All posts by: Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque

UMBC honors Frederick Douglass’s legacy with event to transcribe Freedmen’s Bureau papers

The UMBC Dresher Center for the Humanities will host its first Humanities Teaching Lab (HT Lab) on February 14, as part of UMBC’s new Inclusion Imperative program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Humanities Teaching Lab: Frederick Douglass Day will commemorate Frederick Douglass’s 200th birthday and Black History Month through a public reading of excerpts from four of his speeches, birthday party, and transcribe-a-thon at the UMBC Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery from noon until 2:00 p.m.

“The Dresher Center is thrilled to join forces with the Colored Conventions project at the University of Delaware and the Smithsonian Transcription Center at the National Museum of African American History and Culture to celebrate Frederick Douglass Day at UMBC through the first Inclusion Imperative Humanities Teaching Lab,” says Jessica Berman, director of the Dresher Center for the Humanities. “The transcribe-a-thon shows how innovative digital work in the humanities can help us explore and extend the legacies of Fredrick Douglass and other unsung social justice heroes.”

HT Labs aim to give humanities educators and researchers hands-on exposure to new media tools and methods to teach and learn about the humanities. During the Douglass Day event, participants will join Howard University, Princeton University, and 35 additional universities and colleges nationwide to transcribe two million digitized document from the Freedmen’s Bureau papers. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was created in 1865 by President Lincoln to administer food, clothing, healthcare, and access to legal services; to assist African American soldiers and sailors in securing back pay, enlistment bounties, and pensions; to promote a system of labor contracts to replace slavery; to promote education; and to protect freedmen and women from intimidation and assault, among other purposes.

Courtney C. Hobson, Dresher Center coordinator and lead organizer of the HT Lab: Frederick Douglass Day notes that crowdsourcing the digital transcription of the Freedmen’s Bureau papers is a way to rapidly expand access to the papers for students, scholars, and African American family historians across the nation and the world. “The transcribe-a-thon adds to the existing digital database of typewritten copies of original records from the post-Civil War era that might otherwise have gone unused due to the quantity and length of time it takes to read handwritten material,” she explains.

Frederick Douglass Day events date back to the time of Frederick Douglass’s death in 1895. The Colored Conventions digital history initiative was founded to share, with a new generation of students and scholars, the history of the Colored Conventions which began in 1830 in Philadelphia as a meeting by the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Richard Allen. For sixty years Black women and men came together in state, regional, and national conventions to organize around education, labor, and legal justice through the Civil War and post-war period. In 2017, the project formally reestablished Fredrick Douglass Day by organizing a national, crowdsourced effort to transcribe Convention Minutes.

“Crowdsourced transcription projects like the Frederick Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon are great ways to bring digital humanities to different audiences,” says Anne Sarah Rubin, associate director of the Imaging Resource Center (IRC) and history professor, who will be teaching faculty how to use crowdsourcing techniques in the classroom. “When students and members of the general public contribute to a project like this, they feel a sense of scholarly connection and ownership that results in deeper engagement with the materials.”

In addition to the transcribe-a-thon, the HT Lab will include a public reading of excerpts from three of Frederick Douglass’s speeches: “On Women’s Suffrage,” “Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln,” and “The meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” as well as “The Color Line,” an article he wrote. Faculty and staff readers will include Courtney Hobson; Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Derek Musgrove ’97, history; and Joby Taylor ’05, Ph.D., LLC, director of the Peaceworker program. A discussion will follow between faculty, staff, and students about the importance of reading and understanding Fredrick Douglass’s work in the civil rights movement to actively engage in inclusive scholarship that furthers equity, education, and social justice today.

“As a pioneer in the struggle for freedom and equality and an extraordinary writer, Frederick Douglass remains among the most inspiring, powerful leaders in American history,” reflects Scott Casper. “All of us can learn from his actions, words, and example in striving for social justice and inclusive excellence.”

UMBC community members interested in the Humanities Teaching Lab: Frederick Douglass Day can register through the Dresher Center for the Humanities.

 

Banner image by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

David Di Maria, UMBC’s new associate vice provost for International Education, debunks common study abroad myths

When David Di Maria traveled to Estonia for the first time as an undergraduate, he never imagined that he would go on to explore over forty countries, or that his career would center on international learning experiences.

Di Maria is UMBC’s new associate vice provost for International Education. He comes to UMBC after serving nearly three years as the associate provost for international programs at Montana State University, Bozeman. Prior to that, Di Maria was the director of international programs and services at Kent State University.

As a leader in the international education field, Di Maria serves on the executive committee of the Commission on International Initiatives for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and in leadership roles with the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) and NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

In his new role as the head of the international education at UMBC Di Maria is excited to expand the university’s global footprint as an international research institution. By growing the UMBC’s network of global partnerships, he hopes to increase student’s study abroad and research opportunities and faculty-led international courses and partnerships.

This effort also includes growing opportunities for international students, lecturers, researchers, and faculty members, and welcoming sister city partners to UMBC like Ho Park, Ambassador for International Relations from Maryland’s new sister state Jeollanam-do Province of South Korea. UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski met with Ambassador Park on January 31, to discuss a partnership to foster collaboration between UMBC and South Korea.

 

 

“The goal is that UMBC students are prepared and engaged to understand the international dimensions of their academic disciplines,” says Di Maria.

“For many students in the humanities, social sciences, and arts, study abroad is an essential, life-changing part of a college education,” says Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science (CAHSS). We are fortunate to welcome a leader with Dr. Di Maria’s wealth and breadth of experience in encouraging and facilitating our students’ endeavors.”

“The trend in research today is interdisciplinary, international, and team-based,” says Bill LaCourse, dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS). “Global experience is of significant value for CNMS students to compete and lead in projects that focus on scientific and societal issues, which transcend physical borders and cultures.”

In the last academic year, 262 students across UMBC chose to deepen their studies in over 30 counties. Among those were eight UMBC students named Fulbright fellows in 2016-17. Six are currently teaching English in Colombia, Mexico, Malaysia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. Two students are conducting international research—one creating 3D digital models of Viking Age ship rituals at the Viking Museum in Oslo, Norway, and the other conducting physics research at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. 

UMBC is also home to hundreds of international students from around the globe. In the current spring semester alone, UMBC welcomed 60 new international students, from India, China, Pakistan, Hong Kong, the D.R. of Congo, Peru, South Korea, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Iran, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria.

 

 

Di Maria’s initial focus is on developing a strategic plan to strengthen and articulate UMBC’s global reputation as a world-class research institution. For universities, internationalization can involve many different kinds of experiences and relationships, he points out, from supporting UMBC students in studying abroad to offering intercultural experiences on campus and bringing international students and faculty to UMBC. “It is also about creating direct connections to research opportunities,” Di Maria says, “because the greatest challenges are global and to solve those researchers need to have diverse perspectives from an international standpoint.”

“UMBC’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program is a great example of how students across disciplines and from all backgrounds can collaborate and learn from each other to address a range of challenges facing our world,” points out Keith J. Bowman, dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT). “There are tremendous benefits to having teams that include people with broad experiences, and I encourage UMBC students from all majors to consider how they can elevate their future accomplishments by improving their global perspectives.”

Even as Di Maria works with university leaders from around the globe to expand students’ international learning opportunities, he knows that supporting students in study abroad often starts with dispelling preconceptions—that it might be too expensive or might not fit into their college plan. He offers these answers to a few common concerns:

Question: Is study abroad always expensive?

Answer: UMBC offers a broad range of study abroad programs that the cost less or the same as studying on campus. There are also scholarships available to UMBC students who are interested in study abroad, ranging from a few hundred dollars to the full cost of the program. Students who participate in study abroad programs led by UMBC faculty during the winter and summer terms can benefit from having up to three credits of their tuition waived. Because these programs typically last only two weeks, students can participate without having to give up their jobs or apartment leases.

Question: Is study abroad just for certain majors?

Answer: All students can benefit from international learning and many describe study abroad as their most impactful college experience. While foreign language majors certainly can be a good fit for study abroad, in reality, a quarter of students studying abroad have STEM majors while just ten percent are majoring in a foreign language. UMBC offers many study abroad programs entirely in English, as well as those in other languages.

Question: Will studying abroad get me off-track academically?

Fact: Studies actually indicate that students who study abroad are more likely to graduate than students who do not, and also tend to graduate with a higher GPA.

Question: How will study abroad impact my career?

Fact: When recruiting for open positions, employers value study abroad. This is particularly the case for employers who earn more than 25 percent of their annual revenue through international sales. According to a 2009 study in International Education, 75 percent of study abroad alumni indicate that study abroad helped their career. Nationally, study abroad alumni have a lower unemployment rate five years after graduation than those who have not studied abroad and the International Education Service notes that 90 percent of study abroad alumni earned admission into their first- or second-choice graduate or professional school.

Question: Where can I study, and is it dangerous to travel abroad?

Fact: UMBC offers programs around the globe. While it is very popular for students from the United States to study in Europe, the percentage of U.S. students studying in Asia and Latin American has increased over the past decade.  The university works with the U.S. Department of State, global insurance companies, and international partners to closely monitor health, safety, and security risks abroad, to make sure students are well-prepared and supported for their international learning experiences.

Students interested in learning more can attend one of several upcoming study abroad events:

International Student Career Conference: Friday, February 2, 9:45-4 p.m. in UC 312

ISEP, UMBC’s newest study abroad opportunity: February 2, 2018, 2:30-3 p.m. in Commons 318

Study Abroad Fair: February 9, 2018, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in Commons Mainstreet

Summer Study Abroad for Biology Majors, UMBC Summer Faculty-Led Program: Spain Info Session, February 9, 2018, noon – 1 p.m. in Biological Sciences 487

Passport Caravan: February 23, 2018, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sign-up is required

Weekly information sessions: Study Abroad 101 on Mondays at noon and Thursdays at 3 p.m. The next sessions will be Monday, January 29, in Administration 529; Thursday, February 1, in Administration 611; Monday, February 5, in Administration 611; and Thursday, February 8, in Administration 611.

Faculty information sessions are coming soon.

 

All Images by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC hosts “Teaching and Reaching Black Boys in America” conversation

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the classroom teacher population is more than 75% women — and over 80% white. As school systems examine how best to create classrooms where all students feel represented, engaged, and included, UMBC’s education department is working to address this and other inequalities in education through innovative programs, initiatives, partnerships, and as a platform to amplify critical issues in education.

On January 22, the department will host “Teaching and Reaching Black Boys in America: A Conversation,” a panel discussion based on the book The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys. President Freeman Hrabowski will introduce author and educator Eddie Moore, Jr., who will lead an interactive discussion with several contributors to the book, including Jack Hill and Debby Irving, both renowned nationally for their work in race and education.

“The book furthers critical conversations about how whiteness, even enacted by teachers of color, prevents educators from seeing and noticing the brilliance of Black boys,” reflects Keisha Allen, assistant professor of education and the UMBC lead in the Learning Center partnership with Baltimore County Public Schools. “Failing to recognize and build upon the talents and lived experiences of Black boys is a disservice to them, constrains their potential, and is really a national loss.”

It is Allen’s hope that by addressing these topics in the curriculum, evaluation of pre-service teachers, and department programming, education as a whole will also attract Black men who want to become teachers. “In order to fully value and appreciate Black boys and men, teacher candidates need many opportunities to learn from and interact with them as equals before becoming a teacher and assuming a position of power over Black boys,” says Allen.

UMBC education graduates are expected to respect diversity, be leaders in their schools, and advocate for democracy and social change. “This includes the ability to address their own beliefs and attitudes that may perpetuate the injustices and inequalities that persist in our society, and have the courage and wisdom to recognize racism and injustice and to become agents of change,” states Linda Oliva, assistant professor of secondary education.

Faculty across campus engage in the rigorous development and discussion of culturally responsive pedagogy in all undergraduate and graduate programs. This commitment extends beyond teacher preparation to Professional Development Network Sites in twenty-eight schools across all counties which help engage teachers in dialogue and in planning culturally-responsive classrooms and instruction.

UMBC also participates in interdisciplinary collaborations where culturally responsive pedagogy is applied through partnerships like Lakeland Elementary and Middle School with the Sherman STEM Teachers Scholars Program and the new Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities with Baltimore City Public Schools; the STEM partnership with Howard County Public Schools, the STEAM partnership with Digital Harbor Foundation and programs like Hour of Code, the Path Before Me, and the development of the Valuable Voices App that helps teachers create linguistically inclusive classrooms.

Christine Mallinson, professor of language literacy and culture (LLC) and co-creator of the Valuable Voices app has worked with other linguists and educators since 2009 to provide workshops and trainings to hundreds of K-12 teachers across the United States. Through her outreach, she has found it especially important for white female teachers to understand how they communicate with students, especially Black male students, in order to establish strong relationships and create a welcoming environment across gender and racial boundaries.

“This is important for everyone who is an educator—not only K-12 teachers, but also those of us who teach in college and university settings, including here at UMBC,” says Mallinson. “ Each of us must bring our intentions as well as our actions to the task of making education inclusive, supportive, and culturally sustaining for our students.”

Events where participants can reflect, plan, and implement the ideas shared during the panel are already scheduled and will continue throughout the year. The first follow-up will be held at the BCPS Learning Center with faculty from the Arbutus Learning Center to further discuss and plan with teachers and members of the BCPS Office of Equity and Cultural Proficiency, which promotes support for equity and fairness for students and teachers in all academic programs. The second will be led by the UMBC education department’s diversity committee, with teacher candidates, administration, faculty, staff, and members of partnerships schools.

The UMBC teaching master’s degree program is accepting applications for summer and fall. Educators interested in creating culturally inclusive classrooms in Maryland can attend the Maryland Education Recruitment Consortium’s 10th annual Teach Maryland Fair on Saturday, March 24, 2018, at UMBC.

Banner image: UMBC students volunteer at Lakeland. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC celebrates alumni in public service at special Annapolis event

UMBC’s growing network of alumni with state public service careers will gather for the third annual Annapolis Alumni Reception January 25 at the House Office Building.

This informal event offers alumni working for and with the State of Maryland a chance to meet one another, reconnect with faculty, and catch up on the latest developments at UMBC. Alumni can also learn about career-building graduate degree opportunities, from top programs in cybersecurity and public policy to new offerings in entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership and in data science.

“Having UMBC alumni in the Senate, House of Delegates, the Governor’s Office, state agencies, advocacy groups and nonprofits is a great asset,” says House of Delegates Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne A. Jones ‘76, psychology. “As public service professionals, we share the same camaraderie and ‘True Grit’ as we did as UMBC students.”

Along with President Freeman Hrabowski, Jones will co-host the event along with Senator James Mathias ’74, political science; Delegate Haven Shoemaker ’87, political science; Delegate Mark Chang ’99, psychology; Delegate Charles Sydnor, III ’00, policy sciences; Matthew A. Clark ’00, history, Chief of Staff, Office of the Governor; and Tiffany Robinson ’97, political science, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Governor.

“The most rewarding part of this event for me is the opportunity to reconnect with my former students. Each year I leave feeling so proud of the interesting, impactful work they are doing for our state and their willingness to help current UMBC students reach their career goals,” shares Laura Hussey, associate professor of political science.

This year, guests will also hear insights from UMBC’s first Rhodes Scholar, Naomi Mburu ’18, chemical engineering, see the Cyber Dawgs’ national championship trophy, and meet Susan Sterett, the new director of the UMBC School of Public Policy.

“The School of Public Policy faculty looks forward to this event each year,” says Sterett. “We are proud to partner with our alumni to contribute to thoughtful policy-making and informed citizenship in Maryland.”

Current UMBC students serving as interns in the 2018 General Assembly session are also invited as special guests. Students interested in becoming future leaders in Maryland’s public and nonprofit sectors can apply to the summer Public Service Scholars Fellowship Programs coordinated by The Shriver Center (deadline: March 15).

Register for the Annapolis Alumni Reception.

All images by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

UMBC receives $1.3 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to diversify economics Ph.D.s

The UMBC economics department has received a $1.3 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to increase the number of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups who complete highly competitive doctoral programs in economics. This five-year program will support students through scholarships, mentoring, research experiences, and, finally, entry into post-graduation programs specializing in doctoral preparation.

“This grant will help increase the diversity of the profession. The students in the program will go on to become academic economists who will, in turn, inspire future generations of underrepresented ethnic and racial minorities,” explains David Mitch, director of the new program and economics department chair, who said he was thrilled by the news.

Through this grant, UMBC will become a partner in a larger effort by the Sloan Foundation to provide resources to diversify the field of economics by creating interventions from the undergraduate level through the post-baccalaureate level. The UMBC program prepares students to apply for and participate in a two-year post-graduation paid fellowship in Sloan-supported programs at New York University, Harvard University, or other highly selective institutions. UMBC will become an integral part of establishing a national pipeline for underrepresented students to understand, get excited about, and pursue careers in economics.

Top tier economics graduate programs require rigorous academic preparation often well beyond the traditional economics major, including coursework in high-level math courses. This coursework, which students are often unaware of until their junior year, is a major barrier to many students, including those from underrepresented groups. UMBC’s program will help students overcome this and other challenges by focusing on recruitment efforts, educating students about opportunities in economics, intensive personalized mentoring, and placement in high-quality and prestigious research experiences at academic and other partner institutions. The most involved students will also have the chance to receive scholarships during their senior year and help to apply and pay for post-baccalaureate programs. This program helps UMBC provide financial support but also the infrastructure needed for underrepresented minority students to succeed in managing the social and academic demands of a rigorous Ph.D. program.

Across the nation, a host of academic fields including economics lack ethnic and racial diversity. Surveys by the American Economic Association indicate that fewer than ten percent of newly minted Ph.D.s in economics or related areas are earned by underrepresented minorities. For 2015, the American Economics Association reported that only two percent of new Ph.D.s that year were awarded to African American students and six percent to Hispanic/Latino students. If the percentage of African Americans completing Ph.D. degrees in economics were to increase by just one percentage point, the number of African Americans entering the job market would more than double.

UMBC, with its national reputation for inclusive excellence and the academic success of diverse students, is the ideal university to join the larger Sloan initiative. UMBC’s economics department has already begun creating a more supportive institutional culture by providing undergraduates with rigorous coursework and high-level internship and research opportunities. They also work closely with the math department to evaluate how to design or adapt courses to make the process easier for students to navigate. The department also has a history of success helping underrepresented students gain admittance to post-baccalaureate and doctoral programs in economics at NYU, Duke University, MIT, Harvard, and the University of Chicago, some of whom have already indicated an interest in being a resource or mentor for new students in the Sloan-supported program.

Brandon Enriquez ’17, economics and mathematics, is among them. A current student in the Ph.D. program at MIT, he didn’t know anyone with a Ph.D. before coming to UMBC. He agrees, “UMBC is an ideal place to cultivate new diverse scholars in economics because of its strength in math.”

He acknowledges that there weren’t other students of color going on to competitive economics Ph.D. programs and he found it extremely valuable to work with Isaiah Andrews, a professor of color in the economics department at MIT. “It helps to have a role model who is a person of color in economics that knows what kinds of challenges there can be and how to adjust,” explains Enriquez. “UMBC is very strong in the STEM fields and has a proven record with Dr. Hrabowski and the Meyerhoff Program of cultivating minority Ph.D.s.”

M’Balou Camara ’15, political science, is currently a student at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy Ph.D. program, with a concentration in economics. For Camara, the Ph.D. Excellence Initiative (PHDEI) at NYU was a bridge between where she was and where she wanted to be. “I wanted to get more hands-on research experience and hone my mathematical skills,” she said. Working with NYU professor Peter Blair Henry “made me a more competitive candidate and able to manage the rigor and course load of my first year of graduate school.”

Camara is clear, though, that success is not only skills dependent. Having the support of mentors of color at UMBC, NYU, and Duke has been crucial to her success. “It is really important to me to have people of color that I can look up to, come to, and connect with me on that level. It can be hard to understand what you are capable of doing if you don’t see a lot of people in this higher level of academia that look like you being successful,” she said,

Camara hopes mentor future women of color economists in a way similar to the mentorship she received from Jacqueline Hrabrowski as a Jacqueline C. Hrabowski Endowment recipient. She says, “I can inspire people like me to go through with a dream in academia.”

Banner image: UMBC Winter Commencement 2016. Photo by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

UMBC’s Michelle R. Scott receives the 2017 Letitia Woods Brown Article Prize

Michelle R. Scott, associate professor of history and Director of the Historical Studies Graduate Program, has received the 2017 Letitia Woods Brown Article Prize from the Association of Black Women Historians for her article, “These Ladies Do Business with a Capital B: The Griffin Sisters As Black Businesswomen in Early Vaudeville,” published in the Journal of African American History.

“Michelle Scott has done extensive research and beautifully written a compelling article to tell a story of black women in business which has been ignored,” says Sharon Harley, associate professor of African American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park and the chair of the Letitia Woods Brown Article Prize. “She has also taken it further by showing how the Griffin Sisters used vaudeville to fight for racial equality, which is an area not often associated with the movement.”

Scott had to sift through census information, obituaries, newspapers, and entertainment materials in independent archives across the country and the Library of Congress to weave and verify the Griffin sister journey. “I found the Griffin sisters in a footnote in a journal article while working on my current book about the Theatre Owner’s Booking Association circuit from the 1920s to 1931,” remembers Scott.

Emma and Mabel Griffin were famous for their acts as singers, comedians, and dancers between 1900 and 1918 in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Chicago. The sister act gained prominence as independent artists and businesswomen by becoming theatre owners, vaudeville circuit owners, and agents of their own entertainment contracts. They used their showmanship and business skills to fight for racial equality as labor organizers for the rights of black vaudeville artists. The Griffin Sisters created a template for future generations of black show business artists to gain control over their wages and art at a time when black women managers were unheard of.

“Emma and Mabel Griffin used the legal system, their celebrity, the fact that they were respected and beloved by black communities, and black newspapers to agitate for change in management, production, and racial equality,” said Scott. The article gained the attention of prominent historians of African American history on the board of the Letitia Woods Brown Prize who felt the article was worthy of acknowledgment.

Letitia Woods Brown was an African American researcher and historian who was the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University in history and was the primary consultant for the Schlesinger Library’s Black Woman Oral History project. She personally donated the money for the book, anthology, and article awards.

The accolade is personally significant for Scott who studies twentieth-century U.S. history, African American history, women’s history, black musical culture, and civil rights. “The Griffin sisters article was an opportunity for me to reveal the often forgotten women who did civil rights work. What does it mean when you study an event like WWII and you leave gender out, or even the construction of the 1960s Civil Rights Act and add the word ‘sex’ to it? The narrative changes and the full story must be told.”

Banner image: Michelle Scott, associate professor of history and Director of the Historical Studies Graduate Program. Photo by Marlayna Demond ‘11 for UMBC.

UMBC receives $6 million gift from the George and Betsy Sherman Family Foundation for two urban education initiatives

UMBC has received a $6 million gift from the George and Betsy Sherman Family Foundation to establish a new Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities and expand the work of the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program.

Mavis Sanders, professor of education and affiliate professor for the language, literacy, and culture doctoral program, has been appointed the inaugural director for the new center. Its goal is to improve STEM, literacy, and mathematics practices and outcomes in early childhood education, with an initial focus in the South Baltimore/Greater Baybrook Alliance area. Sanders, who joined the UMBC community in 2011, has partnered with schools in Baltimore City since 1995.

Mavis Sanders.

“This targeted approach is going to have implications for systemic change. We are looking at what works for the diverse populations that live in Baltimore City. We believe that the schools, families, and communities are the ‘experts’ on their needs and collaborative planning is key,” says Sanders. “We have an opportunity to contribute to the information and the understanding of what different populations face in the city, what is distinctive about them, and also what is common, and through that understanding address critical needs.”

The center will use this targeted approach beginning in two Baltimore schools – Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle and Lakeland Elementary/Middle, – both of which have diverse populations including African American, Latinx, and white students. These schools also have dynamic principals with a deep understanding of how change occurs, as well as how to understand data, lead collaboratively, and enact community and family engagement. The center will promote research-based interventions needed to make the most impact for each of these populations.

The multidisciplinary center will also support UMBC’s established and new school partnerships by identifying and working with academic leaders in Baltimore City. Sanders will collaborate closely with the Provost’s Office and university-wide faculty-led research partnerships.

Sanders’ strong ties to Baltimore City schools come from years of sharing research and identifying best practices, as well as teaching undergraduate and graduate students, some of whom are now teachers, principals, and education leaders in the city. It is a bond that has been fostered through engagement with schools and listening to the experiences of students, parents, principals, and teachers.

“I am committed to K-12 education. If we don’t serve children and we can’t get education right then we get more of the same. I think things can change for individuals, and if we can change things for individuals then that is where the hope lies,” reflects Sanders.

These systemic changes are also being addressed through the Sherman Family Foundation gift with the expansion of The Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars program. The scholars program has produced almost 100 graduates prepared to teach in high need and urban schools. Early childhood, elementary and secondary candidates participate in cohorts that provide academic, social, and financial resources to help students be ready to become highly qualified STEM teachers and serve all children.

George and Betsy Sherman (first from left) in front of Josh Michael. President Freeman Hrabowski and Jacqueline Hrabowski (first from right) next to Rehana Shafi (yellow) at the Sherman STEM Scholars Program 10 year anniversary held on April 1, 2017.

“We know there are two main things that help determine where a teacher becomes a teacher. One is where they are from and the other is where they complete their student teaching internship,” explains Josh Michael ’10, political science and education, assistant director of the program. “We are working with the education department to increase internship placements and also have more applied learning experiences before teaching in Baltimore.”

This current gift provides, over the course of five years, more financial support for students and an additional staff member to help with recruitment of candidates from groups that are underrepresented in teaching. The program is building a pipeline for educators, both natives of Baltimore and others, who have developed the mindset and skill to be highly effective teachers. The goal is to graduate 25 teachers annually, many of whom will teach in Baltimore.

Caitlyn Fleming ’12, animal science, and M.A. ’15, education. Sherman Scholar and intern in the 2015 Lakeland Freedom Schools during the morning community meeting.

“All the work that we do is to help our scholars see themselves as agents of change. We don’t want students to just go teach somewhere. We want them to go somewhere and make a real impact not just in the classroom, but in the school and in the community” emphasizes Rehana Shafi, director of the program.

Being an agent of change also means having scholars from city schools working with scholars who aren’t from city schools to understand from each other what change could look like so they can return to the schools to work in partnership to make those changes. “It isn’t only about having more money to go to school,” says Shafi, “we are talking about significant social justice and systemic changes.”

 

Banner image:  UMBC intern at the 2015 Lakeland Freedom Schools.  All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

 

George Derek Musgrove launches book at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

George Derek Musgrove ’97, associate professor of history,  launched his new book Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital, University of North Carolina Press, with co-author Chris Myers Asch at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on November 2.

While teaching the history of the District of Columbia at the University of the District Columbia (UDC), Musgrove and Asch discovered the need for an accessible and comprehensive text that tells the full history of our nation’s capital.

After six years of research and writing they have produced a sweeping history of race and democracy in D.C. They argue that because of the consistent presence of a large black population, race, above and beyond other factors, has proven to be the most significant explanation for social, economic, and political divisions in the District — and as a bellwether for the country, D.C. shows how race has been the central fault line in American democracy.

“D.C. is a beacon for black America. In the 1830s it was a magnet for free blacks,” explains Musgrove, who has taught at UMBC since 2012. “During the Civil War it was a place to which slaves could escape from Maryland and Virginia and tens of thousands poured into the city. In the late 19th century it had the largest black population of any city in the country, and in 1957 it became the first majority black city in the United States.”

Like its namesake, the 1975 Parliament Funkadelic album Chocolate City, the book centers on the everyday people who make up the D.C. beyond Capitol Hill. It is a narrative focused on a city that is also a national stage.

For Musgrove, D.C. history includes the successful strivers but also the working people. It is the story of its more famous citizens like Mary Church Terrell and Walter Fauntroy, but also of welfare moms who create housing cooperatives, the struggles and triumphs of Irish immigrants in the mid-19th century, and the black elites of the Jazz Age.

In the process of weaving a national and local story, Musgrove and Asch realized two things: first, that D.C. history tells a unique story about American democracy by having the distinction of being the only city that is run by Congress and, second, how race influences this mode of governance.

The city provides us “a window into our democracy and how it is perverted by issues of race. These issues play out in the streets of the city,” explains Musgrove. “Keep it in mind that we are defining race not as black and white, but as Latinos, Ethiopians, as whites, and Native Americans. The latter group was central to understanding race and government for the first hundred years after contact.”

Musgrove and Asch draw on this vast documented history of the city and present the stories for a mass audience in one place with the hope that it will allow professors to engage new students of D.C. history, provide context for activists fighting gentrification, and help members of the neighborhoods continue to actively discuss their city’s history.

“Our hope is that people of goodwill will look at the lessons of D.C. history and use them to guide some of their activism,” says Musgrove.“We think it is a good guide for future action for making a better city, for making something really democratic of the alleged capital of the free world.”

Q&A: Read UMBC Magazine’s interview with Derek Musgrove ’97

For more information…

Chocolate City Facebook page:

Facebook.com/chocolatecitybook

Places to Purchase: 

UNC Press

Amazon

 

Banner image: George Derek Musgrove, Chris Myers Asch with moderator at the Oprah Winfrey Theatre in the National African American History and Culture Museum. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

 

Charissa Cheah receives Fulbright award to research identity development of Muslim Tunisian immigrant adolescents in Sicily

Charissa Cheah, professor of psychology, has received a Fulbright to collaborate with  psychologists at the University of Palermo in Sicily to explore Muslim Tunisian immigrant adolescent identity development, civic engagement, positive youth development, and risk behavior engagement. The award is one of only six Fulbright awards open to all academic disciplines and specializations in the humanities, sciences, social sciences and the arts to conduct research in Italy.  

“My Fulbright will focus on religious Muslim Tunisian adolescents in Sicily. The island has a long tradition of immigration and cultural exchanges with North African countries which has resulted in higher levels of tolerance and multicultural ideology,” explains Cheah, who hopes the work will challenge people to think critically about behavior within a cultural context. “The work in Sicily will help provide greater insights and context for improving the work I do to understand Muslim American youth development and adjustment in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.”

Cheah’s cross-cultural focus is partially informed by her experience as a native Malaysian of Chinese ethnicity. “Malaysia is a multicultural society with a Muslim majority. At age 14 my family moved to Toronto and then I moved to the U.S. for graduate school. I found myself in many different contexts with various identities being salient on a daily basis.”

Learning to live among many different cultures throughout her youth and into her teen years gave Cheah first-hand knowledge of the cultural and social changes families make to create better living situations for themselves.

She carried this experience to graduate school where she had the opportunity for the first time to work with cross-cultural research in the Laboratory for the Study of Child and Family Relationships and the Center for Children, Relationships and Culture with director Kenneth Rubin, professor in Human Development & Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“My dissertation was my first venture into doing a cross-cultural comparison where I tried to understand parenting beliefs and practices of European American families compared to mainland Chinese families. I wanted to understand the way the different families thought about developing their children’s social skills and how they interpreted negative and positive behaviors within particular cultural contexts.”

This pivotal point in her work led her to accept her first faculty position at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, where she helped to develop a program on culture and human development. Here she was able to work with Cree adolescents and study their identity development within a First Nation and the larger Canadian culture.

She was able to see how some of the issues that teenagers everywhere struggle with in terms of their own identity, their place within their peer group, and how they see themselves in relation to their family’s traditions and beliefs can present challenges when they must also learn to understand their identity within a different larger religious, ethnic, and/or racial community. Since her move to UMBC in 2004, Cheah has expanded her work to include Chinese and Korean immigrant families in Maryland, as well as families in Korea, Turkey, Italy, Malaysia and Zimbabwe.

“In my research on immigrant and minority families, I am particularly interested in what beliefs and behaviors are maintained from the heritage culture, what is changed, adapted, or given up and what new combinations of beliefs, behaviors, and practices come about in this new cultural context.”

When her graduate student Madiha Tahseen ’09, M.A., psychology, and Ph.D. ’15, psychology and applied developmental psychology, a former doctoral student and Muslim, Pakistani American, wanted to research Muslim American adolescents for her dissertation, Cheah felt it was a natural fit.

“I first delved into the field of psychology as a undergrad because I saw a lot of Muslim youth around me suffering from mental illnesses but that were not being addressed both within and outside of the Muslim community, ” recalls Tahseen.  “Clinicians were just not truly understanding what Muslim youth endure or how to treat their mental illness in a way that was supported within the cultural contexts of their lives.”

For Tahseen and Cheah, this was an opportunity to help provide context to what is often a very charged social political conversation about immigrant Muslim youth in the United States. Now she will expand the work to Muslim adolescents and their families in different contexts internationally, to further explore the roles of social, cultural, and political forces.

Cheah hopes the research will help to contribute to a body of work that helps move psychological theory beyond the traditional Western European-based data samples, and into a more culturally inclusive and relevant model.

“My colleagues and I who are cultural developmental scientists are trying to expand, diversify, and challenge people to think critically about culture and behavior. Our goal is to evolve the theory so that the standard won’t be based on just one cultural group. We hope to open doors and avenues for further investigation and self understanding. In the process, we aim to also diversify the body  of researchers doing this work and more accurately represent the world in which we live.”

The Fulbright program is designed to foster relationships between the scholars in the United States and of other countries who are needed to solve global challenges.

 

Banner image: Charissa Cheah, psychology by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC faculty offer context and analysis on major policy issues, from self-government in D.C. to healthcare

As fall semester has kicked into high gear, UMBC professors have connected not just with students in the classroom, but also with the broader public through research-based reflections on current events in popular media. Recently, humanities and social sciences faculty Derek Musgrove ’97, Christy Ford Chapin, and John Rennie Short have weighed in on topics from Washington D.C.’s long struggle over self-government, to the feasibility of Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for all” proposal, to decisions over where to host the Olympic Games.

Musgrove, associate professor of history, recently published an opinion piece in The Washington Post with Colby College’s Chris Myers Asch, his co-author of the forthcoming book Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital. Their article delves into the tug-of-war over power in Washington, D.C., as a municipality, and how that has changed over time. Specifically, the authors examine recent hostility of congressional Republicans towards the District of Columbia’s attempts at autonomous self-governance, in contrast to the GOP’s general preference to “champion taking power from the federal government and [give] it to states and localities.”

“[T]his hostility is actually a relatively new phenomenon,” Musgrove and Asch write. “Just one generation ago, Republicans were some of the most eloquent proponents of District self-determination.”

The authors recall how Richard Nixon signed a bill that gave the city a nonvoting member of Congress in 1971 and, two years later, a bill that provided the district with limited self-government. Rather than indicate the start of a trend, however, Musgrove and Asch write, “fearing the growth of black, liberal political power, and the legislative reforms that District representatives would undoubtedly support, grass-roots conservatives engineered an abrupt about face in the party’s position. They successfully campaigned to scuttle the city’s quest for a vote in Congress and have since demanded opposition to any expansion of local self- government.”

Christy Ford Chapin, associate professor of history and author of Ensuring America’s Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, similarly dove into the archives to provide context for Washington Post readers on a current policy debate. Following Bernie Sanders’s announcement of a “Medicare for all” plan, Chapin examined some of the core aspects of the approach and explained why she believes it fails to learn take advantage of lessons learned from previous health care policymaking efforts.

Medicare and ACA, Chapin explains, extended rather than replaced benefits for the elderly, those with preexisting conditions, and workers who could not afford health care. In contrast, she notes, “rather than mending the ACA or modifying the system in a way that is culturally familiar to voters, the senator’s proposal asks citizens to abandon their current coverage for a central planning experiment.” Such an experiment, controlled by government, she suggests, would be challenging for voters who may be feeling short on trust in elected officials.

Public policy professor John Rennie Short’s recent commentary in The Conversation, now read 25,000 times across sites like Business Insider and Salon, reflects on the Paris and Los Angeles bids for the summer Olympic Games, which he views generally as posing more challenges than benefits for host cities. What does he see as they major drawbacks? “The IOC retains control over the games, pockets the revenues from broadcasting rights and corporate sponsorship but is neither responsible for hosting and paying for the games nor at risk if any losses occur,” Short writes.Ultimately, Short argues, “Hosting the Olympics is a distraction from achieving a fairer, more just and efficient city.” He also delves further into who does benefit financially from hosting the Olympic games, reactions to bids in host cities, and possible solutions to the challenge hosting the games in an equitable, sustainable way, such as a single permanent host site or a small set of rotating host sites.

The future of D.C. governance, BernieCare, and the Olympic Games remain to be seen, but for greater context on the historical debates surrounding each, see the full articles: “Washingtonians want a voice in Congress. Republicans say no. But it wasn’t always that way” and “Medicare for all sounds great, but BernieCare is a political flop” in The Washington Post and “Paris and Los Angeles bids to host Olympics expose deeper crisis at Olympic Games,” on The Conversation.

Banner image: Derek Musgrove, history. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

How To be a Critical Consumer of Media

With Jason Loviglio, Founding Chair and Associate Professor, Media and Communication Studies

The phrase “ fake news” may sound current, but as long as there have been written and visual media, readers and audiences have puzzled and debated over how to interpret what is true. With The War of the Worlds, Orson Welles created one of the best-known early examples of broadcast audiences mistaking fiction for fact, when a small fraction of listeners tuning in to the 1938 radio broadcast reacted with panic, certain that aliens, or Germans, were invading.

Today’s media consumers must filter input from various sources quickly and be cautious of acting without verifying the validity of what they are seeing. Now, more than ever, we are asking questions like: Has the photo been manipulated? Is the headline overblown? Is this article opinion or reporting? Thankfully, we now also have more tools to help us understand what is real, commentary, or entertainment. And, we have Jason Loviglio, who teaches a “Media Literacy” course on this very topic, here with tips to make sense of it all.

— Catalina Sofia Dansberger-Duque

STEP 1. KEEP CALM AND FOLLOW THE MONEY

First things first. You are reading, watching, or listening to news because it is in someone’s economic interest to have you do so. Understanding the corporate interests that own the media outlets and produce the media content you consume will help you understand the limits of their perspective.

So “breaking news” happens 24/7. “Crises” will be uncovered daily. And a general atmosphere of immediacy, urgency, and even panic are now part of the genre of electronic news media. Take a deep breath. Keeping us in crisis mode is great for ratings, click rates, and newsstand purchases, but it’s not that good for us.

STEP 2. CHECK YOUR FACTS

We hear a lot about “fake news” from all quarters. Do your sleuthing. Using the resources listed below, check out news sources to better understand their biases and their journalistic credentials.

A quick way to determine what is dominating mainstream media’s national attention is to check out what stories are trending on Twitter, CNN, Washington Post, and The New York Times. These sources will give you a sense of what is being talked about, but may not provide a great deal of insight into why.

STEP 3. CHECK YOUR PRIORITIES

Humans have used stories, songs, and images to instruct, entertain, influence, and inform for thousands of years. Be aware of your own motives and priorities. Are you looking to be entertained or informed? If you’re truly interested in learning deeply about an unfolding news story, your best bet is to find long, well-reported articles from non-profit journalistic outlets like ProPublica, watch coverage of hearings and debates on C-SPAN, or read critical journalistic analysis from the Columbia Journalism Review.

If you simply want to quickly find out what is the big story of the day, then a quick scan of the CNN, Washington Post, and New York Times websites, and the “trending” list on Twitter, will suffice. For a more international perspective, see sources listed below. For news-related entertainment, any number of blogs, tv shows, and podcasts can fit the bill. John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight is probably the most sophisticated in its research. The Federalist Radio Hour is a conservative podcast that rises above the bombast, conspiracy theories, and partisanship of most right-wing talk radio.

STEP 4. TALK IT OUT

News stories can often leave us feeling overwhelmed and isolated. Ground your media consumption in larger social networks and community relationships.

The radio listeners most likely to panic when listening to the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast were those who were most isolated from other listeners. Critical media literacy works best when you are able to integrate your media use within the rest of your social world. Community ties, especially those which involve face-to-face social relationships, can be a powerful antidote to media overload and to media distortions.

* * * * *

THE MORE YOU KNOW

As confusing as the Web can sometimes be, newswise, it can also be a terrific source of tools to help you separate what’s real from what isn’t. Check out these recommended sites whenever you feel unsure of what you’re reading or seeing.

Columbia Journalism Review
archives.cjr.org/resources/
Detailed list of media companies, who chairs them, and the outlets they manage.

Pressbooks Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers
webliteracy.pressbooks.com/chapter/fact-checking-sites/
Links to reputable national, international, and niche fact checking sites.

International News Coverage

UMBC’s Chris Curran receives major NIJ grant for research on law enforcement in K–12 schools

UMBC’s F. Chris Curran, assistant professor of public policy, has received a two-year $620,000 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI) grant to lead a new research study on the role of law enforcement officers in public schools.

“Law enforcement have become an increasingly common presence in school settings, particularly after high profile events like the tragedy at Sandy Hook,” notes Curran. “Our work seeks to understand the role of these officers in promoting safety, managing student behavior, and facilitating relationships with students.”

The CSSI grant program specifically funds innovative research to help understand the root causes of school violence, develop strategies for increasing school safety, and implement research based pilot programs, policies, and practices. Curran, primary investigator for this new study, shares, “The support of the National Institute of Justice allows for an unprecedented look at the role and impact of SROs in previously understudied settings”—in this case, in two Southern U.S. suburban school districts.

This work began about two years ago when Curran co-founded the Collaborative on Adolescent Violence and Victimization (CAVV) with researchers from UMBC, University of Pittsburgh, University of Louisville, and Vanderbilt University who were interested in looking further at this issue. “We collectively started a conversation with a couple of school districts to examine issues around school safety, discipline, and how SROs intersect with that.” Curran’s primary collaborators for the current study include co-principal investigator Benjamin W. Fisher of the University of Louisville and project coordinator Samantha Viano of Vanderbilt University.

In addition to the NIJ grant, Curran has also received a one-year $20,000 grant through the American Educational Research Association (AERA) with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund research in another area of education policy: science achievement in kindergarten through second grade. This new grant will enable Curran to expand his previous research on inequalities in science education that appear at a very early age utilizing nationally representative data. Curran’s previous groundbreaking work in that area appeared in publications from The Atlantic to Education Week.

“Part of what informs my work is a moral imperative,” says Curran. His sense of urgency to better understand the impacts of educational environment, resources, and pedagogy is informed by his past encounters with inequalities in the U.S. education system as a former middle school science teacher. After experiencing the challenges of teaching with outdated textbooks and providing students hands-on laboratory experiences when access to materials and equipment were limited, he decided to begin working at a policy level to more effectively meet students’ needs.

“Right now there are students being short-changed by the education system. They are not sitting in a classroom with a high enough quality teacher. They are not being provided the resources they deserve,” Curran reflects. “Too often these disparities run along racial lines, socioeconomic lines, or gender lines, and that is a problem.”

As a researcher, educator, and someone training the next generation of education policy analysts, Curran says, “I would like to think my work does something to address those problems. Policy won’t change overnight, but these issues we’re addressing are truly urgent.”

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