The Mosaic: The Center for Cultural Diversity

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 one of four 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

• Undocumented Immigrant Resources

Yes, we welcome people of all races, ethnicities, and nationalities/citizenship status. If we are having a closed meeting, we may lock our doors, so please come in if we are open! Please check our door for additional messages or information.

You can come here to eat, study, and chat with us and/or your friends. Our space is also reservable!

No, we’re not a student org. Our center is one of three identity-based spaces that belong to the department of Student Belonging and is funded by the Student Engagement Fee paid by all undergraduate students. But yes, we encourage and welcome you to spend time here, as well as sign up for our social media pages, playlists, and other notifications. You can do this with any of our other spaces.

You can reserve our space, cross-promote an event/resource, or we can collaborate together. The Pride Center is available to reserve for any department or organization via 25Live during our business hours. Due to the nature of our work, we prioritize reservations related to racial and ethnic identity and i3b DEISJ-based work.

Yes, we welcome all UMBC community members beyond undergraduate students, including graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumnx. However, some of our programs may only be appropriate for particular campus community members. This is always communicated in advance through our marketing.

Yes, you can report incidents of bias here, but we are not case managers. Please recognize that as university staff, both our professional and student staff are mandated reporters. As such, we are required to report to the Office of Equity and Civil Rights (ECR), who handle all bias and hate related issues on campus.

We are also just fun people, we actually would really like you to come in just for a chat or find a cozy place away from home. Check out our Linktree account.