The Provost’s Teaching and Learning Symposium is an annual celebration of teaching and learning at UMBC. Begun in 2014 as part of the Hrabowski Innovation Fund initiative, the Symposium brings together UMBC faculty and staff to present and discuss pedagogical innovations on campus and to plan future directions in teaching and learning.
The Symposium typically features a poster session and a keynote presentation by an invited, nationally-known speaker. Other sessions have included Breakfast with the Deans, themed interactive exploration/demonstration spaces, panel presentations, and Speed Geeking sessions.
Resources from past Symposia are available on our archived Symposium Resources 2014-2025 page.
Tenth Annual Symposium – Friday, October 2, 2026
The tenth annual Symposium centered around the theme Re-Envisioning General Education: Developing a Unique Foundation to Support Students’ Life-Long Learning in partnership with the UMBC Re-Envisioning General Education Faculty Core Committee. It featured breakfast and a UMBC Gen Ed Primer, a keynote presentation, Essential Education for Interesting Times, by Dr. Paul Gaston, lunch and a facilitated idea-sharing session, and a poster & teaching tool showcase. Please see the 2026 Symposium myUMBC event for an agenda and the poster program, and our videos of invited presentations page to view Dr. Gaston’s keynote presentation.
Ninth Annual Symposium – Friday, September 19, 2025
The ninth annual Symposium centered around the theme Cultivating Critical Hope: Nurturing Transformative Teaching and Learning. It featured Breakfast with the Deans, a poster and teaching tool demonstration session, two rooms featuring demonstrations of reflective, healing, and transformative practices, lunch, and a keynote, Critical Hope as a Catalyst for Transformative Pedagogies, by Dr. Kari Grain.
Eighth Annual Symposium – Friday, September 27, 2024
The eighth annual Symposium featured Breakfast with the Deans, a poster and teaching tool demonstration session, themed interactive exploration spaces, lunch, and a keynote, Effective, Engaging Teaching in a Wired World: Using the Science of Memory to Promote Deep Learning, by Dr. Michelle Miller.
In the video below, Peggy Re (Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Professor in the Department of Visual Arts) details the curriculum mapping session at the Eighth Annual Symposium, where colleagues explored UMBC’s curriculum, discovered common ground across disciplines, and identified “hidden” learning outcomes. Faculty and staff experts guided visitors through this live mapping experience.
Seventh Annual Symposium – Friday, April 21, 2023
On April 21, 2023, after a hiatus due to constraints from the COVID-19 pandemic, the campus came together to celebrate the return from remote instruction and honor Provost Rous in our seventh annual Symposium. It featured lunch, a keynote, Beyond Inclusion – Teaching for Civic Engagement and Social Participation, by Dr. Bryan Dewsbury, and a poster session where UMBC faculty and staff shared their teaching projects.
We have heard many, many positive comments from attendees about Dr. Dewsbury’s powerful keynote and the wonderful posters. You won’t want to miss them!
