All posts by: UMBC News Staff

Laura Hussey, Political Science, in The Herald-Mail

Maryland’s race for governor has received most of the attention, but the attorney general’s race is also seeing a competitive primary. An article published in The Herald-Mail on June 11 examines the duties and responsibilities of the attorney general and sheds light on the importance of the office.

Laura Hussey

Laura Hussey, an assistant professor of political science, was interviewed for the article and shared that the office is important because of political and policy issues. Below is an excerpt from the story:

“The attorney general advises the governor on legal matters, [Hussey] said. It was Doug Gansler — the current attorney general who is running for governor — who decided in 2010 that Maryland would recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, according to Hussey. The Maryland attorney general is one of a very small number of statewide offices. The person in that position could be a “counter-weight” to the governor if he or she decided to do so, Hussey said.”

To read the full article in The Herald-Mail, click here.

Donald Norris, Public Policy, in The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun

With less than two weeks until Maryland’s Democratic primary, new polls in the gubernatorial and attorney general’s race show one race is likely already decided and the other could swing in either direction.

Donald Norris UMBC

Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris was interviewed by The Washington Post about the two polls. A new Washington Post poll shows Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown holding a commanding lead with 46 percent of likely Democratic voters supporting him, with 23 percent backing Attorney General Doug Gansler and 16 percent supporting Del. Heather Mizeur (Montgomery).

“Absent a gigantic mistake from the Brown campaign, this is probably over,” Norris said. “I think the only strategy left for a candidate in Gansler’s situation is to attack, attack, attack, and that’s likely to backfire.”

Meanwhile, in the attorney general’s race, Del. Jon Cardin (Baltimore County) narrowly leads Sen. Brian Frosh (Montgomery) with 26 percent of likely Democratic voters saying they support him. That’s compared to 20 percent supporting Frosh and Del. Alisha Braveboy (Prince George’s), who is running third at 13 percent. Forty percent of likely Democratic voters say they have no preferred candidate or are disengaged: “People are generally not paying attention,” said Norris. “I’m not sure whose advantage that is.”

To read “Lt. Gov. Brown holds commanding lead over Democratic rivals in Maryland governor’s race,” click here. You can read “Polls show two candidates for Md. attorney general are locked in a tight battle” here.

Norris was also interviewed for an article published in The Baltimore Sun on June 13 about spending in the governor’s race. To read, “Candidates have millions to spend in final days before primary,” click here.

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

A recent Baltimore Sun poll shows Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown has the support of 41 percent of likely Democratic voters in the gubernatorial primary. That number gives him a lead of 2 to 1 over Attorney General Doug Gansler (20 percent) and a 3 to 1 advantage over Del. Heather Mizeur (15 percent).

Tom Schaller

In his latest column in The Baltimore Sun, Political Science Professor Thomas Schaller offers an explanation for why Brown is so far ahead in the race, but also why he has yet to put a lock on the job.

“The first observation is that the key party players, including Gov. Martin O’Malley and many of the state’s key unions, consolidated very early behind Mr. Brown. A second, equally obvious observation is that Mr. Gansler’s candidacy has imploded, thanks to his mostly self-inflicted wounds in the trooper and teen drinking episodes,” Schaller writes.

He observes that criticism from Gansler against Brown over management of the failed health exchange hasn’t gained momentum but likely would have if Gansler were a Republican candidate running in a red or even purple state.

Even with a big lead in the polls, Schaller writes Brown will need to think long-term and come up with a clear vision for how he wants to govern the state should he win the nomination: “Gubernatorial candidates should clearly articulate what the state will look like under their stewardship four or even eight years hence. Perhaps Mr. Brown is saving his grander designs for the general election phase, after he secures the nomination,” he adds.

You can read the full column in The Baltimore Sun by clicking here.

Ann Christine Frankowski, Center for Aging Studies, in The New York Times

In a recent article published in The New York Times blog “The New Old Age,” Ann Christine Frankowski provides insight into sexual behavior policies at assisted living facilities. Frankowski, a senior research scientist for UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies, has conducted studies in 23 Maryland assisted living complexes over the last several years and she says, “none of them have formalized policies to deal with sexual behavior.”

Frankowski commented further on the issue and said many aspects still need to be looked into, but she said assessing such policies at assisted living complexes is beginning to be brought to the forefront.

“Ascertaining whether encounters are consensual, who is capable of consent, how to balance couples’ privacy with that of other residents – ‘these issues have not been thought through,’ said Frankowski. ‘But people are beginning to talk about it.'”

You can read the full blog post titled “Sex in Assisted Living: Intimacy Without Privacy,” by clicking here.

Tim Hall, Athletics, To Chair NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics

UMBC Director of Athletics Tim Hall has been elected as the chairman of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics for the fall of 2014, the committee announced last month at their meetings in Orlando, Fla.

Hall, who has served on the 15-member, multi-divisional committee since 2011, replaces current CWA chair Marilyn Moniz-Kaho’ohanohano of the University of Hawaii. He had previously chaired the CWA/MOIC (Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee) Disability Subcommittee from 2012-14.

The mission of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics is to provide leadership and assistance to the association in its efforts to provide equitable opportunities, fair treatment and respect for all women in all aspects of intercollegiate athletics. Toward these ends, the committee shall seek to expand and promote opportunities for female student-athletes, administrators and coaches. The committee shall promote governance, administration and conduct of intercollegiate athletics at the institutional, conference and national levels that are inclusive, fair and accessible to women. The committee shall develop programs and resources, which can be of practical use to the association in its effort to achieve these ends.

Sandra Abbott, CADVC, Kata Frederick and Victor Torres ’15, IMDA MFA, in The Baltimore Guide

GoateeGuy-V“What is our current understanding of foreignness and otherness? What is the threshold at which something becomes ‘other’ or ‘foreign’?” These remarks by IMDA MFA candidate Victor Torres, recently appeared in a review of his project, “Highlandtown Pop-Up” by The Baltimore Guide. IMDA MFA candidate, Kata Frederick, also appeared in a performance at the event.

CharcoalGuy-V“Highlandtown Pop-Up” was made possible through a partnership between Highlandtown Main Street, a program of the Southeast Community Development Corp., the Highlandtown Arts District, and the Community Outreach Program of UMBC’s Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC).

As member of the Highlandtown Arts District, Sandra Abbott, curator of collections and outreach, CADVC, appreciates the chance to create community partnerships, in which UMBC graduate students have the opportunity to showcase their work in Baltimore City.

UMBC: Cultures of Conflict

Cultures of Conflict

Professor Rebecca Adelman traces connections between citizenship and images of the war on terror.

Flying home from New Orleans to Cleveland in August 2003, Rebecca Adelman encountered a faulty metal detector at a security checkpoint. The alarm blared as she passed through once, then again and again, until several federal agents and police officers guided her to a windowless room where she was questioned for nearly an hour. A security agent finally suggested trying a different detector, and she was deemed a non-threat after passing through the new device without triggering the alarm.

Adelman, now an assistant professor of media and communication studies at UMBC, started graduate school just a few weeks later. Her distressing experience seemed like nothing but an interesting dinner party anecdote at the time, but it stayed on her mind. Years later, it provoked a powerful research question.

“I started to think that maybe something more important had happened there,” Adelman reflects. “Maybe in the moment of me having this encounter with these security technologies and the people who were wielding them, something more important happened to me than just this fluke or mistake. I began to think about the ways that experience changed me as a thinker and citizen.”

From this experience, and years of research that followed, emerged Adelman’s new book, Beyond the Checkpoint: Visual Practices in America’s Global War on Terror (University of Massachusetts Press 2014). The book provides a comprehensive overview of the visual culture of the Global War on Terror, including imaging technologies like those at security checkpoints. Adelman contends that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, American citizenship has been redefined by images of the Global War on Terror.

“The book tries to rethink how we envision the relationship between state and citizen and image,” Adelman observes. “I hope it encourages people to think differently about the role of the visual in wartime and to think more critically, comprehensively and creatively about it.”

Some Global War on Terror images are familiar to most Americans, including footage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2003 “Shock and Awe” campaign in Iraq. However, Adelman argues that by studying images that are frequently overlooked but are part of our everyday experiences, Americans can better understand how they have shaped the country’s thinking as it relates to prosecution of this war domestically and abroad.

“When we’re talking about war and terrorism, we’re talking about phenomena that can’t ever be fully represented because they’re so big and overwhelming. They can’t fit in the frame of a single picture or a three-minute news story, so representations are always limited,” Adelman says.

Adelman’s research traces connections between citizenship and spectatorship, and focuses on institutions that create, monitor and regulate the visual culture of the Global War on Terror. She’s hopeful her work will provide a blueprint for looking beyond common images and thinking more broadly about how visual cultures of conflict will be portrayed in the decades ahead.

“We can all understand now that there is an intimate relationship between war and visual media. It’s been that way since the Civil War,” Adelman says. “It’s going to continue to evolve, and I hope my book provides a way to think about that evolution.”

Adelman discussed her new book as a guest on WYPR’s Maryland Morning. You can listen to the complete interview here.

(06/12/2014)

2014 Shriver Center Public Service Scholars Programs

The 2014 Shriver Center Public Service Scholars Programs have all been launched within the last several weeks. This year’s programs, The Governor’s Summer Internship Program (GSIP), the Sondheim Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Program and MDOT Fellows Program have a total of 50 participants from institutions across the state of Maryland, as well as some out of state institutions. With all of the programs, students are placed with senior-level officials in government agencies and nonprofits across the state.

The Governor’s Summer Internship Program introduces college students to the unique challenges and rewards of working within Maryland state government. Interns work for ten weeks during the summer in state government agencies doing substantive tasks ranging from drafting speeches and correspondence to researching policy options and assisting with constituent case work. Students develop policy papers on a significant issue facing Maryland and present their findings to Governor O’Malley in person. The program is led by the Shriver Center in partnership with the Office of the Governor.

The Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Program offers summer internship opportunities in the nonprofit sector to college juniors, seniors and graduate students attending Maryland institutions. Interns work for ten weeks during the summer and participate in bi-weekly seminars in non-profit management. The Shriver Center coordinates the program in conjunction with the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the Office of the Governor.

The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Fellows Program introduces college students to working within Maryland’s integrated transportation system. Interns work in policy development, engineering, planning and financing, neighborhood conservation, and computer networking, among other areas. The Shriver Center leads the program in conjunction with Office of the Secretary of Transportation.

Several UMBC students are participants in this year’s programs. The complete list is below, along with the intern’s mentors. You can learn more about the Shriver Center Scholars Programs by clicking here.

Governor’s Summer Internship Program

Colby Conley
Major: Political Science
Mentor: Mary Gable/Danielle Susskind
Assistant State Superintendent/Education Policy Specialist
Division of Academic Policy and Innovation
Maryland State Department of Education

Walter Sondheim Jr. Maryland Nonprofit Leadership Program

Katharine Evans
Major: Psychology, Sociology
Mentor: Kim Sauer
Legal & Medical Coordinator
Baltimore Child Abuse Center

Katia Fortune
Major: Psychology
Mentor: Dionne Waldron
Program Manager
Operation HOPE

Ibitoye “Kathy” Tokunbo
Major: Economics
Mentor: Joe Brown
Site Coordinator
College Gardens

Rachel Thomas
Major: Political Science, Psychology
Mentor: Michelle Sardone
Legalization Program Director
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

MDOT Fellows Program

Jordan Weddington
Major: History, Asian Studies
Mentor: Michele Gardner
Title VI/ADA Coordinator
Maryland Transit Administration

Jeanie Lai
Major: Environmental Science
Mentor: Benjamin Chin
Director, Office of Design and Construction
Maryland Aviation Administration

Benjamin Loeb
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Kevin Pippin
Manager, Division of Utilities
Maryland Aviation Administration

Student Scholarship Q&A: Kristine Galli, health administration and policy

Every so often, we highlight the importance of student scholarships by introducing you to the very students they help to succeed. Today, we’re featuring Kristine Galli, health administration and policy, who is a Barbara E. Burkman Health Administration and Policy Program Scholarship recipient. This scholarship is given to a student who has demonstrated academic stature and scholarly/creative activity in their chosen discipline.

Name: Kristine Galli ’14
Major(s): health administration policy
Scholarship(s): Barbara Burkman Scholarship Award

Q: Why did you decide to attend UMBC?

A: The school has a great reputation and I love the diversity of our campus community. I knew I could learn from experts in my field while cultivating relationships that have enriched my life more than ever expected. I will be graduating with an amazing degree and incredible friends.

Q: What’s been the most amazing discovery you’ve made so far as a student here?

A: Definitely learning about other students has lead to the most amazing discoveries. People are amazing and everyone has a story, so take the time to listen because both of your lives are enhanced through that connection.

Q: Tell us about a class or club that has really opened your mind.

A: Being a Peer Health Educator through University Health Services for two years was a fun and influential way to empower myself and benefit the campus community. This position helped me learn about health issues that are most pertinent to college students and engage many different subcultures to help empower them through knowledge, as well.

Q: How important is it to you as a student to get scholarship support?

A: It was extremely important for me to receive scholarship support for multiple reasons. Having your hard work acknowledged is always fulfilling, but more than that I am very grateful that this support takes some of the financial burden off of myself and my family. There are many areas of life to manage in university, so when someone helps you in such a significant way it allows you to focus more energy on succeeding in school versus worrying about how to pay for it.

Q: What are you most proud of accomplishing in your time at UMBC?

A: Thankfully I have been able to do a lot with my time at UMBC including founding a mental health awareness student organization, Active Minds. I am very happy I was able to bring this organization to campus and am extremely impressed by the students who have taken over its management. They are definitely making a powerful and positive impact on the well being of UMBC students.

Q: What would you say to the people who provided your scholarship?

A: Thank you so much!  It means a lot that people like you invest their hard-earned money to help students succeed.

Q: What do you hope to do after graduation?

A: I was accepted into the University of Manchester to earn a Master’s in International Disaster Management. While this is awesome, I have deferred for a year to explore other interests before committing to this path. We will see what life has in store!

Support the Barbara E. Burkman Scholarship!

Co-Lab(oration)’ Installation to Feature work by Kelley Bell, Visual Arts

Co-Lab(oration): Front Stoop/Back Yard, organized by the School 33 Art Center, will hold an opening celebration this month for the collaborative installation including work by Kelley Bell, visual arts. The pieces presented, by Bell, Melissa Webb and Linda DePalma, are “highly detailed birdhouses that are scale replicas of iconic Baltimore buildings – Penn Station, the Patterson Park Pagoda, the “Painted Ladies” of Charles Village and Form Stone row homes.”

Download the flyer to learn more about the celebration and Co-Lab(oration).

The opening celebration, scheduled for June 21 from 3-6 p.m. at the School 33 Art Center, will be held in connection with School 33’s 35th Annual Exhibition, 35 [33] 35, featuring the work of other prominent Baltimore artists, including Tim Nohe, Visual Arts. Co-Lab(oration): Front Stoop/Back Yard will be on display through the Summer 2015.

 

Meet the Staff: Meredith Purvis

Here in the Office of Alumni Relations, we spend a lot of time telling stories about and talking with our wonderfully supportive alums. However, we’ve decided to turn the tables and take time to get to know the people behind the scenes – the  advancement and alumni relations staff members who are hard at work on behalf of our alumni. Today we’ll be hearing from Meredith Purvis, the Assistant Director of Marketing.

Name: Meredith Purvis
Job Title: Assistant Director of Marketing
Focus Area: I help alumni and donors stay in touch with the university.
Years at UMBC: 4

Q: Where are you from originally?

A: Shamrock, Missouri

Q: What do you love most about UMBC?

A: I love my co-workers – they are unbelievably creative and smart. My second love, of course, is True Grit. Retriever Fever forever!

Q: What’s your favorite thing about your job?

A: I love meeting our alumni and donors and getting to tell their stories. And, despite my degree in English, I am also a huge data nerd – crunch all the numbers!

Q: What’s the most recent book you’ve read?

A: I recently finished up The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and I’m currently working my way through Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I love to read, but I’ve also trained myself to fall asleep while doing so, so I tend to be a little slow to finish books these days.

Q: Who do you admire and why?

A: I really admire my siblings. My little sister, Rosie, is crazy smart and she’s one of the nicest people I know. Also, she’s studying engineering, and math gives me a headache, so that has always impressed me. My little brother, Lincoln, is incredibly creative and always off having adventures and making cool movies and taking amazing photos. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Q: If you could be a superhero, who would you pick and why?

A: I’d definitely be Thor – great costume, magical hammer, Asgard. What’s not to like?

Oh Sew Rewarding: Mimi Dietrich ’70 Teaches Quilting to 14,000

Mimi Dietrich ‘70, American studies, made her first quilt in 1975 as a gift to her oldest son, Jon. Now, 40 years later, she has a great many accomplishments in her sewing kit. She has written 17 quilting books, helped stitch the American flag that was displayed at Camden Yards on Opening Day of April 2014, and was named International Association of Professional Quilters Teacher of the year for 2013.

Her dream-come-true moment was filming her first Craftsy — an online crafts education platform based in Colorado — class in 2013 called “Finishing School” that teaches quilters how to finish the quilts they’ve started.

Dietrich beams as she shares the joys of teaching the Craftsy class and ecstatically announces the production of yet another class to be filmed at the end of June 2014. This class will focus on applique — Dietrich’s favorite quilting technique involving the sewing of cutout designs onto larger pieces of fabric.

Dietrich’s diverse background has more than prepared her for teaching online classes: Two years teaching English at Old Court Middle School developed her aptitude and enthusiasm for teaching. Her time at UMBC in the American Studies Program increased her appreciation of quilts and their significance in American history.

Now, with more than 14,000 students, she’s putting those skills to use in a very big arena, with great success. Having graduated in 1970 when technologies such as online classes did not even exist, Dietrich finds it amazing that she has been a part of such an adventure. She particularly enjoys the interaction she has with her Craftsy students.

“Talk about a dream,” Dietrich says as she reminisces about her past and all that she’s experienced throughout her very rich life. In addition to quilting, she fills her days with family, baking, and watching UMBC basketball.

“I really feel I’ve had a really fun life,” says Dietrich with a beaming smile on her face and thoughtfulness in her gaze. She gets to do what she likes to do, and that, for Dietrich, is sew rewarding (pun very much intended). Her advice to other quilters — both a quilting lesson and a life lesson — is this: “Don’t try to make a perfect quilt. Just have fun.”

–Jessie Orsburn ’14

Do you have a story of your own to share? Tell us in a class note!

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