University of Maryland, Baltimore County student organizations
Clubs, organizations, and events
The Retriever Weekly
The Retriever Weekly is a student newspaper serving the UMBC student, faculty, and staff body. It is published in weekly editions both in print and online, and covers campus events, athletics, visual and performing arts, popular entertainment, and political commentary. The editorial staff consists of an Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and section editors for News, Opinion, Arts & Entertainment, Sports, and Photography. The staff also includes several layout assistants and copy editors, as well as a Business and Technology department.
The Retriever is open to undergraduate students from all major areas, and hires year-round. Funding for the newspaper is provided through a combination of advertising sales and student fees appropriated by the Student Government Association.
UMBC Chess
The UMBC chess team, which has won Pan-American Championships against fields with dozens of teams, including Ivy League institutions and other top competitors, has received substantial recognition for its record of success. Through 2002, the team had proven dominant in winning the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship six out of seven years. However, in the two following years it was upset in the tournament by its chief rival in chess, UT-Dallas. In 2005, UMBC defeated UT-Dallas en route to its third consecutive Final Four of College Chess. However, with this success certain aspects of the program have also drawn scrutiny. It has been reported that UMBC is only one of two schools (along with UT-Dallas) in the United States to offer major scholarship packages for chess proficiency, and was cited as a potential motivator in a WSJ article discussing the potential for firmer guidelines on eligibility for collegiate chess. The university will be hosting the 2006 Pan American Chess Championships, to be held at the Washington, DC Renaissance Hotel in late December.
UMBC Student Government Association
The Student Government Association (SGA) represents all undergraduate students at UMBC. The SGA meets with key administrators and approves campus wide policies in support of an active, academically enriched, social student environment. The organization consist of an Executive Branch with an elected President, Vice President, and Treasurer, as well as an appointed Executive Cabinet, which houses the Office of Academic Affairs, Diversity Affairs, Community and Governmental Affairs, Student Outreach, Student Services, Communications, Finances, and a Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President. The Student Government also has two legislative bodies, the Senate, which comprises 11 voting members and three First Year Ambassadors, and the House of Organizations, which comprises 17 voting members and three First Year Ambassadors. The third branch of the Student Government Association is the Judicial Branch. Student body elections are held annually in the spring and have yielded a turnout as high as 2,365 students.
The current President of the Student Government Association is Jay Lagorio
Graduate Student Association
The Graduate Student Association represents all graduate students at UMBC and is a member of the University of Maryland Graduate School. The association serves as a bridge between the graduate student body and the larger campus community. Its focus is to enhance and enrich not only the academic but also the social and community aspects of graduate student life. The association supports graduate student research by providing students with grants for travel and conference presentation. As one of five governing bodies at the University, GSA plays an integral role in the shared governance of UMBC. Current goals and tasks include: 1) promote and support research and teaching at the University; 2) strengthen communication channels among the graduate student body; 3) create organizational legacy; and 4) implement strategic planning. Working closely with the Student Government Association (SGA), GSA strives to improve the UMBC experience for students and the greater campus community.
The UMBC Mama's Boys
UMBC Mama's Boys was the first club a cappella group at UMBC, founded in the fall of 2003 by four freshmen and remains one of the most active student organizations on UMBC's campus. Their first concert took place on May 4th, 2004 and have since performed all along the eastern seaboard at a cappella concerts, college expos, comedy shows and malls. Their annual concert events Festivus Acappellius and a Winter Ball in the fall semester; and, Acapocalypse and a luau in the spring.
The Student Events Board (SEB)
The Student Events Board (SEB) is UMBC's major event-planning organization. The organization consists of 14-15 students, with the assistance of an advisor and a graduate assistant advisor. SEB provides UMBC with various events, including major concerts, weekly movies, karaoke nights, trivia nights, freestyle battles, game nights, dances and parties, and other events.
Every spring, the SEB hosts a festival called Quadmania, comprising outdoor music performances, activity booths, and an outdoor carnival atmosphere. Past headliners for this event have included Sugar Ray(1999); Me'Shell Ndegéocello(2000); Our Lady Peace and American Hi-Fi (2001); Busta Rhymes(2002); Third Eye Blind(2003); Kanye West, N*E*R*D and The Clipse(2004); The Violent Femmes and Talib Kweli(2005); Taking Back Sunday(2006); and All-American Rejects(2007).
The UMBC Anime Society
The UMBC Anime Society, together with new and old fans alike, forms a close-knit community introducing and celebrating the diverse range of Japanese animation. UAS was founded by Eric T. Williamson in 1994 to promote Japanese animation at UMBC, as well as its surrounding area. While it was officially recognized by the SGA on December 13, 1994, UAS started showing anime in Lecture Hall 5 in the summer of 1994. Currently, UAS meets every Friday in Lecture Hall 3 from 6-11. Every semester UAS holds a continuous 24 hour anime marathon free to the public.
SPIN@UMBC
A unique on-campus organization. The Student Political Involvement Network (SPIN@UMBC) serves a twofold purpose, first to increase campus political awareness and involvement through events such as Political Action Week, SPINBowl and Voter registration drives, and secondly to petition the Maryland General Assembly for lower tuition and fees.
Women Involved in Learning and Leadership
Women Involved in Learning and Leadership (WILL) is an SGA-recognized student organization also closely affiliated with the Gender and Women's Studies program at UMBC. WILL is a committed group of students interested in promoting feminist issues and the development of women as leaders across the campus community. Unique aspects of WILL include: a living-learning floor, located in Harbor Hall; an academic component, with members completing either a minor or a certificate in Gender and Women's Studies; and a student organization that plans events throughout the school year.
Past events include the yearly Roundtable Discussions, Primal Scream during Finals Week, multiple student-led Brownbag Discussions, and much more. WILL also co-sponsors numerous events, including film screenings, academic lectures, and so on. For more information contact WILL's faculty advisor, Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye at jodik@umbc.edu
Women's Collective
The UMBC Women's Collective is dedicated to gender equality in all its various forms and sectors. It seeks to dismantle institutions of power that subjugate peoples based on their gender, race, sexual orientation, gender expression, nationality, language, religion, and/or intersections of each. The UMBC Women's Collective's mission attempts to empower and educate the campus community through feminist discussion, support, and activism.
UMBC Solidarity Coalition
The UMBC Solidarity Coalition is a group of students dedicated to fostering student activism. The group has a wide array of issues - however, they have focused on the issue of worker's rights on campus - especially those of the lowest paid members of the UMBC community, the janitorial staff, food service workers and groundskeepers. They are attempting to promote a living wage for all UMBC employees and passing a code of conduct ensuring that UMBC will respect a worker's right to organize. Other issues they have worked on include rallies for rational immigration reform and a protest in Baltimore against the BGE Rate Hikes. All students with interests in any sort of community activism are welcome.
UMBC Linux Users Group
Created in 1997, the UMBC Linux Users Group is a Linux User Group, comprising UMBC students with a fairly significant non-UMBC presence. Meetings are held on the first Sunday of each month in the Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) building, room 333 at 1300. It also maintains a periodically active Linux mailing list.
Quadmania
Quadmania is an annual celebration sponsored by the Student Events Board which includes a carnival, entertainment, and an afterparty. In 2006, the entertainment was headlined by the band Taking Back Sunday. Quadmania of 2007 represents the 25th anniversary of the festival. It featured the All-American Rejects, All Time Low, several local bands, and 3 days of carnival.
Kinetic Sculpture Club
The UMBC Kinetic Sculpture club is a realtively new organization at UMBC. The KSC entered its first sculpture, the UMBC "You've Got What It Takes," in the 2006 Baltimore AVAM Kinetic Sculpture Race, nearly achieving ACE recognition. As a synthesis of art and engineering, anyone is welcomed to join. In addition to the AVAM race, the KSC builds kinetic art on campus, participated in Washington D.C.'s fly a kite day, and is considered among the campus's foremost connoisseur's on pie.
Africana Studies Council of Majors
The Africana Studies Council of Majors, established in August 2006, is dedicated to promoting the study of peoples of the African Diaspora by broadening the educational and cultural experiences of its members. Any UMBC student or affiliate can join. ASCM features discussion series, film series, trips, and other events throughout the semester.
Greek Life
Inter-Fraternity Council
Column-generating template families
The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.
| Type | Family | Handles wiki
table code?† |
Responsive/ mobile suited |
Start template | Column divider | End template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Float | "col-float" | Yes | Yes | {{col-float}} | {{col-float-break}} | {{col-float-end}} |
| "columns-start" | Yes | Yes | {{columns-start}} | {{column}} | {{columns-end}} | |
| Columns | "div col" | Yes | Yes | {{div col}} | – | {{div col end}} |
| "columns-list" | No | Yes | {{columns-list}} (wraps div col) | – | – | |
| Flexbox | "flex columns" | No | Yes | {{flex columns}} | – | – |
| Table | "col" | Yes | No | {{col-begin}}, {{col-begin-fixed}} or {{col-begin-small}} |
{{col-break}} or {{col-2}} .. {{col-5}} |
{{col-end}} |
† Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.
Panhellenic Association
Column-generating template families
The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.
| Type | Family | Handles wiki
table code?† |
Responsive/ mobile suited |
Start template | Column divider | End template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Float | "col-float" | Yes | Yes | {{col-float}} | {{col-float-break}} | {{col-float-end}} |
| "columns-start" | Yes | Yes | {{columns-start}} | {{column}} | {{columns-end}} | |
| Columns | "div col" | Yes | Yes | {{div col}} | – | {{div col end}} |
| "columns-list" | No | Yes | {{columns-list}} (wraps div col) | – | – | |
| Flexbox | "flex columns" | No | Yes | {{flex columns}} | – | – |
| Table | "col" | Yes | No | {{col-begin}}, {{col-begin-fixed}} or {{col-begin-small}} |
{{col-break}} or {{col-2}} .. {{col-5}} |
{{col-end}} |
† Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.
Panhellenic Council
Column-generating template families
The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.
| Type | Family | Handles wiki
table code?† |
Responsive/ mobile suited |
Start template | Column divider | End template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Float | "col-float" | Yes | Yes | {{col-float}} | {{col-float-break}} | {{col-float-end}} |
| "columns-start" | Yes | Yes | {{columns-start}} | {{column}} | {{columns-end}} | |
| Columns | "div col" | Yes | Yes | {{div col}} | – | {{div col end}} |
| "columns-list" | No | Yes | {{columns-list}} (wraps div col) | – | – | |
| Flexbox | "flex columns" | No | Yes | {{flex columns}} | – | – |
| Table | "col" | Yes | No | {{col-begin}}, {{col-begin-fixed}} or {{col-begin-small}} |
{{col-break}} or {{col-2}} .. {{col-5}} |
{{col-end}} |
† Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.
Multicultural Greek Council
Column-generating template families
The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.
| Type | Family | Handles wiki
table code?† |
Responsive/ mobile suited |
Start template | Column divider | End template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Float | "col-float" | Yes | Yes | {{col-float}} | {{col-float-break}} | {{col-float-end}} |
| "columns-start" | Yes | Yes | {{columns-start}} | {{column}} | {{columns-end}} | |
| Columns | "div col" | Yes | Yes | {{div col}} | – | {{div col end}} |
| "columns-list" | No | Yes | {{columns-list}} (wraps div col) | – | – | |
| Flexbox | "flex columns" | No | Yes | {{flex columns}} | – | – |
| Table | "col" | Yes | No | {{col-begin}}, {{col-begin-fixed}} or {{col-begin-small}} |
{{col-break}} or {{col-2}} .. {{col-5}} |
{{col-end}} |
† Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.