The Mosaic: The Center for Cultural Diversity

Resources FAQ Events

The Mosaic is a center for resources, community building, and staff support, and is a lounge space for UMBC community members of all backgrounds to use for relaxing, programming, small events, and small gatherings. We strive to develop innovative programs & initiatives that celebrate cultural diversity while advocating for inclusion, equity, & social justice.

You can visit the Mosaic to eat lunch, study, & chat with your friends or us, seek any resources you may need, or find a space to rest in between classes. The Mosaic is also designated as an accessible space for prayer, reflection, meditation &/or to pick up a bag from our campus pantry, Retriever Essentials.

We host various events centered around diversity, equity, inclusion, & social justice (DEISJ). We help students find community with peers who are like them and peers who are unlike them. We are also a resource for both undergraduate & graduate students who have questions about race, ethnicity, nationality, and/or citizenship status.

Mission

The Mosaic strives to provide diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning opportunities that center and celebrate racial, ethnic, and national identities. We do this through student identity-based social justice-centered advocacy and programming, intra/intercultural dialogue and storytelling, and community-based gatherings to create a sense of belonging and to empower all UMBC community members to be agents of social change.

Mosaic lotus in circle

Location

2B23, The Commons on the second floor.

Hours

Summer 2025

  • Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Contact

Opening on February 2, 2004, The Mosaic (Originally named UMBC’s Multicultural Center) is dedicated to creating an environment that supports cross-cultural education and collaboration at UMBC. This space was created out of the work of students, staff, faculty, alumnx, and community partners that saw the need for a student-centered space for cultural learning and identity development after the disbandment of The Office of Multicultural Affairs in the early 2000s. Originally serving as the “central broad diversity office” within the Student Diversity & Inclusion area in Campus Life (Originally named Student Life), The Mosaic now serves as one of three identity-based spaces on campus, focusing on sense of belonging, equity, and inclusion in connection to underrepresented racial, ethnic, and national identities. In the spring of 2022, The Mosaic: Center for Culture and Diversity, was renamed to The Mosaic: Center for Cultural Diversity to further promote the mission of both The Mosaic and i3b and its equal partnership of being 1 of 4 departmental areas.

Today, The Mosaic is composed of a lounge, a student staff work area, and additional interior staff offices. Located in The Commons 2B23, The Mosaic provides guests with a safe, inclusive space to find belonging, create friendship, connect with our staff, engage in prayer, or just a place to study or relax.

Departmental Library

Each area has a wide array of books that all UMBC community members can borrow. Our collection of books can be found through our LibraryThing account. To check out a book, please visit one of our centers. Please note that our collection of Dialogue, Training & Leadership Development books is co-located in The Mosaic.

Multicultural Leadership Experience

The Multicultural Leadership Experience (MLE) is a collaboration between Student Engagement and Belonging and the The Mosaic. The purpose of MLE is to provide a space for students and student leaders who identify with culturally, racially, and ethnically diverse or marginalized backgrounds to discover their own capacity to lead, while also promoting a better understanding of their experiences, challenges, and outcomes in navigating their own collegiate careers. The MLE will:

  • Engage undergraduate and graduate students in an in-person leadership learning cohort;
  • Enhance participants’ leader identity and leadership capacity using an identity-conscious lens and student development theories;
  • Increase participants’ awareness of their personal abilities, identity development, and intersections that shape their story through authenticity, self-reflection, and cultural humility;
  • Explore the role they play in developing relationships while building intra/intercultural connections;
  • And capitalize on their unique differences, specifically in relation to their racial, ethnic, national, and other salient identity social groups

Based on the belief that leadership is learned through experience, education, and reflection – MLE will focus on leadership development through a multicultural lens, create a dynamic virtual learning environment, and invite UMBC students to learn from each other (and themselves) through the curriculum.

Have questions about this program? Contact Angelina Jenkins at arjenkin@umbc.edu

Mosaic Library

The Mosaic has books that all UMBC community members can borrow. To check out a book, please visit one of our centers. Please note that our collection of “Hear Our Stories” children’s literature books are co-located in The Mosaic.

Immigrant Resources

FAQ

Yes, we welcome people of all races, ethnicities, & nationalities/citizenship statuses. If we are having a closed meeting, we may lock our doors, but please come in if we are open.

You can reserve our space, cross-promote an event/resource, or we can collaborate together. The Mosaic is available to reserve for any department or organization via 25Live evenings and weekends during The Commons Hours of Operations. Though the space is open to all, due to the nature of our work, we will prioritize reservations and collaborations related to racial, ethnic, and international DEISJ-based work.

We are also just fun people; we would really like you to come in just for a chat or to find a cozy place away from home. You should also check out the i3b Linktree account to connect with us virtually or to just see what’s going on in our i3b community!

 

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