All posts by: UMBC News Staff

Inviting Inspiration

UMBC celebrates the grand opening of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building.

From the moment its doors opened for fall 2014 classes, students, faculty, staff, and visitors alike have taken delight in UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB), which offers exceptional venues for performances and lectures, settings for teaching and research, and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

“It’s an inviting space,” said Scott Casper, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. “It’s a space for every student on campus to experience the performing arts and humanities, for our entire campus community to come together around cultural events, and for people throughout greater Baltimore to participate in UMBC’s vibrant cultural life.”

The PAHB provides new, state-of-the-art facilities for arts and humanities departments and programs. The building is designed to enhance UMBC’s teaching, research, and public outreach, and to heighten the visibility of the arts and humanities as major components of campus and community life.

“This new building, the largest on our campus, speaks to the central role that the arts and humanities play in shaping our students as thinkers and as citizens,” noted President Freeman Hrabowski. “It is designed to foster interaction and collaboration, and it supports the kind of interdisciplinary work that inspires our students and helps them develop as innovators and leaders.”

The PAHB is home to the departments of Ancient Studies, Dance, English, Music, Philosophy, and Theatre; the James T. and Virginia M. Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Center for Innovation, Research and Creativity in the Arts; the Humanities Scholars Program; and the Linehan Artist Scholars Program. Its major public venues, which will host dozens of lectures and performances annually, include a concert hall, a proscenium theatre, the Dance Cube, a black box theatre, the Music Box, and a lecture hall.

The 180,000 square foot building, first envisioned in 2004, is situated on 4.8 acres on the west side of Hilltop Road adjacent to the Fine Arts, Engineering, and ITE buildings. The PAHB is a natural extension of the campus to the north, creating a strong relationship with neighboring buildings and enhancing the circulation of the campus.

Recognition

In fall 2014, the PAHB received two significant accolades from the architecture and design community. The American Institute of Architects Baltimore chapter, at its annual Excellence in Design gala, awarded the PAHB the top prize in its Higher Education category, and the Urban Land Institute bestowed upon the building its 2014 Wavemaker Award, which recognizes projects that are truly unique, innovative, and visionary.

“The Performing Arts and Humanities Building,” said The Baltimore Sun’s fine arts critic, Tim Smith, “makes quite a statement from almost every angle — the sun-reflecting, stainless-steel-wrapped Concert Hall; the glass-enclosed Dance Cube jutting from the structure; views of the downtown Baltimore skyline from upper floors.”

Sustainability

The PAHB is a “very energy efficient building,” notes campus architect Joe Rexing, citing features such as its white reflective roof and water management system. “Inside the building, finishes and materials were selected for their low VOC (volatile organic compounds), so they don’t off-gas — materials such as latex paints, carpets that are very green, and sustainable products made of recycled materials. We use certified wood that comes from sustainable forests. And a lot of other finishes that you see inside the building are made from recycled construction materials.”

The building has been awarded LEED Silver status, following the guidelines set out by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to identify buildings as “green.” LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized mark of achievement in building specifications. Permanent flat screen displays located in the building’s lobbies offer more detail on the PAHB’s sustainable features and LEED certification.

Public Art

One of the most exciting aspects of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building actually stands just outside the building’s entrance: a significant new work of public art, Forum, by Thomas Sayre. The Maryland Public Art Initiative funded the design and construction of the artwork through the Maryland Commission on Public Art and the Maryland State Arts Council. As required in legislation passed in 2013, the Maryland Public Art Initiative integrates public art enhancements into all state-funded construction and renovation projects.

Sayre’s work was selected following a national call for entries. “After much reflection and discussion,” said Timothy Nohe, director of the Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts and member of the selection panel, “the committee voted Sayre’s concept as the most reflective of UMBC’s vision of a public art installation that invites community engagement, reflects the passage of time, and embraces the values and culture of UMBC.”

Thomas Sayre has designed and built public art projects throughout the world and has participated in design teams for civic, educational, and museum buildings. “Forum was designed as a stand-alone art experience viewed as a sculpture,” he explained, “but it is also to be experienced as a place. The space created by the sculpture can be entered, can be occupied, and can be used. The composition is designed to create a place for conversation, for the meeting of small classes, a place where spontaneous and planned performances are encouraged.”

Already, the sculpture site has become a point of convergence for the campus community — students, faculty, and staff gather under its arches to read, converse and contemplate. In November, it will host an epic reading of Homer’s Iliad, presented by the Department of Ancient Studies.

Grand Opening Celebration

The campus community is invited to celebrate the grand opening of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, October 17, from 3 to 4 p.m. in the concert hall. A reception, building tours, and “open house” events will follow the ceremony.

For information about upcoming events in the PAHB, visit UMBC’s Arts & Culture Calendar.

(10/17/2014)

Student Advocate

Gov. O’Malley appoints Sondheim Scholar Catherine Cano as 2014–15 MHEC student commissioner.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) sets state policies on tuition rates, academic programs and many other issues that affect every college student in Maryland. As the commission works this year, one UMBC student is making her voice heard on behalf of students in those important debates.

In August, Governor Martin O’Malley appointed Catherine Cano ’16, political science, as the Student Commissioner to MHEC for the 2014-2015 school year. This prestigious position will allow Cano to advocate for students and their educational institutions, weigh in on state plans for postsecondary education, review proposals for new academic programs and help the commission understand how its policies affect those who attend the state’s colleges and universities.

“Ms. Cano’s leadership in the community and at UMBC exemplifies her commitment to learning and serving diverse populations,” said MHEC Acting Secretary Catherine M. Shultz in a news release announcing the appointment. “I look forward to her playing a critical role in our discussions regarding the expansion of Maryland’s postsecondary opportunities for traditional and non-traditional students alike.”

Cano brings a commitment to diversity and a determination to help Maryland institutions of higher education lower the achievement gap among first-generation college students to her service on the commission. As a member of the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, Cano already has developed a strong interest in educational policy and deepened her personal resolve to make a difference in that field.

“My main job is to be a voice for students,” says Cano, who assists in teaching the Introduction to an Honors University (IHU) seminar for first year students and is the Student Life intern for service and volunteerism.

The key experience in Cano’s path to the appointment has been work she has accomplished as a volunteer at the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) – a residential/day treatment school facility for emotionally disturbed youth. Cano has implemented several self-sustaining projects at RICA, including creating an auxiliary board for the school, establishing life skills workshops for students using a UMBC BreakingGround grant, and organizing college tours for graduating students with the goal of getting every senior into tech programs or community college with less than a semester of remedial classes. She now leads a group of UMBC volunteers at RICA every week.

Cano is the third UMBC student appointed as a MHEC Student Commissioner in the past eight years. Joshua Michael ’10, political science and secondary education, and Alexia Van Orden ’06, history, ’08 M.P.P., legal policy, and ’13 Ph.D., education policy, served on the commission during the 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 school years, respectively. Both UMBC alumni continue to work in education – Michael as a mathematics teacher at the Commodore John Rogers School, and Van Orden as a research analyst at MHEC.

David Hoffman, Assistant Director of Student Life for Civic Agency, says the university’s three MHEC commissioners share qualities that have made them excellent student representatives for the commission. “What Cano, Michael and Van Orden have in common is confidence and the ability to speak knowledgably about state policy and the policy making process,” he observes. “They share a sense that they will make meaningful contributions to a statewide policy making body.”

Cano wants to bring UMBC’s spirit of student participation and diversity to a commission that sets the tone and practice for all postsecondary institutions in Maryland. “One of the reasons that I really love UMBC is how diverse it is and how all populations of our students do really well, but that’s not the case for every university,” she says. “I’m really excited to try and work on ways and initiatives for these students to succeed.”

(10/15/2014)