Welcome to UMD Refugee Day!

Where: Cambridge Community Center

When: Saturday, May 7

Time: 1-4pm

The purpose of UMD Refugee Day is to welcome and celebrate the arrival of new friends and neighbors who have been displaced by crises in their home countries and currently reside in College Park and the nearby vicinity. Because of its proximity to both DC and several national and local refugee resettlement organizations, Prince George's County has become a hub for refugee resettlement including hundreds of families from Afghanistan fleeing the fall of Kabul to the Taliban during summer 2021. Since summer 2021, more than 76,000 Afghans have been brought to the United States. Prince George's County is also the new home to refugees from many other regions around the globe including from the African continent, Central America and including Haiti. As our new neighbors are seeking to rebuild their lives in the United States, we endeavor to make that process a little easier. With this in mind, the clear purpose for this event is to open our campus, welcome our new neighbors and forge new friendships and relations.

The new UMD Strategic Plan highlights the imports of inclusion, diversity and equity. UMD Refugee Day is intended to showcase our values and mission at the University of Maryland through inclusion and service.

The University of Maryland is the only public university to provide refuge to refugees in the way we have done so. We would like our efforts to be a model nationally, We follow the tenet put forth by the consortium ECAR (Every Campus is a Refuge), which has forged relationships between several campuses and refugee communities across the country.

As several families will be living on campus for the next year, UMD Refugee Day is intended to introduce these families and friends and neighbors in the community to our beautiful campus, students, staff and faculty.  We wish this day to begin the welcome, to make friends and become familiar with students, staff, faculty and all others. It is also intended to celebrate our new partnership with IRC and LSS in this venture.

Special Guest and Speakers:

President Daryll Pines, Vice President Patty Perillo, Dean Katherine Russell, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran Social Services & Solutions for Hometown Connections.

Activities & Events:

The event from 1-4pm will include, introductory remarks, music, food, games for the kids, campus tours, and sports including soccer and cricket.

Hosts: 

MLAW programs (College Park Scholars Justice and legal Thought Program and the Law and Society Minor) 

College Park Scholars International Studies Program

Faculty Hosts:

Robert Koulish, Ph.D., Director of MLAW and Stacy Kosko, Ph.D., Director of International Studies