All posts by: UMBC News Staff

UMBC Welcomes New Retrievers at 2014 Convocation

Convocation3On Tuesday, April 26, faculty, staff, administrators and current students welcomed new students to the UMBC community at Convocation 2014, beginning with an applause-filled parade through campus and concluding with celebratory remarks in the RAC.

Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Diane Lee, Presidential Teaching Award Recipient Marie desJardins and President Hrabowski spoke about UMBC’s supportive campus culture. “This is a university where people care about each other,” Dr. Hrabowksi said.

Student leaders provided advice to incoming Retrievers. Student Government Association President Ganesh Mysore and Caroline Taylor ’16, HAPP, shared stories from their college experiences, encouraging their fellow students to be get involved in campus activities and organizations.

Watch the Convocation ceremony below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2GpZm8bIoc&w=560&h=315]

Click here to read President Hrabowski’s remarks.

Pres. Hrabowski Interview on EvoLLLution Focuses on Supporting First-Generation College Students

President Hrabowski examines college accessibility issues for first-generation students and how universities can help them succeed in a new interview on EvoLLLution, an online newspaper focusing on continuing education.

Many first-generation students struggle with the application process, Dr. Hrabowski notes, because they may not have someone in their household who can guide them through the system, knowing what it takes to be successfully admitted to and enrolled in a university. In the interview, Dr. Hrabowski emphasizes how universities must adapt to more effectively support these students, saying, “Part of innovation means looking in the mirror and understanding that the world of tomorrow does not have to be the same as the world of today.”

Click here to listen to the interview.

Career Q&A: Krista Wagner ’99, English

Every so often, we’ll chat with an alum about what they do and how they got there. Today we’re talking with author Krista Wagner ‘99, English, about her career and newly published book, Intent.

photo via TouchPoint Press

Name: Krista Wagner (formerly Brooks)
Job Title: English Instructor
Focus Area: Composition and Literature
Grad year: May 1999

Q: What drew you to UMBC for your studies?
UMBC is a very reputable school and is interested in seeing their students excel. The English department is committed to ensuring that their students grow exponentially in critical reading, writing, and thought.

Q: Besides working on your latest novel, Intent, what have you done in your spare time?
I also wrote a screenplay for Intent. I received my M.F.A. in Creative Writing from National University in 2013. I have been an Adjunct English Instructor since 2008.

Q: Were there any particular influences in your life that contributed to your novel?
The idea for Intent seemed to come from nowhere. However, my love for thrillers and desire for truth both contributed to the movement of the plot. My three children and husband and my love for God carried me through the journey of writing the story.

Q: Can you recall any professors or advisors at UMBC who inspired you?
Professor Michael Fallon inspired my creativity through avenues of poetry. Professor Suzy Anger was especially enjoyable to work with as she helped me see how much further I could go with my writing.

Q: What has been your greatest achievement in your career as a writer? Your greatest challenge?
My greatest writing achievement is this novel–my first. The screenplay version of it was most challenging as it wasn’t easy to leave so much “white space” and be forced into thinking in blocks of pure action and dialogue.

Q: What do you enjoy most about your profession?
I love being able to help students realize their potential. The ways of writing are infinite, and I enjoy seeing my students harness their gifts and strengthen their ability to perceive what they are capable of.

Q: Is there any advice you’d like to give to students at UMBC?
Hold onto your integrity and never give up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

UMBC, Loyola’s Sellinger School of Business Establish Kiva U Chapters With Grants from OneMain Financial

UMBC and Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management are establishing Kiva U microfinance programs, made possible by grants from OneMain Financial, that will offer loans to local and global communities in need.

The $25,000 grants will make UMBC and Loyola’s Sellinger School the first two formally designated Kiva U chapters in Maryland. Kiva U seeks to engage students and educators in a global effort to expand financial inclusion, foster community, and have a tangible positive impact on issues that matter to them.

UMBC is quickly building a national reputation as a hub for scholars committed to making a difference as socially engaged community leaders and global citizens. Under the auspices of BreakingGround, UMBC’s civic engagement initiative, and UMBC’s Shriver Center, students will work with faculty and staff to develop a management team that will create marketing strategies and engage campus partners to support local, national and international communities. Planning began this summer, with the goal of awarding the first round of up to 10 loans in spring 2015.

David Hoffman, assistant director of student life for civic agency, says, “The Kiva project matches the spirit of BreakingGround, as well as the mission of UMBC, perfectly. It will put our students in a position to take real responsibility for nurturing entrepreneurial efforts that can help transform lives and communities.”

Click here to read more.

Congratulations to the 2014 Alumni Award Winners!

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Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University. Throughout the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing you to each award winner individually, but for now, we would like to congratulate them all on their wonderful achievements. 

The UMBC Alumni Association proudly honors these distinguished alumni and faculty for their accomplishments and dedication to the University:

Engineering and Information Technology
Dr. Claudia Pearce ’89 M.S., ’94 Ph.D., Computer Science
Senior Computer Science Authority, NSA

Humanities
 Donna Lewis ’86, English
Unit Chief, Office of Professional Responsibility, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security;
Cartoonist, Washington Post News Service and Syndicate

Natural and Mathematical Sciences
Michael Adelstein ’96, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
CEO, Potomac Photonics, Inc.

Social and Behavioral Sciences
Kaliope Parthemos ’93, Psychology
Chief of Staff, Office of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

Visual and Performing Arts
Hadieh Shafie ’04 M.F.A., Imaging and Digital Arts
Independent Artist

Distinguished Service
Gib Mason ’95, Economics
Chief Operating Officer & Director of the Center for Leadership and Innovation, UMBC Training Centers

Rising Star
Isaac Kinde ’05, Biological Sciences
M.D./Ph.D. Candidate, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

In addition to our alumni honorees, the Alumni Association has established an Outstanding Faculty Award and the inaugural recipient is Dr. Anne Spence, Professor of the Practice, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The 2014 awards will be presented during Homecoming on Thursday, October 9, 2014 at a ceremony in the Albin O. Kuhn Library at 6:30 p.m. Register now.

Join us as we acknowledge these outstanding UMBC community members.

Scott Casper, Dean of the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, on WYPR’s Humanities Connection

Who are we and where have we been are questions fundamental to the human existence that are studied by UMBC students as part of a well-rounded liberal arts education. Scott Casper, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and Professor of History, recently provided a commentary on WYPR’s Humanities Connection in which he advocated for studying the humanities as a way to prepare students for a thoughtful and civically engaged life.

Scott Casper

“In a world of polarized politics and cost-benefit analysis, our realm of possibilities is often cast as ‘either-or’: Republican or Democratic, guns or butter, right or wrong. A liberal arts education encourages us to imagine another approach: not ‘either-or,’ but ‘both-and,’ a world of complexities rather than easy answers, interconnections rather than boundaries,” said Casper.

As part of his commentary, Casper outlined five distinct areas in which UMBC students encounter “both-and”: the global and the local, the changing and the timeless, the intellectual and the spiritual, the arts and the sciences, and thought and action.

“By asking questions that are fundamental to human existence and by encouraging ‘both-and,’ rather than simplistic ‘either-or,’ answers, the liberal arts prepare students at UMBC and elsewhere for a lifetime of reflection and purpose,” Casper said, adding, “the interplay of reflection and purpose is the bedrock of thoughtful citizenship, and the hallmark of a life well-lived.”

To listen to the full segment that aired on Humanities Connection, click here.

Kate Brown, History, To Speak at Baltimore Book Festival

History Professor Kate Brown will speak at this year’s Baltimore Book Festival, which runs from September 26-28. The festival features hundreds of appearances from local, celebrity and nationally-known authors. More than 100 exhibitors and booksellers will be on hand at the festival with readings, workshops and panel discussions also on the agenda.

Kate Brown

Brown is scheduled to present a talk on Friday, September 26 at 7 p.m. as part of the Ivy Bookshop author tent. She will be discussing her award-winning book, Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Oxford University Press, 2013), in which she tells the stories of Hanford, Washington and Ozersk, Russia. The Soviet and American governments created these communities to produce the plutonium that fueled the nuclear arms race during the Cold War.

Earlier this year, Brown was awarded the 2014 Ellis W. Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians (OAH) for the best book-length historical study of the political economy, politics, or institutions of the United States, in its domestic or international affairs, from the Civil War to the present. She also received the American Society for Environmental History’s George Perkins Marsh Prize for the best book in environmental history.

For more information on the Baltimore Book Festival, click here.

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, Op-Ed in The Baltimore Sun

Tom SchallerIn his latest column in The Baltimore Sun, Political Science Professor and Chair Thomas Schaller wrote about two major developments that have the potential to revolutionize collegiate athletics: an NCAA ruling that gave five major conferences greater autonomy and a federal judge ruling that stated the NCAA violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by profiting from the images of student-athletes without compensating them.

When referring to the ruling in the federal case O’Bannon v. NCAA, Schaller wrote, “legal experts further believe that because the O’Bannon ruling vacates the NCAA’s long-cherished amateurism exception, a series of follow-up rulings may follow, including the resolution of a key case (Jenkins v. NCAA) that threatens to upend the NCAA’s current economic model.”

To read Schaller’s complete column published August 19 in The Baltimore Sun titled, “Getting their due,” click here.

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in The Baltimore Sun and on FOX 45

As the race for Maryland governor picks up in intensity in the coming weeks heading into the fall, Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris was in the news this past week providing analysis on the state of the campaign.

Donald Norris UMBC“It’s clearly Anthony’s to lose,” said Norris in an August 14 article in The Baltimore Sun when referring to Democratic candidate Anthony Brown’s chances of winning the election. In a separate article, Norris commented on an event held at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) Convention in which Brown and Republican candidate Larry Hogan appeared separately to avoid face-to-face confrontation.

“There’s no reason for the front-runner to give the challenger any more opportunity to interact than necessary,” he said. “It’s not in the interest of the front-runner to do that.” Norris added history shows that the leader does not pay a political price for avoiding an opponent.

In an August 22 article, Norris commented on the messaging that Brown used with some of his policies to raise the minimum wage, to provide prekindergarten for children and to lower the cost of college in his first general election campaign television ad which aired recently in the Baltimore market: “I think this will be a campaign theme, and I expect we’ll see a lot more of it,” he said. “He’s going to be aiming that message at important subgroups within the Democratic Party in Maryland.”

In a story that aired on FOX 45 Baltimore, Norris was interviewed at the MACO Convention, where he was promoting UMBC’s Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research: “We do research for local government so we want to be here to show them what we do,” Norris said, noting that the conference is all about learning and networking. “It’s where local government officials and state government officials get together, share information, share knowledge, and discuss solutions to problems,” Norris added.

You can read the complete coverage by clicking below:

Brown to strike first on airwaves (Baltimore Sun)
Pundits have advice for Brown, Hogan in governor’s race (Baltimore Sun)
Brown, Hogan make pitches to county officials (Baltimore Sun)
MACO Conference taking place during peak season in Ocean City (FOX 45)

Round-Up: UMBC in the News 8/22

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

See more great UMBC news at UMBC Insights!

CNMS Welcomes Jacinta D. Kelly as Assistant Dean of Financial Management

The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences is pleased to announce the appointment of Jacinta D. Kelly as Assistant Dean of Financial Management effective July 28, 2014. Kelly comes from the National Labor College (Silver Spring, MD), where she served as the Director of Finance. Previously, she held the positions of Senior Budget Analyst at The George Washington University and Associate Fiscal Officer at the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition to her financial management expertise and experience, Kelly has a Master of Public Administration (Southeastern University), Master of Forensic Sciences (The George Washington University), and a Bachelor of Arts, Biology (Hood College).

As an Assistant Dean in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Kelly will support the Dean in the financial management of the college, its departments, and affiliated units. Also, she will direct and oversee the formation and implementation of CNMS Business Central.

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