Welcome to UMBC
by David Hoffman
The parking lots are filling, the doors stand open, and all the people we have been waiting for, the ones who will make our community complete for the coming year, are arriving to fill our residence halls and lecture halls, athletic fields and offices. On a campus that has been open for 47 years, we are making a new beginning. For the first time, all of us are here in exactly this combination. Now come the days of handshakes and first words, of mutual exploration as we discover how we will enact our purposes together.
If you are just starting here, the first thing to know about UMBC is that it is neither a collection of buildings nor a catalog of courses, but a confluence of stories. Each of us has one: we started somewhere else; we lived, and we learned. We all arrive at UMBC with something to offer. UMBC’s tremendous diversity signifies many things to us, not least that each one of us—student, faculty or staff member—has something that we can, and must, contribute to make this community whole. Each of us can be and become our best selves here; each of us belongs.
The UMBC you are joining is diverse, scrappy, nimble, creative, caring, intense and eager. We thrive on combining our talents and our energy in scholarship, work and play that builds community. As our Provost, Philip Rous, has said, “we are all here because we want to make a difference, and we do.” UMBC is less than 50 years old (incoming freshmen: we’ll celebrate our 50th anniversary at the start of your senior year), and still being created by our collective contributions. As UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski has said, everyone here in the first 50 years is a pioneer. It is a reminder that our contributions matter, not just for ourselves but for all those who will join this community, and see it as a beacon, in the decades to come.
I love all of these things about UMBC. I love that the builders waited to see where people walked before laying the sidewalks. I love that we have a renowned chess team but no football team. I love the hidden treasures: the sculpture park and rock garden, the amphitheater and the observatory. I love that the big event the night before classes start is called Big Crazy Fun Night. I love that so many UMBC administrators, faculty members and staff members view their contributions here as living their purposes rather than just doing their jobs. As President Hrabowski has said, at UMBC, “we belong to each other.”
So welcome to everyone just joining this wonderful work-in-progress we call UMBC! This is our time to be together, so let’s make the most of it.
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from the Office of Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.
The parking lots are filling, the doors stand open, and all the people we have been waiting for, the ones who will make our community complete for the coming year, are arriving to fill our residence halls and lecture halls, athletic fields and offices. On a campus that has been open for 47 years, we are making a new beginning. For the first time, all of us are here in exactly this combination. Now come the days of handshakes and first words, of mutual exploration as we discover how we will enact our purposes together.
If you are just starting here, the first thing to know about UMBC is that it is neither a collection of buildings nor a catalog of courses, but a confluence of stories. Each of us has one: we started somewhere else; we lived, and we learned. We all arrive at UMBC with something to offer. UMBC’s tremendous diversity signifies many things to us, not least that each one of us—student, faculty or staff member—has something that we can, and must, contribute to make this community whole. Each of us can be and become our best selves here; each of us belongs.
The UMBC you are joining is diverse, scrappy, nimble, creative, caring, intense and eager. We thrive on combining our talents and our energy in scholarship, work and play that builds community. As our Provost, Philip Rous, has said, “we are all here because we want to make a difference, and we do.” UMBC is less than 50 years old (incoming freshmen: we’ll celebrate our 50th anniversary at the start of your senior year), and still being created by our collective contributions. As UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski has said, everyone here in the first 50 years is a pioneer. It is a reminder that our contributions matter, not just for ourselves but for all those who will join this community, and see it as a beacon, in the decades to come.
I love all of these things about UMBC. I love that the builders waited to see where people walked before laying the sidewalks. I love that we have a renowned chess team but no football team. I love the hidden treasures: the sculpture park and rock garden, the amphitheater and the observatory. I love that the big event the night before classes start is called Big Crazy Fun Night. I love that so many UMBC administrators, faculty members and staff members view their contributions here as living their purposes rather than just doing their jobs. As President Hrabowski has said, at UMBC, “we belong to each other.”
So welcome to everyone just joining this wonderful work-in-progress we call UMBC! This is our time to be together, so let’s make the most of it.
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from the Office of Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.
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Posted: August 26, 2013, 3:04 PM