Dr. Dominique S. Hammonds

North Carolina College Application Week is HERE!

This week, October 19–25, several North Carolina colleges and universities will waive their application fees, helping students take the next step toward higher education without the added expense!

Please spread the word to your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and students in your communities!

Learn more and apply: https://www.cfnc.org/apply

Today is World Mental Health Day! Observed every year on October 10, World Mental Health Day seeks to raise awareness of mental health issues and highlights efforts to support mental health. Acknowledging the state of one’s mental health issues is important, and so is being able to seek help when you’re struggling.
https://bit.ly/4h1FV8m

Conferencing on World Mental Health Day! Thanks LCCNC for a rich environment to connect and reflect 🌎🧠

Maryland, bye for now! I love conferencing AND I’m missing my sweet 👦🏽👦🏽🤴🏾faces. See you next year, MCA 👋🏾

Hot topic ✅ Great discussion ✅ Even better feedback ✅

MCA 2026 is in the books! Tabling with UMGC, making connections in the DMV area, supporting student poster presentations, presenting about my current work, think-tanking with colleagues, and gifting trinkets to my favs - my heart is smiling. See you next year, MCA!

Seventy years ago today, on September 17, 1956, University of Maryland Global Campus opened its first classes at military education centers in Japan, Okinawa, and Korea. What began with 82 courses and more than 1,700 learners has grown into seven uninterrupted decades of bringing education to students wherever they are in the world.

As a professor at UMGC, I am proud to be part of an institution with such a remarkable history of expanding access to higher education. From classrooms near the Korean DMZ and books delivered by helicopter in Vietnam to serving learners across remote islands and adapting through natural disasters, UMGC’s history reminds us that access to education has never simply been about where we teach. It is about our willingness to meet learners where they are, adapt when circumstances change, and remain committed to their success.

That mission feels especially meaningful to me as an educator. Every time we enter a classroom—whether physical or virtual—we become part of a legacy built by faculty, staff, and students who believed that geography, circumstance, and distance should not determine someone's access to education.

Today, I celebrate 70 years of UMGC in Asia and the generations of educators and learners who made this milestone possible. I am grateful to contribute a small chapter to that much larger story—and excited to see where the next 70 years take us. 🌎🎓

Happy 70th Anniversary, UMGC Asia!

Woohoo! Excited for MCA!

Thank you, ACA and NBCC.

We are on Capitol Hill this week urging Congress to add graduate Counseling programs to the definition of "professional degree" and revise related guidance to ensure Counselors' permanent inclusion for federal student loan purposes. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4itxfL7.

Wooohoooo! So excited to be doing this work and looking forward to sharing it with colleagues at the 2026 Maryland Counseling Association Conference!