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By John TuckerThe four small crystals found on the land in County Cork where a farmhouse had been torched a century ago stood out among more typical artifacts. There were no natural deposits of quartz in this rustic hillside near the Irish coastline.University of Maryland anthropologist Stephen Brighton and his students digging 23 inches into the soil in the summer of 2018 had also revealed a foundation with a kitchen and cast-iron pot still attached to a wall, along with buttons, cufflinks, a glass inkwell and a copper alloy candlestick.

During IEW last November, as part of a new IIE Korea-U.S. initiative promoting STEM exchanges and collaboration, the Global Learning Initiatives (GLI) team hosted 30 undergraduate students from Korea at UMD, underscoring UMD's commitment to foster global partnerships and create meaningful cultural and academic exchanges by showcasing the university as a hub for international collaboration and innovation.

Meet Mikhail Durnenkov, world renowned anti-war playwright, and 2024 Maya Brin Artist-in-Residence. Durnenkov’s play, “Are We at War Yet,” written in 2014 in the aftermath of Russia’s open war against Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimea, is being produced by TDPS as part of its mainstage season (April 19-26, 2024).

José Magro talks with his Spanish students at the University of Maryland about language and power, sprinkling his lectures with snippets of hip-hop. Three decades ago, mic in hand in Madrid clubs, he did the reverse, injecting his hip-hop with antiracist and anti-fascist political messages as part of one of Spain’s most influential rap groups.

A lifetime of dancing around the world defines the work of Maryland faculty fellow Kate Spanos (Ph.D. ’16), non-profit founder and now first-time author. She specializes in dances of resistance, which allow communities to have their voices heard in a way that transcends speech. Through her travels to Montserrat in the Caribbean, Ireland, and Brazil—she’s seen the power of these dances to resist subjugation and build community firsthand, and she’s sharing this knowledge on campus and off.

It’s graduation day. When Paulina Leder ‘23 walks across the stage, four years of late nights studying history, conversations in German, and term papers in French come to a close in a singular handshake from the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU) and the flash of a graduation photographer’s camera. Leder has joined the ranks of other fearless alumni of one of the top 50 global universities in the world. Her first order of business? One more international exchange with her alma mater.