All posts by: UMBC News Staff

You Help Our Students Change the World: Celebrating The Hilltop Society

Guests enjoyed dances choreographed and performed by UMBC students.

There is no question that one of the secrets to UMBC’s incredible success is our dedicated donors. This past fall, we took an evening to say a special thank you to a very important group of our supporters, the Hilltop Society. These generous leadership donors support the university annually with gifts of $1,000 or more, providing powerful support for research, teaching, student activities, financial aid, and more. Their leadership gifts make an incredible difference to the University—and to every student at UMBC.

In November, we invited Hilltop Society members to join us in the new Performing Arts and Humanities Building. That night, they had the opportunity to meet the students and faculty they are supporting. They also enjoyed dances that were choreographed by some of our talented UMBC students.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski visits with donors Joy and Kingsley Achikeh and scholarship recipient Marta Stachorowski.

Two UMBC students, Markus Proctor, interdisciplinary studies, and Emily Grace, English, shared their stories with donors. Grace, a humanities scholar, shared her experiences as a member of UMBC’s Engineers Without Borders, a program that gives students a chance to create a more stable and prosperous world by addressing people’s basic human needs, such as clean water, power, sanitation, and education.

Proctor, recipient of the Joseph and Freida Faiman Eisenberg/VPC, Inc. Scholarship, told donors that after a stellar high school career that included captaining robotics teams and internships at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, he set his sights on college. Although many schools offered Proctor admission, UMBC was the only school that also offered him much-needed financial aid.

Markus Proctor, scholarship recipient, shares his story.

That support and UMBC’s culture turned out to be just what Proctor wanted. “UMBC is not too big or too small, but it is the right size to build truly amazing relationships with professors and administrators,” says Proctor. He went on to share that his current and future successes—and those of so many UMBC students—hinged on the support of our donors.

“I have to admit, it is difficult to put into words how thankful I am for your support, however, just know, the magnitude of your impact on our campus is appreciated by every student,” Proctor said, echoing the sentiments of all our UMBC scholarship recipients.

—Meredith Purvis

The Choice Program at UMBC expands its jobs program through new cafe at UB School of Law

Two university presidents and Baltimore city youth joined hands to cut a cake bedecked in a giant red ribbon celebrating the grand opening of the city’s first Flying Fruit Cafe.

The cafe is part of a job training program out of The Choice Program at UMBC that serves 200 local youth each year. Located on the sixth floor of the University of Baltimore (UB) John and Frances Angelos Law Center, it offers year-round job training and employment skills development for Baltimore area youth, with coaching, mentoring, and structured engagement activities provided by AmeriCorps members, all based in a vibrant university environment.

Flying Fruit Cafe

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski and University of Baltimore President Kurt Schmoke presented remarks during the ribbon cutting ceremony held on February 18, 2016. AmeriCorps Opportunity Youth Matt Smith and Daesha Johnson shared their personal experiences with The Choice Program and the profound impact it has had on their lives.

Daesha described how the Choice Program provided a support network for her as she worked toward completing her high school diploma and helped put her on a path toward college and a career in nursing.

“Choice gave me that support…by allowing me to have the opportunity to be a leader among my peers and awareness of being a good example,” shared Daesha.

Matt explained how the Choice Jobs Program helped him confront and overcome challenges, and realize his potential.

“I never thought I’d find myself in this line of work, working with youth as an AmeriCorps Opportunity Youth, providing job training to kids like me when I was growing up,” said Matt. “I must say, The Choice Program has changed my commitment to serve my city.”

The Choice Program currently operates a Flying Fruit smoothie stand at Camden Yards during the baseball season and a Flying Fruit kiosk at the Inner Harbor behind the Maryland Science Center from April to October.

“Having a job and the skills to be successful in a work environment are essential,” says LaMar Davis, director of The Choice Program. “Most of us can remember how important our first job felt. Our youth need access to the opportunities that match their potential. This cafe offers a year-round on-the-job supported employment training model that helps young people enter into the world of work, building confidence and competencies.”

“UB has been pleased to partner with UMBC’s Choice Program to establish the Flying Fruit Cafe at the law school,” says Victoria Schultz, associate dean for administration at the UB School of Law. “The cafe is a wonderful addition to UB that builds community in so many ways.”

The Choice Program at UMBC is a nationally recognized model for community-based intervention that has served more than 20,000 youth and their families from Maryland’s highest risk communities for more than 27 years. Fifty AmeriCorps Community Service-Learning Fellows provide critical contact, mentoring, and advocacy to young people involved in the juvenile justice and social services systems.

The program’s partnership with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) extends for more than 25 years. Focus areas of intervention include education, employment, family involvement, and community supervision. The program works within high poverty communities to reduce external obstacles to youth and family success. Last year, 92% of participating youth completed the program and were not adjudicated with new charges.

“We need to provide young people with pathways to become contributing citizens to their community,” affirms Davis. “By using a cascading model of service, The Choice Program at UMBC is launching youth leaders who understand the challenges and have the tools to impact their community’s most pressing issues. When we give the right supports and structure, our youth and families can transform their world.”

Images: Dawn Kirstaetter, Baltimore deputy mayor; President Hrabowski; Matt Smith; Daesha Johnson; LaMar Davis; UB President Kurt Schmoke. Official ribbon cutting of cafe. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

Retriever Love Week: The Big Wedding Scene at the End

For our final Retriever Love Week 2016 post, we’d like to share a story told to us by Jen Dress, UMBC’s Assistant Director of Student Life. Jen works closely with students throughout their college careers through organizations like (seb), and when these students become alumni, they will occasionally ask her to officiate their weddings. She’s married no less than five couples at this writing, and is preparing for a sixth next spring.

Dress (center) officiated the Bricklemyers’ wedding in 2011. (Photo courtesy of Jen Dress).

“I started creating wedded bliss a little bit by chance.  I had a former student and student then turned staff member from some pretty different family and religious backgrounds who said, hey we got engaged, so can you marry us?  And the internet said I could and it just sort of snowballed from there.  Basically you can go online and submit your name to be able to file paperwork for folks and become an officiant.  My first wedding was Ryan and Sameeha Bricklemyer [who were featured on the blog on Wednesday].  

“I also officiated for Jay Lagorio ’08, computer science, and Cassie Lagorio ’09, political science and psychology; Beth and Simon Reilly; and Morgan Simonds ’12, psychology, and John Privot ’12, psychology and environmental studies. […]  I officiated for former staff member Stephanie Hemling and her husband Steven Palinkas as well.  Stephanie was such a fan of the soap opera Days of Our Lives, so we made sure to incorporate that into the ceremony script.  In some ways writing the stories for the wedding script has been a fairly easy task because I spent so much time working with and growing with these people at UMBC.  To be able to tell their stories in front of their families and friends really brings things full circle for me.  

“The weddings are such a stumble down memory lane.  I meet them when they are 18 and now they are headed down this path of marriage and family and all that goes with it.  To see how their lives have unfolded and the UMBC friendships they have maintained […] speaks to the power of this place.  They make friends here and sometimes meet their person here!  I love my job because I get to be part of these major transitions for our students every single day.  And at face value I work with the fun stuff, but it’s so much more than that.  The stories and memories and moments and growth are so hard to even capture in words.  For that connection to remain and to be with them, standing by them at such a critical point in their lives is humbling.  I love doing it and feel so incredibly lucky to be asked.  

The Lagorios, who met during a UMBC Musical Theatre Club production in 2008, were married by Dress in 2014. (Photo courtesy of Cassie Lagorio.)

“I have a million memories and there are a ton of alums at these events, but one of my favorite memories is from Jay and Cassie Lagorio.  Jay worked with the Commons Operations staff and my team and was instrumental in supporting large scale concerts on campus.  Concerts always have credentials, these lanyards that allow you access backstage, etc.  Jay had credentials created for his wedding party was pretty funny.  We all wore the lanyards to ‘work his wedding.'”

Read about all the couples we’ve featured this year here!

Retriever Love Week: Day 6

Surprise, folks! We got so many responses to our call for your UMBC love stories that we’re extending Retriever Love Week 2016 EVEN FURTHER into the weekend. Feel all of the love!

Stefanie Thomas Commins ’06, mathematics, says that her husband John Commins ’06, information systems, was one of the first people she met at UMBC, through the track and cross country teams. During their junior year, when Stefanie and John started spending more time together, they found that their feelings for each other had deepened, and decided to pursue a relationship.

On the night of Stefanie’s last final exam — she says it was a stressful one — John took her to a relaxing dinner, drove her home, and proposed. She said yes, and shortly after they graduated together in December 2006, they got married. They are now the parents of five: daughter Katie was born in 2008, only son Caleb arrived in 2010, and in 2013, the family grew even more with the birth of identical triplets Rebekah, Sarah, and Kylie.

Stefanie says that she and John continue to balance their professional careers with the responsibilities of parenthood. The family lives in a Catonsville house that John and Stefanie would run past in college, “just a mile from where we first met.” (Photo courtesy of Stefanie Commins.)

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Brian Frazee ’11, political science, and M.P.P. ’12, public policy, and Angela Brant Frazee ’11, psychology and sociology, were both resident assistants at UMBC, and got to know each other through their mandatory RA class. They’ve been together ever since, and were married last spring. (Photo courtesy of Brian Frazee.)

Brad Borowy ’11, environmental science, and Tori Chanda ’13, psychology, went on their first date on November 11, 2010, after a mutual friend set them up. On July 2, 2015, they were on their way to a friend’s house when Brad asked Tori if she wanted to stop by campus, to see how much it had changed since they graduated.

They walked around for a while, and when they came to the statue of True Grit in front of the RAC, Brad told Tori to rub the dog’s nose for good luck, as is customary before exams. She did, and when she turned around, Brad was down on one knee with a ring in his hand. A November 12, 2016, wedding is planned, and Tori writes, “…we are looking forward to what the future holds.

“UMBC was more than an education to us. The memories will last a lifetime.” (Photo courtesy of Brad Borowy and Tori Chanda.)

—

Jon Kerr ’10, ancient studies, and Jessica Ruth Baker ’12, theatre, began dating during Snowpocalypse 2010. “We had been friends for a while, having both worked at the Chesapeake Front Desk, but we started hanging out more and more as the snow fell, and we never stopped spending all of our time together!” writes Jessica.

“Now, six years later, we have moved across the country to Portland, Oregon, to seek new experiences and adventure. We have only been here a few months, and miss Baltimore terribly, but we are so excited for our new life out here on the West Coast!” (Photo courtesy of Jessica Ruth Baker.)

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Jennifer Mack Abrams ’97, mathematics, and her now-husband, Ed Abrams ’97, psychology, were both involved in Greek life during their time at UMBC (Delta Phi Epsilon and Sigma Phi Epsilon, respectively). They met in 1995, got married in 1999, and live in Catonsville with their two children.

—

Jenna Poland ’12, modern languages and linguistics, met her fiance, James Mortensen, at UMBC in 2008. They will be getting married in October.

Read about all the couples we’ve featured this year here!

Retriever Love Week: Day 5

Well, fellow romantic Retrievers and interested onlookers, the end is almost here…the end of Retriever Love Week 2016, that is. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading these stories as much as we’ve enjoyed putting them together. We’ve also compiled a UMBC couples photo album on Facebook, which can be found here. If you’d like to see yourself and your significant other featured there, send us your story and a photo at retrievernet@umbc.edu. 

Watch Tim and Salma’s wedding video, produced by Monachetti.

Salma Warshanna Sparklin ’11, English, says that she and her husband, Timothy Sparklin ’09, history and interdisciplinary studies, have UMBC to thank for their marriage, and that “[culture], food, writing, and poetry brought [them] together.”

“We used to run into each other at the AOK Library. Without knowing the other person was doing it, we each changed our usual study spot to run into the other person more often,” she writes. “We started studying together and taking long walks around campus.”

Soon after their friendship began, Tim graduated, and Salma left for a semester abroad in Wales. They kept in touch by exchanging six-to-eight-page letters transatlantically, and they made their relationship official when Salma returned.

In 2012, while walking along one of the first trails they’d ever walked together, Tim proposed to Salma under what they called the Giving Tree, after the Shel Silverstein book of the same name. Their August 2013 wedding was, as Salma describes it, “a mash-up of Polish, American, and Middle Eastern cultural traditions.” They held the ceremony at the Islamic Society of Baltimore (the mosque President Obama visited earlier this year), and a reception at the Musket Ridge Golf Course in Frederick County.

The Sparklins now live in Catonsville. Salma currently works as a writer at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Tim is a nursing student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and he still frequents the RAC as an aikido instructor. It seems that a connection to UMBC runs in the family: Tim’s father, Timothy Sparklin ’81, sociology, works in the university’s Office of Research Protections and Compliance.

—

When it comes to love stories, there’s “meet cute,” and then there’s “rescue the prince.” Raven Gronsbell ’15, emergency health services, had to do exactly that for a Search and Rescue course back in 2011, searching for her student TA, Michael Miller ’14, emergency health services, in the woods of New Germany State Park.

The attraction, Raven says, was immediate, but the pair didn’t really start getting to know each other until the following semester, while she was studying abroad in Peru. “Once we started building a relationship, we counted down the days until I got back to the U.S. and started dating immediately after,” she says. The day she landed in Baltimore, they went on their first date to the National Aquarium.

The couple have been together ever since, and have returned as staff to the Search and Rescue course every year. They saw each other through an intensive paramedic training program, and are now paramedics on the Eastern Shore. (Photo courtesy of Raven Gronsbell.)

—

And now, in her own words, a story from Morgan Thomas ’13, political science, about how she met Ricardo Francis ’13, M21, biochemistry and molecular biology:

“My mom, [Valerie Thomas, UMBC’s Associate Vice President for Human Resources,] looked at me one day and said, ‘I had a dream about you last night.’

I was in high school at the time, and terribly sarcastic, so I looked over at her with a smirk and said ‘Oh really? What was it about?’

She said, ‘I had a dream that you went to UMBC and [were] dating a Meyerhoff.’

Thinking this was a ploy to get me to go, I challenged her. ‘Oh really, what did he look like? What was his name?’

She said she didn’t know the answer to either of my questions but the look on her face was serious and somewhat mystified. ‘All I know is he was a Meyerhoff.’

Flash forward about a year later, when I moved into Susquehanna Hall for the beginning of my freshman year. I ran into this guy with an accent and I asked him where he was from.

‘Jamaica! Can’t you tell?!’ his friend chided me. The guy just laughed and the two walked off. Turns out that was my Meyerhoff. The guy with the Jamaican accent that laughed at me when I couldn’t pinpoint it. His name: Ricardo Francis.

Flash forward to the summer before junior year, when I was doing research for Dr. Tyson King-Meadows and taking summer classes. I was at home one night on Facebook and saw that he was online. I sent him the casual ‘hey’ and we started chatting, and chatting turned into a scheduled first date.

The first date turned into another and we just kind of fell into it. None of our friends saw it coming. But here we are, almost 5 years later, still together and still happy. We’ve now transitioned into a long-distance relationship. I’m in my third year nearing graduation at University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and he is in his third year at Baylor University, pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry.

We’re not sure what’s next, but the story continues…” 

(Photo courtesy of Morgan Thomas.)

Read more about all the couples we’ve featured this year here!

Political scientist Roy Meyers analyzes the negotiations over President Obama’s final budget

In a new article in The Conversation, Political Science Professor Roy Meyers writes that President Obama’s final budget proposal highlights the growing divide between political parties and shines a light on recent efforts at budget reform.

The article “Obama may be a lame duck, but his final budget isn’t,” examines why Americans should explore the budget process and what is actually behind the president’s proposals. Meyers reinforces that compromise is essential for government budgeting because the executive and legislative branches share power in the budget process.

“The Constitution grants the legislative branch the “power of the purse”; thus, Congress’ assent is necessary to change most spending priorities,” adding “in the end, the president has a veto over appropriation bills, and can insist that executive priorities be included in those bills along with the legislature’s priorities,” Meyers writes.

Looking more closely at areas of disagreement between the two parties, highlighted by the 2013 government shutdown, Meyers notes that a bipartisan effort to reform the budget process is becoming increasingly important.

“To be successful, reforms will have to restore norms of good budgeting, including that the two branches take each other seriously. While the odds are still long, it is possible that over the next year or two a major reform package will be developed that will be acceptable to both parties.”

Read the full article in The Conversation.

Image: U.S. Capitol. Photo by Kevin Burkett, CC by-SA 2.0.

Visual culture expert Rebecca Adelman comments on newly declassified photos

This month the Department of Defense released nearly 200 previously classified photos of detainees at military sites across Iraq and Afghanistan. In a new article in The Conversation, visual culture expert Rebecca Adelman considers the questions they raise about transparency.

In her article, Adelman, an associate professor of media and communication studies, focuses on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to release the images.

Adelman notes the that case highlights questions surrounding how the public typically understands and applies the idea of transparency to matters of detention and abuse.

“I argue that these photos will do little to foster public recognition of, or empathy for, the detainees. Moreover, their release raises fundamental questions about how we define and practice transparency,” Adelman writes.

The article also reflects on how scholars have started to grapple with transparency in theoretical and practical frameworks and how the Department of Defense has responded to requests for the release of photos in recent years.

Adelman studies visual culture, political theory, trauma studies, ethics, and cultural studies of war, terrorism, and militarization and is author of Beyond the Checkpoint: Visual Practices in America’s Global War on Terror (University of Massachusetts Press, 2014). Read “DoD detainee photos raise disturbing questions about transparency” on The Conversation website.

Image: Rebecca Adelman. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

Retriever Love Week: Day 4, Part 2

And now, for the second half of today’s Retriever love stories…

Mitch Case ’11, media and communication studies, met Brian Brown ’13, biochemistry and molecular biology, on the STRiVE Leadership Retreat in the winter of 2010. They started dating soon after, and will have been together six years this March. Brian is currently enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the NYU School of Medicine, and after nearly three years in a long-distance relationship, Mitch recently moved to New York to be closer to Brian and to pursue his next opportunity. (Photo courtesy of Mitch Case.)

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Ana Schultz ’15, biochemistry and molecular biology, and Alex Lombardi ’15, information systems, dated all four of their years at UMBC. Says Ana: “[We] believe that being [Retrievers] together helped make [our] relationship as strong as it is today.” They will celebrate their seventh anniversary this fall. (Photo courtesy of Ana Schultz.)

—

Joseph Eassa ’11, history, and Alison D’Ottavio ’12, modern languages and linguistics, had an education class together and were partners for a project. They became close friends for a year before Alison went to Spain to study abroad, and when she came back, they became a couple. They have been living in New York City for almost three years, and celebrated their five-year anniversary on Thursday, February 11. They got engaged on a trip to Panama in December, with a wedding date to be determined. (Photo courtesy of Alison D’Ottavio.)

—

On the night of their microeconomics midterm in the spring of 2013, Kiara Berg ’15, business technology administration, and Justin Mahaney ’15, business technology administration, struck up a conversation, but Justin couldn’t quite place Kiara’s accent. She says that when she told him she was from Sweden, “he was hooked from then on.”

She had forgotten her pencil, so he lent her one. After the midterm, she hung around outside so they could talk more. He asked her if she wanted to start a study group together, which, Kiara later found, was “the college way of asking someone out.” They have been a couple since May 2013, and moved in together last summer. (Photo courtesy of Kiara Berg.)

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As UMBC lacrosse players, Jen Dragoni Muston ’04, American studies, and Pat Muston ’04, psychology, ran in a lot of the same social circles. “Soon after freshman move-in, we became best friends,” Jen writes. “We hung out in between classes on campus and attended each other’s games.” By 2002, they had begun dating, and Jen says they’ve been inseparable ever since.

They got married in Cape May, New Jersey, on August 28, 2010, with about 25 of their closest friends and fellow Retrievers in attendance. When Pat was scouting out proposal spots, he picked the back steps leading up to Potomac Hall, where he says he first saw her leaving for lacrosse practice in 2000.

“He says that day, he knew there was something special,” says Jen. (Photo courtesy of Jen Muston.)

Read about all the couples we’ve featured this year here!

Retriever Love Week: Day 4, Part 1

We’re in the homestretch of Retriever Love Week here at the Alumni House, and we have quite a few stories left to go, so we’re making multiple posts today! Enjoy these tales of UMBC romance, and stay tuned for the next round…

Some of these stories, like the one Natalie Bacon Lockett ’03, visual and performing arts, sent our way, begin even before the college years! Natalie met her now-husband, Brad Lockett ’07, information systems, at the Black Student Overnight the spring before freshman year. One of the ice-breakers involved finding someone from the same area as you, and Brad, a New Jersey native, recognized Natalie’s Ocean Township High School T-shirt and made a beeline for her.

As it turned out, they lived just 20 minutes away from each other back in the Garden State, and had a lot of friends in common. Natalie says they hit it off right away, but they didn’t exchange information that day.

The next time they saw each other was at placement testing that summer. “As he tells the story, I was sitting by the pencil sharpener, and he broke his pencil [on purpose]  so that he would have to come by me and sharpen it,” Natalie says with a smile. They continued to talk after the test, but still didn’t exchange info.

On the first day of college, outside the old Pub at the University Center, Brad and Natalie ran into each other a third time, and she was so happy to see him she gave him “a HUGE hug.” By October 2, 1999, the two were officially dating, and in 2008, nine years to the day after they first became an item, the Locketts got married in old Ellicott City.

After seven years, Natalie says they’re “going strong,” and hopes that their two small children, born in 2012 and 2015, will be Retrievers someday. (Photo courtesy of Natalie Lockett, taken at the Black and Gold Ball c. 1999-2000.)

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In 2002, Michelle Jabes Corpora ’03, English and theatre, was the Retriever Weekly’s theatre critic, and Adam Corpora ’03, music, was one of the stars of that year’s production of Baby With the Bathwater. The pair had seen each other around at various Artist Scholars functions before, but it wasn’t until the dress rehearsal that Michelle attended to review that they were formally introduced.

“I guess I could say I started falling in love with him that night, because he was so ridiculously funny onstage,” says Michelle. She even called him out by name in her Retriever review of the show. But she didn’t see him again for another few weeks, until he and his roommates sat next to her and hers in the dining hall one night. From then on, the group was inseparable, and after “months of cajoling” from their friends, Michelle and Adam started dating the summer between their sophomore and junior year.

“Defining moments [in our relationship] happened on the UMBC campus: arguments in the [Erickson] courtyard, a first ‘I love you’ on the hill by the old apartments, many nights of fun with friends walking back to the dorms after picking up pizza and chips from The Spot,” Michelle says now. “He wanted to be a music teacher, and I wanted to be a writer—but those things were still so far away then.”

Michelle and Adam have been married for ten years now, and live in New York City with their two children. Michelle works in children’s book publishing – “Believe it or not, […] they pay me to dream up and write stories!” – while Adam is the music teacher at a middle school in Queens. This coming summer, they’ll be moving back to Maryland to raise their family and rejoin their loved ones. Michelle says that upon her return, she plans to revisit those places on campus where their relationship began.

“It’s been a wonderful journey, and we’re so happy to be coming home,” she says. (Photo courtesy of Michelle Corpora.)

Read about all the couples we’ve featured this year here!

 

 

UMBC Supreme Court scholar argues former justice has best chance of winning confirmation

Following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, there has been widespread speculation over the next steps to fill the vacant seat. William Blake, an assistant professor of political science, argues in a new Baltimore Sun op-ed that President Obama should nominate former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

“Reappointing Justice O’Connor would benefit President Obama, the court, and, most importantly, the American people,” Blake states in the column that he co-wrote with Hans Hackler, an associate professor of political science at Arkansas State University.

Blake contends that appointing O’Connor will provide the best chance for confirmation in a divided political landscape and will allow the Supreme Court to continue its business by avoiding ties, when the ruling of the lower court stands and no precedent is set.

“One way or the other, the presidential election will decide the long-term future of the court. The only question is whether President Obama and Senate Republicans are more interested in scoring political points or keeping the court functioning this year. Reappointing Justice O’Connor is the best way to achieve the latter,” Blake writes.

Professor Blake was a guest on WBAL Radio’s Maryland News Now program and appeared on CNN to discuss his column. Read the complete op-ed “Bring back Justice O’Connor” in the Baltimore Sun. The article was picked up and mentioned by several news outlets across the country. The complete list is below:

The Hill
Fox 10 Phoenix (KSAZ) (Justice O’Connor refusing comment on the possibility of being reappointed)
Huffington Post
ABA Journal
Arizona Daily Sun
Corvallis Gazette Times
Provo Herald
Mediaite
LifeNews.com
Newsy

Image: U.S. Supreme Court. Photo by Chris Phan, CC by 2.0. 

Steph Ceraso gives students a new perspective on sound in a digital world

From the beep of a text alert to the whir of a laptop fan, soundscapes play a major role in students’ experiences inside and outside the classroom. Steph Ceraso, an assistant professor of English, is working to ensure her students think critically about 21st century technologies and the sounds that we interact with every day.

Ceraso’s research explores the intersections between digital media production, rhetoric and composition, and sound studies. As part of a course on “Sound, Composition, and Culture” that she taught last fall, she designed a multisensory dining event to inspire students to think holistically about how sound works with other senses to shape experiences.

“If we want students to become critical consumers and producers of the kinds of audio stories and sonic experiences that fill our lives, they need both technical training and training in how to think about the distinct possibilities of sound as a compositional and rhetorical medium,” Ceraso explains.

Steph Ceraso sonic meal.

The dining event was sponsored by the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) and Design, Cultures, and Creativity (DCC) program at the University of Maryland, College Park. After a semester of learning about sound design and planning the multisensory dining experience, students in the UMBC course hosted a meal for DCC students that paired foods with sounds. These sensory combinations enabled the students to explore how sound, color, texture, smell, and other sensory details affect eating experiences.

“Students spent a whole semester thinking deeply about sound as a mode of composition,” reflects Ceraso. “They learned to think expansively—to attend to the sensory, material, and contextual aspects of sonic interactions. They learned to approach listening as a practice that involves both mind and body.”

Ceraso presented the project on a national stage at the 2016 Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention in Austin, Texas last month. Sonic research is growing substantially in the social sciences and humanities, and her research was well received by fellow scholars in the field.

Steph Ceraso sonic meal“There is a real need for pedagogical approaches to sound and listening across the disciplines, so a lot of scholars from different backgrounds were interested and wanted to know how to do similar projects with their students,” Ceraso says.

While the multisensory dining experience was a first for Ceraso, she’s confident that students walked away from the event better prepared to analyze the sound that is ubiquitous in an increasingly digital age.

“I think it will leave a lasting impression on the students,” she says, “and I really believe that it challenged them to think about sound and listening in new ways.”

Images: Steph Ceraso and students at the sonic meal event. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

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