felt I had created something totally new, a new universe. It was a similar feeling of pride to passing my Ph.D. dissertation defense.”

Meet Brandon Dudley ’04, English. Since graduation, Brandon has pursued his passion for writing and teaching—skills he honed while at UMBC. For almost 20 years, Brandon has been teaching English, the last six years at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine. Within the last 10 years, Brandon has also been writing and publishing. In 2021, he published his first book, Hazards of Nature: Stories, a 2020 Maine Chapbook Series winner. Take it away, Brandon!

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC because I was looking for a place where I could explore my love for literature and journalism. UMBC was a place that immediately felt comfortable to me when I went on an admissions tour, but I was still slightly hesitant. Although UMBC had a great campus newspaper, the school only offered a journalism minor, and journalism was my intended career. Despite that hitch, I really liked my initial experience at UMBC and felt like it would be a solid fit.

My first extensive exposure to the school was when I came for interviews for the Humanities Scholars Program, where I met Tom Field, a professor in modern language and linguistics, who was running the program at the time, as well as other humanities faculty and current scholars. It was a great deal of pressure, these meetings and interviews, but after that day, I knew UMBC was absolutely where I wanted to be, that this was the group of students that I wanted to be a part of, and these were the type of teachers I wanted to learn from. The day that I got the letter accepting me into the Humanities Scholars Program is still one of my best memories. 

Between the English program, the Humanities Scholars Program, and The Retriever Weekly, I was able to spend four years immersed in all of those elements that I was looking for. 

Q: Can you talk more about the impact of the Humanities Scholars Program?

A: That program was life-changing for me. It exposed me to some of the most intelligent students and teachers I’ve had the pleasure to ever work with, and allowed me the opportunity to study abroad, kindling a life-long love of travel and a motivation to urge my own students now to spend time studying abroad. It’s a program that I’m still incredibly proud that I was able to be a part of.

I’ll also fully admit that the gift of full financial support for college wasn’t something an 18-year-old me truly understood the long-term benefits of. I don’t think anyone at that age fully appreciates the value of a gift like that, but since then, I’ve experienced again and again the financial freedom and flexibility that it has helped me and my family attain. 

Q: What did you love most about your time with UMBC’s student newspaper?

A: I found a second home at the offices of The Retriever Weekly. I spent four years there meeting new people who have become lifelong friends, learning how to be (and how not to be) an effective leader, and getting to know the ins and outs of campus life. 

Q: Can you tell us about your current job and your book?

A: For almost 20 years, I have been an English teacher, the last six years at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine. I love connecting with students and helping them hone their voices and their thinking as writers. In 2021, I published my first book, Hazards of Nature: Stories, which won the 2020 Maine Chapbook Series. Hazards of Nature is a collection of short stories about everyday people dealing with difficult situations. A young boy is teased by his father and brothers. A man raises chickens to help himself cope with his wife’s decision not to have children. An elderly widower struggles to connect with other people, but finds solace in his attachment to a peach tree he planted. The first story in the collection, “Coyotes,” won a Maine Literary Award in 2017.

Praise that means a lot to me (and is in the introduction to my book) comes from National Book Award-winner Sigrid Nunez: “What makes the stories in Hazards of Nature so compelling for me is not just the writer’s insightful portraits of his characters’ struggles but his sensitivity in regard to their pain.”

Photo right: Brandon Dudley ’04, English, at his local bookstore, Gulf of Maine Books, seeing his collection of short stories on sale for the first time in 2021.

Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?

A: English Professor Chris Corbett was a constant supporter during my time at UMBC, and I’m lucky to still be in touch with him over 20 years later. Professor Corbett was instrumental in my growth as a student, a leader, and a writer. He was the advisor of The Retriever Weekly, and I devoured his journalism classes during my time at UMBC, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to show up to his office well before classes started just to hang out and talk. 

During my time at The Retriever, he was always a sounding board and a resource, helping me figure out how, as editor-in-chief, to effectively lead the newspaper and how to implement my vision for it. He helped connect me with internships at The Baltimore Sun, helped me get my first job at Patuxent Publishing as an editorial assistant right out of college, and eventually even helped me get into my M.F.A. program for creative writing. It was through basically copying his journalism lessons to teach new staff at The Retriever how to effectively shape their stories that I first found my love of teaching, which eventually became my career. 

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Meet Margaret Chisolm ’80, visual arts with a concentration in film. After graduating from UMBC, Margaret was accepted into graduate school at NYU in cinema studies, but decided to go to medical school instead. She earned her M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1988 and is currently a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 2021, the film student turned doctor added another feather in her cap, author. She published her book, From Survive to Thrive: Living Your Best Life with Mental Illness, which won the Nautilus Book Award in the psychology category. Take it away, Margaret!

Q: What initially brought you to UMBC?

A: I came to UMBC to study film. I initially went to the University of Colorado Boulder for my freshman year. After taking every film class they offered, I decided to come back east, thinking I’d go to NYU. Instead, I found that UMBC had a great program and the experimental filmmaking great, Stan Vanderbeek, was a faculty member. So, I decided to enroll at UMBC.

I loved the students, faculty, and staff in the film program—and the program as a whole. My time at UMBC prepared me to do whatever I wanted to do—whether it was to go to the best grad school in the country for cinema studies or to medical school. It was a great education and prepared me for a life of learning.

Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?

A: From my time at UMBC, I now count some of the students, faculty, and staff as lifelong friends. One of them – Richard Chisolm ’82, interdisciplinary studies – is my husband of nearly 44 years. We met while I was a work-study student. I was in a relationship with someone else at the time, but after a year or so, that relationship ended. In June 1980, Richard and I started dating. I graduated in December 1980, and we were married in June 1981. Another, is Leroy Morais. He was the head of the Visual Arts department at UMBC when I was there. He continues to work as a visual artist today and remains a source of inspiration. He has also become a close friend. 

Photo right: Margaret Chisolm ’80 and Richard Chisolm ’82 while students at UMBC.

Q: What is your current job?

A: I’m a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I love to learn, and medicine is unparalleled for lifelong learning. I love the combination of scholarship and research, education and teaching, and clinical care that I’ve been able to enjoy. I am able to be creative in designing courses that use the art museum as a teaching space.

In 2015, I was part of the launch of a new initiative in the department: the Paul McHugh Program for Human Flourishing, which I now direct. We use the arts and humanities to explore the big questions with medical learners: what it means to be human, to be a physician, and to lead a good life (for ourselves and our patients). Our goal is to humanize medicine for the good of everyone.

Photos above: Chisolm leading Visual Thinking Strategies discussions with Johns  Hopkins med and pre-students, and health professions education leaders from around the country.

Q: Can you tell us about your journey as an author?

A: During the pandemic, I wrote a book for patients with mental illness and their families and loved ones, From Survive to Thrive: Living Your Best Life with Mental Illness. The book describes a tried-and-true plan to help anyone grappling with life’s challenges so they can learn how to flourish. In the book, I use my own story of depression (first while I was a student and later as a new mother) to illustrate my points. The aim of the book is to demystify and destigmatize psychiatric problems and to give hope for a full, flourishing life to those who experience mental illness.

In 2022, From Survive to Thrive won the Nautilus Book Award in the psychology category, was a finalist for the American Book Fest Best Book Award in the Health – Psychology/Mental Health category, and has been the topic of numerous podcast interviews.

I also co-authored a textbook on the Perspectives of Psychiatry, a holistic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with psychiatric problems in 2012. 

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

One way to describe Dave Anguish’s journey with UMBC is as a trip around the world and back again. Anguish came to UMBC in 2008 to study political science as well as modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication. After graduating in 2012, he hopped on a plane to Mexico City to conduct political science research thanks to a research grant from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. He later returned to UMBC to earn an M.P.P. in public management in 2019 while working in UMBC’s International Education Services (IES)—an opportunity that allowed him to travel the world and inspired his first career in international education leadership. Now, it is leading to his second career as he prepares to graduate from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Take it away, Dave!

Q: Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: In 2008, I came to UMBC as an undergraduate student because it offered something different, something I didn’t see at other schools. I liked that it was “medium-sized” and that the buildings were arranged in a grid, almost like a small city. It was so easy to meet new people, whether they were classmates, staff, or faculty. Everyone was open to making connections. At the time, I was surprised that an undergraduate student had so much access to people of greater stature. I came to understand that reducing the power differential was a deliberate choice and part of the university’s culture. It’s something I’m so glad still lives on today.

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: After graduation, I moved abroad for a year and then came back to work at UMBC. When I returned, it took a few years to find my passion. An urgent need for an advisor in IES ended up being my big break. I discovered that it wasn’t simply getting to meet and work with people from all over the world that appealed to me; it was also learning and explaining to others the complexity of immigration law. That seed of an idea blossomed into the (eventual) decision to attend law school and become an immigration lawyer focused on deportation defense and justice for immigrant communities. I could never have foreseen how far a frontline advisor position in the “visa office” would take me, or how it would reveal my professional path.

Q: What do you love about working at the Center for Global Engagement (CGE)?

A: I’ve been part of CGE since it was called International Education Services. Back then, we were a small but mighty team of five or so people. Today, CGE has nearly thirty staff, and while our teams focus on different areas, we all seek to forge connections between UMBC and the world. 

I’m so inspired by the work CGE does. My team handles immigration services for the thousands of international students coming to UMBC to study, as well as those who have graduated and are working around the country in exciting fields, getting practical training. 

My colleagues in Education Abroad enable students to break through the confines of campus and explore new lands, gaining crucial intercultural skills, learning languages, and learning more about themselves and their role in the world. Other CGE teams coordinate English language training and design special programs for groups to visit UMBC over the summer for intercultural experiences and training. 

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: For several years, I was on a two-person team serving all of UMBC’s international students. My co-worker, supervisor, and friend, Michelle Massey ’10, intercultural communications, taught me so much about how to be the best version of myself for those I serve. She is the reason why my emails are littered with happy exclamation points, and why I try to communicate in the most positive and friendly way with people who may not be as familiar with U.S. culture, and why I keep in mind that the work we do matters, because it has such an impact on every student’s life, career, and dreams. Michelle left UMBC to join the foreign service several years ago, but her example of servant leadership has stuck with me and set a standard that I try to live up to in my work.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: It’s clichéd to say “it’s the people” that make UMBC what it is, but it’s true. I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many people who work hard every day to make the place run. Maybe it’s our relative youth as an institution, but there is a sense that even a university of our size can be nimble and adjust to new realities. We’re writing the story of UMBC every day. It’s been fascinating to see how much UMBC has changed since I was an undergraduate, but how the ethos has remained constant. We’ve had many changes in leadership over the past few years, and this new era at UMBC is an exciting one to watch and even more exciting to participate in.

Although I returned to UMBC shortly after I graduated, really, I’ve been all over the place: through my work at UMBC I’ve been able to travel the world, meet so many wonderful people, and learn new skills. Two graduate degrees later, my time at UMBC is coming to a close as I transition into an attorney role in another organization. But UMBC has been such a significant part of my life for so long that I know this isn’t truly the end.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about. Learn more about UMBC’s Center for Global Engagement.

Tanya Olson, associate professor of English, UMBC.

On March 15, 1974, the Grand Ole Opry country music radio show closed its run at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, with Johnny and June Carter Cash leading the song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” After that final show, a six-foot circle of wood was cut from the Ryman stage and moved to the new Grand Ole Opry House.

The next night, Roy Acuff opened the first show at the new venue. A video of Acuff singing in the 1940s played before the screen lifted to reveal Acuff himself, singing live in the same spot. The message was clear: Though the stage had changed, the story continued. The circle had not been broken.

The Opry began on WSM on Nov. 28, 1925, and is celebrating its centennial with a series of concerts and tributes under the name Opry 100. On March 19, 2025, Reba McEntire stepped onto the iconic circle on the Grand Ole Opry stage and kicked off NBC’s Opry 100 celebration with a verse of “Sweet Dreams.”

The final song of the night was “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” performed by country legends like Bill Anderson and Jeannie Seely alongside newcomers like Lainey Wilson and Post Malone. It was a moment meant to celebrate 100 years of country music tradition and connection with a stage full of voices harmonizing across generations. A circle, unbroken.

But that night in March, one group of country performers was missing. Not a single openly gay, lesbian or bisexual artist appeared onstage during the anniversary celebration. In a moment designed to honor the full sweep of the genre’s past and future, a long line of country musicians was left standing outside the spotlight once again. Wilma Burgess’ sexuality was common knowledge in music industry circles in the 1960s and ‘70s.

A slowly opening circle

Country music has never been without queer voices, but it regularly refuses to acknowledge them.

From 1962 to 1982, Wilma Burgess had 15 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country chart and two Grammy Award nominations. She recorded with legendary producer Owen Bradley and had Top 10 hits like “Misty Blue.” Despite this success, Burgess never played the Opry. Though Burgess was never publicly out, her sexuality was common knowledge in recording circles. In the 1980s, she left music and opened The Hitching Post, Nashville’s first lesbian bar. Like so many queer country artists, Burgess had to build her legacy outside the circle.

In the 1980s and 90s, k.d. lang and Sid Spencer expanded the presence of queer artists in country music. Lang won two Grammys and performed at the Opry, but she was labeled “cowpunk” and left the genre before coming out in 1992. Spencer released albums and toured widely within the gay rodeo circuit, but he was never recognized by mainstream country before his 1996 death from AIDS-related complications.

The 2000s offered small openings. Mary Gauthier became the first openly queer artist to perform on the Opry stage in 2005. Chely Wright had a No. 1 country single before coming out in 2010, but didn’t return to the Opry until 2019. Ty Herndon charted 17 singles before coming out in 2014. He wouldn’t appear at the Opry again until 2023.

These artists established themselves first and came out later, at great professional cost. The Opry hosts 5–6 shows a week, featuring 6–8 artists each night. In that context, a nine-year absence isn’t just a scheduling gap. In addition, the Grand Ole Opry currently has 76 members, a special designation indicating a level of success in country music. None of them identify as LGBTQ+.

Today, there are signs of change. Lily Rose, who has been openly queer since the beginning of her career, receives radio play, has songs on the charts and tours widely. But she remains the exception, not the rule. Other openly LGBTQ+ artists like Paisley Fields, Mya Byrne and Amythyst Kiah are recording, performing and building loyal audiences, but they are still rarely featured on country radio or invited onto the Opry stage. The circle may be widening, but for many queer artists, it’s still just out of reach.

The importance of the circle

In country music, visibility isn’t just symbolic. If you’re not on the radio, you don’t chart. If you don’t chart, you don’t tour. Without that platform, you can’t build a legacy.

Country radio and the Opry stage serve as gatekeepers of who counts. In 2015, a radio consultant infamously compared women artists to “tomatoes in the salad,” stating a few were fine, but they shouldn’t dominate. That same logic has long applied to queer artists; they can be tolerated at the edges but are rarely treated as essential.

Genre labeling becomes another barrier. Brandi Carlile and Brandy Clark both openly identify as lesbians and have been embraced by country audiences and critics alike, but they are routinely categorized as Americana artists. That rebranding often functions as a fence that keeps artists close enough to celebrate, but far enough to exclude. https://www.youtube.com/embed/p-eE6k1SNW8?wmode=transparent&start=0 Gina Venier is one of today’s many openly gay country artists.

Reimagining the country music circle

The Opry’s centennial celebrations are scheduled to continue through the end of 2025 with a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall and a final anniversary show in Nashville on Nov. 28. Perhaps openly queer artists will take the stage at those events. If they do, it won’t just be symbolic; it will be a long overdue acknowledgment of artists who have always been here, even if they weren’t always seen.

Country music’s strength lies in how it braids together American traditions: gospel and blues, Black and white, rural and urban, old and new. It’s not a genre built on purity, but one that relies on the mix. That mix is what makes country music American – and what makes it endure.

If the circle on the Opry stage is meant to stand for country music itself, then I hope it will be like the music: honest and able to grow. If “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” is more of a promise than just a closing number, the future of country music depends on who’s allowed in the circle to sing it next.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article and see more than 250 UMBC articles available in The Conversation.

“Hey UMBC, and welcome to my crib!” That’s probably not verbatim what students said when UMBC’s first dormitories opened for students to call home, but there’s always a possibility. Starting from humble beginnings, UMBC opened its residential doors to the first cohort of 118 on-campus Retrievers on March 15, 1970. More dorms would follow, and apartments, and living learning communities, and here we are in 2025 with an on-campus population of approximately 4,000 Retrievers.

While some may take today’s dorm amenities for granted, a November 1969 edition of The Retrieverreports about the forthcoming dorms promising, “The new dormitories boast of many features not currently found in other residence halls. On-campus residents will enjoy wall-to-wall carpeting, numerous lounges and study facilities, and kitchenette facilities for snacks. Each room will have a telephone and individual climate control (air conditioning included).”

The phone and air conditioning were probably great perks, but what really made a lasting impression on the first residents were the intangibles. Tom Stewart ’74, psychology, remembers how much it bonded him and his friends to the campus. 

“It was a bit of a ‘suitcase school’ back then, so when the commuters went home on weekends, we had the whole place to ourselves,” he said. “I was living on the other side of Baltimore and I knew I wasn’t going to get any kind of college experience if I continued commuting.” 

Making a home of their own

Much like the UMBC we know today, there was always an emphasis on making sure that students who lived on campus and those who commuted still had plenty of opportunities to interact through mixers, concerts, and movie nights, many of these being entertainment options still offered through Campus Life in 2025.  

In addition to improving his social life, having a dedicated spot on campus to buckle down and do his work inspired Stewart to grow academically.  

“When I started, I was just a slightly above average student, but things really kicked in for me at UMBC,” he said. “For some reason, this really seemed like the environment to take this whole academic thing seriously.”

During Homecoming 2024, a group of alumni from the 1970s, including Stewart, got together for a reunion tour of campus and had the opportunity to revisit some of their old haunts, including the dorms and the memories all came flooding back. Stewart and his wife Wendy ’77, sociology, agree that the friends they made at UMBC “are our lifelong friends.” And that’s something we can all agree on, no matter your graduation year. 

All photos courtesy of Leo J. “Nick” Nicaise ’75, INDS, unless otherwise noted.

On a pleasant Saturday in early May, nearly 30 teams gathered in Baltimore to pedal elaborate all-terrain sculptures 15 miles through a course featuring pavement, water, sand, and mud. The 25th year of the Kinetic Sculpture Race, organized by the American Visionary Art Museum, brought out Baltimore residents to cheer on the wacky sculptures, such as a kilt-wearing platypus and a BLT sandwich, and their human pedalers. This year UMBC, which has regularly gathered a team to compete in the race, partnered with The IMAGE Center of Maryland, a non-profit organization dedicated to “new thinking about disability,” to build and race a sculpture named IMAGE Man. The larger-than-life teal superhero sits in a wheelchair and wears an orange cape—The IMAGE Center’s branded colors. With football in hand, he flies over some of Baltimore’s iconic buildings, such as the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower and the Baltimore World Trade Center.

IMAGE Man successfully navigated the hazardous terrain of the race—including a floating lap around a dock in the Baltimore Harbor—and was also recognized with a best art award, a category that, according to the race organizers “includes consideration of color, costumes, two and three dimensional ‘artistic designs,’ kinetic motion, humor, theatrical appeal, and mass crowd- and media glory-seeking.” The team also won second place in the overall standings. 

It took many months, and hundreds of volunteer hours, to bring the kinetic sculpture to life from foam, wood and paint and mount it on a recycled quadricycle in a workspace at the 900 Walker Ave building on the UMBC campus. Volunteers from UMBC pitched in alongside partners from Volunteers for Medical Engineering (VME) Program Services, a part of The IMAGE Center that provides innovative custom devices to empower people with disabilities to live life more fully. 

The partnership between The IMAGE Center and UMBC on the Kinetic Sculpture Race was a spinoff of a long-term collaboration, says Angela Tyler, the director of VME. In that partnership, UMBC engineering students collaborate with VME to design and build the custom devices. Many graduating students return to volunteer on other VME projects. This year, four UMBC mechanical engineering students participated in a project to design and build a fishing rod holder and casting device for a disabled client. All four also volunteered their time on the kinetic sculpture project.

Alex Brunkhorst was one of those students. He participated in the race as a member of the pit crew, pedaling alongside the sculpture and offering technical (and emotional) support as needed. “The race was a lot of fun and challenged all of us physically, mentally, and mechanically,” he says. “We did run into some difficulty with our kinetic sculpture’s braking system, but with some quick thinking and a little luck, the pit crew was able to rig something together and keep IMAGE Man in the race.”

Tyler says the collaboration for this year’s race was a win-win. “We’d like to thank UMBC for providing the space, thanks to UMBC faculty Steve McAlpine and Dr. Jamie Gurganus for help leading the volunteer team, and many thanks to all the volunteers! It was a natural fit, and a great partnership.”

Gurganus, who has nurtured the partnership with VME for many years, says the expansion of the collaboration to the Kinetic Sculpture Race this year made the race-day experience much more than just a fun and wacky day. “The race became a moving stage to amplify VME’s mission, and their presence was unforgettable,” she says. “It became a celebration of purpose, empathy, and community.”