TerrapinSTRONG Symposium
The TerrapinSTRONG Symposium is an opportunity for faculty and staff to learn from each other about scholarship, skills and strategies to create a more inclusive community for our students, staff and faculty members.
Each year, the TerrapinSTRONG Symposium will select a theme and solicit presentation proposals from faculty and staff with expertise in the area.
2026 TerrapinSTRONG Symposium: Sustaining People, Shaping Change
October 27, 2026 | 9 AM to 4 PM
Grand Ballroom, Stamp Student Union
Additional virtual session dates TBA
Now in its fourth year, the TerrapinSTRONG Symposium is a unique annual opportunity for faculty and staff to gather and share scholarship, skills and expertise for creating a more inclusive university community.
The theme for 2026 is Sustaining People, Shaping Change. This year’s event will showcase dynamic collaboration, strategies for attending to individual & team capacity, approaches to authenticity and persistence, and pathways for cultivating a holistically sustainable, connected and thriving UMD.
Call for Programs
We invite UMD staff and faculty members to submit proposals across a variety of session formats on these and any other topics related to 2026’s theme. Scholars and practitioners whose work, research, experience or expertise aligns with enhancing sustainability, connection, collaboration, motivation, morale and well-being across our work, our teams and our community are especially invited to submit.
Proposals can address current research, workplace strategies, classroom conversations, relevant initiatives, coping-to-thriving practices, and more. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, September 10, 2026, at 5 PM. All TerrapinSTRONG Symposium sessions on Tuesday, October 27 will be held exclusively in person at Stamp. Additional virtual session dates are also possible (schedule TBD).
Past Symposia
2025: Navigating Change
Navigating Change: Turning Disruption into Direction focused on the experience of individuals, leaders and institutions managing change and finding ways to push through fear and freeze in times of uncertainty to continue moving forward. Topics ranged from the rapidly changing landscape of AI to leading institutions through change to creative ways to work through our personal responses to change through movement and the arts.
2024: Inclusive Leadership
Leadership happens at all levels of the university. As a leader, by position and/or by example, how do you ensure that everyone feels like a part of the institutional goals, large and small? But also, how do our experiences shape our leadership experiences? What are the challenges and opportunities of leading in a way that respects and embraces who you are?
2023: Belonging
We define belonging on campus as the understanding that faculty and staff members appreciate each other, feel welcome on campus, recognize themselves as important to the mission of the University of Maryland, and understand how their work contributes to the larger goals of higher education. We are interested in bringing together specific UMD efforts to enhance belonging in the workplace in conversation with more general scholarship and research on the topic from any discipline.