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By Jessica Weiss ’05N’deye Diop ’26 arrived at the University of Maryland firmly on a pre-med track. But the daughter of Senegalese immigrants, who grew up hearing Wolof and French at home, also carried a longtime fascination with language.

University of Maryland anthropologist Stephen Brighton research spotlights the decades in Ireland before and after the 19th century potato famine, a period of abject poverty under British rule. The associate professor of anthropology is the only American licensed to lead excavations on the Emerald Isle, and part of a small group of archaeologists dedicated to that time period in Ireland.

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.