Provost’s Perspective: February 20, 2026

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:57:38 -0500
provost

Last week I spoke briefly about the importance of belonging. For many of us, this has been upended by the seemingly constant news of shifting immigration policies and enforcement, shifts that often bring uncertainty and dread to the simplest, most innocuous actions. Walking across campus, visiting a colleague, or grabbing a coffee in the UC can become a moment of apprehension.

As many of you know, I was raised in the Netherlands. I immigrated to the United States as a graduate student, eventually meeting my wife and starting a family. I spent years in this country as a legal alien, a designation that many of our fellow colleagues and students currently possess.

It is a term that can feel isolating and othering. For me, it carries the weight of a decade spent navigating a labyrinth of visas, fingerprints, and the peculiar anxiety of being “here” without quite being “from here.”

I understand the tension between making a home and maintaining a status. It was a journey that made the simple act of staying feel like a hard-won victory of the heart.

This imperfect world inevitably leads to struggles that must be navigated. I’ve had my marriage questioned when re-entering the country. I know the stress of living thousands of miles away from aging parents. I’ve felt the uncertainty of making a home in a land without the permanency of citizenship.

And while I don’t pretend to know the struggle our fellow community members face in this current climate, I can empathize, as I know the uncertainty that can come with being a legal alien.

At UMBC, we are committed to inclusive excellence. This means supporting each other through trying times. I encourage you to reach out to your fellow community members and offer a helping hand or a sympathetic ear during this season of uncertainty. A simple question – ‘how are you doing’ – can go a long way.

Federal Immigration Enforcement General Information Card and FAQs

In recent days the university has begun rolling out information for the UMBC community when dealing with immigration enforcement on campus. While we will not tell you what you can or cannot do as an individual, we feel it is important to provide information that promotes safety in our community. On Wednesday, the UMBC Core Team released its federal immigration enforcement general information card and FAQs. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to read the announcement and explore the resources available.

Thank You for the Feedback

Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback. The Provost’s Perspective is a work in progress and will continue to evolve to more fully serve you, UMBC’s faculty and academic staff. If there is a subject or topic that you feel should be covered (or have general feedback on the content), drop me a note here. Your feedback and input matters!

Mark your calendar

2026 Office of the Provost Strategic Initiatives Meeting

March 5, 3:30-5 p.m., Fine Arts 118 and online

Mark your calendars and plan to join the provost leadership team and myself either in person or online to learn about the 2026 strategic initiatives underway that are (co)supported by the Office of the Provost.

We will present information on current initiatives including re-envisioning general education, student success strategy, graduate student recruitment and enrollment strategy, fostering curricular innovation, strengthening global education, AI strategy, infrastructure needs, refining and enhancing budget models, and expanding and strengthening K-12 partnerships.

During this meeting you will learn about (a) goals, (b) leads, (c) who is involved, (d) timelines, and (e) how you can get involved/provide feedback. After the session there also will be an opportunity for informal conversation with leads of initiatives and the Office of the Provost team.

Register here.

PAWS (pause) with the Provost

March 6, 10-11 a.m., Fireside Lounge (303), The Commons

Join me for a special PAWS (pause) with the Provost to dive deeper following the strategic initiatives meeting the previous day. This drop-in event is intended to provide an informal environment to further explore the work being done to support strategic initiatives this semester. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome. I look forward to seeing you there.

Learn more.

18th annual Arts Integration Conference

Saturday, February 21

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Performing Arts and Humanities Building

Find inspiration, practical resources, and ideas to enhance instruction with integration of diverse partnerships and the arts. Designed for teachers and teacher candidates serving students of all ages.

Learn more.

Melanie Killen — Creating Inclusive Classrooms in Childhood: Theory, Research, and Applications

Thursday, February 26, 4 p.m.

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

The Social Sciences Forum presents a lecture by Melanie Killen, distinguished university professor in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park, who will speak on Creating Inclusive Classrooms in Childhood: Theory, Research, and Applications.

More Information.

Special Invite from Athletics: Calling all UMBC Faculty & Staff!

February 26, 6 p.m.
February 28, 2 p.m.

Please consider joining UMBC Athletics at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on Thursday, February 26, as they honor YOU! As we head into the final week of the regular season, UMBC Athletics wants to celebrate the hard work of our student-athletes and acknowledge the essential role you have played in their success, both in the classroom and in competition.

In addition to the standard seasonal appreciation games, UMBC Athletics is thrilled to offer free admission to the final two basketball games of the year for you and your family. Please join us as we close out the season and get ready for postseason play:

Men’s Basketball vs. Bryant – Thursday, February 26, 6 p.m.

Women’s Basketball vs. UMass Lowell – Saturday, February 28, 2 p.m.

How to Claim Your Free Tickets

Visit the Link: tickets.umbc.edu

Sign In: Click the "Sign In" button in the top right corner and use your myUMBC credentials.

Claim Your Seat: Once logged in, select your game and choose the "UMBC Faculty & Staff" ticket option to claim your free admission.

Thank you for your tireless support of our students. We can’t wait to see you in the stands to help us give our seniors a proper send-off!

Eric Clark Jackson: An Iconography of the Chesapeake

Friday, February 27, noon

216 Performing Arts and Humanities Building

The Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA) presents a talk by Eric Clark Jackson, an artist who explores the intersection of ecology and materiality, using fiber-based processes to construct an iconography of the Chesapeake Bay and Mid-Atlantic region. Jackson is the 2026 Maryland Traditions Artist-in-Residence.

More Information.

Advancing Social Science Research: A Workshop Series on AI, LLMs, and Computational Methods

Registration open

Join the Center for Social Science Scholarship (CS3) to learn how best to transform your research using AI and generative AI tools. Through seven workshops and training sessions, participants will explore how researchers use social network analysis to understand crime; how to make sense of, evaluate, and use new Large Language Models (LLMs) in their own research; and how advances in machine learning models can even help us infer causality. Finally, the sessions will consider the equity implications of these generative AI tools. The training will be conducted in the R and Python environments, but we will work with participants who are new to these programming languages. Participants in the series will also have the opportunity to earn UMBC experiential and proficiency badges.

This series, which is supported through the Elkins Professorship, features several new speakers this spring.

A City in Motion: How Everyday Routines Channel and Control Crime in Baltimore
February 27, noon to 1:30 p.m., PUP 438
Led by: Dr. Brian Soller, Associate Professor of Sociology (SAPH), UMBC

Register here.

UMBC Jazz Ensemble with Vince Cherico

Friday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.
Linehan Concert Hall

The UMBC Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Matt Belzer performs with Grammy Award-winning percussionist Vince Cherico in a concert celebrating Latin jazz.

Learn more.

Calling All TRIO Alumni

National TRIO Day, February 28

Were you a participant in a TRIO program (Upward Bound, Talent Search, Student Support Services, McNair Scholars, Veterans Upward Bound, or Educational Opportunity Centers)?

If so, and you now work or study at UMBC, we want to hear from you. February 28, 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of National TRIO Day, and as part of our celebration of these transformational programs, we hope to build a network of TRIO alumni on the UMBC campus.

Learn more.

absolute alternatives

2026 Arts+ UMBC Faculty Exhibition

Saturday, February 28, 2 p.m.
Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture

The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture presents “absolute alternatives,” the 2026 Arts+ UMBC Faculty Exhibition. On Saturday, February 28, at 2 p.m., conductor Philip Mann and curator Maleke Glee will be featured in Creative Convergence: A Conversation with a Conductor and Curator.