The dedication of Amery Thompson, assistant director of transfer student success, Off-Campus Student Services (OCSS), is noticed by students. In the latest UMBC Magazine "Office Hours" with President Sheares Ashby, Okechukwu Tabugbo '25, president of the Black Men's Society, discusses how he got involved with the organization after being encouraged by friends and Thompson, who serves as advisor.

"Amery was giving the introduction on financial literacy and telling us everything that we need to know. It honestly just made me feel at home and appreciated, the fact that someone took the time out of their day to teach me something that I constantly left on the back burner. I took that for what the club is."

Read "Office Hours" on the magazine website.

Campus Life and Initiatives for Identity, Including, and Belonging (i3b) staff presenting at the  March 2024  ACPA Conference in Chicago, IL. Presenters  are: Campus Life Coordinator for Leadership Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon; i3b Assistant Director Angelina R. Jenkins; and i3b Assistant Director Carlos Turcios '15, psychology and sociology, and M.A. '17, applied sociology. 

Entitled "Fostering Students' Identity and Capacity to Lead as Their Full Selves," the presentation includes highlights and outcomes of the Multicultural Leadership Experience. Additionally, they will be sharing insight and resources on how to implement a culturally relevant leadership learning program on campus as student affairs practitioners. A collaboration between Campus Life and i3b, the program provides a space for students and student leaders who identify with diverse or marginalized backgrounds to discover their own capacity to lead, while also promoting a better understanding of their experiences, issues, and outcomes in navigating their own collegiate careers.

In the post-assessment, students who have participated in the Multicultural Leadership Experience say it has helped them grow as people and as leaders:

• "I gained a lot of knowledge of my identities but also specific types of leadership that are not often covered in other leadership experiences. Emotionally intelligent leadership, self-authorship, and cultural wealth were all things I had never heard of before, and I think learning about these things in a Brave Space with my peers was a great opportunity! Definitely loved having the opportunity to be involved in this MLE cohort."

• "After being a part of the MLE experience, it has made me feel more confident about what kind of person I can be for my community. I learned about social roles, demonstrating citizenship, understanding what a leader is, and much more that I can apply to my future and future career."

• "From this experience I gained a deeper understanding of identities and the role they play in how we show up in the world. I also became more aware of how these may impact relationships with diverse groups and more importantly how it affects myself and how I show up for leadership. Now I can analyze my interactions with others and understand how my identity would impact how I am feeling in the said moment (as well as theirs) and with that understanding make a healthy and conscious decision of how to react."

• "The ideas of the crossroad and self-authorship really resonated with me. I internalized them. I'm constantly thinking about how my decisions are made based on those ideas, my goals, and my values; because of them, I'm able to gauge and analyze my actions in a way that helps me move closer towards being the person that I want to be."

• "I gained so much from this experience. Self-authorship was the biggest thing for me. It is a term I had never heard of before and now I am working toward it for myself. This cohort challenged me to examine negative ideas about myself as a returning student and help me examine leadership differently. The assignment I worked on with a partner helped me see how I could apply what I have learned with the cohort to create change on campus in my own way. It was great to hear from other members of the cohort and the facilitators about their experiences and background. Many of our experiences aligned even with our varying identities and backgrounds."

• "I gained a strong ability to critically reflect on how I show up in various spaces as a leader along with the wonderful stories that everyone else shared along the way."

• "Because of MLE I strive to be a leader that works with and brings out the best in others, understand and factors in their identities and how it may impact how they show up, and remain mindful and open to others' suggestions. I also strive to be bold, confident and unafraid of speaking up for what I believe in."

Acting Director of Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion, and Belonging (i3b) Ciara Christian, M.A. '18, Ph.D. '22, discussed the impact of Your Story Belongs Here, a collaborative program withUMBC's theatre department, for an upcoming print issue of UMBC Magazine. Program co-founder Eve Muson, associate professor of theatre and department chair, undergraduates Jaya Marshall and Mashaal Awan, and Kiirstn Pagan '11, theatre, are also interviewed.

Your Story Belongs Here, a required in-person program during Welcome Week, helps incoming students explore how to put the "I" in inclusion. The program features an original theatrical presentation in which paid undergraduate student interns write, rehearse, and film personal monologues about how they find belonging at UMBC and cultivate a sense of belonging for others. Through storytelling, audience engagement, and reflection opportunities, incoming students then reflect on their role in ensuring an inclusive environment as they begin their UMBC journey.

Read the article, "Your Story Belongs Here," on the magazine website.

The University System of Maryland (USM) hosted a Civic Education and Civic Engagement Symposium on Friday, November 3, to focus attention on the urgent need to prepare students to engage productively in civic life. Vice President for Student Affairs Renique Kersh, Ph.D., and Director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Life David Hoffman Ph.D. '13, joined other staff, faculty, and student leaders as members of UMBC's delegation. UMBC Student Government Association President Musa Jafri '24, political science, addressed the gathering as part of a panel of student leaders.

Participants heard USM Chancellor Jay Perman identify "committed citizenship" as "the premise and the promise of higher education," and declare with respect to student learning outcomes that informed, engaged, ethical civic participation "matters more than anything else." U.S. Senator Ben Cardin added that from his perspective, "civilization is at risk today" because of the erosion of democratic norms, and that the role of higher education in strengthening democracy is to educate students for community leadership.

Jafri emphasized the importance of civic engagement in everyday settings, not just on Election Day. USM Associate Vice Chancellor Nancy Shapiro, the Symposium's convener, affirmed and amplified Jafri's statements, emphasizing the importance of local civic engagement, and naming that "local" for students includes the campus communities of which they are members.

Each campus delegation now has the opportunity to develop a grant proposal to assist with infusing civic learning into the curriculum.

Four Residential Life staff members presented at the ACPA - College Student Educators International's Institute for the Curricular Approach (ICA) in October 2023: Assistant Director for Residential Education Chris Ambrose, Community Director Sam Ferrigno, Community Director Danielle Parker, and Residential Education and Leadership Coordinator Grace Collins. Community Director Charlito Iwuagwu helped develop the presentation, entitled "The 'With' Box - Infusing Restorative Practices in the Review Process."

UMBC Residential Life was chosen as an ICA spotlight institution because of its well-developed residential curriculum that is rooted in restorative practices. Ambrose says, "It was a great professional development opportunity for all of us. We really enjoyed showcasing our institution and all of the hard work that has gone into making our residential education experience strong for our students." 

Presenters shared UMBC's journey in the review process of the residential curriculum, the creation process in improving areas within the curriculum, and the benefits of implementing the restorative philosophy throughout the whole process. They engaged key stakeholders, including RA's, the Residential Education Team (community directors and some graduate assistants), and residents. Outcomes included gaining more information about residents' knowledge and experience with the curriculum; assessing curriculum implementation and creating supporting tools to improve implementation; and revising curriculum sequencing and creating better learning outcomes.