The funding will create the Endowed Pausch Professorship in Economics, with a focus on high-impact student mentoring, teaching, and innovative research. Funds invested will generate income each year for the research program of the Pausch Professor.
“Faculty at UMBC devote themselves to helping students grow and build a strong foundation for their future professional endeavors,” says the donor. “Through this mentoring, faculty are intentionally helping students to broaden leadership and entrepreneurship in the field of economics.”
David Mitch, chair and professor of economics, (standing, in a black shirt) welcomes new students to the department.
Supporting communities
The generous spirit of Fred and Virginia Pausch inspired the creation of the Pausch Professorship. The Pausch family has a legacy of giving, and of creating opportunities for people worldwide through education.
Fred and Virginia Pausch were from Baltimore and Virginia, respectively, and founded Up With Kids Inc., a nonprofit based in Columbia, Maryland. They created the organization to help the region’s immigrant children from non-English speaking countries to learn English. In 1998, the nonprofit built a school for girls in Thailand to help more Thai girls access education beyond elementary school.
Fred (R) and Virginia (L) Pausch. Photo courtesy of donor.
“That was a major part of his life,” Mrs. Pausch told The Baltimore Sun when her husband died in 2006. “It was very important to him…to be able to help people figure out how to help themselves.”
Fred Pausch’s interest in the welfare of children also led him to volunteer for and then lead the U.S.-China Educational Ventures program. The program sent American teachers to China for a month each summer to lead professional development for educators in China. The participating Chinese educators would then apply their training to teach English to Chinese children.
Sense of purpose
“The Pausch family had one purpose,” says the UMBC donor, “to help as many people as possible in any way they could.”
Sometimes that meant providing scholarships for education and enrichment trips. Other times it involved traveling the world to partner with schools and organizations in need of financial support to meet the needs of hundreds of children. Often, it meant opening their hearts and home to high-achieving high school and college students eligible for unique learning opportunities in the U.S.
Fred Pausch, front and center, with some of the students he has supported over the years. Photo courtesy of donor.
“Funding this professorship is a way to honor their work and invest in a university that is dedicated to the next generation of leaders,” says the donor.
Kimberly Moffitt, interim dean of UMBC’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) and professor of language, literacy, and culture, notes that designing the professorship has been a collaborative effort including the donor, faculty, staff, and the Maryland Department of Commerce.
Kimberly Moffitt.
The end result meets the donor’s greatest wish: to help support the teaching and learning of economics at UMBC and to foster strong faculty and student relationships. These supportive relationships reflect the donor’s own experience as a student at UMBC, where they connected with faculty who had a positive life-long impact on their career.
“The process of creating this professorship speaks to the power of collaboration within CAHSS and across UMBC,” says Moffitt. “I am excited to partner with donors and other supporters who are so dedicated to building programs that broaden the reach and impact of UMBC’s teaching and research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.”
(L to R) Maria Bernedo Del Carpio, assistant professor of economics; UMBC international public policy doctoral students Diego Rojas and Catherine Mata M.A. ‘28, economics; and Tim Gindling, professor of economics.
UMBC alumni and community members interested in learning more about giving to support educational opportunities or research at UMBC can visit the giving website or contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at giving@umbc.edu or 410-455-2902.
Banner image: Moffitt with Gindling. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.
Haleemat Adekoya ‘22, political science, is serving as the 2021–22 student member of the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC). The appointment recognizes Adekoya’s community-engaged work connecting students to resources and leading enrichment and leadership opportunities at both K–12 and university levels.
Adekoya is serving as a voting member of MHEC, which is responsible for establishing policies for public and private colleges and universities across the state of Maryland. She is representing students on MHEC’s Education Policy Committee and Outreach, Grants, and Financial Assistance Committee.
Photo courtesy of UMBC’s department of education.
“Representing Maryland’s students is a responsibility that I take very seriously,” says Adekoya. “This work is not about me—it’s a collaboration with students. It’s about building relationships where I trust them to provide information about their challenges and needs and they trust me to take their concerns to the board and advocate for change.”
Bridging gaps
Prior to becoming MHEC student commissioner, Adekoya served as an intern at the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), with the Student, Family, and School Support Committee in 2020–2021. The committee’s work helped implement the state superintendent’s mental health initiative in the Baltimore area. Adekoya informed the design of K–12 programs that enhanced student learning and increased family engagement.
The internship required Adekoya to learn how to listen to and collaborate with teachers, policymakers, community leaders, support service providers, students, and families to meet the needs of Maryland’s public schools—experience she’ll apply to her work with MHEC. She notes that many community members may not be aware of the resources available to them and policymakers may not know the intricacies of schools’ widely variable daily needs. She hopes to help bridge that gap.
“Maryland schools would benefit from the Full-Service Community Schools model to more effectively continue addressing issues of inclusion, equity, and diversity,” Adekoya suggests. “I believe that education is the most powerful tool to change the world.”
Adeokoya (L) with Lee (R). Photo courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11.
“Haleemat is such a strong and compassionate leader. One of the things that inspires me most about her is her commitment to others,” shares her mentor Jasmine Lee, director of inclusive excellence in UMBC’s Division of Student Affairs.
“She’s not a leader because she’s ‘ahead of the pack’…but instead because she is concerned about everyone making it,” says Lee. “She seems to move from the front to the back, and throughout the middle, empowering everyone to move at their own pace.”
Mentor mindset
While new to this high level of state leadership, Adekoya for years gained experience as a leader in a range of education-focused organizations. In high school, she co-founded Dare2Be, a non-profit empowerment and mentorship program for Baltimore County and Baltimore City girls ages 9–18. She also served as a student member of the Baltimore County Board of Education.
Celebration of Teaching Reception: Dr. Hrabowski and I discussed the importance of teachers and teachers of color! I had great conversations with Atom Zerfas, math teacher at Pikesville HS; Haleemat Adekoya, UMBC student & former SMOB; Dr. Allen, UMBC Professor & Hampton Alumna. pic.twitter.com/YpN2i1Wy7W
— Dr. Darryl L. Williams (@darryl_dr5) March 5, 2020
Adekoya (bottom left) with Dr. Darryl L. Williams, BCPS superintendent, during UMBC’s Celebration of Teaching event in early March 2020.
Inspired by the impact of her work in these roles, Adekoya came to UMBC determined to expand mentoring opportunities for students, which she sees as a powerful way to support students. She joined UMBC’s African Students Association and began Amowara, which pairs first- and second-year students with third- and fourth-year members who can guide them through the academic, professional, and social life at UMBC.
Adekoya also wanted to continue working with Baltimore City youth. She joined UMBC’s Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program. After working as a math tutor and coach at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, the program selected her as a leader for its virtual summer math initiative.
Adekoya teaching virtually during the summer math initiative. Screenshot courtesy of Catalina Dansberger Duque.
She also worked as a leader for Elev8 Baltimore Freedom Schools, an initiative providing middle school students with academic, health, and community support. There, Adekoya helped develop a summer enrichment curriculum for ten Baltimore City Public Schools. She also served as an academic mentor for the Baltimore City Summer Academic Mentorship Program and in various other community-based organizations.
Advocacy and policy
These leadership experiences have helped Adekoya, who is also a Jacqueline C. Hrabowski Scholar, begin moving toward her long-term career goal of becoming an educator and working on education advocacy and policy both in the U.S. and in Nigeria, where she was born. After completing her year as MHEC commissioner and graduating from UMBC, she hopes to begin UMBC’s masters of arts in teaching and continue her work at MSDE and MHEC.
Lee (left) with Adekoya (R). Photo courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11.
“I see all of my work as a way of helping create a more inclusive and equitable future,” shares Adekoya. “Rather than consider myself someone speaking for all Black people or all students, I see these roles as opportunities to pass around my mic and amplify others’ voices. I want to make space for those coming after me.”
Banner image: Haleemat Adekoya. Photo courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
COVID-19 has fast-forwarded tech innovation, propelling millions of people to shift, nearly overnight, to virtual learning, remote work, and online health care. Patricia Young’s new book, Human Specialization in Design and Technology: The Current Wave for Learning, Culture, Industry, and Beyond (2021, Routledge), traces moments in history that have sparked or dampened innovation in instructional design and technology across industries.
Young, an associate professor of education at UMBC, examines the impact of those innovations on our current political, social, health, economic, and educational climate. She also provides insight on how to move forward more effectively, particularly in the education space.
“COVID has already changed the way we think and approach technology innovation,” says Young. “These are reasons why educational technologies and technology-enhanced learning must keep pace with trends in design and technology.”
Instructional technology
Young’s work over the last seventeen years at UMBC has centered around innovation in instructional technology. Her research integrates her background in media and communications with education to study culture-specific information and communication technologies.
During research for her second book, for example, Young led an instructional design software project in collaboration with UMBC’s Nilanjan Banerjee, professor of computer science and electrical engineering. They mentored fifteen computer science graduate students in developing prototypes for a mobile learning analytics tool, Proticy.
The goal of the software, which is still in its prototype phase, is to provide professors with pedagogical strategies to diminish bias and increase student retention. It also offers measurement tools to reduce bias in faculty evaluations.
In the process of creating prototypes, the students gained knowledge and experience in product design and developing an instructional technology application. The project has also helped them experience the client and designer relationship.
Young (L) and Deborah Kabura Kariuki (R).
Computational thinking
Young’s first book, Instructional Design Frameworks and Intercultural Models (IGI, 2009), outlines the Culture Base Model as a framework for designing information and communication technologies. In the book, Young examines culture through several lenses: anthropological, psychological, and scientific.
Since then, her scholarship has continued to grow, examining the limitations and paradoxes of instructional technologies, and how they can be improved.
“At the same time we are encouraging diverse students to learn, we are also saying, through technology, ‘Your culture and the knowledge that you bring into the classroom is not valid here. There is only one way to learn this skill’,” says Young. “Innovative technology for a socially just world is a critical need in this time in history.”
And this isn’t just about higher education, Young points out. In 2019, she received a Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities Faculty Research Fellow award along with co-investigator Deborah Kabura Kariuki, clinical instructor of computer science education. Their research project studies how to infuse a culture-based computational thinking curriculum in urban preschools. Young and Kariuki are partnering with the Judith P. Hoyer Center Early Learning Hub at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School and community daycare centers to complete the study this academic year.
(L to R) Kabura Kariuki; Shana Rochester, Sherman Center research associate; Jennifer Mata-McMahon, associate professor of education and director of the Sherman Center; and Young discuss a project.
Kariuki notes the importance of the project. “Students today are digital natives and think about creating, not memorizing,” she says. “Helping students build a computational thinking toolkit means they will be able to choose from a variety of approaches to solve a problem, increasing opportunities for engagement and success.”
“The study is timely and innovative,” says Mavis Sanders, professor of education and prior director of the Sherman Center. “The ability to problem-solve in a thoughtful and systematic way is an invaluable life skill. Dr. Young and Ms. Kariuki’s study explores how best to build this capacity among young learners in culturally responsive ways.”
Looking in the mirror
This year, Young has been promoted to full professor and named the special assistant for strategy and innovation in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS). In this role, she will work with CAHSS Interim Dean Kimberly Moffitt, faculty, and staff to design and implement Looking in the Mirror, a year-long faculty-led discussion series focused on strengthening community.
“Patricia will work with me to cultivate a return to a more inclusive community that shows continued progress from the campus we left in March 2020, when COVID required us to shift to remote learning,” shares Moffitt. “I’m excited about her expertise and willingness to guide us through programmatic initiatives, such as Looking in the Mirror.”
The faculty- and staff-led discussion series will consider new approaches to strengthen the CAHSS community, benefiting from Young’s expertise in innovative, culture-based pedagogy.
After two decades of researching the process of innovation, Young is excited for her new role as the special assistant for strategy and innovation. She describes it as an opportunity to create programming that brings personal and institutional culture together for the benefit of all community members.
“Sometimes we are so focused on what is, that we can’t innovate past today,” says Young. “We have to engage everyone for who they are as a whole, not just as an end-user. COVID has shown us that collaborative problem-solving is the only way to create a future where inclusion, access, and equity are the norm from which we innovate.”
Banner image: Patricia Young. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
UMBC has named Tim Gindling, professor of economics, the 2021 – 2022 Lipitz Professor of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS). This endowed professorship celebrates, acknowledges, and sponsors cutting-edge research and teaching. This honor recognizes Gindling’s international leadership in research to support the capacity of developing economies to meet populations’ long-term needs. During the award year, he will move forward on collaborative research in Latin America and China.
“This is a prestigious award within the UMBC community,” shares Gindling. “I feel especially honored given the impressive accomplishments of previous Lipitz professors.”
Lipitz professors from the prior three years include Gloria Chuku, chair and professor of Africana Studies (2020-21); Jessica Berman, professor of English and director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities (2019-20); and Dan Bailey, a professor of visual arts who focuses on animation and interactive media (2018-19).
“This professorship will help Tim continue his research in wages, work, poverty, and income distribution in Latin America and East Asia,” says UMBC’s David Mitch, chair and professor of economics. “It brings to the forefront the importance of his research and its impact at an international level, which is in large part due to his ability to foster successful research collaborations.” This includes research partnerships in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Canada, China, and Taiwan.
David Mitch (right) with incoming fall 2021 economics students.
Gindling will work on two main projects during his professorship. First, he will collaborate with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland on a global research project on informal work. Then, in spring 2022, he will return to China to continue a research collaboration on income inequality. There he will work with Linxiang Ye, a professor of economics and dean at the Nanjing University of Economics and Finance.
Transforming informal work
In 2019, Gindling was invited by UNU-WIDER to collaborate with them and Gary Fields from Cornell University to direct the project Transforming Informal Work and Livelihoods. They are gathering research from more than 25 developing economies from every region of the world on how workers who are self-employed, or who work for others as informal employees, access government-sponsored health care benefits and other worker protections. The team will publish a series of peer-reviewed papers on the research. They will also produce an edited volume on their findings, published by Oxford University Press in 2022, and co-edited by Gindling, Fields, and Kunal Sen, director of the UNU-WIDER, and others.
“The pandemic has highlighted the very difficult circumstances that informal workers face in their working lives,” shares Sen. “UNU-WIDER’s project ‘Transforming Informal Work and Livelihoods’ sheds light on the livelihoods of informal workers, and the prospects they have for moving to better jobs.”
Latin American economics
In addition to helping to direct the project, reviewing papers from researchers around the world, and co-editing the book project, Gindling has also co-authored three articles to contribute to the project.
One of the papers, “Heterogeneous informality in Costa Rica and Nicaragua,” has been submitted for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Development Studies. It was co-authored with Enrique Alaniz, an economist and research director at the Fundación Internacional para el Desafío Económico Global in Nicaragua, as well as UMBC international public policy doctoral students Catherine Mata M.A. ‘28, economics and Diego Rojas. Both are former researchers at the Institute of Research in Economic Sciences at the Universidad de Costa Rica.
(L to R) Maria Bernedo Del Carpio, assistant professor of economics, Rojas, Mata, and Gindling. Photo by Marlayna Demond for UMBC.
“This project has been a great vehicle for me to apply what I have learned in my master’s and doctoral programs at UMBC,” says Mata. “I’ve worked closely with a senior researcher and participated in high-level conferences with experts in the field—valuable preparation for my own dissertation and later job search after graduation.”
Mata is also working on education research as a research assistant for Jane Lincove, associate professor of public policy. Rojas is currently a consultant for the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank.
Gindling’s work has garnered significant international recognition, which has, in turn, opened doors to more collaborative research opportunities. Gindling has been a non-resident senior research fellow at UNU-WIDER since 2019. For over a decade, he has been a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany. He has also worked at the Institute for Research in Economic Science at the University of Costa Rica for thirty-three years as a non-resident researcher, where he also served as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in 1992 and again from 2001 to 2003.
In addition to his research and teaching, Gindling has also served as a research consultant to the World Bank, the International Labour Office, the Canadian International Development Research Centre, the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the governments of Costa Rica and Honduras.
The World Bank published his book Toward More Efficient and Effective Public Social Spending in Central America in 2017. Gindling co-authored itwith World Bank researchers Pablo Acosta, program leader for human development in Brazil; Rita Almeida, lead economist and human development program leader for Central America; and Christine Lao Pena, senior human development economist.
Economic effects of immigration policy
In addition to advancing international development economics, Gindling also studies the relationship between immigrants and education in the United States. As with his international projects, Gindling has joined forces with research partners to better understand the economic effects of U.S. immigration policy.
His policy brief “Private and Government Fiscal Costs and Benefits of the Maryland Dream Act” looked at how the Maryland Dream Act affects in-state tuition rates at Maryland state colleges and universities for undocumented immigrants. He co-authored this study with Marvin Mendel, emeritus professor of public policy and former director of UMBC’s Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research.
Gindling received funding from the Spencer Foundation to expand the research nationally with Lisa Dickson, associate professor of economics at UMBC. He also worked with counselors at Northwest High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, to assess how immigrant family separation affects students in the classroom. For that project, he partnered with Sara Poggio, associate professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communications, and founder and co-chair of the International Migration Section of the national Latin American Studies Association.
Advising future innovators
The lessons Gindling has learned through his international research and partnerships directly benefit his UMBC students. He has mentored and advised hundreds of students like Rojas and Mata, helping them build their careers, with a focus on innovatively addressing economic inequalities.
One of these students, Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, M26, ‘19, mathematics, co-founded the first conference for Black women in economics: the Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields. The conference led her to co-found the Sadie Collective, the first non-profit focused on supporting Black women in economics, finance, data science, and policy at all phases of their careers. In 2020, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women awarded Opoku-Agyeman a Women’s Rights Award in the Social Justice category. Previous recipients include U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Opoku-Agyeman is currently a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Opoku-Agyeman (right) presenting Diane Herz, vice president, director of human services, and chief diversity officer of Mathematica Policy Research, with a plaque of appreciation for hosting the first Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference.
Gindling has great memories of advising Ruby Lu ‘94, economics and mentoring her as part of UMBC’s first cohort of McNair Summer Research scholars. Lu conducted research on discrimination against women and the wage gap between men and women in Taiwan. “At the time I was also conducting research on Taiwan and I shared my data with her for the project,” says Gindling, who has kept in touch with her since she left UMBC.
Lu earned a master’s degree in international economics at Johns Hopkins. In 2005, she co-founded the Beijing-based venture firm DCM China. In 2019, she started her own firm, Atypical Ventures, to fund “ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build lasting companies that have a positive impact on our society.” Her investment in China’s e-commerce, software, and healthcare industries has helped to grow companies and create over 300,000 skilled jobs.
Impact across UMBC
Since 1988, Gindling has also lent his support and expertise by serving on over twenty-five UMBC committees related to faculty searches and tenure, graduate and undergraduate admissions, and department and program needs in public policy, interdisciplinary studies, Africana studies, and global studies.
“The international scope of Tim’s work brings unique and important lessons in economics research and collaboration for UMBC students,” says Kimberly Moffitt, interim dean of CAHSS. “Students have applied this rigor and passion to create new paths in the field and support measures that can improve economic policy in developing countries through collaborative research. The Lipitz professorship celebrates his decades of dedication and his vision for economics at UMBC.”
Banner image: Tim Gindling. Photo courtesy of Gindling.
UMBC’s Heather Quach ‘23, financial economics, and Victor Li ‘23, financial economics and computer science, have won the 2021 iOme (I Owe Me) Challenge, a national competition that invites students’ ideas for solving financial and retirement challenges.
Their winning essay is titled“Improving Retirement: The Role of Education and Innovation.” It focuses on the three “pillars of retirement”—Social Security, employer-sponsored retirement plans, and individual savings plans—and introduces the fourth pillar of health as heavily influencing retirement options.
Congratulations to the 2021 iOme Challenge Winners, Heather Quach and Victor Li from @UMBC! The team will receive a $5,000 prize and present their ideas at a forum hosted by @WISERwomen on June 17th. Learn more and read the winning essay at https://t.co/cJ70LcbQtwpic.twitter.com/qyxdqyeFR7
Li and Quach found that awareness and access to the four pillars are greater with higher levels of education. Their research proposes innovative financial education solutions designed to shift retirement savings behavior to help people of all ages prepare for retirement.
Victor Li. Photograph courtesy of Li.
“The process was rigorous, with reading dozens of journal articles and compressing all the knowledge into 5,000 words,” explains Li. “I could not believe it after Heather called to inform me that we had won.”
Heather Quach. Photo courtesy of Quach.
This national competition raises awareness among college students about the impact of retirement security on society’s social and economic well-being. Quach and Li both have a longstanding interest in these areas. Quach serves in UMBC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and Li is a member of UMBC’s Investment Club.
Their proposals “lay out a commonsense plan to improve financial education and promote greater personal savings,” shares Cindy Hounsell, president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), the competition sponsor.
Avila went on to receive the distinguished 2019 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. He is currently working for the IRS in the Statistics of Income Division. There he researches topics that rely on income tax data, such as retirement trends, wealth inequality, and interstate migration.
L to R: Doug Lamdin, Cindy Hounsell, Evin Avila. Photo courtesy of WISER.
Douglas Lamdin, professor of economics, mentored Li and Quach, as well as Avila. “I’m thankful for Professor Lamdin’s assistance through the process,” Li shares. “I’m certain that his research and field experience, along with guiding students in the previous years, were crucial to our success.”
The team split a $5,000 prize and presented their paper virtually at this summer’s WISER 2021 iOme Challenge forum, New Perspectives: An Intergenerational Discussion on Retirement Solutions. Lamdin received a $1,000 honorarium from WISER as the mentor of the winning team. With his support, UMBC has become one of just three universities to win the iOme Challenge twice.
Beyond the classroom
Lamdin notes that Li and Quach’s essays stood out in part for their discussion of health as an important component of a rewarding and financially comfortable retirement. He suggests that exploring the role of health in retirement through this research project extended their learning in valuable ways.
Doug Lamdin. Photo courtesy of Lamdin.
“The iOME Challenge is an opportunity for UMBC students to further develop their research, writing, and presentation skills in the context of an important real-world topic,” says Lamdin. “It’s something that can only happen when you go beyond the classroom.”
Banner image: Public Policy building (left) and Physics building (right) at UMBC. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.
What if I told you a story? Would you listen? Over the last year and a half, as the world has faced major social justice and environmental issues, many people have questioned their roles in our shared past, present, and future. But, by talking and listening to stories different from our own, we can find a greater understanding of our diverse lives and some answers to challenging issues.
Now in its third year, UMBC’s Interdisciplinary CoLab: Summer Internship has given nine students from a variety of majors an opportunity to have hands-on experience in this type of humanities-based narrative research. Students were divided equally into three public-facing research projects focusing on civil rights, urban forests, and radical literature. Each team created a digital, audio, or print product that fit a specific need of a community or campus partner in real-time. The research was designed to introduce or strengthen students’ ability to collaborate and their story-gathering/telling skills such as archival research, oral histories, and technical writing.
The UMBC Interdisciplinary CoLab program is a partnership between The Provost’s Interdisciplinary Activities Advisory Committee, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, and the Office of Summer, Winter, & Special Programs.
Students gathered for CoLab research training that covered three areas: civil rights, urban forests, and radical literature.
BLM & Civil Rights oral histories
Nancy Kusmaul, associate professor of social work, was excited to hear her students discuss the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement during the protests about George Floyd’s murder. But something was missing. Students were aware of BLM and the Civil Rights movement but they didn’t seem to see a connection between them. “I knew I had found an opportunity for students to listen to the past to build a link to the present,” shares Kusmaul, who led a CoLab project on these topics. “Because the CoLab experience focuses on our local communities, what better place to start than Baltimore City.”
Deysi Chitic-Amaya ’23, media and communication studies, was drawn to the project because of the focus on the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter movements in Baltimore. “We can understand the roots of these global movements by learning how they have changed and influenced the lives and work of people in Baltimore’s communities and neighborhoods,” says Chitic-Amaya, who, with other students, spent the summer conducting virtual oral history interviews with community activists.
There were a few roadblocks. Many of the Civil Rights activists had passed away or were not available, but Kusmaul connected with Baltimore County historian Louis S. Diggs, Baltimore radio host Marc Steiner, and members of the grass-roots, member-led Baltimore organization, Organizing Black.
Nancy Kusmaul, far right, works with her student researchers.
The student researchers learned interview skills using humanities-based research methods. These skills showed them how to listen across differences and how to approach sensitive topics and difficult questions. “I’ve learned how to interview individuals who are different from me whether it be race, gender, age, etc.,” shares Chitic-Amaya.
After the virtual interviews were completed the students transcribed them and deciphered the experiences between the two movements. The oral histories will be added to the Albin O. Kuhn Library Digital Collections with an explanatory essay and a podcast.
“I hope to come away with greater skills in humanities research methods,” says Chitic-Amaya of her time in the CoLab. “I want to be able to approach future projects with a more open-minded perspective that may help to produce something new and innovative.”
Urban forest data stories
Baltimore stories are not only about collecting oral histories. They also include the stories of the green spaces—and the data surrounding them—in and around Baltimore and how those stories shape the way people live and recreate in the city. It can be overwhelming to know where and how to begin or how to improve existing conservation efforts, but for citizen conservationists, wherever they might be, help is on its way.
Led by UMBC’s Jennifer Maher, associate professor of English, the CoLab participants worked in collaboration with the Baltimore non-profit organization Baltimore Green Space to develop a digital and print urban forest health research protocol manual. The manual will be used as a tool to train citizen and professional conservationists.
The team jumped right into creating a technical narrative with information about urban forests that was previously gathered by Baltimore Green Space through a collaborative project between Matt Baker, professor of geography and environmental system, the USDA Forest Service, and Johns Hopkins University. Community land stewards, alumni, and current students involved in the Summer Forest Patch Project, a collaborative project between UMBC and Howard County Community College, were also part of the collaboration.
“Technical writing is an occupation that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics identifies as growing faster than average,” explains Maher. “Students were not only helping to foster community-based science and civic engagement in Baltimore and beyond but also gaining marketable skills and professional experience.”
UMBC’s student conservationists learned how to weave data to present a factual and engaging narrative that will train both those already engaged in urban forest health and budding conservationists how to better collect data and share the information with the general public and policymakers. The technical narrative presents the information in a persuasive manner that could encourage more participation in urban health anywhere.
Tevyur Mosely ’22, M30, biological sciences, took part in research based on data from Baltimore Green Space.
Tevyur Mosley ’22, M30, biological sciences, had a big reveal: “I was introduced to the idea that citizens can engage in community-based research that they can then share with their local officials to influence policy.”
Radical literature multimedia exhibition
Unlike the other CoLabs, the students in the Radical Literature in the First Half of the 20th Century group did not interview people. Instead, they learned to uncover stories hidden in the archives of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery Special Collections department, studying magazines, pamphlets, and essays that narrate the politics and ideas of the socialist movement.
This was a treasure hunt of sorts. Students sifted through and searched scanned documents for key narratives in order to ultimately design an online exhibition that includes a historical timeline, digital stories, research essays, and a video telling the story of the collection. Kate Drabinski, lecturer of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, who led the group, said that while completing the program virtually had its challenges, seeing the students learn to collaborate from afar was really rewarding.
“As much as we’ve all been working online over the past year, doing this kind of intensive, daily collaboration was a different beast altogether,” she said. “This posed specific challenges, but also opportunities to learn how to work as a team remotely…and how to work with archival documents to do research, and get others excited about using the collection.”
To provide researchers with different perspectives on the socialist movement, “the collection features works of famous authors such as Friedrich Engels and Angela Davis, as well as many niche pieces from small, politically affiliated publishers and both local and national political organizations,” the students explain in their online exhibit. Now curious minds around the world can also discover the breadth and depth of the archive in a more visual and accessible way.
Learning on the job
The summer CoLab internships are not only an opportunity for students across colleges to develop the social and technical skills of working in interdisciplinary teams, but also to explore different fields. CoLab organizers Carole McCann, special assistant to the provost for interdisciplinary activities, and Donald Snyder, lecturer in media and communication studies, designed the program to have a lasting impact on students’ careers. Through public humanities and social science research methods, students are responsible for projects from conception to completion, strengthening their professional communication and project management skills.
“The CoLab experience is about students gaining professional research experience while learning how to appreciate their own skills and that of others,” says McCann. “They learn to meet the expectations of clients and community partners, to tell effective stories for the general public. And doing all of that in real-time.”
Ana María Schwartz Caballero, associate professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, is retiring from UMBC after more than 25 years of service. “This was a very difficult decision but it was the right time for me to retire,” says Schwartz Caballero. “UMBC has been my home for many years.”
Schwartz Caballero joined UMBC in 1984 as a lecturer for Spanish language classes in the modern languages and linguistics department. She became an assistant professor in 1996, received tenure as associate professor in 2002, and chaired the department from 2006 – 2012. Schwartz Caballero was one of the first faculty members to teach Spanish to heritage Spanish speakers.
The many programs, initiatives, associations, and committees she has led and participated in have helped establish a network of support and guidance for the success of UMBC’s Hispanic/Latinx community. And her legacy will continue to have an impact as faculty and students she has mentored carry on her work.
In a recent farewell event honoring Schwartz Caballero, President Freeman Hrabowski thanked her for being the voice for so many in the Latinx/Hispanic community on campus, in Baltimore City, and the State of Maryland. “Ana María has changed the culture of UMBC,” shares Hrabowski. “She has brought such rich diversity, and she has broadened our thinking about the world.”
Schwartz Caballero’s headshot by Marlayna Demond ’11.
Language learning research
Schwartz Caballero began her career at UMBC as a graduate assistant in the education department while completing her Ph.D. in second language education at the University of Maryland College Park. Soon after graduation, she became a Spanish and second language pedagogy instructor in what is now UMBC’s modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication (MLLI) department.
Her research focused on heritage Spanish speakers, language teaching, learning strategies, and curriculum development. In 2002, Schwartz Caballero’s co-authored textbook, Noticias: An Advanced Intermediate Content-Based Course, presented educators with a new approach to teaching Spanish. Instead of a grammar-centered, isolated approach, Schwartz Caballero found students learned Spanish best by reading current Spanish-language media articles from Spanish-language speaking countries. This way students learn grammar structure in context while at the same time learning about the culture and current events.
Schwartz Caballero has developed local, state, and national level professional development courses and instructional materials for Spanish language teachers. She has also provided research-based strategies for the integration and application of the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning.
Understanding heritage speakers
In addition to her research on teaching Spanish as a foreign language, Schwartz Caballero’s work has helped develop best practices to support the learning needs of heritage Spanish speakers learning Spanish and other subjects. As a Spanish language heritage speaker herself from Cuba, Schwartz Caballero has a personal understanding of the complex needs heritage speakers face in the classroom.
Schwartz Caballero with Ana Oskoz, the current chair of MLLI, on UMBC’s Immigrant Recognition Day in 2017. Photo courtesy of Schwartz Caballero.
She knows Hispanic/Latinx students who come to the U.S. as refugees, like she did when she left Cuba as a teenager, and those who immigrate or are born in the U.S. must grapple with their own diverse social-cultural identities in a country that often homogenizes their languages, race, cultures, and experiences. Her work has helped prepare student teachers and in-service educators with the skills necessary to support the learning needs of heritage Spanish speakers in a variety of contexts.
Schwartz Caballero also teaches educators how to be advocates. “Being an advocate for students,” she says, “can be the difference between a student graduating or dropping out. It is as important as their academic success.” She notes that teachers need to learn about the challenges Latinx/Hispanic students face beyond the classroom. Schwartz Caballero advocates educators to be understanding of a number of Latinx/Hispanic students who are often balancing work, family responsibilities, and financial hardships that hamper their success and can delay graduation.
Schwartz Caballero has been the faculty advisor to UMBC’s undergraduate Latino/Hispanic Union since 1997 and a founding member of the Latinx/Hispanic Admissions Advisory Group which develops best practices in recruitment and admissions.
Working with doctoral students
In addition to her work with undergraduate students, Schwartz Caballero also worked with many graduate and doctoral students, helping them navigate the field and prepare for the next steps of their careers. For many doctoral students, she was also a compassionate ear, a cheerleader, and like family in the most challenging of times—she helped them find solutions to move forward. Adriana Medina,M.A. ’99, intercultural communication, Ph.D. ’04, language, literacy, and culture, one of many doctoral students Schwartz Caballero has advised, credits Schwartz Caballero for her own success in the classroom. “Ana María has been such a fantastic role model as an educator,” shares Medina. “She is empathetic, compassionate, generous, and also tough at times while also encouraging you. Now, I have been able to be that for my students.”
“Ana María knew who I was, she knew my name, and my department. She made me feel so welcome…we are her legacy.”
María Célleri, assistant professor in gender, women’s, and sexuality studies
Luis Carcamo,M.A. ’95, intercultural communication, remembers how Schwartz Caballero “showed me the ropes of how teaching is done.” Now, in his 25th year of teaching, Carcamo has taken what he learned at UMBC to the southernmost tip of Latin America. “My city is the last city in South America. Ana María’s teachings reached not only the rest of the U.S. but also the rest of our America,” shares Carcamo.
In 2007, UMBC’s Chapter of Black and Latino Alumni awarded Schwartz Caballero with the Legends of Excellence Award: 40 Years of Inspiring African American and Latino Students.
Supporting faculty
Schwartz Caballero has worked tirelessly alongside Hispanic/Latinx faculty and UMBC leadership to recruit and retain Latinx/Hispanic faculty and support UMBC’s diversity initiatives. She was co-chair, with Philip Rous, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, of UMBC’s Executive Committee on the Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Minority Faculty, and has been the president of the Hispanic-Latino Faculty Association for 10 years.
Through the Executive Committee, founded in 2011, UMBC has hosted 20 fellows from diverse backgrounds, including five who identify as Latinx. Two of these fellows are now UMBC faculty members, Fernando Tormos-Aponte, assistant professor of public policy, and Erika Fountain, assistant professor of psychology.
Schwartz Caballero at a 2019 Humanities Forum with (l-r) Thania Muñoz, María Martha Manni, Mayra Santos-Febres, Tania Lizarazo, and María Célleri. Photo courtesy of Schwartz Caballero.
As the lead organizer for the Hispanic Heritage Month speaker, part of the Dresher Center for the Humanities Forum, Schwartz Caballero has helped bring Latinx/Hispanic scholars to UMBC annually for more than a decade.
“Ana María has raised the issue of diversity and inclusion in relation to Hispanic/Latinx folks in meetings, public forums, and anywhere she could,” says Jessica Berman, director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities. “She worked tirelessly to bring issues facing Hispanic/Latinx people forward, especially through many years of arranging speakers for Hispanic Heritage Month.” Berman notes how Schwartz Caballero’s dedication to fundraise for and organize the speakers elevated the event and led to its inclusion as a permanent part of the fall Humanities Forum.
These efforts have drawn Hispanic/Latinx faculty to UMBC who are leading research across all of UMBC’s academic divisions, including economics, engineering, MLLI, psychology, and more.
Many of the Latinx/Hispanic faculty recall Schwartz Caballero as the first person they met when they came for an interview. She would often pick up faculty at the airport and guide them through their visit. Once they joined UMBC, Schwartz Caballero became a valuable resource, advocate, and supporter. María Célleri, assistant professor in gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, remembers her first week on campus in 2019 during Commencement week. “I didn’t know what was going on but Ana María knew who I was, she knew my name, and my department. She made me feel so welcome,” recalls Célleri. “I love her genuine commitment. We are her legacy.”
“Ana María’s teachings reached not only the rest of the U.S. but also the rest of our America.”
Luis Carcamo,M.A. ’95
Faculty also acknowledge her strong voice on their behalf and her example as a leader in her department, across campus, and beyond. “As a woman, it was very inspiring to hear Ana María, the voice of a strong woman in academia,” shares Renée Lambert-Brétière, associate professor of linguistics and French. “I thank her and I aspire to be like her and be a strong voice.”
In 2020, Schwartz Caballero received the UMBC Marilyn E. Demorest Award for Faculty Advancement.
Building on a legacy
Faculty have also valued her honest feedback and direction through different phases of their career by encouraging them to pursue leadership positions in their field, on campus, and in the community. Within the last year alone, María Cristina Sanchez, professor of the practice in mechanical engineering, has become the inaugural director of the Engineering & Computing Education Program, and Felipe Filomeno, associate professor of political science and global studies, has become the inaugural associate director of the Center for Social Science Research. Tormos-Aponte has recently received over $400,000 from the William T. Grant Foundation to conduct research on the policy impact of the Black Lives Matter Movement on youth.
Headshots of Sanchez, Filomeno, and Tormos-Aponte.
Sanchez has been collaborating with Schwartz Caballero in UMBC’s Hispanic/Latinx Faculty Association and in several committees preparing to further the work along with her colleagues. “A lot of us are in the place that we are because of Ana María,” shares Sanchez. “We will try to continue what she started.”
Service to the community
Schwartz Caballero has also worked closely with the Latinx/Hispanic community beyond campus. For 20 years she has been the UMBC representative in the Maryland State Department of Education for world languages. She is the commissioner of the Baltimore City Mayor’s Hispanic Commission. In 2016, her oral story was part of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum “Gateways” bilingual exhibition about the Latinx experience in the U.S.
Her dedication to the Hispanic/Latinx community has received national recognition. In 2014, she was awarded the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award from the National Football League and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. The award included a $2,000 donation to UMBC’s Esperanza Fund, a scholarship for UMBC undergraduate and graduate students of Latinx or Hispanic ancestry and/or students committed to the advancement of minorities especially of Latinx or Hispanic descent.
UMBC’s broader outlook
Schwartz Caballero is excited for the future of UMBC and the growth of its Latinx/Hispanic community. She played a large part in creating the pathways that are helping Latinx/Hispanic students and faculty learn and contribute to the campus and regional community. “There are more Latinx/Hispanic faculty, staff, and students than when I started. But there is still so much to do,” says Schwartz Caballero. “I know many will continue the work and will also create new opportunities for UMBC to embrace and uplift the Latinx/Hispanic faculty, staff, and students.”
“Ana María has been, and continues to be, the North Star as we develop and evolve our plans to recruit Hispanic and Latinx students to UMBC,” says Dale Bittinger, assistant vice provost of undergraduate admissions, orientation, and school partnerships, and chair of the Hispanic/Latinx Admissions Advisory Group. “She is an invaluable resource and advocate whose teaching extends beyond the classroom. Her work and commitment to students is another example of why UMBC is such a special place.”
***** Header image courtesy of Schwartz Caballero, her with students at graduation in 2014.
Tyson King-Meadows, professor of political science and associate provost for strategic initiatives in the Office of the Provost, has played a vital role in UMBC’s culture and academic policy work since 2003, when he joined the campus as an assistant professor of political science. He credits these experiences for preparing him to serve next as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston) this fall.
“At UMBC, I have learned that a university can only move forward when it moves beyond talking about a problem and shifts into creating and implementing solutions,” shares King-Meadows. “I developed a keen eye for big solutions to big problems.”
King-Meadows is an accomplished scholar, notes President Freeman Hrabowski, as well as an inspiring teacher with a strong voice for the arts, humanities, and social sciences. “What makes him particularly effective in his work is his dedication to serving as a champion for both students and colleagues,” shares Hrabowski. “All of us at UMBC are very proud of him as he begins this new role at UMass Boston.”
Kimberly Moffitt, interim dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS), has worked with King-Meadows for 15 years. She says his example to all is to keep envisioning possibilities in the face of adversity. “I am simply ecstatic that UMass Boston recognizes him as a talented, visionary leader who will enhance their campus as he has ours,” she shares.
National recognition
King-Meadows has achieved local, regional, state, national, and international recognition for his work. In 2019-2020, he was awarded the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship, serving in the Provost’s Office at Case Western Reserve University. He assisted Provost Ben Vinson III on efforts related to strategic planning, community engagement, and faculty development.
“Tyson has drawn upon his ACE experience to significantly impact our work at UMBC,” shares Philip Rous, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “In addition to working with deans and shared governance to align general education with the priorities of UMBC’s strategic plan, Tyson has strengthened our partnerships with academic learned societies in ways that significantly expanded our efforts to recruit and retain diverse faculty, staff, and students.”
King-Meadows served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in 2012-13, working for the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. Earlier in his career, he was also a recipient of the National Academy of Sciences’ Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and was a fellow of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research at Harvard University. And in 2003-04 he was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana, where he taught American politics and researched aspects of African politics and democratization.
Diversity and inclusion leadership
In his current UMBC role as special assistant to the provost for faculty development and engagement, King-Meadows has researched and developed best practices for faculty development programs. He has also laid the groundwork with campus and external partners to develop new programs aimed at recruiting prospective underrepresented minority faculty and students.
As a co-chair of the Provost’s Executive Committee for the Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement of Underrepresented Minority Faculty, King-Meadows has played a vital role in the design and implementation of the Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity and the Emerging Scholars Program. Launched in 2011, the postdoctoral program has brought in 18 fellows across a broad range of disciplines. Seventeen have already transitioned to higher academic positions, including 11 at UMBC.
“Talented minority faculty are not unicorns,” King-Meadows said to Amy Scott, senior correspondent for Marketplace, in a segment on confronting bias in faculty hiring. “It just depends on where you’re looking,” he told Scott. He went on to explain the importance of senior faculty of all backgrounds demonstrating commitment to faculty diversity, saying, “We understand here at UMBC that the burden of inclusiveness should not rest on minority faculty.”
Political science research
King-Meadows’s contributions to the field of political science are many. His research has broadened understanding of the complex issues that influence the political involvement and representation of Black communities.
King-Meadows explores this topic through the lens of the economic disparities and sociopolitical stratification present in the United States during the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. His first single-authored book was When the Letter Betrays the Spirit: Voting Rights Enforcement and African American Participation from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama(Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). It examines the design and implementation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the impact of its four renewals on Black voter registration and election turnout.
“Tyson is a tremendous scholar who exhibits a rare command of both the institutional side of the American politics subfield as well as the behavioral side of American politics,” says Thomas Schaller, professor of political science. He and King-Meadows co-authored Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-first Century(State University of New York Press, 2006). Schaller says, “I’m proud to have co-authored a book with him about the growing power of Black state legislators in the United States.”
Launching student careers
Over the last 17 years, King-Meadows has enriched students’ research experiences and helped them explore various career pathways. He shares that he is grateful for the opportunity to work with students at the beginning of their academic journeys and then see them take that knowledge through to successful careers.
Arthur Johnson, professor of political science and provost emeritus, hired King-Meadows and recalls the young faculty member’s rigorous classes and the valuable research experiences he provided his students. He remembers, “It was common for Tyson to be in his office with students well into evening hours advising them, helping them understand the material presented in class, and planning research.”
King-Meadows (right) and Lauren Lochocki ‘14, political science, (center) presented the co-authored paper, “Is the VRA Still Necessary? Attitudinal Support of Electoral Reform in a Post-Jim Crow Era” at the National Conference of Black Political Scientists.
King-Meadows also values opportunities to collaborate with alumni as they move on in their careers. He is currently working on two articles with a former senior research assistant, Rhoanne Esteban ‘11, political science. Esteban is a doctoral student at UC Santa Barbara and a data analytics engineer at Travelers Insurance.
He is also co-authoring a book chapter on Baltimore with McNair Scholar mentee Marcus Board ‘07, political science. After graduating from UMBC, Board earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is now an assistant professor of African American studies at Georgetown University.
“I’ve never considered it a mentor/mentee relationship as much as a unique pairing with great strengths,” says Board. “Between the two of us, we hold great imagination, kindness, focus, and a commitment to racial justice. I’m thankful for Dr. King-Meadows’s support over the years.”
Teaching social justice
Social upheavals in Baltimore and across the nation have put King-Meadows in the spotlight as a scholar of Black political representation and as a former president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. Media and institutions have frequently called upon him to share policy background and reflections related to urgent demands for police reform and anti-racism work.
After Baltimore’s 2015 Uprising in response to the death of Freddie Gray, King-Meadows participated in a campus teach-in offered by UMBC faculty. At the teach-in, he discussed his research paper, “Harbingers of unrest in Baltimore.” The Washington Post included the paper in “Here’s how to teach Black Lives Matter,” a curated syllabus of research articles on the Black Lives Matter movement.
In June 2020, in the midst of global protest asking for justice for the murder of George Floyd and the increased support for the Black Lives Matter movement, King-Meadows once again joined UMBC faculty and leadership in a town hall, “The Many Faces of Structural Racism: A Campus Conversation.” He explained the history of disenfranchisement in the Black community.
“Whether centered on social justice issues related to the Baltimore Uprising or the racial reckoning after George Floyd’s death,” shares Moffitt, “Dr. King-Meadows has consistently encouraged us to do more and do better while continuing to center issues of inclusive excellence and equity.”
King-Meadows also worked with UMBC’s Shriver Center to develop an afterschool civic engagement program for elementary school students. “Our Civic Voices” taught students at Baltimore City’s Federal Hill Preparatory School how to write letters to their representatives on the City Council and in Congress to express their concerns about problems in their community. King-Meadows notes, “The students now know they can be an active part in the democratic process without actually casting a vote—that was powerful.”
Lessons from UMBC
One of King-Meadows’s most salient memories while at UMBC was Baltimore’s 2011 earthquake, which happened while campus leaders were busy working at their annual retreat. Everyone left the building—but not for long.
After the building was deemed safe, everyone stayed to continue with their work of planning for the year ahead. His takeaway was that as long as people are safe, “we are going to continue to be in the trenches, to fulfill our social justice purpose, our economic mobility purpose, in service of the faculty, staff, and students,” says King-Meadows. “I will carry this lesson with me as I head to the University of Massachusetts Boston.”
Banner image: Tyson King Meadows. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
Now more than ever, STEM careers are demanding their workforce keep the social impact of their work at the forefront. Interdisciplinary teams at UMBC are researching methods to support these efforts.
In the past five years, more than 14,000 students in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) took courses in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), home to many courses that cultivate socially responsible thinking (SRT). At the same time, faculty in COEIT were also incorporating SRT concepts in their classes. This overlap was identified as an opportunity to collaborate, leveraging strengths of both colleges to imbue the STEM curriculum with an SRT approach.
“We want computing and engineering students to have a deeper understanding of the social impact of their work and how they are integrating SRT into their learning,” explains Helena Mentis, professor of information systems. Mentis is the lead investigator in the joint research project between COEIT and the Center for Social Science Scholarship (CS3) titled Identifying an Interdisciplinary Path to Social Responsibility Education Across the COEIT Curriculum.
Felipe Filomeno
Felipe Filomeno, associate professor of political science and global studies and CS3 associate director and co-PI, says that the first step of the project is listening to faculty. “We are not imposing a preconceived approach to how social responsibility should be integrated into a STEM education.”
Mentis also emphasizes the importance of alumni in this process—their practical experience can provide students with insights into how industry leaders are implementing SRT. Kara Seidel ’18, psychology, now a language, literacy, and culture doctoral student, is a research assistant on the project. “This project is a great way to get my feet wet in all the fields at once,” shares Seidel. “I’m here to learn and help bring all the pieces together so the team can craft and integrate the research in a way that will be most beneficial in the long run.”
UMBC faculty are also working on addressing the negative social impact of existing technologies, such as the ethics in machine learning and data science.
Jordan Troutman ’21, M29, computer science and mathematics—and a valedictorian for the class of 2021—researches how to eliminate bias in algorithms. Troutman won the 2018 Rutgers RISE 5MP for his research, Fairness in Machine Learning, about how the COMPAS algorithm, which is used in the U.S. court system for recidivism prediction, is twice as likely to falsely classify Black men as more likely to reoffend compared to white men.
James Foulds
Troutman notes that people inherently give power to computers when they start to depend on them to make very complex human decisions. He wants computer scientists “to understand the impact of how our program—discriminatory or not—can affect the world we live in.”
Vandana Janeja
Troutman works with James Foulds, assistant professor of information systems, on identifying biases in machine learning technologies. Foulds received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award in 2021 to develop technical solutions to resolve practical limitations of fair AI techniques.
Foulds also approaches ethical thinking from the data science perspective with his colleague Vandana Janeja, information systems professor and chair. “Ethics cannot be tacked onto one part of the data life cycle,” says Janeja. “It has to be integrated across the data life cycle and infused into each step of the process of discovering patterns in the data and in context of the data being considered.”
The goal of all this work, Mentis explains, is “to develop the next generation of technologists who have the framework and vocabulary to address the relationships between STEM and society.”
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Header image: Jordan Troutman ’21 on campus in spring 2021. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11.
Louise Goodrich Izat ’70 and Donna Helm ’70 met their first week of classes in 1966. As French majors, they enjoyed many classes together with May Roswell, a professor of French and German and a founder of UMBC’s modern languages department. “May Roswell was a wonderful professor,” remembers Izat. They remember her as a dedicated and inspiring teacher. Now, more than half a century later, the two friends who share a love of words, have come together to create the Childhood Literacy Scholarship Endowment in honor of Roswell.
Izat has been a volunteer at a reading camp in her community for six years. Her experience has made her aware of how many children need additional reading support to move beyond decoding to comprehension and develop a lifelong love of reading. Helm has always been proud that she comes from a family of avid readers and has seen the positive impact strong reading skills can have on a career. After learning what work UMBC faculty and students are doing in the work of childhood literacy, Izat and Helm decided to combine their love of the written word to support early literacy work.
The scholarship is awarded through The Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities (the Sherman Center). “With this Childhood Literacy Scholarship, our goal is to provide financial aid to promising undergraduate students committed to early childhood literacy development,” says Izat. Izat and Helm’s $25,000 endowment will support a different UMBC student each year with a scholarship of $1,000 or more for educational and research expenses.
Supporting the next generation of educators
By focusing on childhood literacy, Helm and Izat’s endowment will help a burgeoning education professional continue to focus on their research and community-engaged work.
Ayodélé La Veau’21, psychology and theatre, the first recipient of the scholarship, has been an active volunteer in the Sherman Center’s Literacy Fellows Program at Bay-Brook Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore City. The program pairs college students with a Baltimore City elementary school. Fellows visit a classroom and work with a teacher throughout the semester, helping students develop reading and writing skills.
Headshot courtesy of La Veau.
La Veau was able to be a part of a transition period with Bay-Brook Elementary/Middle School when they opened their new building. She saw how the combination of entering into a new building and having a more equipped teacher in their new learning environment made students more willing to learn and excitement to improve their literacy skills. “I believe in the impact of showing children the possibility and importance of their growth and development,” shares La Veau. “Not only through verbal affirmation but through proper guidance and access to resources.”
In 2020, La Veau earned a UMBC Undergraduate Research Award to study the use of the creative process as a means to teach and explore social-emotional learning using data from public secondary schools and creative arts programs within Baltimore City. The pandemic did not permit her to begin the research. Instead, she shifted her attention to supporting local communities digitally.
In addition to the academic and mental health needs of young people, La Veau is equally adamant about food equity and its impact on both. She currently serves as the vice president of the board of directors for The Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm which grows healthy food to help feed people facing food insecurity in Baltimore.
“My work allows me to witness the effects of investing in children’s lives through healthy and safe learning environments,” shared La Veau. “The Childhood Literacy Scholarship is so wonderful and has been a major blessing for me.” La Veau’s zeal is not an exception but an example of the various committed students the Sherman Center supports.
Part of the solution
Izat and Helm are excited that the scholarship will help La Veau continue her work with young children and her research. “We want to support students who will become part of the solution to the childhood literacy problem in our country,” share the two donors. “We are delighted that Ayodélé La Veau is our first recipient. She has a lot of energy, is an amazing young woman, and her work will have a positive impact on the lives of children.”
Sherman Center Director Mavis Sanders, in yellow, at the 2018 Teacher Summer Institute, which provides early childhood educators with information, resources, and collaborative planning time. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.
Izat and Helm’s endowment supports the mission of the Sherman Center “to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning among young children in Baltimore City and develop best early childhood education practices for urban schools.” Now in its third year, the Sherman Center has become the hub of early childhood education, research, and practices, not only for Baltimore City but also for Maryland.
“There is something special about UMBC students, past and present, and it is great when they meet around shared commitments,” says Mavis Sanders, professor of education and the inaugural director of the Sherman Center. “I am grateful to be a part of the Childhood Literacy Scholarship and assist alumni, like Louise Izat and Donna Helm, to support Retrievers who share their passion for helping children discover the joy and power of reading.”
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Header image provided by Donna Helm and Louise Izat.
Katie Poteet, Shekinah Davis, and Nicholas Duy-Hoan Nguyen all came to UMBC grounded in their families’ unique journeys and deeply-held values, and seeking to find their own individual paths. Each Class of 2021 graduate has formed connections with communities, both in Baltimore and internationally, that have shaped their plans for the future.
Door to the world
UMBC Valedictorian Katie Poteet ‘21, global studies and political science, will soon head to the University of Cambridge, in England, to pursue a master of philosophy focusing on educational equity for women and girls in the Arab world. Given her path, one might assume she grew up with an array of international experiences, but Poteet is actually from a fifth-generation farming family from Harford County, Maryland. She and her twin sister, Madeline, are first-generation college students graduating from two University System of Maryland institutions, both pursuing careers in international policy.
Poteet family. Photo courtesy of Katie Poteet.
Poteet was excited to attend UMBC as a member of the Honors College and a Sondheim Scholar. She had never experienced such cultural and linguistic diversity, and she jumped into learning Arabic and earned a certificate in Spanish. That led to internships focused on education policy, humanitarian work, and foreign policy in the Arab world at the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), Norwegian Refugee Council, and Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education.
In 2019, Poteet’s sister, who is graduating from Salisbury University, joined her on a trip to Ghana with UMBC’s Global Brigades chapter. While there they worked with local craftsmen to construct eco-friendly toilet facilities. Back in Baltimore, Poteet remained connected to the local community by teaching English to adults at the Esperanza Center, a resource center for immigrants.
Katie and Madie Poteet. Photo courtesy of Katie Poteet.
While it was UMBC that connected her with diverse communities and global opportunities, she shares that her family and community in Harford County laid the foundation. Through them, she learned to always help others and work hard.
“Our parents did not have the opportunity to graduate from college, so they supported us in everything we wanted to do,” shares Poteet. “But what is most important, and what my parents are most proud of, is that we took advantage of all the opportunities college afforded us and are using those skills to help others.”
Global learning experiences
Shekinah Davis ‘21, M.A. intercultural communication, came to UMBC after her Peace Corps service in Ecuador to join UMBC’s Peaceworker Program. It was an opportunity to merge skills gained through her social justice, diversity, and equity work in the U.S., Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Ecuador.
Davis with the her peers in the intercultural communication masters program. Photo courtesy of Davis.
Davis’s parents moved from Portland, Oregon to the Dominican Republic when she was four five years old. Over the course of 15 years they built a public K-12 school. In her teenage years, Davis used photography to help document the process. It inspired her to earn a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism and document life in other Latin American countries.
Davis (center, wearing a pink dress) as a child in the Dominican Republic. Photo courtesy of Davis.
She traveled to Nicaragua as a visiting artist, using photography and painting to build community with women healing from traumatic experiences. In Haiti, she photographed the daily life of women and their communities. During her Peace Corps service in Ecuador, Davis developed multimedia stories to raise awareness of refugees, migrant entrepreneurship, and family and youth health initiatives.
Growing roots in Baltimore
As a Peaceworker Fellow at UMBC, Davis has supported arts education in Baltimore City. She worked at UMBC’s Shriver Center as a program coordinator for the Charlesmead Initiative for Arts Education, as a media teacher for both the Kultur Stories program and Wide Angle Youth Media.
Davis (third from the left) and Nguyen (striped shirt) with other Peaceworker fellows in 2019. Photo courtesy of Davis.
With Kulture Stories, Davis guided students from Baltimore, Sweden, and South Sudan in collaborative learning activities to expand on their leadership and multimedia skills. At Wide Angle Youth Media, she helped students in the Baltimore Speaks Out program to produce the video series Black Lives Matter: A Conversation With Our Youth. In that series, students discussed topics of race, identity, and racism.
Davis (center with yellow cardigan) with students from Wide Angle Youth Media in 2019. Photo courtesy of Davis.
Davis’s childhood taught her to embrace the unknown. Her international work gave her an opportunity to use multimedia as a tool to explore social justice issues. And her experiences in Latin America gave her an awareness of the vast differences in cultures and languages grouped under the term Latinx, instilling in her a sense of pride in her identity as an Afro-Latina and African American woman.
Charlotte Kenniston, an LLC doctoral student and associate director of UMBC’s Peaceworker Program, notes that at UMBC Davis has continued to develop her sense of who she is in the world and how she might make an impact. “Shekinah has merged all of her life experiences to charge ahead with a life committed to work in diversity, equity, and inclusion,” says Keniston.
“I have traveled so much that I now have a desire to establish roots somewhere. I want to create impactful programming and training around diversity, equity, and inclusion locally,” says Davis. “Baltimore is that place for me right now.”
Managing humanitarian emergencies
After graduating this week, Nicholas Nguyen, M.A. ‘21, sociology, will begin working as a program evaluator for the National Preparedness Assessment Division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a cause close to his heart.
As a son of Vietnamese refugees, Nguyen grew up listening to stories of his parents’ journey from Vietnam to Texas. His mom fled Vietnam in 1975. “My father wasn’t able to leave with the family. He was caught trying to leave and was detained for five years,” says Nguyen. “When he was able to leave Vietnam it was on a small boat with others, often drifting for days without food.”
Nicholas Nguyen (left) with his parents in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Photo courtesy of Nguyen.
Hearing about these experiences inspired Nguyen to explore how he could help improve the management of international humanitarian emergencies.
Seeking his first international experience, Nguyen joined the Peace Corps in 2015. Nguyen explains that his parents didn’t understand—for them, going to Ecuador to volunteer was leaving the safety and comfort they had worked so hard to give him in suburban Texas. But it was transformative for Nguyen. “I needed to have the experience of being an entirely different country, culture, with a different language to better understand their experience,” he says.
Nicholas Nguyen at a ceremony at the US embassy in Quito, Ecuador. Photo courtesy of Nguyen.
A new perspective
While learning Spanish and the Ecuadorian culture, Nguyen worked with local governments and community organizations to implement a recreation and substance abuse prevention program for youth. He collaborated on a project with local women artists and supported a shelter serving women and children survivors of domestic violence. Nguyen also helped establish financial and computer literacy programs for women.
Nicholas Nguyen at La Sierra (central highlands) in Ecuador. Photo courtesy of Nguyen.
His time in Ecuador gave him a greater understanding of what it is like to be new to a culture and language, and the challenges that presents. “Now, when I run into someone struggling with English it reminds me of when I was walking around Ecuador with my dictionary, trying to connect with other people.”
Once he was ready to return to the United States, Nguyen joined UMBC’s Peaceworker Program because of its focus on placing Peace Corps volunteers with local organizations and its emphasis on social justice.
“I had never been part of a university whose work was centered around social justice,” says Nguyen. “The Peace Corps showed me how political systems work at an international level. UMBC’s Peaceworker Program is giving me an understanding from a social justice and antiracist perspective.”
Nicholas Nguyen with students from the Patterson Park Audubon Center in 2019. Photo courtesy of Nguyen.
Nguyen was placed in the Patterson Park Audubon Center, teaching local middle school students, in a predominantly Spanish-speaking community, about climate change and how it is impacting birds and people. He didn’t yet know much about birding, but he knew what it was like to be new to something and could connect with the students through their heritage language. Nguyen narrated his experience by creating a digital story about his experience with nature throughout his life.
The program moved online temporarily due to COVID-19, but was later able to open in person with social distancing, making it more accessible to the greater community.
Nguyen (top center square) teaching the Patterson Park Audubon Center’s program online. Photo courtesy of Nguyen.Nguyen teaching the Patterson Park Audubon Center’s program. Photo courtesy of Nguyen.
The reflection elements of the Peaceworker experience have helped Nguyen better understand the links between what he’s learned in his work with communities and in the classroom about policy, history, and race. He sees his next steps, through a career in emergency management, as emerging from his parents’ dreams, his own dreams, and all he’s experienced in Texas, Ecuador, and now Baltimore. And, he says, he looks forward to helping the United States become “a more just and inclusive place, especially now, as a public servant.”
Banner image: The Poteet family. Photo courtesy of Katie Poteet.
Each year, hundreds of Retrievers work with K-12 students and families across Greater Baltimore, providing tutoring, mentoring, introductions to new skills and interests, and supportive one-on-one connections. Graduating seniors David Ralph Williams, Celena Dang, and Emily Rose Paul took advantage of opportunities to work with Baltimore youth and families early in their UMBC careers and sustained those connections as long-term commitments. For each, these experiences have shaped their goals and career paths.
Connecting students with computing
David Ralph Williams ‘21, M29, computer science, found the learning community he was looking for when he became a Meyerhoff Scholar. “Everyone was focused on working hard and having a deep understanding of their field,” says Williams. He loved both the academic rigor and the commitment his peers had to the community beyond campus.
Williams. Photo courtesy of Williams.
Williams joined Creative Coders in his freshman year as a way to connect local middle school students with opportunities in computing. He supported students at Arbutus Middle School in learning basic computer science skills by working through group projects. “I wanted to help expose middle school students to computer science, something I wished I had growing up,” says Williams.
By his sophomore year, Williams became the lead student coordinator for the Creative Coders program. He shifted the program to be more student-led, enabling participants to choose their own project topics and their approach to managing and completing projects.
Creative Coders also worked with students at General John Stricker Middle School in Southeast Baltimore, focusing on the interests of the Robotics Club. “We exposed them to the computer science aspects of robotics like using motion sensors and programming a robot’s personality,” says Williams.
The value of teaching
Williams found himself excited to see the students work through a problem. He also discovered he had the patience and desire to explain concepts and procedures to students.
When he became a teaching assistant (TA) for an upper-level computer science class, Williams had the same experience. “It’s been nice being a TA for the data structures class. It’s a really difficult class,” shares Williams. “I thrive on the feeling I get when I explain things and see whether students grasp the concept. I use that exchange to guide whether I need to pick a new method or whether I need to explain in more detail.”
While at UMBC, Williams also learned more about cybersecurity and realized it was something he wanted to pursue professionally, in addition to teaching. “I really love cybersecurity and teaching computer science,” he says, “so why not do both?” After earning his undergraduate degree, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science at UMBC.
Exploring possibilities
Celena Dang ‘21, psychology and biological sciences, comes from a family of Retrievers. Her aunt and several cousins have proudly earned their degrees at UMBC. That was an important factor in her decision to attend, along with the university’s great reputation for STEM education and diversity. At the same time, she wasn’t quite sure of the direction she wanted to take at UMBC once she was on campus.
Dang is grateful that UMBC offered the flexibility to explore various paths. “My advice to others who are uncertain about the major they chose is to not put pressure on yourself,” shares Dang. “It’s OK to question and to explore. Make the best of volunteer opportunities that can introduce you to different fields.”
Supporting teens’ mental health
Dang (second from the left on the first row) with the UMBC UNICEF board. Photo courtesy of Dang.
For Dang, being a member of UMBC’s UNICEF student club for four years has offered an opportunity to learn about different careers in child welfare. A defining experience for Dang was when the club worked with UMBC’s Shriver Center to develop a partnership with The Children’s Home in Baltimore City. The group provided academic support to youth living at The Children’s Home, an organization that provides housing to children in foster care who have experienced abuse, neglect, violence, and abandonment, or are in need of supervised care.
Dang explains that in the beginning the teenagers she worked with were skeptical and remained distant. But within a month of the club visiting weekly, they began to trust the UMBC students, becoming more social, engaged, and open to accepting support. In time the Children’s Home organization’s leaders reported students’ grades and self-esteem improved.
While working with youth at The Children’s Home, Dang was also taking psychology courses. She realized she had a great interest in adolescent mental health as a career path.
“UMBC’s UNICEF club has been the most rewarding part of being at UMBC,” says Dang. “Finding a community that has the same shared values as me and the same mission to give back to the community has shaped my career goals.”
Celena Dang (right) with UMBC Children’s Home volunteers. Photo courtesy of Dang.
Dang will begin a master’s program in clinical mental health counseling at Williams James College fall 2021.
Leadership through service
Emily Rose on her first day at UMBC. Photo courtesy of Rose.
WhenEmily Rose Paul‘21, global studies, came to UMBC, wanted to invest time working with Baltimore’s immigrant community. “I think everyone should have the same opportunity my grandparents had when they left Europe,” she says. “If they had not been welcome in the United States I might not be here today because they were Russian and Polish Jews.”
It was through the encouragement of her mentor, Zuriel Herran ‘20, geography and environmental studies, that she became a volunteer with youth at the Esperanza Center, an immigrant resource center in Baltimore City, teaching English as a second language. She loved the work so much she spent the next three years working at the center and became the lead student coordinator for the program.
Paul (back row, fourth from the left) with other Esperanza Center volunteers in 2019. Photo courtesy of Paul.
Paul transported UMBC volunteers to the center, guided them in self-reflection, and provided teaching strategies, in addition to helping with administrative tasks. She also took her leadership work to another level through a Shriver Center internship leading the Center’s student coordinator program. She provided fellow students who were leading service-learning partnerships with tools and resources.
Finding answers in the humanities
In addition to her work with The Shriver Center, Paul worked alongside seven other students as a fellow in the PLACE Colaboratory, which stands for Partnerships for Listening and Action by Communities and Educators. They worked under co-investigators Felipe Filomeno, political science and global studies, and Romy Hübler ‘09, modern languages and linguistics, M.A. ‘11, intercultural communication, and Ph.D. ‘15, language, literacy, and culture, who is assistant director of UMBC’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life.
As a fellow, Paul worked with students at Benjamin Franklin High School in Baltimore City on a visual storytelling project. She helped them further develop their humanities-based research methods for the project, focused on identifying and addressing community issues.
After graduation, Paul is planning to continue working with immigrant communities, focusing on the promotion of rights in the U.S. and abroad. She is thankful for all the people she met through community partnerships, and for opportunities to grow in her Spanish skills and knowledge of immigration rights.
Paul (center in jeans) studying abroad in Colombia at a dance festival. Photo courtesy of Paul.
“I was able to access excellent research opportunities in the humanities that I never thought would be available at the undergraduate level,” says Paul. “UMBC is known as a STEM school, but I have received the most amazing humanities education as a global studies student. You will be surprised at all that you can find here.”
Banner image: Emily Rose Paul. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
