All posts by: UMBC News Staff

UMBC Faculty at Baltimore Book Festival

UMBC Faculty will be appearing at the Baltimore book festival this weekend.

On Friday, September 28 at 7 p.m., Craig Sapier, chair of the language, literacy, and culture program, will be part of a panel at the Radical Pavillion, where he will discuss the piece he contributed to the new collection of essays exploring the structure and strategy of the Occupy movement being published by Baltimore’s AK Press.

From noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 30, “Illuminating Childhood,” by Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, will be featured in the Authors’ Tent.  Spitz will be present to answer questions about the book.

More information about the Baltimore Book Festival can be found here.

UMBC Prepares for 2012 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Chess Championship

The UMBC Chess Team is training for the 2012 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship (“The World Series of College Chess”), which will take place December 27-30, in Princeton, NJ. The Pan-Am determines the top college or university team in North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean. In its current form, it has been held annually since 1946. The Retrievers have won or tied for first place a record nine times (96,98,99,00(tie),01(tie),02,05,08(tie),09).

The top four USA schools will advance to the President’s Cup (“Final Four of College Chess”), which will take place in early April in Herndon, VA. Started in 2001, the Final Four determines the top USA college team. The Retrievers have won the Final Four a record six times.

Continue reading “UMBC Prepares for 2012 Pan-Am Intercollegiate Chess Championship” →

Webb Lecture: “Schleppers and Shoppers” with Judith Walkowitz (9/27)

On Thursday, September 27, the Humanities Forum will present the annual Robert K. Webb History Department Lecture with Judith Walkowitz of Johns Hopkins University.

Walkowitz will speak on “Schleppers and Shoppers: Jews, Street Markets, and the Selling of Ready-to-Wear Fashion in London in the 1920′s and 1930′s” at 5 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.

The lecture will spotlight a Jewish street market that emerged as the cutting edge retail space for mass market fashion in the West End. Whereas journalists described the smartly-dressed, fast-talking shop assistants locally known as “schleppers,” and the working-class female patrons they pulled into gown shops as straying from the class codes and styles of established English culture, Jewish Sohoites told hilarious tales of the “schlepper” as a Jewish street character, alternately resembling a red hot mama and a flashily dressed fellow emulating the dress of celluloid gangsters. Their memories recall a safe and modern space of ethnic settlement, simultaneously tied to Soho’s irregular world of sex, crime, and entertainment.

More information can be found here.

bwtech@UMBC, The Daily Record

The Pitch Across Maryland Tour rolled into UMBC yesterday and the Daily Record was on hand to cover it.

“The statewide Pitch Across Maryland tour targets dozens of hopeful entrepreneurs from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland. At each stop, participants meet and receive feedback from top business leaders and have the opportunity to record a four- to six-minute business pitch inside the bus studio,” wrote Daily Record reporter, Alissa Gulin in her story, Startup Maryland and its studio bus rolls into UMBC. “A panel of business professionals will judge the entries and choose several to advance to the next round. The winners will fine-tune their pitches for showcase at the Entrepreneur Expo, an event on Nov. 13 sponsored by the Maryland Technology Development Corp., or TEDCO.”

Four UMBC Students Selected as Inaugural NSF CyberCorps Scholars

The department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (CSEE) announces its new NSF Scholarship for Service (SFS) CyberCorps program scholars.

According to CSEE,

“Four students in UMBC’s Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering have been selected for major scholarships to study cybersecurity in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scholarship for Service (SFS) CyberCorps program.   Each student will receive full tuition, fees, and a nine-month stipend ($20,000 for undergraduates, $25,000 for MS/MPS students, and $30,000 for PhD students) for up to  two years (three years for PhD).  For this first year of the program at UMBC, recipients are Oliver Kubik (BS student in computer science), Brendan Masiar and Brandyn Schult (MPS students in cybersecurity), and Mary Mathews (PhD student in computer science).

While in the program at UMBC, each student will participate in paid summer internships and have opportunities to engage in mentored research opportunities at the UMBC Center for Information Security and Assurance (CISA) and its partners from industry and government.  Following graduation, each student must work for the government (for pay) for one year for each year of scholarship received.  Drs. Alan T. Sherman and Richard Forno direct the program using support they received from their recently awarded $2.5 million NSF grant.  The CyberCorps program will produce highly-qualified professionals to meet the increasing need to protect American’s cyber infrastructure.

Each year students may apply for SFS CyberCorps scholarships at UMBC, with application deadline in mid January.  For details, see www.cisa.umbc.edu.  In each of the next three years, UMBC expects to make six new awards.   Applicants must be accepted to a full-time degree program in a cybersecurity-related field (CS, CE, cyber, EE, IS, math, physics, education, public policy).”

Meet the scholars

New Policy on Development and Approval of Written Academic Agreements (MOUs)

From Philip Rous, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

The President has approved a new UMBC policy on development and approval of written academic agreements. The new policy covers all written academic agreements to which UMBC or any of its departments will be a party, except agreements for sponsored or unsponsored research and those between two or more departments within UMBC.[1] The new policy, the related procedures for developing written academic agreements, and the required forms can be found at http://www.umbc.edu/provost/Policies/Development_and_Approval_of_Written_Academic_Agreements.html.

The new policy and procedures are intended to support the following objectives:

  1. To give UMBC faculty and staff the tools to draft agreements with potential partners according to guidelines that have been pre-approved by the UMBC University Counsel, thereby reducing the time needed for legal review of written agreements

  2. To support UMBC faculty and staff in the efficient preparation of draft agreements by clarifying and streamlining the process by which they are developed, reviewed, approved, and signed at UMBC

  3. To identify the Office of the Provost as the administrative unit responsible for the implementation of the policy and procedures, to which faculty and staff may address all questions about development, review, approval, and signing of written academic agreements covered by the policy

Beth Wells is the point of contact in the Provost’s Office for questions or information about the new policy on written academic agreements or about development of particular agreements. You can reach her at bwells@umbc.edu. Thank you very much.

  1. Contact the Office of the Vice President of Research for guidance on development of research agreements. Consult UMBC departmental policies for guidance on development of agreements within UMBC.

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Josiah Dykstra, Computer Science PhD Student, Presents Paper at Digital Forensics Research Workshop

Josiah Dykstra (computer science PhD student of Dr. Alan T. Sherman) presented the paper “Acquiring forensic evidence from infrastructure-as-a-service cloud computing: Exploring and evaluating tools, trust, and techniques” at the Digital Forensics Research Workshop (DFRWS), held August 6-8 in Washington, DC. Their pioneering work explains for the first time how to conduct a digital forensics exam of computations conducted in the cloud.

Alumna Rachel Younghans ’12, Geography, in The Washington Post

It’s the open road for the next few months for recent alumna Rachel Younghans ’12, geography, as she and her boyfriend, photographer Rob Brulinski, cross the country in search of “Only-in-America Americans” for their art-project/website Freak Flag America.

The couple were profiled by The Washington Post‘s Michael Rosenwald on September 17th, one day after they had set out on their cross-country trip. The two will travel to the Pacific and back in a Toyota Yaris packed with supplies ranging from a tent to rolls of film, from an American flag from Goodwill to a stuffed rat from IKEA which Brulinski plans to bug Younghans with.

Younghans spoke to Rosenwald of the importance of the project, saying, “We really feel a lot of responsibility, and we like our role as storytellers, as historians preserving folk stories.”

Adding that she is a fan of Aesop’s Fables and Grimms’ Fairy Tales, the alumna also detailed the vision behind the trip, which the couple hope to turn into a book on top of the blog posting which they plan to post to their site over the next four months

“Stories just retell themselves over and over throughout history,” Younghans said. “We are a creating a book that stands as part of that — stories based on true events that still hold the value of moral stories.”

Robert Deluty, Graduate School, Publishes His 38th Book

Robert Deluty, associate dean of the graduate school, has published a new book of poetry, “A Crowded Life.” In his review, Joseph DeVitis writes: “In our crowded lives, where countless pressures often damage and paralyze us, Robert Deluty’s poems open windows allowing fresh, crisp air to renew us. Each of his lines bespeaks an exquisite sensibility to life, exposing the common humanity of our losses and victories. Wherever we live, however alone or free we might feel, Deluty extends our subtle understanding of the human condition within ourselves.”

Copies of “A Crowded Life,” as well as of Deluty’s other books, are on sale at the UMBC Bookstore.

Robin Moskal & Joyce Tenney Appointed Associate Directors of the Library

From Larry Wilt, Director of the Library

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Robin Moskal and Joyce Tenney as Associate Directors, in recognition of their increasing roles in the management and leadership of the Library.

Robin Moskal first came to UMBC in 1989 as an Assistant Reference Librarian. Since that time she has held several positions at UMBC, most notably as head of Collection Management and Interlibrary Loan. Since 2008, she has served on an acting basis as the supervisor of Library Accounting & Receiving and of the Reference Department. These responsibilities are now permanent with her appointment as Associate Director.

Joyce Tenney began as a student assistant in the Library and was appointed Serials Librarian in 1983. She has supervised several other units in the Library on a temporary basis since that time. Since 2008 she has supervised the Circulation and Library Media Departments on an acting basis. These responsibilities are now permanent with her appointment as Associate Director.

Please join me in congratulating Robin and Joyce on their success.

Aimee Howell, Financial Services, Conducts NCURA Sponsored Workshop

Financial Services’ Contract and Grant Accounting Manager Aimee Howell conducted a NCURA sponsored Departmental Research Administration Workshop in Portland, Oregon last week. Geared specifically for the departmental administrator who must have knowledge of pre- and post-award functions, this was an opportunity for Aimee to share her vast expertise by leading participants through an examination of the foundations of research administration in the context of departmental administration—the transactional level. Thanks to Aimee’s enthusiasm and dedication to knowledge sharing, participants left the workshop with an increased understanding of how to apply best practices to a department administrator’s day-to-day activities.

First Impressions

First Impressions

The first phase of UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building is already teeming with students and faculty eager to study, teach, work and create in the brand-new space.

Yet the campus celebration of the new building – scheduled for Wednesday, September 19 – will be an occasion for the university and the general public to experience the Performing Arts and Humanities Building in an event-packed day of discussion, debate and entertainment.

The day kicks off at 2 p.m. when Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley joins UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, to officially cut the ribbon on building’s first phase and to break ground for the building’s second phase, set to open in 2014.

The ceremonies will be followed at 3 p.m. by an Arts and Humanities Festival held outside at the new building. The festival will feature music and readings by UMBC student groups and community artists, highlighted by a performance by UMBC alumnus Lafayette Gilchrist ’92, Africana studies. The festival will last until 6:30 p.m., with delicious and diverse cuisine provided by some of the area’s best food trucks.

And as the festival continues outside, the Performing Arts and Humanities Building’s 275-seat proscenium theatre will be the site of “New Space” – a dynamic panel discussion co-hosted by UMBC and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. (3:30 p.m.)

Moderated by WYPR’s Tom Hall, “New Space” will allow prominent UMBC scholars and local artists to reveal the physical, conceptual and virtual spaces that motivate their work and explore how new spaces inspire them to think, create and engage in expected and unexpected ways.

Tours of the new building will be given between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by an Inaugural Lecture presented by The Humanities Forum in the proscenium theatre.  Pauline Yu, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, will speak on the topic: “The Humanities, Without Apology.”

The first phase of Performing Arts and Humanities Building is the new home of UMBC’s theatre and English departments, along with the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Linehan Artist Scholars Program and the Humanities Scholars Program.

The building was designed not only to be aesthetically pleasing, but to advance key elements in teaching, research and creative endeavor at UMBC. The Performing Arts and Humanities Building is also projected to incorporate enough sustainable design strategies to be designated as a LEED Silver project – including a white roof to reduce the structure’s “heat island” effect and a system that harvests rainwater for irrigation.

While the fences and cranes have moved from the front of the building, the work site at the north edge of campus won’t be closing down anytime soon. Construction has already begun on phase two of the building, which will open in fall 2014 and provide a new home for the departments of dance, music, philosophy and ancient studies, as well as a 350 seat concert hall and a 120 seat dance studio.

Go here to learn more about the Performing Arts and Humanities Building or to view the full details for the Grand Opening Celebration.

(9/12/12)

 

 

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