All posts by: Magazine Editor

We’re excited to welcome you all to the UMBC Alumni Association! Read more about the perks of being an alum at our New Grads Page!

Read stories about the Class of 2012 here.

Tis the season of brand-new graduates! Which means, it’s also a great time for a fun refresher in one of the trickiest necks of Latin: alumni-dom.

Check out this quick video for a lesson in the differences between the words alumna, alumnus, alumnae and alumni. Which version of proud alum are you?

The UMBC men’s soccer program had its most successful Alumni Game and Reception yet on Friday evening, April 27. A record 50 former Retrievers played at Retriever Soccer Park, representing four decades of play.

“I would like to publicly thank all of our alumni in attendance for their  participation in and contribution to the biggest and most successful men’s soccer Alumni Game ever,” head coach Pete Caringi said. “I have been fortunate to see and hear of other programs’ alumni games, and I believe that UMBC sets a standard of excellence that we all should take pride in.”

The alumni were divided into four playing groups, with each group taking on the current Retrievers for 20 minutes apiece. The first 60 minutes was competitive with the varsity winning, 3-1.  The lone alumni goal was scored by Kevin Mezzadra (2003-06).

During the final 20 minutes, the “older” guys played.  After about 10 minutes, the varsity was done for the night and the alumni played against each other. The current team and alumni gathered at Gianni’s after the game for a reception.

The record “50” in attendance were: Anthony Adams, Marco Angelini, Kokou Assigbe, Philippe Bissohong, Ricky Brown, Andrew Bulls, Miguel Calderon, Dustin Dzwonkowski, Jim Fendryk, Andrew Gillis, Kevin Gnatiko, Steve Goddard, Marcus Gross, Jesse Haislip, Levi Houapeu, Lou Karko, Steve King, J.J. Kremer, Jon Larsson, Mike Libber, Dan Louisignau, Andy Marchica, Brian Marchica, Rob Mamula, Brendon McCarron, Kevin Mezzadra, Jamal Molin, Justin Nall, Mike Novotny, Kingsley Onwuka, Paul Parsoneault, Franco Pastore, Bob Pierce, Sean Rothe, Vince Savarese, Andy Streilein, Darius Taylor, Ime Umoh, Aaron Velky, Oscar Villalobos, Bobby Wagner, PJ Wakefield, Bob Walker, Matt Ward, Adrian Washington, Marcus Weekes, Andrew Wells, Chris Williams, Tom Wunk, Steve Zerhusen.

– Submitted by Steve Levy ’85, UMBC Athletic Communications

A novel about coming of age in 1970s Baltimore is among the semi-finalists in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, reports alumna author Mary Volkman ’92, English. These Days, her first novel, specifically focuses on “the perils of romanticizing the past,” and is set in Baltimore’s infamous “block.”

Volkman, who writes under the pen name Margo Christie, shared a bit of her story pitch:

Fueled by a passion for golden-era Hollywood and her musician father’s tales of a time when “every hole-in-the wall bar had a band,” 14-year old Becky Shelling dreams of a career in show biz.  When her beloved dad disappears, abandoning her to an abusive step-mother and an indifferent step-sister, Becky is left with an emotional wound that can be soothed only by the attention of Lenny Moss, a smooth-talking married businessman whose nostalgia is limited to a time when men ruled and women knew their place.  Taking Becky to work for him on Baltimore’s World-Famous Block, Lenny inadvertently leads her down a path of self-discovery on a once-stylish, now-decrepit adult entertainment strip where everyone has a tale about “the good old days,” but nothing is quite as it seems.

Volkman is working on a second novel, which she describes as “a moving tale of family secrets, it focuses on a forty-something retired Swing Band singer whose disappearance off the family radar screen in the 1950s intrigues her awestruck 20-something niece into uncovering the seedy truth about her aunt’s supposedly glamorous life.”  Read more about Volkman and her novel here.

Learn more about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest here.

After an ATV accident in 2006, Matt Courson ’11, political science, was paralyzed from the waist down and given a 1% chance of walking again. Thanks to aggressive physical therapy at the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, he was able to walk across the stage to receive his UMBC diploma just five years later—a moment captured by the Baltimore Sun and featured on CNN’s “Human Factor.”

Courson attended a celebration marking the 75th anniversary of the Kennedy Krieger Institute this week. He told CBS News, “This place has done so much for me, the therapists, the doctors…they are family to me and I definitely hold a special place for Kennedy Krieger in my heart.”

This article originally appeared in UMBC Insights.

An alumna/student pair have launched LoveTagLA, a clothing line inspired by graffiti, the Catonsville Patch reports.

Alumna Jedda Puzon ’11, information system management, and current student Lauren Roepcke founded the company in 2011, and recently released a spring line.

Said marketing director Puzon: “We promote individuality and that can be seen with our tag line ‘Tag your own state of mind.’ We encourage self-expression through all art forms.”

Visit LoveTagLA online here.

Read the full Catonsville Patch story here.

Psychology alumna Lynn Roberson ’73 will become the first woman president of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association this June, and will become the seventh woman president of the Atlanta Bar Association this May, her law firm reports.

According to a press release issued by Roberson’s firm, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, LLP, of Atlanta:

Ms. Roberson has held many positions over the years with the Atlanta Bar Association which include serving as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Litigation Section from 1999-2006 and serving as its chair in 2004-2005, during which time the Litigation Section was awarded the bar’s Pro Bono award. Ms. Roberson served as Chair for the Atlanta Bar CLE Board of Trustees from 2005-2006. The Atlanta Bar Association presented its Pro Bono Award to Lynn M. Roberson, chair of the ACLE executive board, at its 2005-2006 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon. She served as a member at large of the Atlanta Bar Board between 2005-2009, served on its Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee from 2005-2006 and was on the Executive Transition Committee in 2007-2009. She served as Treasurer from 2009-2010, secretary from 2010-2011 and is currently serving as President Elect to the largest voluntary bar association in Georgia.

Ms. Roberson is also a member of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association. She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President and this summer will become the first female president of the organization which was established over 40 years ago.

Alumna Stephanie Hill ’86, computer science and economics, makes a strong argument in favor of educating a new generation of female engineers in a guest essay appearing today in College Inc., a Washington Post blog focusing on higher education.

In her essay, Hill — who is president of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Solutions-Civil division — discusses the impact her experience at UMBC made on her decision to pursue a career in engineering.

“Are you sure you want to be a software engineer? You are such a people person. Won’t you be stuck working alone, staring at a computer for hours on end?”

Those were the questions that my sister asked as I declared my intent to pursue a software engineering degree at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). She was right – I am a people person. In fact, in high school I intended to pursue a career in psychiatry. But a college elective course – in COBOL programming – peaked my interest like nothing before. And with wonderful mentors who provided me a glimpse into various career opportunities, I shifted gears, full speed ahead into the world of engineering.  I have not looked back since.

The essay points to a recent report by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee that says while women make up a “growing share of the college-educated workforce, only 14 percent of engineers are women, as are just 27 percent of individuals working in computer science and math positions.”

Read the full essay here.

Nearly 200 alumni and friends enjoyed a night of wine, food and an incredible view of the Baltimore skyline at the 7th Annual Wine Tasting at the Legg Mason Tower in Harbor East April 27. The Chapter of Young Alumni hosted the event.

The night — which included a silent auction, raffles, and a showing of artwork by current students — raised $3,648 for student scholarships, said Cindy Greenwood, Alumni Programming Coordinator.

“It’s so nice to be able to have such a beautiful event, and to know that you’re helping students at the same time,” she said. “We were really pleased with the whole thing.”

The silent auction brought in a wide selection of prizes, including a Charm City Cakes package, an Annapolis inn getaway and a lunch with UMBC president Freeman A. Hrabowski, III.

The evening also brought with it a spot of romance, as 2005 alumnus Dominick Campbell, computer science, proposed to his girlfriend, Allison Fisher, high above the sparkling city. (She said yes!)

View more photos of the evening here.

The UMBC community honored faculty and staff who were instrumental in the lives of UMBC’s African-American and Latino students at a Legends of Excellence Brunch and Awards ceremony held on Saturday, March 31, 2012. Congratulations to the award recipients:

• Ramona Arthur, Former Director of Off-Campus Student Services
• Norma Green, Former Coordinator of Student Activities
• Bonny Tighe, Senior Lecturer of Mathematics and Statistics
• LaMont Toliver, Director of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education (awarded posthumously)

“It was wonderful to see so many alumni, faculty, staff and friends come out to celebrate and honor members of the UMBC community who are considered to be trailblazers, mentors, role models and friends to thousands of our alumni,” said Stanyell Bruce, director of Alumni Relations. “The event is a great opportunity for alumni to pay homage to those people who’ve inspired true excellence in their lives.”

The Legends event is held once every five years. The first event, held in 2007, honored Betty Glascoe of Career Services; Dr. Daphne Harrison of Africana Studies; Cynthia Hill of Student Support Services; Dr. Acklyn Lynch of Africana Studies; and Dr. Ana Maria Schwartz of Modern Languages and Linguistics.

To read more about the 2012 award winners, click here.
To see more photos from the event, visit our Flickr page.

Fred L. Pincus, Professor of Sociology, will retire at the end of the semester after spending 44 years at UMBC. He came to Baltimore from UCLA as a 26-year-old instructor in 1968, the third year of UMBC’s existence. In addition to all the committee work needed to build the department and the university, Pincus taught courses in race relations, social psychology and introductory sociology. He also became very involved in the movement against the war in Vietnam and promoted campus policies to increase the number of African American students on campus. He was an early supporter of Black Studies and Women’s Studies.

In 1972, Pincus visited the People’s Republic of China. He was excited to see a non-capitalist country and for the next dozen years he learned all he could about China. He developed a course called “Social Organization in the People’s Republic of China,” wrote several articles about Chinese education and served on the editorial committee of New China, a magazine published by the US-China Friendship Association. He also became the China writer and later the education writer for The Guardian, an independent radical newsweekly published in New York.

In the late 1990s, Pincus joined the steering committee of UMBC’s (then) new Language, Literacy and Culture (LLC) doctoral program. He became interested in diversity in the United States in terms of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. He took over the graduate seminar “Constructing Race, Gender and Class” and developed the undergraduate course “Diversity and Pluralism: An Interdisciplinary Perspective.”

Over the years, Pincus published four books and monographs and several dozen scholarly articles on a wide range of topics including the role of community colleges in higher education, race relations, affirmative action, conservative education policy and diversity. Over the course of his career, he has taught between 6,000 and 7,000 undergraduates and several hundred graduate students in applied sociology, LLC, public policy and intercultural communication.

For the past several years, he has also been working on a memoir and has taken creative writing classes through the Gotham Writers Workshop based in New York City.

UMBC thanks Fred L. Pincus for his tremendous service to our community and to the field of higher education over the past 44 years.

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Have a memory of classes with Dr. Pincus? Share them in the comments below!

This originally appeared in UMBC Insights.