Workshop Wednesdays: Culture Box

Exploring Cultural Identities Across the Division

Wednesday, March 9, 2022 | 1:00 - 3:00 p.m | Online

myUMBC Event Post: Link | Webex: Link

How to Be a Better Ally: "Challenging Nice Racism"

A Deep Discussion on Racism in Progressive Communities

Thursday, March 10, 2022 | 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. | In-Person

myUMBC Event Post: Link | The Commons: 2B23

Mindfulness Mondays: CBT Journaling

Understanding Your Thoughts and How to Journal

Monday, March 14, 2022 | 11:30am - 12:45 p.m | In-Person

myUMBC Event Post: Link | The Center for Well-Being: 209

OCA Mocha Mondays with i3b

Radical Wellness

Monday, March 14, 2022 | 5:00 - 6:30 p.m | In-Person

myUMBC Event Post: Link | Off-campus: OCA Mocha

PodByte: Disability Justice

Critical Social Justice: Disability Justice + Access Matters

Thursday, March 17, 2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 p.m | In-Person

myUMBC Event Post: Link | The Commons: The Women's Center

Interfaith Dialogue Series

Privilege and Religion

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 p.m | In-Person

Key Points

• UMBC and area positivity rates have allowed us to revisit our current health and safety measures. 

• Effective Friday, March 4, masking is no longer required for much of the campus. 

• Masking remains required in classes, instructional labs, performance spaces, designated masking areas, healthcare settings, on UMBC Transit, and in other limited areas.

• We ask that all in our community Keep Masks in Mind by carrying a mask with them and respecting one another. 

Dear UMBC Community,

We are pleased to share that our on-campus testing positivity rate and COVID-19 rates in  surrounding counties continue to remain low. We have also carefully reviewed recent guidance from the CDC and its determination that Baltimore County is an area with a low COVID-19 Community Level and improving health metrics.

As a result of these positive indicators, UMBC will adjust the campus masking policy effective Friday, March 4, 2022. In general, masking is no longer required except in classes, instructional labs, performance spaces, designated masking areas, healthcare settings, and on UMBC Transit. We are prepared to update these protocols should the local and/or campus public health situation worsen.

We want to emphasize that many in our community may need or choose to continue to wear a mask in areas where they are no longer required. We need to continue to support each other. Individuals who have recently been exposed to or recovered from COVID-19 should continue to mask for at least 10 days.

We ask that all in our community respect individual decisions to wear masks and carry a mask with them. Please continue to check in with colleagues and friends about whether they would feel more comfortable if gatherings and meetings were masked. Taking care of one another and respecting each other is an important part of our community values. In that tradition, we ask that you continue to Keep Masks in Mind. 

When you need to mask, we continue to encourage you to select a high-quality mask. Free KN95 masks are available on campus. 

We appreciate your patience while the COVID-19 Planning and Coordinating Committee assessed current public health conditions on and off campus and your continued commitment  to keeping our community healthy. If you have questions about these changes, you may contact us at covid19@umbc.edu.

Provost Philip Rous

Vice President of Information Technology and CIO Jack Suess

COVID-19 Planning Coordinating Committee Co-Chairs

Dear UMBC Community,

We are pleased to share the 2020-2021 Inclusion Council Reports and Recommendations with our community. These recommendations are the group's suggestions of how the university can more fully realize our value of inclusive excellence. They represent more than a year of effort from ten working groups made up of more than 150 students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We are deeply grateful for the diverse, thoughtful, and action-focused perspectives they brought to this process.

To respond to this report, and to help us understand our next best steps, we have created an Implementation Team that is modeled on our Retriever Courage work. The team will be chaired by Dr. Carole McCann, Professor and Chair, Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies; and Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon, Coordinator for Leadership, Campus Life. The charge of this team is to create a plan of work, timelines for identified projects, and partnership teams. The Implementation Team includes representatives from the Inclusion Council, Shared Governance leaders, and subject matter experts. We will provide you with regular updates on their progress.  

We know that the work of the Inclusion Council and the Office of Equity and Inclusion does nothappen in isolation. Rather, it both relies on and is indebted to the decades of work that many in our community have already done and continue to do. As a result of your hard work—your scholarship on diversity and inclusion, your support of marginalized students, your commitment to developing equitable processes—UMBC is nationally known as a leader in the work of inclusive excellence. Yet we also know that just as success is never final, the work of justice is never done. We appreciate your continued support.  

If you have questions about this report or the plan to move forward, please reach out to us at oei@umbc.edu.

In partnership,

President Freeman Hrabowski

Provost Philip Rous

Candace Dodson-Reed ’96, Chief of Staff to the President and Executive Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion 

Keith J Bowman, Inclusion Council Co-Chair and Dean, College of Engineering and Information Technology

Carole McCann, Implementation Team Co-Chair and Professor and Chair, Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies

Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon, Implementation Team Co-Chair and Coordinator for Leadership, Campus Life

Dear Faculty and Staff,

UMBC has decided to participate in the Great Colleges to Work For program, a national survey designed to recognize institutions that have built great workplaces. Regardless of whether or not we are recognized, the data we receive will be helpful as we continue the process of creating the best workplace possible. 

On March 7, 2022, the survey will be distributed to a random selection of our employees. If you are included in this random sample, you will receive an invitation with details about the program and how to access the survey. This invitation will be sent to you via email from Great Colleges.

If you receive the invitation, please take a moment to complete the survey. You will be representing not only yourself, but all your colleagues, so your feedback is invaluable! This is a chance to make your voice heard, and a high response rate helps ensure an accurate representation of our community. At the close of the program, we will receive topline reports that summarize the organizational competencies and relationships that most directly impact and influence our culture. 

The survey is voluntary and completely confidential; our institution will not be able to trace results back to individuals. Your survey will be processed by ModernThink LLC, an independent management consulting firm focusing on workplace quality in higher education. They can be reached at 888-684-4658 or at surveys@modernthink.net. 

We encourage everyone’s participation and hope you will take this opportunity to share your honest feedback. Thank you in advance for your participation. Please visit the Great Colleges website if you have questions.