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.
Graduate Student Representative
Max Aifer
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
Dishant Fapot
Climate Action Steering Committee
Oversees the implementation of the UMBC Climate Action Plan; work group to reduce campus carbon emissions and energy use- transportation, energy & waste, research, and education or outreach.
Graduate Student Representative
Emily Faber | Emily Shrope | Taylor West
This group is further broken-down into workgroups, as follows:
Energy
Graduate Student Representative
-Vacant-
Transportation
Graduate Student Representative
-Vacant-
Research and Education
Graduate Student Representative
-Vacant-
Waste Reduction and Recycling
Graduate Student Representative
-Vacant-
Committee 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.
Graduate Student Representative
Lydia Sannella
Human Relations (not currently meeting)
This committee is under review by the University Steering Committee. Stay tuned!
Graduate Student Representative
-Vacant-
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
Committee which functions to support and improve the experience of international students at UMBC.
Graduate Student Representative
Shiridinath Konduru
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
Hemanth Gopal
Landscape and Stewardship Committee
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
Grace de Oro
Library Policy
Advisory committee which discusses policies, concerns, and ideas related to the UMBC Library. Members represent main stakeholder groups and the five shared governance senates.
Graduate Student Representative
Harshil Prajapati
Library Renovation Planning (not currently meeting)
Planning committee which discusses and works the various phases related to renovating existing space in the library. Phase I will take place this academic year, which will entail writing a report of justification for the needs of the library space. Phase II will take place next academic year, which will expand on all details related to technology, space layout of each room, design, furniture and construction. This entire process from planning to construction and renewal will take place between 2018-2026.
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
-Vacant-
Neighborhood Relations
Discuss ideas to build better, lasting relationships with Arbutus, Catonsville, and Baltimore City.
Graduate Student Representative
Janerra Allen
OCAMocha Internal Advisory Group & Management Group
Group aimed to providing support the overseeing of OCAMocha coffee shop and Office of Community Affairs, this is a joint initiative by UMBC and the surrounding Arbutus community.
Graduate Student Representative
Omkar Kulkarni
Parking Advisory Committee
Committee which meets to discuss concerns and information related to parking services at UMBC.
Graduate Student Representative
Charlie Waters
Research and Creative Achievement Council
Review and recommend policies with respect to the operation of research, scholarship, and creative activity at UMBC.
Graduate Student Representative
Kara Seidel
Strategic Planning (not currently meeting)
Committee formed during the 2012-13 academic year which informed the UMBC Strategic Plan, comprised of four focus areas: The Student Experience, Collective Impact in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Achievement, Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy and Community and Extended Connections. A final assessment of the implementation of the UMBC Strategic Plan will occur during the 2019-2020 Academic year.
Graduate Student Representative
-Vacant-
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
Mehrshad Fahim Devin
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
-Vacant-
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
Amy Cruz
All Gender Restroom Steering Committee
In collaboration with the University Steering Committee, the All-Gender Restroom Steering Committee will be comprised of students, faculty, and staff, including representatives from UMBC’s LGBTQ community and campus leadership to develop guidelines and implementation plans for moving towards making all-gender restroom facilities more widely available at UMBC. This consultation process and resulting actions will enable UMBC to move forward with appropriate rapidity, understanding that we will make adjustments as needed to ensure that these changes meet the needs of our campus community. To submit your ideas, thoughts or questions for this committee, please fill out this form.
Graduate Student Representative
Ethan Post | Lydia Stamato
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
Ethan Post | Emily Shrope