Shared Governance Committees are those committees that exist outside of any individual Senate, but exist within and between the various offices of UMBC to ensure that the opinions of students, faculty, and staff are all heard and weighed in decision making on campus.
If you are interested in joining any of these committees, please contact GSA here.
Responsibilities of any Graduate Student Representative on any of these committees are to attend the meetings and provide reports within three days of the meeting. These reports are short and informal and are only meant to keep the Graduate Senate up-to-speed on UMBC Policies, Issues, & Concerns.
Athletics Policy
Responsible for reviewing the mission of the athletics programs. The committee may review and recommend the following: changes in policies affecting recreational and intramural programs on campus; policies affecting access to athletic/recreational facilities; recruiting policies, admission standards, and academic progress of intercollegiate athletes; and polices regarding outside fund raising activities to support the athletic program.
The graduate student representative would be eligible to run for the position of Chair of the committee.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
CAHSS Graduate Student Advisory Board
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Charge of this committee: Review the campus classroom scheduling practices and provide recommendations on scheduling policies and practices leading to more efficient use of the classrooms and lecture halls. Provide recommendations for increased utilization of Friday afternoons for scheduling in order to improve campus climate. Provide oversight of the classroom upgrades/maintenance needs on the campus. Provide a forum to discuss the size of classrooms mostly needed. The Classroom Committee meets on a monthly basis during the academic year.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Climate Action Steering Committee
Oversees the implementation of the UMBC Climate Action Plan. This Committee has several working groups. These working groups find innovative solutions to reduce campus carbon emissions, improve energy usage, transportation, waste reduction, ecosystem management, research, and education or outreach.
Graduate Student Representative
Jessica Burstrem
This group is further broken-down into workgroups, as follows:
Energy Working Group
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Transportation Working Group
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Academic Engagement Working Group
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Waste Reduction and Recycling Working Group
Graduate Student Representative
Open
This workgroup is dedicated to helping the UMBC community navigate resources related to making effective financial decisions. Topics discussed are related to providing timely and relevant resources for managing budgets, bank accounts, assets and debt as students pursue their education at UMBC.
We are still discerning if this workgroup is active.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Discuss ideas surrounding IT infrastructure, new technologies to invest in, new and existing core facilities. IT Administration as it affects students, classes, staff, & faculty. Charge of this committee: Serve as an advisory group to the campus administration providing general oversight on information technology matters; Develop policies and guidelines related to information technology; Develop and update periodically the campus plan for information technology; To accomplish this charge the IT Steering Committee meets monthly during the academic year. The IT Steering Committee includes chairs from campus committees that oversee IT related activities, key administrators and staff members from the units relevant to the committee’s activities, and student representatives.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion, & Belonging (i3b)
Responsible for fostering an equity focused, justice-oriented, and inclusive campus community. The i3b team hopes to cultivate new community connections, leverage existing strategic partnerships, and contribute to a stronger sense of belonging, especially for underrepresented and minoritized students, through informal mentorship and collaborative planning for new and existing programs and initiatives.
Graduate Student Representative
Jessica Burstrem
International Student and Scholar Experience
This committee supports and works to improve the experience of international students at UMBC.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Landscape and Stewardship Committee (Currently not meeting)
The function of the Landscape Stewardship Committee is to review and recommend polices in regard to natural and protected landscape on campus, ecosystem management, campus beatification and UMBC Landscape Master Plan.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Library Policy
This committee discusses policies, concerns, and ideas related to the UMBC Library. Members represent main stakeholder groups and the five shared governance senates.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Middle States Accreditation (not currently meeting)
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is regionally accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The process of accreditation occurs every 8 years and involves a university self-study of the institution as well as visitation and recommendations from the organization itself. Shared governance senates are usually called upon to participate in various parts of the process during the academic year when the visitation occurs.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Neighborhood Relations
Discuss ideas to build better, lasting relationships with Arbutus, Catonsville, and Baltimore City.
This Committee has already started meeting, and Aminah, Vice President of the GSA, currently represents at the meetings. If you would like to support the Neighborhood Relations Group, please reach out to Aminah if you wish to attend and support the meetings. Meetings on held Fridays, form 8:30-9:30 AM, in person, at OCA Mocha.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
OCA Mocha Internal Advisory Group & Management Group
This group aim provides support for overseeing OCA Mocha, the UMBC-affiliated coffee shop, located in Arbutus. This group collaborates closely with the Office of Community Affairs, and is a joint initiative between UMBC and the community of Arbutus.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Parking Advisory Committee
This committee meets to address concerns and provide information related to parking services at UMBC.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Research and Creative Achievement Council
This council reviews and recommends policies that support the operations of research, scholarship, and creative activities at UMBC.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Retriever Essentials Advisory Board
The Advisory Board helps to plan and implement strategic goals for Retriever Essentials. Advisory Board members consist of stakeholders across UMBC, working to address food insecurity concerns and similar needs across campus. The Graduate Student Representative will advocate for graduate student needs, and serve as part of one of the Advisory Board’s working groups. At least one graduate student representative is required, while a maximum of three representatives are available.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Special Sessions Policy Committee
Function:
- To approve courses to be taught in the Special Sessions, with the objective of preventing unnecessary duplication and obtaining a judicious and balanced selection of courses, provided that all courses offered for credit shall have been approved previously by the Faculty Senate.
- To review and recommend policies for the Special Sessions to the representative bodies and the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
- To oversee the budget of the Special Sessions.
- To promote the well-being of the Special Sessions.
- To adopt policies consistent with the above objectives.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Student Dining Committee
Members serve as a partner with Chartwells Managers in ensuring a quality dining program at UMBC. Members must attend at least two meetings per semester and be willing to participate in discussions and out of meeting work. Time commitment is about 2.5 hours per month.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
Student Regent Nomination Committee (not currently meeting)
Screens and selects the UMBC applicants for USM Student Regent for further consideration, in conjunction with SGA and David Hoffman.
Graduate Student Representative
N/A
Student Fee Advisory Board
The Student Fee Advisory Board (SFAB) at UMBC is a team of students (undergraduate and graduate) who represent student interests in the annual mandatory fee review process. After hearing presentations from administrators representing the departments who own the six mandatory student fees, SFAB conducts outreach to determine what recommendations students have with respect to the size and specifics of those planned expenditures.
Graduate Student Representative
Open
University Steering Committee
Committee made up of heads of the five shared governance senate which meets monthly to establish rules insuring the proper coordination of the five Senates and to represent the interests of the five Senates to the UMBC Administration, the
University System of Maryland Administration, and the Board of Regent. These concerns are raised before president’s council members as well as other administrators. The committee also discusses the implementation of and any changes to the University’s Plan of Organization.Graduate Student Representative
N/A