All posts by: Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque

UMBC’s Jason Schiffman and his YouthFIRST lab advance early identification and treatment of psychosis

UMBC’s Jason Schiffman and his team conduct research on the screening, assessment, and treatment of young people experiencing psychosis. He has recently been awarded two prestigious grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and one from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to train clinicians that serve this vulnerable population on how to detect psychosis early, and to offer clinical services to youth in need, dramatically extending the impact of his work nationwide.

Reports by SAMHSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Justice show that one in five adults and one in six youth ages 6-17 experience mental health issues each year. Many of these people experience serious disorders associated with psychosis, which can significantly impact quality of life. Schiffman, psychology professor and director of clinical training, is relentlessly working to change this narrative.

Schiffman and his YouthFIRST lab focus on the early identification of young people suffering from disorders associated with psychosis, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depressive disorder with psychotic features, and bipolar disorder with psychotic features. Further, he is dedicated to addressing concerns about mental health disparities impacting marginalized communities by studying the validity of screening approaches across diverse populations and communities. Schiffman also incorporates his biological approach to understanding early signs of psychosis by using fMRI to measure brain activity, highlighted in a 2017 UMBC Magazine feature.

For Schiffman, research “translating basic science to real-world applications” and “bringing clarity to the nature and identification of poorly misunderstood mental illnesses” goes hand in hand with his work to reduce stigma and ameliorate suffering “through the lens of prevention science.”

A multi-layered approach

Schiffman is one of only three national trainers on the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS), the “gold standard interview” for identifying people at risk for psychosis. He has trained research and clinical teams in cities in Maryland, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee on how to use this tool. His trainings have helped psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists more effectively identify and monitor people at risk for psychosis.

He has been working for years in Maryland to expand the reach of early intervention services. Now, he says, “I am sharing best practices and lessons learned with other mental health professionals across the globe who also provide therapy and services to the people most at risk.”

Schiffman with YouthFirst lab.His team is one of twenty-two partners on a $1.6 million SAMHSA grant that provides services for people who are at risk of psychosis. Most of the twenty-two Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHiRP) teams are state and private providers. Just a few are academic institutions, including UMBC and Yale University. Schiffman’s CHiRP grant will provide much-needed mental health services to scores of young people in Maryland using a needs-based approach.

“The biggest calling for me is that these disorders are potentially devastating to young people who struggle with them, as well as to their families. They can suffer immensely, lose everything, and disconnect from society if they don’t receive the appropriate help,” explains Schiffman. “I am most interested in social and psychological therapies that can be implemented early on in an effort to limit the impact of emerging psychosis.”

Expanding community reach

Schiffman and his team are also part of a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) multi-state grant with Northwestern University and Temple University. The grant funds mental health screening and identification of people in the general population experiencing symptoms related to psychosis. This $2.25 million project expands the target population from the clinical setting to the community.

In addition, NIMH awarded Schiffman a grant to develop an online training and continuing education platform to teach social workers about reducing the duration of untreated psychosis. The three-hour program has been used to train over 1,200 social workers in Maryland. This training helped to increase the number of referrals to the Maryland Early Intervention Program, a collaboration between Schiffman’s team and his colleagues from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

A team focused on prevention

This multi-layered process is the work of many people. Schiffman is quick to highlight that he surrounds himself with dedicated and insightful collaborators. He is proud to have a team of undergraduate and graduate students, a postdoctoral research associate, and staff who help to implement each level of the project.

Dawn Bunch ‘22, psychology, began her position as an undergraduate research assistant in Schiffman’s lab because she was looking to get involved in research impacting mental healthcare. “It’s been an extremely valuable and inspirational learning experience for me,” explains Bunch. “Working in this lab taught me so much about psychological assessment and the research process, which is very important to me since I plan to do both clinical and research work in my career.”

In addition to gaining knowledge about the psychosis risk field, Bunch and the other YouthFIRST undergraduate research assistants contribute to the lab’s mission by entering data, performing data quality checks, and preparing for study visits.

Combating stigma

Schiffman is also dedicated to supporting a positive campus culture around mental health. He is the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the UMBC National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Each year, with the support of UMBC’s NAMI group, Schiffman holds a panel discussion during Mental Health Awareness Week, where students share their stories of dealing with mental health challenges and successes.

The YouthFIRST lab also created a mental health awareness video with students sharing their stories. In addition to increasing awareness, two doctoral students found that students in distress who watch this video are more likely to seek support at the UMBC Counseling Center.

In all this work, Schiffman and his team are driven by a singular focus: intervening early to help young people suffering from psychosis. And the stakes are high. “On average, life expectancy for someone with schizophrenia is twenty years less than someone without schizophrenia,” says Schiffman. “We are changing the paradigm by moving away from institutionalization and incarceration, and towards prevention—enabling people with psychosis a chance to live a life of their choosing in the community and the opportunity to reach towards their highest potential.”

Banner image: Schiffman with YouthFirst lab.
All images by Marlayna Demond ’11.

UMBC welcomes European Union ambassadors to the U.S.

Ambassadors from the European countries of Slovenia, Estonia, and the Czech Republic convened at UMBC this month as part of the first joint European Union (E.U.) State outreach trip outside of Washington, D.C. Delegations from over twenty E.U. member states participated in the day of engagement with Maryland state and local officials, students, educators, and environmental and trade organizations.

The visit’s aim was to showcase and further strengthen the close cultural and commercial ties between Maryland and European Union member states. The E.U. is Maryland’s biggest source of foreign direct investment. Over 100,000 jobs in Maryland have been created due to trade with and investment from European Union member states.

The three leaders who visited UMBC participated in a panel at the Albin O. Kuhn Library, moderated by Brian Grodsky, professor and associate chair of political science. They included Stanislav Vidovič, ambassador of Slovenia to the United States; Jonatan Vseviov, ambassador of Estonia to the United States; and Hynek Kmoníček, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States. In addition to discussing economic and policy matters, the leaders answered questions from students, staff, and faculty.

“We find it very practical out of Washington D.C., out of the diplomatic bubble, to meet the real people living in the States because you can get a refreshing perspective on the issues, where Washington D.C. is in the trenches of the party discussion. This allows us to get closer to the real voice of the real United States,” shared Kmoníček.

Students, faculty, and staff from across campus listen to the ambassadors as they explain the current state of Eastern Europe.

During the discussion session, Ukrainian student Danylo Leschchyshyn ‘22, history and political science, a Humanities Scholar and member of the Honors College, asked the visiting ambassadors about the hope of eliminating corruption in his homeland. The panel responded by discussing the importance of combating corruption as a means of upholding democracy through diplomacy and the rule of law.

“If you cannot handle corruption effectively, you will not only be unable to build a free society, but you will lose your freedom. The aim of corruption is to undermine the feasibility, the success of our societies. Our system of governance cannot coexist with corruption that is out of control,” explained Vseviov.

He continued, “Ukraine’s challenge is not only about how it handles the war in the east. Ukraine’s challenge is also the battle that is taking place in the hearts and minds of every Ukrainian. That battle is a battle of corruption and whether Ukrainians believe they have managed to take their country back not only from foreign interventions but also from their own corrupt businessmen.”

Ambassadors fielding questions from audience.

Romy Hübler, assistant director of UMBC’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life, shared her experience growing up in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. She asked the guests about how older adults in post-Soviet regions are experiencing democracy today in ways different from the theoretical democracy they imagined during the Cold War. Hübler found the ambassadors’ descriptions of life during the Cold War—without democracy, and with human rights abuses and limited freedom—to be familiar.

“I have never had the opportunity to hear firsthand from representatives of Eastern European countries about their experiences and their thinking about their country’s path toward democracy as well as challenges that still persist,” explains Hübler. “I believe that we have much to learn from one another about those pathways, not only in Eastern Europe but also in the United States, including how people who live in these countries feel empowered or disempowered to participate fully and shape their futures.”

Banner image: (Front row, L to R) Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček; Ambassador Stanislav Vidovič; Ambassador Jonatan Vseviov; Carolyn Forestiere, associate professor and chair of political science. (Back row, L to R) Member of the E.U. delegation; David Di Maria, associate vice provost for international education; Irina Golubeva, associate professor of intercultural communication; and Brian Grodsky, professor of political science. All images by Marlayna Demond ’11.

UMBC’s Evan Avila, advocate for equal access to financial services, is a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship

Evan Avila’s goal is to work on Capitol Hill, advocating for immigrant communities’ access to financial security and economic equality. He has now been recognized as a finalist for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, affirming his path to a career of leadership in public service.

Avila in front of the Capitol in Washington D.C.

The Marshall Scholarship is awarded annually to up to 50 students from the United States to pursue graduate study at a university in the United Kingdom, following an intensive application and interview process. Avila, a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar majoring in economics and political science at UMBC, was selected as a finalist for his long record of public service as well as his experience developing economic policy proposals. At the final stage, Avila was not among the students chosen to receive the scholarship. However, he still plans to pursue graduate study in Washington D.C. next fall as a Harry S. Truman Scholar.

How does UMBC identify students to nominate for this prestigious scholarship? “We prioritize a student’s ability to demonstrate strong potential as a change agent in their chosen field, based on their leadership and intellectual skills,” explains April Householder, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships. “Evan emerged because of his exemplary commitment to public service, and his ability to work with diverse groups of individuals. We felt that he has great potential as a policymaker and social change agent.”

Avila at the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Avila is the fourth UMBC recipient of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship. He was chosen in the spring of 2019 for one of just sixty scholar positions out of 840 candidates nationwide.

The award grants Avila $30,000 toward a competitive graduate school of his choice. In addition, scholars gain access to continuous leadership development programs, such as the Truman Scholars Leadership Week and the Summer Institute. Scholars also benefit from mentorship by top leaders in government agencies, nonprofit organizations, public and private educational institutions, and advocacy organizations. Following a master’s degree, Avila plans to pursue a J.D., to specialize in taxation and employee benefits law.

Building a public service career

Avila has dedicated his time at UMBC to developing his knowledge of financial systems and applying his studies to work with people in need of financial services and expertise. This includes years of service with UMBC’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Avila recently shared, “My driving ambition is to combine the intersections of financial services, taxation, and employee benefits” to address the significant challenge of wealth inequality faced by workers, families, and students.

Laura Hussey, associate professor of political science and director of the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar program, has witnessed Avila’s longstanding commitment to serving communities. Hussey is quick to point out that it is not just Evan’s résumé, but also his character, that exemplifies Sondheim Scholar ideals. His time spent at the Esperanza Center, which provides educational, legal, medical, and other services to immigrants in Baltimore, is a meaningful example of his work.

“In choosing the Esperanza Center for his Sondheim Scholar service-learning, Evan sought to leave his comfort zone and address his complicated relationship with his family’s immigrant heritage,” explains Hussey. “Though intimidated by the one evening per week he would spend there, given his limited Spanish proficiency and tutor training, Evan described his service at Esperanza Center as ‘truly joyous’ and a ‘deeply personal and spiritual experience.’”

Avila has also been recognized for his work on retirement planning for today’s young adults. In June 2018 he won the iOME challenge with the policy proposal Rethinking Millennial Retirement: Policy Recommendations for a Gig Economy. Cindy Hounsell is president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), which sponsored the competition. She shared, “We are impressed by Mr. Avila’s response to the more complicated challenges and deterrents millennials face in preparing for their future retirement.”

Evan Avila speaking at iOME Challenge by WISER Institute.

UMBC has a strong tradition of supporting applicants for the Marshall Scholarship, as well as other prestigious awards. Loren Siebert ‘93, computer science, earned his master’s degree in computer science at the University of Manchester as a Marshall Scholar. He then invented LinguaStep, a language learning software, and is now a technical advisor to entrepreneurs in San Francisco.

Naomi Mburu ‘18, chemical engineering, was UMBC’s second student selected for a Marshall Scholarship, in 2017, but she declined the award to become UMBC’s first Rhodes Scholar. Mburu is currently pursuing a doctorate in nuclear fusion at Oxford. She offered Avila advice in preparation for his Marshall interview.

Avila looks forward to continuing that tradition after his graduation in the spring, offering support to future UMBC students who are reaching for their dreams.

Banner image: Avila at his internship at the United States Census Bureau. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 unless otherwise noted.

UMBC broadens international learning opportunities: Stories from five continents

Heading into International Education Week, November 18 – 22, UMBC is celebrating the expansion of international learning opportunities and partnerships. UMBC is reaching beyond traditional study abroad frameworks to prepare students for global careers, including through virtual exchange programs. At the same time, UMBC continues to welcome talented scholars from around the world to join the campus community, honoring their contributions to UMBC and the relationships they grow during their time on campus.

Graduate students from India officially become Retrievers during international student orientation.

Virtual international learning at home: Engineering with Portugal

Many college students pursuing STEM majors assume that international learning isn’t an option for them. This might be because they need to complete specific, sequential course requirements, or because they want to focus on internship and research opportunities. In recent years, however, many UMBC STEM students have taken advantage of international learning opportunities where they can fulfill course requirements, complete internships, or do research while abroad, or build international connections while on campus at UMBC.

Aliyah Smith’s experience shows one way to approach this. Smith ‘19, mechanical engineering, completed a nine-week research internship at the University of Oxford, followed by a semester studying in the United Arab Emirates. Some of her engineering classmates have taken a different approach: virtual international learning.

That virtual experience is the innovation of Marc Zupan, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Zupan’s Global Engineering course helps UMBC students prepare to solve complex, large-scale challenges by collaborating remotely with engineering students in Portugal. Students apply advanced technical knowledge as well as communication, teamwork, and cultural awareness skills to their projects. Teammates in the U.S. and Portugal connect through communication tools like Skype and Slack.

Global Engineering UMBC class in Catonsville and Porto campuses. Photo courtesy of Zupan.

The Global Engineering class has been held with the University of Porto in Portugal for five years. Three years ago Zupan added to the course a collaboration with La Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, and he’s working to expand it further.

The class is guided by one principle, Zupan says: “The answer to the planet’s environmental and social problems can be met and overcome through collaborative cross-cultural engineering.”

“This isn’t treated as a class project, but a simulated professional experience to prepare students for an international workplace,” Zupan explains. “The cross-cultural aspect of the course is crucial. By learning how to manage a project with classmates that have a completely different cultural and social framework, students must work through differences and learn how to solve a problem together. Cross-cultural engineering delivers a more unique creative solution to engineering challenges.”

Building empathy online through Spanish history

Ana Oscoz, professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, has created the virtual course Spanish Cultures and History, designed to provide a robust international experience for students who aren’t able to travel abroad.

Oscoz worked with colleagues at the Universitat de València and La Universidad Complutense de Madrid to create a Spanish-language course focused on how Spain’s past affects its current social and political climate. Students work in small groups and use a variety of digital communication tools to manage their collaborative class projects through different time zones.

“For me, the class is not only about history but about learning how to empathize with others who have different histories,” says Oskoz. “The greatest takeaway is having students in both countries say, ‘I didn’t know this could be looked at another way.’”

Learning from non-native English speakers in an online TESOL exchange

When Shannon Sauro, assistant professor of education, came to UMBC, she brought with her a virtual exchange program for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) that she began in Sweden five years ago. The future educators she has worked with hail from countries around the globe, and many are not native English speakers. “For many students,” she says, “English was their third or fourth language,” and their perspectives have proved invaluable for classmates who are native English speakers.

Students in Sweden corresponding with their virtual exchange partners in Israel and Spain. Photo courtesy of Shannon Sauro.

At UMBC, Sauro offers upper-level courses that integrate virtual exchange to challenge and build students’ critical thinking, teamwork, and cross-cultural skills. She also offers training in virtual collaboration to interested faculty across all fields.

“Teaching TESOL means working often with vulnerable populations and deepening the knowledge of the role of the teacher,” shares Sauro. “Virtual exchanges build empathy and emphasize the humanity in all of us.”

Refining language skills: Bilingual exchange with Japan

Virtual exchanges are also useful for students working to learn a second language, as they can enhance students’ pronunciation skills and their understanding of a language’s cultural context. Tomoko Hoogenboom, senior lecturer in modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, worked with colleagues at Nanzan University in Japan to implement a bilingual virtual exchange for Nanzan students studying English and UMBC students studying Japanese.

The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program is part of a partnership between the American Council of Education and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The institutions have provided a combined $9.8 million to fund such collaborations between U.S. and Japanese institutions from 2018 through 2023.

Hoogenboom explains that UMBC students in this upper-level course work on group projects with Japanese students through tools like Slack. At the end of the course, participating UMBC students have an opportunity to study in Japan on a full scholarship.

“COIL is about a deep language and cultural learning experience. Through class projects students expand their understanding of Japanese/U.S. linguistic and cultural differences and similarities,” says Hoogenboom. “Students then leverage this knowledge to foster long-term bicultural and bilingual collaboration through their study abroad opportunity.”

Growing through shared interests: Health and athletics

Throughout the summer and fall 2019, UMBC’s partnerships with Japanese universities have continued to grow. In addition to developing a five-year agreement with Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering, focused on research collaboration, UMBC established a new kind of partnership with Nippon Sport Science University that explores broader elements of the student experience.

Jessica Hammond-Graf (left) walks around UMBC with representatives of Nippon Sport Science University.

UMBC has an existing collaboration with Nippon Sport Science University in the area of emergency health services education. For eight days, two faculty members and five students from Nippon Sport Science University visited UMBC to develop their knowledge of English-language medical terminology and to shadow emergency responders. During the visit, Kazumi Hasegawa, director of international marketing at UMBC’s English Language Institute, connected these guests with UMBC Athletics, to explore collaboration opportunities related to athletics, recreation, and the student experience.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Nippon Sport Science University,” says Jessica Hammond-Graf, UMBC’s interim director of athletics. “Sport is a wonderful way to celebrate our shared values and it can and should serve as a great unifier between our cultures.”

Kazumi Hasegawa (left), Jessica Hammond Graf (second from right), and Sarah Gardenghi (right) with representatives of Nippon Sport Science University.

Hosting professional development for visiting faculty through the Fulbright program

UMBC also regularly hosts faculty and students from other countries on campus for longer periods of time through international exchanges and through professional development opportunities. Recently, education instructors Doaa Rashed, M.A. ’08, ESOL and bilingual instructional systems development, and Ph.D. ’17, language, literacy and culture, and Mary Tabaa, M.A.‘00, ESOL and instructional development systems, hosted a Fulbright Junior Faculty Development Program professional development with TESOL and linguistics faculty from Egypt. This specific Fulbright program is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of State and AMIDEAST, a U.S. nonprofit that works to strengthen cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.

Scot Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, speaking with a faculty from Egypt.

Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, speaking with a faculty member from Egypt. Photo courtesy of UMBC TESOL.

Visiting faculty represented Pharos University, the University of Modern Sciences and Arts, Minoufiya University, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Al-Azhar University, and the American University in Cairo. Each was paired with a UMBC faculty mentor for their ten-week stay, working together to conduct TESOL and linguistics research and examine best practices in those fields, as well as providing student support with diverse learning styles and internship and employment support. Their goal was to gather new insights to implement at their home campus.

“It is one thing for international partners to hear how UMBC is diverse and inclusive, it is another to actually see how it works in person,” reflects Rashed. “The success of this program, one we hope to continue, depends on the continued committed of the entire campus to the preparation of teachers from all over the world. This is where the real-life implementation of diversity and inclusion is invaluable.”

Egyptian TESOL delegation with Tabaa (L) and Rashed (R).

Visiting Egyptian faculty with Tabaa (l) and Rashed (r).

Since the participants have returned to their home institutions, their joint research has continued through virtual collaboration. In December, the Egyptian faculty will present their work to Fulbright Egypt.

Combining science and cultural immersion in Spain

While UMBC continues to expand the range of available international learning experiences, some students are still looking for a more traditional study abroad, but don’t quite know how to access it in a way that works for them.

Like Marc Zupan, Ivan Erill, associate professor of biological sciences, wanted to help STEM students see international learning as a real possibility. Erill developed a STEM study abroad program at La Universitat Pompeu Fabra in his hometown of Barcelona, Spain. Students earn UMBC credit for biology and Spanish courses, while also being immersed in Spanish culture.

The six-week program ran for the first time in summer 2019. “I have learned that our students are very receptive to other cultures and ways of seeing life, and that being exposed to other cultures makes them both challenge and appreciate their own culture,” Erill says.

Ivan Erill at the Feb. 2019 study abroad fair.

Ivan Erill (center) at a study abroad fair in February 2019.

Erill’s goal for the program is to help students expand their sense of what is possible in their future careers as scientists. This includes the options of completing a graduate study abroad or collaborating with scientists in other countries. “I have witnessed a gradual change in students’ perception of the quality and breadth of scientific research outside the U.S.,” he shares.

Pauline Rozario ’20, biological sciences, says the program has expanded her vision of her future career. “I would love to travel abroad for my future career path in medicine after I graduate from UMBC,” she shares.

Jessica Kweon ’22, biological sciences, had a similar reaction after visiting the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, which she noted had “incredible image-processing capabilities.” In addition to thinking more deeply about a possible research career in biology, she’s increasingly reflecting on the cultural factors that shape her perspective, as a scientist and as a person.

Throughout International Education Week, UMBC is hosting a range of opportunities for all community members to connect with Retrievers with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and to learn about international learning and teaching programs.

This news story was reported in collaboration with Sarah Hansen, M.S.’15, biology, and Megan Hanks.

Banner image: UMBC Commons international flags. All images by Marlayna Demond ’11, unless otherwise noted.

The Future of W.E. B. Du Bois: Nimi Wariboko presents UMBC’s 41st annual W.E.B. Du Bois lecture

What is the future of W.E.B. Du Bois? Nimi Wariboko, the featured speaker at UMBC’s 41st annual W.E.B. Du Bois lecture, aims to address this question. “I want to bring Du Bois’s rich and complex concept of consciousness to the study of citizenship and epistemology in Africa,” says Wariboko, the Water G. Muelder Professor of Social Ethics in the School of Theology and chair of the philosophy, theology, and ethics department at Boston University.

The lecture bridges generations who may not be familiar with Du Bois’s work with scholars whose research is significantly influenced by him. “W.E.B. Du Bois’s foundational work on black consciousness, citizenship, and racial inequality is as relevant today as it was in 1903,” shares Maleda Belilgne, assistant professor of Africana studies and English. “The future of Du Bois is the striving for a global order that recognizes the intrinsic value and unlimited potential of every black life.”

The 41st W.E.B. Du Bois lecture will take place on November 13, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., in UMBC’s University Center Ballroom. Find out more about the lecture, organized by the Africana studies department, at the Dresher Center for the Humanities.

Banner image: W. E. B. Du Bois. Photo from creative commons.

UMBC’s newest Postdoctoral Fellows for Faculty Diversity explore who has a voice in literature, policy, and social movements

“UMBC is giving me the ultimate opportunity of time and support to think, write, and teach about what matters to me the most—conducting research about my community,” says Fernando Tormos-Aponte, public policy and political science. He shares the same enthusiasm that Emily Yoon Perez, English, and Blake Francis, philosophy, have about their new appointments as 2019-2020 Postdoctoral Fellows for Faculty Diversity in UMBC’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS).

The postdoctoral fellows are pursuing research in a broad range of topics. Perez researches diverse twentieth- and twenty-first-century texts. Francis studies the ethics of environmental problems. Tormos-Aponte focuses on identity and social movements. What connects them all is a dedication to pursuing research involving diverse communities and working closely with students who are eager to explore these subject areas.

Reflecting diversity in literary texts

Perez was born and raised in Baltimore by immigrant parents from Korea who were small business owners in Northeast Baltimore. She was constantly surrounded by the rich diversity Baltimore has to offer and saw that reflected in some of the texts she read throughout high school. “I read African American texts throughout my time in secondary and higher education, which provided an opening to explore other minority literatures,” remembers Perez. In graduate school, she was able to take an African American literature course. This reaffirmed for her the desire to pursue an academic career in English, which was first inspired by Toni Morrison’s writing.

Her current research areas focus on twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature, critical race theory, postcolonial and transnational studies, and feminist theory. Perez’s book project is titled Little Intimacies: Race and Oceanic Migrations in Minority U.S. Fiction. It brings together transnational literary studies, comparative racialization studies, postcolonial theory, and ethnic studies.

“I choose to teach in a way that is inclusive. My courses always center on twentieth- and twenty-first-century authors from marginalized identities,” shares Perez. “Diversity is also what is not seen—students may have jobs or take care of family members. They have lives beyond the classroom that I do not always know about. I use a range of assessments to allow students to show their mastery of the material in different ways and to be mindful of different modes of learning.”

Her teaching mentor, Lindsay DiCuirci, English, notes Perez’s background and research focus are a great match for the needs of UMBC students. “Emily’s expertise in contemporary multiethnic U.S. literature and world literatures resonates with our students’ desire to read literature that reflects their own diverse backgrounds,” says DiCuirci.

“Perez’s Analysis of Literary Language course draws from writers like Audre Lorde, Ocean Vuong, Toni Morrison, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Viet Thanh Nguyen,” DiCuirci notes. “She invites students to not only study literary form, but to think about how these forms enable writers to engage with subjects of race and ethnicity, belonging, sexuality, migration, family, language, and power.”

Climate change responsibility

This sense of responsibility to students also drives Francis. He will be teaching a course on climate change and intergenerational justice social justice in the spring that explores issues of environmental racism.

Francis grew up in the southwestern U.S. with a great appreciation for the outdoors. When he identified as a masculine woman, he found it safer to be in distant natural environments, where he did not have to manage issues like which bathroom he could use.

“I began identifying as a transgender man around the time I decided to specialize in environmental ethics,” shares Francis. “Protecting the wild places that have made me who I am is part of what motivates me to work on climate change, intergenerational justice, and environmental values.”

In particular, Francis focuses on moral questions that come up in environmental policy and decision making, including the responsibility of nations to address climate change and what happens when they don’t take responsibility. He is currently examining the responsibility of the U.S. to provide reparations for the victims of climate change and whether taxpayers should be responsible for underwriting those costs.

“I am committed to working across disciplines (including science, public health, and economics) to make progress on climate change,” explains Francis. “I model this commitment to my students, and I design classes at the intersection of ethics, political philosophy, environmental studies, and economics, which are open to students from all backgrounds.”

Francis hopes to build connections with scientists and social scientists at UMBC and other institutions in the region who are doing intergenerational work on environmental justice issues. “I’ve seen students at UMBC from across all majors gather to protest for sound environmental policy,” he adds. “Successful political action on climate change requires an interdisciplinary approach. It won’t make their message stronger necessarily, but it probably makes it smarter.”

Jessica Pfeifer, philosophy, appreciates Francis’s ability to work across different fields for the greatest impact. “Blake Francis’s work has significant implications for how we balance different sorts of harms and goods and whether we can hold collective agents (such as nations and corporations) accountable for climate change,” explains Pfeiffer. “He also helps build connections to other departments and programs on campus, including the Human Context of Science and Technology Program.”

Identity and social movements

Climate change also underlies much of Tormos-Aponte’s work. “I was born and raised in Puerto Rico,” he shares. “You can’t live in a place like Puerto Rico and not care about the beauty of this planet, the politics that drive it as well as who is impacted by it and who is ignored in that political process.”

Tormos-Aponte spent time working on climate change research and social movements during the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris. While there he was able to join a delegation of indigenous people from all over the world protesting for their rights to be included in the climate change agreements. “You cannot separate identity and social movements,” he says.

Professor Pamela Bennett, public policy, mentors Tormos-Aponte and sees him as an excellent model for students who want to learn how to combine their scholarly research interests with real-world engagement. “From his work on social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter to his work on climate change and the ongoing impact of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico, Fernando’s research engages with a range of issues that are vitally important to the Baltimore metropolitan region, the state, and around the world,” says Bennett.

For all the fellows, accepting the opportunity to come to UMBC as a postdoctoral fellow was not only about exploring their research in an inclusive scholarly community but also about finding a home for themselves that is open to their many identities and affiliations.

“Being at UMBC is about being able to be myself,” says Tormos-Aponte, “to be proud of my heritage and its positive influence on my research.”

Banner image: (L to R) Francis, Perez, and Tormos-Aponte at UMBC. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC unless otherwise noted.

In Baltimore Revisited, UMBC and community authors reflect on the city’s history of inequality and resistance

UMBC’s Nicole King, American studies, and Kate Drabinski, gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, have published Baltimore Revisited. The anthology, edited with the University of Baltimore’s Joshua Clark Davis, reflects the complex history of Charm City and efforts currently underway to address the city’s pervasive inequalities. These issues continue to resonate with Baltimore residents almost five years after the death of Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Uprising that followed.

(L to R) King, Drabinski at the launch. — (L to R) King, Davis, and Drabinski at the Baltimore Revisited launch. Photo by Dinah Winnick.

“Many issues in our city are the result of long histories, whether it’s about the history of policing, environmental justice, vacancy, redlining, or gentrification,” shares Davis. “The roots of these issues are much deeper than a lot of us are aware of. History is not about dusty things in the past. It has usefulness today.”
Baltimore Revisited is a compilation of perspectives from activists, artists, community members, and academics, including several from UMBC. It is also accompanied by a website, Baltimorerevisited.org, for the community to access more information about the project and related events.
“We hope the book raises questions about how history can inform the present to understand the roots of the city’s many inequalities,” says Drabinski. “We wish readers to imagine new ways of being in and organizing for Baltimore in the future.”

Community focus

King and Drabinski, trained as interdisciplinary scholars, are long-time collaborators. The inspiration for Baltimore Revisited came a few years ago when they taught a Humanities Scholar seminar at UMBC. During a labor history walking tour with the class, they realized the content of the tour did not sufficiently incorporate gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and other points of view to give a holistic picture of Baltimore.
King and Drabinski recognized the need for an updated history of Baltimore, written by and for scholars and community members alike, so they took up the task. “We wanted our work to reach beyond the academy because these histories belong to everyone,” shares Drabinski. “We hope readers can find pieces that speak to them.”

Nicole King opening the Baltimore Revisited launch.

The book reflects a wide range of methodological approaches to keep up with changes in the fields of history and American studies. The five sections cover a wide range of topics from the Jim Crow era to the present. They include: Place and Power: Roots of (In)Justice in the City; Histories of Contestation and Activism in a Legacy City; Voices from Here: Listening to the Past; Surviving in the Neoliberal City: Redevelopment in Baltimore; and Democratizing the Archives.
The book’s contributors approached these themes through writing in several different formats, such as interviews, analysis of archival research, poetry, and essays. The breadth and diversity of material in the book makes it accessible and useful for a range of audiences. Baltimore Revisited is already being applied at UMBC in media and communication studies and American studies courses.

UMBC perspectives

The authors and supportive community members recently gathered at Red Emma’s restaurant and bookstore in Baltimore City to celebrate the book’s launch. Some read excerpts from the book and others shared reflections. Of the many book contributors, several are from UMBC.
Shawntay Stocks Ph.D. ‘19, language, literacy, and culture, read two poems at the book launch event, including “Placed Love,” which appears at the very start of the book. Ashley Minner, American studies, also spoke at the event, about the chapter she contributed on her Lumbee community in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood.

Stocks doing a poetry reading at the Baltimore Revisited launch. Photo by Dinah Winnick.

Additional UMBC contributors include Denise Meringolo, history, who shared her public archive project to preserve the Baltimore Uprising. Joe Tropea ’06, history, and M.A. ’08, historical studies, explored censorship by Maryland’s Board of Motion Pictures. April Householder, visual and performing arts, and M.A. ‘00, comparative literature, and Jodi Kelber-Kaye wrote about Baltimore’s socialist feminists, with coauthor Elizabeth Morrow Nix. Householder is director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships at UMBC and Kelber-Kaye serves as associate director of the Honors College. And Michael Casiano, American studies, wrote about criminalizing Black neighborhoods in Baltimore during the Jim Crow era.

Public humanities

While King and Drabinski worked to include a broad range of voices in a way not often seen in academic volumes, they also note that this is just the beginning. “There are many change agents in Baltimore whose voices need to be heard and many histories that have yet to be documented,” says Drabinski, who also co-authored a chapter with Louise Parker Kelley on Baltimore’s LGBTQ community.
Supporting the collection and sharing of research by and for the communities Baltimore represents is an essential aspect of King and Drabinski’s work and the book. “We can not forget the public in public humanities,” shares King, who also wrote a chapter about development in Baltimore.
During the launch event, the editors emphasized the importance of public-serving institutions, particularly public libraries. “Without institutions like the public library, these histories would not have as much of an opportunity to reach the communities they represent,” said King. With this in mind, the editors are donating all proceeds of the book to the Enoch Pratt Free Library, which they note remained open for city residents during the Baltimore Uprising.
Ultimately, says Drabinski, “The book comes from our love of Baltimore, a city both of us now call home.”
Banner image: Stocks doing a poetry reading at the Baltimore Revisited launch. Photo by Dinah Winnick.

UMBC’s Erle Ellis crowdsources global archaeological research to trace the history of human impacts on Earth

For decades, UMBC’s Erle Ellis, professor of geography and environmental systems, has examined the history of humanity’s impact on the planet, but he’s had lingering questions about just how far back in time scientists can trace that impact. To answer these questions, he and a team of colleagues from all over the world created ArchaeoGLOBE, an international collaborative for archaeologists to document the history of human impacts on the environment. Their crowdsourced findings, dating back thousands of years, now appear in Science and the New York Times.

Archaeological perspective

The ArchaeoGLOBE crowdsourcing project brought together research from over 250 archaeologists from around the world. The experts shared their historical knowledge on how humans have used land across 146 regions, spanning all continents except Antarctica, through a questionnaire.

“Archaeologists have unrivaled tools for investigating human changes in environments over the long term,” explains Ellis. “The ArchaeoGLOBE project brought this expertise together at global scale.”

The results represent the first global inventory of archaeological research about how humans have impacted the Earth through hunting and gathering, raising livestock, and cultivating crops for millennia. Findings suggest that foraging was common around the world 10,000 years ago, raising livestock began 8,000 years ago (originating in Southwest Asia), and by 6,000 years ago agriculture was practiced in some form across nearly half of the world, becoming common by 3,000 years ago.

ArchaeoGLOBE world map of hunting and gathering from 10,000 to 100 years ago. (Click to view GIF)

From this data the first global archaeological map of long-term changes in land use was created. “Human use of land created the transformed planet of the Anthropocene that we live in now, by driving species extinct, deforesting the planet, tilling Earth’s soils, and releasing carbon into the atmosphere, changing Earth’s climate,” explains Ellis.

Importantly, the research team found that these changes began earlier than other studies have reported. ArchaeoGLOBE brings clarity to this transformation by using archaeological expertise to map global land use, the underlying cause of these changes, past, present, and future.

Collaborative approach to research

Ellis and former UMBC post-doctoral fellow Lucas Stephens, current senior research analyst at the Environmental Law & Policy Center, led the process of analyzing data from the 250 archaeologists, with critical support from three undergraduate researchers. Alexa Thornton ‘18, environmental science and geography; Santiago Munevar Garcia ‘18, environmental science and geography; and Jeremy Powell ‘18, geography, made essential contributions to the work, focusing on geospatial analysis and mapping the data set.

(L to R) Thorton, Ellis, and Powell working in the GES lab. Image courtesy of Erle Ellis.

Stephens recollects how challenging it was to collect a data set that would be a first approximation of the global history of land use. “Figuring out how to split the world up into analytical regions was a big challenge in and of itself. Clicking through an unsolicited email to participate in someone else’s project is a very generous act, so to receive over 700 contributions from over 250 archaeologists was fantastic,” remembers Stephens.

He notes that the response from the scholarly community was, “surprising and uplifting,” and he hopes this example will spur more synthetic research in the future.

ArchaeoGLOBE map on the growth of urban centers 10,000 to 100 years ago. (Click GIF to view)

“Our hope is that this is only the first achievement of what will become a new, massively collaborative scientific approach to understanding the global environmental changes caused by humans over the long term,” shares Ellis.

The ArchaeoGLOBE project was conducted in collaboration with the Global Land Programme. The Programme is scientific community promoting the study of land systems and the co-design of solutions for global sustainability. ArchaeoGLOBE is also an extension of the NSF-funded GLOBE (Global Collaboration Engine) project. GLOBE is a platform for researchers to share, compare, and integrate local and regional studies with global data, and to measure the global relevance of their research.

Learn more

Ellis will be speaking about Understanding Human Transformation of Earth at The Center for Social Science Scholarship on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at noon in the Information/Technology building room 229.

The complete findings on this research can be found in the Science article “Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use.” Additional insights comparing previous mapping projects can be found in “Humans Dominated Earth Earlier Than Previously Thought” (The New York Times).

The Conversation published an article by Ellis and Stephens, as well as Ben Marwick of the University of Washington and Nicole Boivin of the Max Planck Institute, which reviews different points of view on the history of human impacts on the Earth. This piece has surpassed 120,000 views and has been republished by Popular Science, EcoWatch, ScienceAlert, EarthSky, and Live Science. (Click here for a complete list of media coverage.)

Banner image: Val de Navarrés, País Valenciano, Spain with permission from Michael Barton. All maps courtesy of Lucas Stephens.

Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities hosts literacy-focused institute for Baltimore teachers

UMBC’s Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities recently welcomed to campus early childhood educators from four Baltimore City public schools. They gathered for a Summer Teacher Institute focuses on improving literacy and outcomes for pre-K-2 students, particularly young English language learners.
Participants represented four of UMBC’s partner elementary/middle schools: Lakeland, Maree G. Farring, Curtis Bay, and Bay-Brook. These schools have strong connections with UMBC, including providing placements for UMBC student teachers and welcoming volunteer tutors. The institute addresses topics identified by the teachers as essential focus areas, explored through a series of interactive, research-based workshops.

Our language toolbox

Jennifer Mata-McMahon, associate professor of early childhood education, led the main two-day workshop. She shared with the teachers her research on translanguaging and early literacy strategies for diverse learners. Translanguaging, the use of a person’s unique linguistic repertoire shaped by their cultural and social context, can be a powerful instructional tool.
Mata-McMahon offered teachers a deep dive into how to use students’ formal, informal, home, school, and playground languages to access curriculum content. Her presentation responded to a crucial need teachers are experiencing: effective strategies to support the increasing number of English language learners in their schools.

Meta-McMahon (third from left) working with Baltimore City teachers. — Mata-McMahon (third from left) working with Baltimore City teachers.

Quiana Zamarron, a first grade teacher at Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School, experienced the benefits of having additional resources to support English language learners last year. UMBC literacy volunteer, Maia Parker ’22, English, a Sherman STEM Teacher Scholar, worked with students in Zammarron’s class as part of the Sherman Center/Shriver Center Literacy Fellows Program.
“Many of my students are English language learners. Maia, who was learning Spanish at UMBC, was not only able to work with small groups but also to provide support to my Spanish non-English speaking students,” explains Zamarron. “What she gave my class was something I wasn’t able to offer.”
She notes that continuing to learn about literacy strategies for English language learners will make her more confident in her classroom, and help her meet the needs of her students.

Quiana Zamarron (third from left) with fellow teachers from Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School. — Quiana Zamarron (third from left) with fellow teachers from Curtis Bay.

Diverse books

The institute also focused on how teachers can use diverse books in the classroom as an effective translanguaging strategy. Each teacher received a copy of Derrick Barnes’ The King of Kindergarten and Crown:Ode to the Fresh Cut. Mavis Sanders, director of the Sherman Center, invited Barnes as the keynote speaker to share his path as an award-winning author of children’s literature and perspectives on the importance of culturally diverse books in early childhood classrooms.
Barnes described his core motivations for writing books that place the experiences of young black families front and center. “I set out to write the blackest children’s books I could write to show the diversity within black culture and simply because there are so few that show that strength,” he said. “Teachers need more books that reflect not only their students’ cultural and social experiences, but also their language.”

Sanders with Barnes reviewing The King of Kindergarten. — Sanders (left) with Barnes reviewing *The King of Kindergarten*.

Patricia Escafer has been teaching since 1997 and is currently teaching second grade at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School. She finds translanguaging training through the use of diverse books has been pivotal for her and her students.
“This training is about representing the whole child. It gives me and the children hope because it shows how they can also be heroes and that they matter,” says Escarfuller. “Through diverse books students can reflect on their talents and know that those career choices are an option for them. Learning through diverse books is about respecting all of who a child is, socially and academically.”

The science lesson guide and diverse books given to teachers at the Institute.

Reading together

Kindel Nash, associate professor of early childhood education, and doctoral student Josh Michael ’10, political science and education, assistant director of UMBC’s Sherman STEM Teachers Scholars Program, also presented their Read Two Impress Plus research, funded by the Sherman Center.
Nash discusses this new research in the article, “Parents can help kids catch up in reading with a 10-minute daily routine,” published in The Conversation. “By activating the senses of hearing, seeing and touch, this approach makes recognizing familiar words easier and faster, increasing fluency,” explains Nash. “The strategy works best when it’s repeated regularly – ideally 10-15 minutes per day.”
Nash points out that this approach is enhanced by involving family members. Further, she writes, “We also found that when families read books that reflected their culture and language, they enjoyed reading together more.”

(L to R) Michael, Nash, and Grimes discussing Grimes' new science lesson guide. — (L to R) Michael, Nash, and Grimes discussing Grimes’ new science lesson guide.

Skill integration

Teachers walked away from the conversations on translanguaging, literacy, and diverse books with strategies to help their students access content knowledge at a higher level. Olivia Grimes ‘19, individualized study, also demonstrated how the educators could apply their new strategies to teaching specific topics in a science classroom.
Grimes, a current first year early childhood teacher at Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle School, presented each teacher with a copy of Integrated Learning: Science Through Diverse Books, a lesson guide she created. The guide is based on her research as a Sherman STEM Scholar and program assistant at the Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities. The center funded and provided support for the research, development, creation, and dissemination of the guide. It provides lesson plans and learning activities based on 13 books covering ecology, space, engineering and design, the senses, and weather from the Sherman Center’s Diverse Books Collection.
This type of applied, research-based resource is the reason teachers value this professional development event and want to return for future trainings.
“Integrating science into our lessons, along with diverse texts, exposes students to science content beyond state-tested subjects. The books help reflect the diversity of the science field and allow students to see themselves as scientists, making science personal,” explains Grimes. “These strategies support and build on the skills students have and open worlds of unexplored possibilities.”
Banner image: Zamarron with colleague reviewing Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut. All images by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC partners with Latino Racial Justice Circle and Maryland Humanities in community-engaged research in Baltimore

In their work with communities in Baltimore, the Latino Racial Justice Circle (LRJC) observed a recurring issue: immigrant, white American, and African American communities share faith-based spaces but rarely engage in community dialogue. As a result, members of these communities may never get to know each other – or may even live in fear of each other.

Through a partnership with LRJC, UMBC’s Felipe Filomeno, professor of political science and global studies, a member of LRJC, and Tania Lizarazo, assistant professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication and global studies, worked to develop, design, execute, evaluate, and disseminate the Honest Conversations on Immigration project. Through a course of dialogue, interviews, and digital storytelling, the program aims to foster dialogue between U.S.-born citizens and immigrants.

“Our goal as researchers was to use dialogue and digital stories as two ways to bring different communities together around religion, race, and immigration,” explains Filomeno, “and through that process create the potential to change the relationships within individuals, and between communities and society for the better.”

Community intersections

The Latino Racial Justice Circle (LJRC) is a volunteer, faith-based, immigrant support group based in Baltimore. It funds legal services, scholarships, and advocacy for federal immigration reform on behalf of Latino communities. This new project – similar to one addressing racism that has been implemented in more than 18 Catholic parishes in Baltimore – aims to bring faith-based groups from different backgrounds together to reveal their commonalities and build on shared strengths.

“We fear what we don’t know. And what we need to learn is vast,” shares Ryan Settler, president of the Maryland Chapter of Call To Action (CTA), a progressive social justice organization that created the Racial Justice Circle (RJC ) five years ago. “Immigrant and refugee stories in the media leave us confused, concerned, and even fearful. Honest Conversations begins to address those concerns.”

Through the Honest Conversations projects, volunteers from the LRJC, immigrants, and U.S.-born citizens in faith communities agree to engage in dialogue about perceptions of immigration and race. These initial steps towards understanding highly politicized issues can lead to collective action for racial justice and immigrant rights.

“Our project crosses boundaries between the humanities and the social sciences, academia and community, between immigrants and U.S.-born citizens, inner-city and suburbs,” explains Filomeno.

https://youtu.be/YFAKEE-X3EQ

Defining dialogue

The goal of the Maryland Humanities-funded project is for communities to move from confusion and anger to collaboration. For that to happen, participants first took part in two group dialogues consisting of 12-14 members from three faith-based communities. The dialogues were followed by the collection and sharing of personal experiences of religion, race, and immigration in Baltimore through digital storytelling. Both processes centered around the power of community dialogue to create respectful places in which difficult conversations might be had.

“Dialogue is a process of listening to others with the purpose of understanding. It does not aim to pass judgment, ‘just talk,’ mediate, debate, or negotiate,” explains Filomeno. He led the scientific implementation of structured dialogue and provided a framework for active listening. He also served as the facilitator at four churches in and around Baltimore: St. Ann’s Catholic Church; St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church; Church of the Annunciation; and St. Clement Mary Hofbauer Church.

“Because the dialogues happened in a familiar shared faith space the participants began with prayer, which was an entry point into a shared experience,” explains Filomeno. “I was then able to support where the participants wanted to take the conversation and guide them through clarifications,” he reflects.

Giuliana Valencia, co-chair for the LRJC, found the structured talks powerful and hopes other faith-based organizations will begin the program in their communities. “We recognize dialogue is the best way to change the human heart,” Valencia shares. “No matter how controversial the topic, you can always find common ground.”

Dialogue through digital storytelling

Digital storytelling is another key aspect of community-engaged research because it shifts the focus from the researcher creating information towards information being created by the community.

“Collaborative audiovisual pieces can share personal perspectives. These not only complement academic writing but help disrupt mainstream narratives as the only sources of knowledge,” explains Lizarazo. They can also create new ways for academics to think about primary sources. “Digital stories can serve as primary sources in different fields because they engage audiences and give access in ways writing doesn’t.”

This type of community-based digital storytelling also addresses the issue of access. Lizarazo explains how academic journals, while useful in academic circles, also limit who shares in the knowledge. The power of digital storytelling is in its accessibility – often opening spaces for nonacademic conversations through social media networks. “These stories where the narrative and the message is controlled by the community member can be used for pedagogical and research purposes,” notes Lizarazo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PNZi3PyZyE

The digital stories Lizarazo helped create for Honest Conversations on Immigration present personal experiences of faith, race, and immigration in Baltimore. Some delve into the first reactions of relocation to Baltimore. Others focus on employment experiences as well as how faith-based organizations supported their transition into Baltimore.

The research also shows lived experience is linked to scholarship and the context in which it’s produced, explains Lizarazo, who brings a personal component to her work. “As a Colombian immigrant, I understand first-hand global hierarchies of passports that affects mobility. I also know how stereotypes affect people’s daily life and recognize the privilege a tourist, student, and work visa brings.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5AzE_wQszA&authuser=1

Romi Pal ‘20, assisted Lizarazo in recording, transcribing, and producing the video testimonials along with a multimedia story for the overall project. Pal appreciated the opportunity to see the theories about race and immigration, learned through her global studies and political science majors, play out first-hand in a unique and relevant project.

Similar to Lizarazo, Pal was drawn to the project because of her immigrant background. “The dialogue emphasized how immigrant communities are not a monolith,” notes Pal. “As the daughter of immigrants myself, it made me feel thankful for the sacrifices my parents made when they came to the U.S. Baltimore still has a long way to improve race relations within religious communities.”

Lessons from Baltimore communities help others

After the talks, Filomeno and Lizarazo presented the research results to the general public at the Enoch Pratt Southeast Anchor Library in Highlandtown. The data revealed that private structured group dialogues had great advantages.

With the support of faith leaders and in collaboration with familiar community organizations, Honest Conversations on Immigration helped facilitate critical dialogue about controversial topics in a respectful manner. Participants also developed empathy toward each other and organized a multi-parish potluck as an initial step to collaborate across differences.

This initial project serves as a foundation for organizations across the United States who are working with similar issues and need support. Filomeno has created a digital guide for communities outside of Baltimore to implement their own Honest Conversations on Immigration project.

“As xenophobic discourses become mainstream,” notes Lizarazo, “I’m committed to learning and collaborating with members of immigrant communities. I want to help produce knowledge and show the nuances of our experiences.”

Learn more about Honest Conversations on September 10, 4 – 5:30 p.m., in the Theatre Rehearsal Space of the Performance Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB 127) at UMBC.

Banner image: (L-R) Pal getting ready to record and Lizarazo storyboarding with participant. All images and digital stories courtesy of the Honest Conversations project.

Preminda Jacob focuses on building connections as new associate dean of research and community engagement

Preminda Jacob, visual arts, has been named the new associate dean of research and community engagement for UMBC’s College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CAHSS). She will join the current team of associate deans in providing support for the College’s many departments, programs, and research centers. Together they will continue to implement CAHSS’ strategic goals and objectives, focusing on projects around recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, and further developing community engagement work.

Scott Casper, dean of CAHSS, is excited about the level of expertise Jacob brings to the team. “Preminda Jacob brings a wealth of experience as a scholar, teacher, and UMBC citizen, and leader to the Dean’s Office,” says Casper. “I am delighted that she has joined our leadership team and look forward to her continued contributions to the College and the University in this new role.”

Engaging faculty

Jacob will begin by joining the team of associate deans in working to further foster the current research community within CAHSS and build broader awareness of CAHSS research. One way Jacob hopes to share faculty research is by collaborating with campus partners on updating the university’s current faculty research database capabilities. This digital tool will help academics, researchers, educators, and students from around the world more easily access information about UMBC researchers and their areas of study.

“I see part of community engagement as an accessibility issue,” explains Jacob. “UMBC faculty conduct top-level research. A searchable database elevates our commitment to provide research-based answers to the world’s most pressing questions by placing the research within everyone’s reach.”

Jacob will also help faculty better connect with each other across departments, including for research that involves community partnerships. She looks forward to working with faculty who have research expertise on community engagement by exploring topics through existing brown bag lunch series and working groups in the five CAHSS research centers as well as across UMBC’s colleges.

Engaging the community

Prior to joining the Dean’s Office, Jacob served as chair of visual arts from 2015 to 2018. As a professor of visual arts specializing in art history and visual culture, she worked to connect her passions for research and community engagement.

Jacob recalls a four-year partnership between the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum in Catonsville and her Space, Place, and Public Art class as a particularly significant collaboration. Jacob partnered students with the museum’s staff to create public art pieces from start to finish in one semester. “Students were excited to work directly with a local organization and leaders within the organizations were equally excited to serve as guides and mentors in the process,” she says.

Over the years, Jacob’s students have created object and wall labels, interactive and interpretive recordings, and works of art for the museum. They produced a video featuring interviews with local leaders and archaeologists talking about the archaeological dig conducted by the Maryland Historical Trust in the 1980s on Benjamin Banneker’s property.

Victor Pineda ‘15, visual arts, who went on to serve as a museum intern after participating in Jacob’s class, helped record an actor’s interpretation of the voice of Benjamin Banneker. The recording became part of an interactive device in the Banneker Gallery. Today, visitors can listen to Benjamin Banneker discuss his letter to Thomas Jefferson.

“Through the museum’s partnership with the visual arts department at UMBC,” says Willa Banks, the museum’s former director of education and curatorial affairs, “Dr. Jacob’s public art class provided a phenomenal service that not only benefited UMBC faculty and students but also the museum and the general public as well.”

Jacob plans to work with faculty already engaged with community partners in the Baltimore region to amplify relationships like this one. She is also dedicated to opening pathways for new community engagement opportunities, in the greater Baltimore region and beyond.

Banner Image: Preminda at MFA celebration. All images by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC with the exception of the images of student work at the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum which were courtesy of Willa Banks.

UMBC’s Mejdulene B. Shomali receives Woodrow Wilson Foundation fellowship for research on gender and sexuality in transnational Arab culture

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has selected UMBC’s Mejdulene B. Shomali as a Career Enhancement Fellow. She is one of just 32 professors selected from institutions from across the country. The program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, supports junior faculty with particularly promising research. The fund seeks to increase the presence of faculty members who are underrepresented in their fields and other faculty committed to eradicating racial disparities in the arts and humanities.

The highly competitive fellowship funds career development opportunities for junior faculty whose scholarly projects promote the well-being of diverse and democratic societies. Shomali’s award includes funding for a sabbatical year; a stipend for research, travel, or publication support; mentoring from a tenured faculty member in a related field of study; and a professional development retreat.

Diversity in the Arab world

Shomali came to UMBC in 2015 as a member of the third cohort of UMBC’s Postdoctoral Fellows for Faculty Diversity. She is now an assistant professor in gender, women’s, and sexuality studies and is the fourth UMBC junior faculty member to receive the Career Enhancement Fellowship.

Shomali is devoting her fellowship year to completing a book manuscript, Femininities: Queer Critique and Transnational Arab Culture. Her research is a cultural study about how femininity and queerness in Arab and Arab-American cultures are represented by Arab and Arab-American writers and artists. “I am very interested in how Arab and Arab-American artists, producers, and writers navigate the discourse that shapes their culture,” explains Shomali.

Cultural productions by Arab and Arab-American creative professionals create and communicate identities not defined by the West and can help dispel monolithic views of Arab identities. However, to fully understand the meaning and process of this work, explains Shomali, it has to be contextualized within a wider world—a world that does not truly understand who Arabs are and what Arabness is.

“Most people don’t know there are twenty-two countries in the Arab league. These countries share Arabic as the primary national language. Many are Muslim-majority nations,” shares Shomali. “Many, but not all.” She notes, “There is great linguistic, cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity within the Arab world.”

Shomali’s work explores how Arab perspectives are countering stereotypes of Arab culture created by the United States and other Western nations, which are exacerbated by racial and political tensions. She shares, “Arab and Arab-American artists must create while managing the effects of Orientalism, anti-Arab racism, Middle Eastern politics, and politics of cultural authenticity, which influence how they portray gender and sexuality in their worlds.”

Representations of gender and sexuality

Shomali’s teaching also focuses on the diversity of Arab cultures, identities, and experiences, helping students move past stereotypes of the Arab world as being uniformly misogynistic, anti-woman, and homophobic. As a professor of transnational queer literature, Shomali teaches multiple interdisciplinary courses about issues related to gender, sexuality, race, the media, and transnational feminism.

In these courses, Shomali has seen some students struggling with stereotypes created by Western media about Arab culture and identity. “The creation of these gender and sexuality stereotypes is a tactic that the U.S. and the West have used to feel exceptionally inclusive about gender and sexuality,” explains Shomali. “The same statistics of homophobia, anti-queer legislation, and gender-based sexual violence exist in the Western world.”

A strong tradition of humanities scholarship

The Career Enhancement Fellowship will help Shomali delve further into the complexities of Arab identity and its effect on Arab and Arab-American artistic work through text analysis. It will also inform her teaching practices and course development upon her return.

“I want to document, analyze, and create an awareness of this creative process to spotlight the amazing work that is happening within the Arab art world as defined by Arab and Arab-American artists,” says Shomali.

Shomali’s work reflects a strong tradition of UMBC faculty doing important humanities scholarship recognized by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Professor Michelle Scott, history, was UMBC’s inaugural recipient of this fellowship in 2005-2006. Scott also served as a program mentor in 2013 and continues to support faculty through the application process.

Scott used her fellowship year to complete a draft her first manuscript, Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South. “The fellowship time was invaluable in creating a network of like-minded scholars to help me navigate manuscript research and publishing while learning the landscape of my first tenure-track job,” remembers Scott.

Viviana MacManus, a former assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, now at the University of Maryland, College Park, was UMBC’s second Woodrow recipient. She used the sixth-month fellowship to work on her book manuscript We Are Protagonists of This History: Gender, Political Violence, and Testimonies of Resistance in Latin America’s Dirty Wars. It centered on Latin America’s history of gender and state violence during the “Dirty Wars” of Argentina and Mexico from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Maleda Belilgne, assistant professor of Africana studies and English, is currently completing her year-long fellowship. She used her award to complete her book manuscript, which explores space, sound, and the speculative in the literature of the African diaspora.

After her year of research and writing Shomali plans to return to the classroom to share new perspectives and resources with her UMBC students.

To learn more about professor Shomali’s work visit her website, read her blog, and watch the Race and Religion in the U.S. panel she organized in spring 2019 with the UMBC Dresher Center for the Humanities. Follow @UMBCHumanities on Twitter for more stories.

Banner image: Postdoctoral fellows for 2015 (L to R) Keisha Allen, Nkiru Nnawulezi, and Mejdulene Shomali. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. Race and Religion in the U.S. video by UMBC New Media Studio.