All posts by: UMBC News Staff

From: Philip Rous
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

President Hrabowski and I cordially invite you to participate in the Commencement Ceremonies of the Undergraduate and Graduate School Programs. Doctoral and Master’s degrees will be conferred on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. in the UMBC Retriever Activities Center (RAC). Baccalaureate degrees will be conferred on Thursday, May 22, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the 1st Mariner Arena. As you know, these events mean a great deal to our students, their parents, and guests, so I hope you will make a special effort to share in their celebrations. You are welcome to participate in both ceremonies.

REGALIA

Faculty and staff who still want to order regalia may do so through May 5, with a late fee of $25. Regalia cannot be ordered after May 5.

Regalia will be available for pick-up Wednesday, May 7 through Friday, May 16. Faculty and staff must pick up regalia at the Bookstore during this period. If you have any questions, please call Gail Dupree at the Bookstore, at x 53904.

GRADUATE COMMENCEMENT – May 21 at 10 a.m.

LINE UP: Faculty/staff line up will be on court 1, in the multi-purpose gym (except mentors of Doctoral students, see below). Please enter the RAC at the main entrance. Line up will be directly downstairs, where light refreshments will be available. Faculty and staff may leave their belongings in this area, which will be monitored by a Student Marshal.

Mentors of graduating doctoral students are asked to line up with their students in the basement of the Sondheim Building, not in the multi-purpose RAC gym.

The procession begins promptly at 9:50 a.m.

R.S.V.P.: If you have not already done so, please be sure to R.S.V.P. if you plan to participate in the procession. For planning and seating purposes, we need the name of each faculty member who will process and any special mobility needs you may have. Click on this link to respond by Monday, May 5, 2014.

UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT – May 22 at 1 p.m.

LUNCH AND BUSES: You are invited for lunch at 11:00 a.m. at the 1st before the Undergraduate Commencement. Bus transportation from UMBC to the Arena will also be provided, leaving at 10:30 a.m. for lunch and 11:30 a.m. for ceremony only.

LINE UP: For the Undergraduate Ceremony, faculty and staff should line up at 12:15 p.m. at the 1st Mariner Arena. The procession begins promptly at 12:30.

R.S.V.P.: If you have not already done so, please be sure to R.S.V.P. by Monday, May 5, 2014, if you plan to participate in the procession for the Undergraduate ceremony. Click on this link to reply. Following is the information we need for planning and seating purposes.

• Your name, whether you will come for lunch, and, if you need a bus to the Arena, whether you want the 10:30 or 11:30 a.m. bus. You will need the 10:30 bus if you come for lunch.

• Please let us know if you have any special mobility needs. The 10:30 bus will be equipped with a lift.

For additional information about the 2014 May Commencement Ceremonies, please visit the Commencement website. We look forward to your participation in the Ceremonies.

On May 1, UMBC hosted its first annual Lavender Celebration to honor graduating LGBTQ students and the contributions of allied community members to supporting campus inclusivity. Lavender Celebrations began at the University of Michigan in 1995, and the idea has spread to college campuses nationwide as a way to acknowledge and honor graduating LGBTQ students.

Nancy Young, Vice President for Student Affairs, opened the ceremony by praising the students’ active involvement in academics and campus life, saying, “You represent some of our most accomplished students.” Kim Leisey, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, recounted UMBC’s LGBTQ history and the Lavender Celebration’s place in it.

The ceremony honored students, faculty, staff, departments and alumni who have contributed to making UMBC a safe and inclusive campus.

Sarah Bloom Raskin, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, visited UMBC on April 29 to make her first official policy address.

This is the third in a series of articles on the four focus areas that are part of UMBC’s strategic planning process.

The primary goal of the Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy strategy group is to develop strategies and goals that will enable UMBC to continue its leadership in innovative curricula and academic programs that support and enhance undergraduate and graduate student success; prepare students for meaningful careers, lifelong learning, and engaged citizenship; and thereby maintain and enhance UMBC’s position as a national leader in undergraduate and graduate education.

Jeff Leips, associate professor, biological sciences, and Carole McCann, professor and chair, gender and women’s studies, bring significant experience in building programs at UMBC to their roles as co-chairs. Leips has helped implement major curriculum and program changes in UMBC’s undergraduate biological sciences, including new interdisciplinary minors. McCann has spent her career building the emerging scholarly area of gender and women’s studies, and also was part of the workgroup that developed the new global studies program.

The Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy strategy group is examining the current profile of faculty, students and mix of programs; lessons learned from studies of retention and graduate rates at UMBC and elsewhere, as well as additional measurements for success; best practices at peer institutions and nationally for supporting curricular innovation; how best to balance existing and new programs and instructional duties of faculty; enhancement of classroom infrastructure, technology and faculty development; and best practices in faculty rewards and recognition. (A complete list of the Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy strategy group research questions is available here.)

McCann says that one of the challenges that comes with studying curriculum and pedagogy is anticipating the changes that inevitably come with each new generation of students. “Classes aren’t static. Faculty have to reinvent classroom strategies and need the support to develop new approaches to student learning. At the same time, UMBC’s commitment to diversity takes continued thinking and planning.”

Leips adds, “It’s hard to predict anything except that change will happen, and whatever we develop, we know that will eventually change as well. So we look for ways to help keep the classroom flexible. For example, the “clicker” technology we’ve used in recent years to engage students in biological sciences is already changing. We have to keep up with technology and integrate changes, using them effectively for the benefit of our students.”

The group also will need to look at graduation and retention rates at UMBC and other institutions. “These are very important factors in our strategic planning. It’s one way of getting a sense of whether we are meeting students’ needs,” explains McCann. “But then we have to go beyond the stats and think about how we can measure our effectiveness in terms of what kinds of professional and public lives our students go on to. There’s also a balance in what programs we offer with regard to traditional liberal arts education; it’s not just about the latest fad in classroom techniques.”

“Any university has to facilitate our ability to respond quickly to change, both in the classroom and in the world,” says Leips. “We also need to think creatively about infrastructure and faculty support.”

Leips said he and McCann are thinking about creating subcommittees within the group to do research into teaching and learning at UMBC, and also what peers are doing. “We’re committed to doing the research to address the questions, not assume we already know the answers, as we engage with the group and the campus,” he shared. They also will engage with focus groups, meet with stakeholders, and attend faculty meetings.

“It’s an important moment for UMBC,” McCann reflects. “We’re used to relying on a simple organizational structure, and our work is now more complex and diverse. How do we build a process so we can support our planning, what to do, when to do it, and for what purpose? We can’t do everything at once, but we can plan.”