All posts by: UMBC News Staff

Phi Kappa Phi Initiation (4/19)

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (PKP), Chapter 22 UM-UMBC, will hold its annual initiation ceremony at UMBC on April 19, 2014, at 1 p.m. in the UC Ballroom. The chapter cordially invites all UMBC faculty, staff, and students affiliated with any PKP chapter to join us in our celebration of the outstanding achievements of those who will be initiated.

There will be light refreshments after the ceremony. Please inform Peter Andes at andes1@umbc.edu if you plan to attend, so we have an accurate count for seating and refreshments.

Aging-Self-Stereotypes: Obstacle or Pathway to Health? (4/13)

g_logoThe Doctoral Program in Gerontology at UMB/UMBC, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and The Erickson School present “Aging Self-Stereotypes: Obstacle or Pathway to Health?” by Becca Levy, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Yale School of Public Health.

Dr. Levy’s research explores psychosocial factors that influence elders’ cognitive and physical functioning, as well as their longevity. She is credited with creating a field of study that focuses on how positive and negative age stereotypes, which are assimilated from the culture, can have beneficial and adverse effects, respectively, on the health of older individuals.

This event will take place on April 13, 2015 at 2:00 pm in Commons 331.

ADVANCE Distinguished Speaker Series (4/13)

Nora-Volkow-Flyer-page-001UMBC-ADVANCE is pleased to announce our 2015 ADVANCE Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of NIDA.

On Monday, April 13, 2015, from 4:30-5:30pm in the AOK Library Gallery, Dr. Volkow will deliver her talk, “The Science of Drug Abuse and Addiction: What Do We Know? The talk is open to the entire campus community with a reception to follow.

Asian Studies Partnership with Longwood Apartments in The Baltimore Sun

asianstudiesThe Baltimore Sun featured the Asian studies program for its partnership with Longwood Apartments and Senior Center. The Asian studies program began an internship program at Longwood Apartments last year, allowing students to practice their language skills by translating and serving as interpreters for Korean and Chinese speaking residents. The program also created a food pantry to help low-income senior citizens in the apartment complex.

Julie Rosenthal, Asian studies, learned about Longwood Apartments through her work with Food on the 15th, a local nonprofit she founded to donate groceries and toiletries to senior citizens in Howard County. After hearing about the community and its needs, Constantine Vaporis, director of the Asian studies program, began the internship program. He said, “We found that … there was a real problem with communication between those who worked there and those who lived there. Something as simple as communicating that their faucet was leaking was a major problem for them.”

Molly Bradtke ’14, history, English, and Asian studies, and Klara Kim ’15, Asian studies and history, spoke about the opportunities provided by the internship program. Kim said, “As I worked more closely with the residents, I realized that I can learn from them. Giving back feels great, but being able to learn about life and how to live a simple, happy life, that’s something you can always have.”

Click here to read “UMBC interns help seniors access food and language skills” in The Baltimore Sun.

Alums in the News: Clements, Chavarria, Massey, & Womack

Here at UMBC, we take pride in what our alums accomplish after graduation. Take a moment to see which Retrievers have been on the move and making news!

James P. ClementsClements ’85, computer science, and ’91 M.S. and ’93 Ph.D., operations analysis, has been appointed to the American Council on Education’s board of directors. In an article on Greenville Online, Clements discusses his hopes of ensuring the interests of Clemson University and the state of South Carolina in a national market.

Click here to read the full article.

ChavarriaErick Chavarria ‘05, acting,  stands out in Get Hard, a new comedy starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Chavarria is no stranger when it comes to Hollywood films, as he currently has supporting roles in other movies such as The Duff, the soon-to-be-released Our Brand is Crisis with Sandra Bullock, and Bone Tomahawk with Kurt Russell. Chavarria never considered himself to be a natural comedian, but, upon landing a few roles in Hollywood, he says started shifting from that mentality and is now living the dream.

To learn more about his career, click here.

Josh MasseyJosh Massey ’14, interdisciplinary studies, was recently awarded the 2015 Collegetown LeaderShape PNC Grant. The grant is open to current and past participants and helps students work toward their visions in partnership with communities, non-profit agencies and schools to improve the Baltimore region.

 

WomackRod Womack ’95, philosophy, celebrates the publication of his first book, Redwood, the true story of a once-thriving Baltimore restaurant known for its tasty cuisine, sensational musical entertainment, and celebrity events. The story takes many twists and turns, and the conflict intensifies when the young men at the heart of the story later discover the unthinkable–that all along a serial killer was in their midst.

To find out more on Womack’s new release, click here.

Have a story of your own to share? Tell us about it in a class note.

Pres. Hrabowski Recognizes Game Design as Future of Learning

hrabowskiIn a commentary on CNBC, President Hrabowski praises the success of Team HueBotics, a video-game development team from UMBC heading to the 2015 Microsoft Imagine World Cup, and discusses how they exemplify the future of learning and technology. Team HueBotics is made up of Jasmine Martin ’15, visual arts and business administration, Erika Schumacher ’17, visual arts, Tad Cordle ’16, computer engineering, and Michael Leung ’16, computer science.

Dr. Hrabowski examines the utility of video games as a way to improve education and engage students from a variety of backgrounds. “American education, from pre-K to college, must find ways to inspire similar dedication and to bring content to life,” he said. “Playing well-designed games, as well as creating them, can pack an educational punch.”

Dr. Hrabowski also mentions how Team HueBotics mentor Marc Olano, computer science, has worked with Anne Rubin, history, to redesign courses to include game design. He concludes, “The right use of technology in redesigned courses can improve teaching and learning…That’s why at UMBC we have said, ‘Let the games begin.'”

Click here to read “Video games in the classroom? Welcome to the future of learning” on CNBC.

Felipe Filomeno, Political Science, Awarded Early Career Prize from the Latin American Studies Association

Felipe FilomenoFelipe Filomeno, an assistant professor of political science, has been awarded the Early Career Prize of the Economics & Politics Section of the Latin American Studies Association. The award comes in recognition of his article “Patterns of Rule-Making and Intellectual Property Regimes: Lessons from South American Soybean Agriculture”, published in the Journal of Comparative Politics in 2014. Below is a summary of Filomeno’s article:

Around 1980, states and corporations from core countries led by the U.S. government started to demand from other countries reforms that increased the scope and strength of private intellectual property rights. The resulting global upward ratchet of intellectual property protection has not developed uniformly across time and space. This study presents a theory of cross-national variation in intellectual property regimes based on a comparative-historical analysis of the making of intellectual property rules in South American soybean agriculture (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay). It concludes that a corporatist pattern of rule-making is conducive to a weak intellectual property regime (Argentina), whereas pluralism (Brazil) and state capture and abstention (Paraguay) are more conducive to strong intellectual property regimes.

Strong Scholars at UMBC

UMBC is thrilled to be the newest school to participate in the Strong Scholars Program with the Hattie M. Strong Foundation. The program provides scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students in teacher-training programs.

The foundation continues the legacy of its founder, Hattie M. Strong. Prior to becoming a philanthropist, she lived a life of considerably less ease, including raising a son as a single mother and journeying with him across the continent to find work during the Alaska Gold Rush!

After marrying Henry Strong of the Eastman Kodak Company, she dedicated her life to helping those less fortunate than her. She supported a variety of causes including hospitals, educational institutions, and social service agencies in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. You can learn more about Hattie Strong here.

UMBC’s Education Department selected its first Strong Scholars in January and will continue to make new awards each year. The scholarships will benefit who are completing their student-teaching at a local K-12 school. The scholarship provides important financial aid during a semester where students are incredibly busy and often stretched thin financially.

We know that this scholarship will make a tremendous difference to these students. UMBC is incredibly thankful to have such generous foundation partners!

Contact the department to find out more about UMBC’s Strong Scholars Program.

UMBC’s Professional Graduate Programs Open House (4/29)

futurefocused_openhouse

UMBC’s Professional Graduate Programs Open House will be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. EDT at UMBC South Campus (bwtech@UMBC South) 1450 S. Rolling Road; Halethorpe, MD 21227.

Join us to meet program directors, alumni and students from UMBC Professional Graduate Programs, and learn about industry trends and opportunities. Representatives from Financial Aid, Veteran Affairs, the Graduate School, and others will be on hand to answer your questions. The Open House will include breakout information sessions that will focus on Graduate Programs, including: Cybersecurity, Biotechnology, Health Information Technology, Engineering Management, and Systems Engineering.
If interested in attending, please RSVP online.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2015: Event Calendar

sexual_assault_awareness_monthApril is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Every two minutes, someone in America is sexually assaulted. 1 in 5 college women experience a sexual assault. 95% of college-aged victims know their attacker.

These are just a few statistics to highlight why this month of awareness is so very important for our campus and our greater community. We have several events this April that will honor the voices and experiences of survivors of sexual assault. Additionally, there are events that will seek to raise awareness about sexual assault and the importance of effective consent.

Please feel free to download our event calendar, mark your calendar with the events you plan on attending, and share the word with other students, staff, and faculty.

Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault: Cultivating a Survivor-Responsive Campus Workshop (All workshops are in the Women’s Center)

  • Wednesday, April 8th from 12-1pm for UMBC students
  • Monday, April 13th from 4-5pm for UMBC faculty and staff
  • Friday, April 24th from 12-1pm for UMBC Greek Community members

The Clothesline Project Display
Wednesday, April 8th on Commons Main Street and the RAC (at the Retriever Health and Wellness Expo) from 10am-4pm. (Opportunities to make shirts for the display will be made available on several occasions leading up to the 8th… see calendar for details)

“It Happened Here” Film Screening and Discussion
Wednesday, April 15th from 5-7pm in the Women’s Center (sponsored by SJP)

Take Back the Night
Thursday, April 16th beginning at 6:00pm with a community resource fair on Commons Main Street. The survivor speak-out will begin at 6:30pm and will be followed by campus march. Follow #UMBCtbtn on social media for updates and join the Facebook event.

Voices Against Violence Protocol Training, Responding to Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence at UMBC
Friday, April 17th from 12-1pm in Commons 331.

After TBTN: A FORCE Monument Quilt Workshop
Friday, April 17th from 12-2pm in the Women’s Center.

If you have questions about any of the listed events or about sexual assault resources, please contact Jess Myers, Women’s Center Director, at jessm@umbc.edu, 410-455-2714 or Mickey Irizarry, Health Education Coordinator, at pirizarry@umbc.edu, 410-455-3752.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month is sponsored by:

  • The Women’s Center
  • University Health Services Health Education
  • Voices Against Violence

Round Up: UMBC in the News 03/27

One of the things that makes UMBC great is how wonderful our alumni, students, faculty, and staff are. Because of these amazing people, UMBC often finds itself “in the news,” so each week, we’ll be sharing with you a round-up of the most newsworthy achievements from our community.

Read more at UMBC Insights!

Humanities Forum: Microscopic War: Fragmenting Vision in Contemporary American Militarism (4/9)

Portrait of Rebecca Adelman standing outside on academic row.

Humanities Forum
Thursday, April 9 | 4:00 p.m.
Rebecca Adelman, Assistant Professor, Media and Communication Studies, UMBC 
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery 
Editors manipulate the tiniest elements of digital images to obscure combat atrocities. The U.S. Army invests deeply in a pixelated camouflage pattern that it expects will keep soldiers safely invisible. The NSA disaggregates human targets into miniscule bits of information. These seemingly disparate phenomena comprise a microscopic visual approach to militarization. It is here that Adelman considers the links between pixelized photos of violence committed by American military personnel, the Army’s failed multi-year, multi-billion dollar experiment with ‘digital’ camouflage, and the NSA’s approach to “identity intelligence,” built on the smallest pieces of data. All of these efforts at fragmentation promised to solve problems unique to contemporary war: soldiers’ unregulated use of digital cameras in the field, battles fought on multiplying fronts, and unconventional, undetectable threats. And in every instance, fragmentation failed: uncensored pictures are readily available, digital camouflage rendered soldiers more visible, and Edward Snowden leaked the documents detailing the NSA’s plans. These failures expose the limits of state power over the visual, dependent as it is on the smallest of things, while this new visual culture of fragmentation raises urgent questions about what it means to be a citizen, a spectator, and a subject.
For more information on the event and Adelman’s work, click here.
Sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities and the Media and Communication Studies Department.

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