Meet Monique Jones Cephas ‘92, information systems management. Monique is the Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Electronic Services and Systems Integration at the Social Security Administration and the current Scholarship Committee Chair of the UMBC Alumni Association Board of Directors. Monique credits her time at UMBC and participation in the university’s cooperative education program—along with a lot of hard work, perseverance, and dedication—for her career success. “Each one, reach one” is one of Monique’s favorite mantras. This is why she gives back to UMBC as an active member of the Alumni Association. Take it away, Monique!
Q: What’s your favorite part of Retriever Nation?
A. As a member of the UMBC Alumni Association, I enjoy connecting alums with other alums, alums with current students, and enriching our UMBC network. It is imperative to me to help students understand the dynamics of building their network even before graduating from UMBC with hopes of using this network to find a position in their field of study.
Kisha Parker ’00, Karen Woodard ’90, and Monique Cephas ’92 at the 2020 Alumni Association Board of Directors retreat.
In addition to my service on the alumni board, I was also a founder of the Chapter of Black and LatinX Alumni (CBLA). Founded in 2006, CBLA was formed to create multicultural programming and continue intercultural interactions for the UMBC Black and Latinx community. CBLA is open to all UMBC alumni and in alignment with UMBC’s value of Inclusive Excellence, we want alumni members to join us in building our culturally conscious community.
Q: What do you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in?
A. I am an avid public servant. In 1990, I was initiated as a member of the Lambda Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., which is the first Greek letter organization on UMBC’s campus. I love the sisterhood, advocating for justice, and helping young people to achieve their dreams by awarding scholarships. My lifetime commitment to public service and the values that were instilled in me as a leader with the Lambda Kappa chapter have carried over to make me a successful president of the Baltimore County Alumnae Chapter with more than 400 members.
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It is imperative to me to help students understand the dynamics of building their network even before graduating from UMBC with hopes of using this network to find a position in their field of study.
Monique Cephas ‘92
Q: Where did you find support at UMBC?
A. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in UMBC’s cooperative education program starting in 1991 as this is how I started my career at the Social Security Administration (SSA) as a computer specialist. I have worked at SSA for more than 32 years moving up the career ladder from an IT specialist to a team leader, office director, and now a member of the Senior Executive Service as the Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Electronic Services and Systems Integration.
Q: How have you given back?
A. I love to support the Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund. As someone who worked their way through college, the mission of that fund is near and dear to my heart. I know that the donations I make will be put to good use by a student in need. This year the board received scholarship applications from 41 qualified students, but we were only able to award $18,000 total to nine students. As chair of the Alumni Association Board of Director’s scholarship committee, I know we can help more deserving students. We hope to award even more scholarships in the future—with your help.
The UMBC Alumni Endowed Scholarship
Through the Alumni Endowed Scholarship, the board of directors strives to make a difference in the lives of deserving students, to help them achieve their dream of receiving a university degree and joining the alumni community.
The board offers a general and legacy scholarship to outstanding undergraduate UMBC students. Eligible students may apply for the general and legacy scholarships each year. The award for the Alumni Association General and Legacy Scholarships for 2023 – 2024 is at least $2,000. These scholarships are partially funded through the generous support of UMBC alumni.
UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Meet Emily Passera, the program coordinator for service-learning and community engagement in the Shriver Center. In her role, Emily coordinates the student leadership development programs for the residential Shriver Living Learning Community and serves as a member of the Exempt Staff Senate.She also facilitates school, nonprofit, and government agency partnerships with UMBC and coordinates implementation of applied learning courses across campus with a focus on career readiness, experiential learning, and storytelling. Her not-so-secret recipe for bringing joy to her job? Saying “yes” as much as possible! Take it away, Emily.
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone to know about the support you find here?
A. Collaboration is such a key value of UMBC. I feel well known and supported across academic and student affairs. I connect weekly with the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, The Honors College, Transfer Student Initiatives, and the three colleges because a student-centered approach is fundamental to collaborative work.
Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.
A. UMBC’s first-year students continue to impress me every year, and it takes a lot of work to help transition these learners into our community. Laila Shishineh and her office (Academic Engagement and Transition Programs) support programming and academic resources to see them succeed. Somehow, Laila also has time to lead my favorite Monday night tradition, Bootcamp in the RAC. As a First-Year Experience instructor and a human who needs exercise for a balanced lifestyle, I feel supported by Laila’s leadership!
Q: Tell us about what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in.
A. I love being a Community Service and Learning Practicum (PRAC 096) instructor. Through the PRAC 096 course, community engagement continues to help UMBC students become more attuned to their local community and interpersonal skills. While serving the Baltimore region weekly, our students reflect on issues such as neighborhood poverty, maternal and mental health, food justice, education access, disability rights, and grassroots social change. I am so impressed how exposure empowers these leaders. They also connect with community members at UMBC from different lived experiences and find similarities and projects to work together on. Our community partners want more UMBC students to engage!
Q: What brought you to UMBC in the first place?
A. “My UMBC Why” is the proximity to enthusiastic non-profits, school programs, and leadership in the community! The arts, humanities, and sciences are all well-represented and employ experts in creating applied learning experiences for all ages of community. UMBC students can explore their classroom learning outside Hilltop Circle.
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Collaboration is such a key value of UMBC. I feel well known and supported across academic and student affairs.
Emily Passera
Q: Tell us about the people who have helped you at UMBC, and why their HOW made such a difference to you.
A. “My UMBC How” is the staff mentorship program. I’ve connected with staff who put in countless hours running programs, like creating a restorative practices community. Every professional development opportunity I hear about I invite my mentors. Walking the loop around campus and sitting outside Starbucks with my mentors has created the environment to have deep conversations about UMBC culture, personal mission, and collective support.
Q: Are you involved in any campus organizations?
A. Exempt Staff Senate! I really value a shared governance who listens and advocates for staff representation in the holistic care of the workforce here at UMBC. We work to address issues and leadership transitions as a collective unit.
Passera, center, attends Center Stage’s 2022 performance of Our Town with the Shriver Center LLC. Photo courtesy of Passera.
Q: What part of your job do you enjoy the most and why?
A. Through my role, I support students discovering that it’s safe to explore their interests while at college. While on-boarding students with their campus partners, I ask deep questions about their goals and ideal work environments. I consider their responses and invite them to try something outside their comfort zone. Facilitating reflection on these community engagement experiences better prepares them to put the experience on their résumé, identify leadership skills, and continue to learn in an active environment.
Q: What’s next for you, Emily?
A: I am starting to expand my interests in learning analytics. I think the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Frostburg State University will help support my career growth.
Q: What would you tell someone who is considering a career at UMBC?
A. Arbutus is a close neighbor, and OCA Mocha is a great work environment!
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
Meet Kevin Yang ’07, computer science and financial economics. Kevin is a real estate entrepreneur, alumni leader, and one half of an alumni power couple. Kevin met his wife, Katelyn Niu ’05, biochemistry, when the pair found themselves in the same physics study group as undergrads (because where else do you find love at UMBC?). They both share a passion for UMBC that runs deep. Take it away, Kevin!
Q: What is your WHY? What brought you to UMBC?
A. I grew up in an immigrant family and witnessed the sacrifices that my parents made to give me an opportunity to achieve the American dream. Although they never had the chance to finish high school, my parents firmly believed in the importance of higher education. I came to UMBC for a quality STEM education and found it to be a perfect fit. UMBC offered the resources of a larger university and the individualized attention of a smaller college.
Q: What’s your favorite part of Retriever Nation?
A. I love UMBC’s commitment to inclusive excellence. Retriever Nation welcomes students from diverse backgrounds and provides them with the necessary support to succeed at UMBC and beyond. I am forever grateful for the amazing experience that I had at UMBC! In addition to receiving a quality education, I made many lifelong friends, including my wife. I have stayed engaged since graduation, and I am proud of UMBC’s commitment to inclusive excellence.
Q: Tell us what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in.
A. I had an excellent experience with the computer science program, which offered many opportunities beyond the classroom. As a tutor, teaching assistant, and research assistant in the computer science department, I learned valuable written and verbal communication skills, which was a highlight of my UMBC education.
Today, I am a real estate entrepreneur, the Founder of KRY Properties. As a business owner, I love the ability to chart my own path. I often have to assume multiple roles, which is both challenging and rewarding. The analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills that I developed at UMBC gave me the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship.
Pictured right: Katelyn and Kevin at his UMBC graduation.
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UMBC community members work together to help our students achieve their academic and professional goals.
Kevin Yang ’07
Q: Where did you find support?
A. I built meaningful and long-lasting relationships at UMBC. I attribute much of my personal growth and academic achievements to my peers. We struggled together in challenging engineering courses, contemplated our futures from late night into early morning, and celebrated our birthdays at the local Olive Garden. We strengthened our bonds through highs and lows, and I will forever cherish those special memories.
CMSC 441H, Algorithms with Professor Richard Chang, study group in Harbor Hall with fellow UMBC alumni JC Montminy, Kevin Yang, Donald Miner, Corey Weidenhammer, Alessandro Ferrucci, and Brandon Wilson.
Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you.
A. I received substantial financial and academic support from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which laid the foundation for my personal and professional successes. As a Meyerhoff Scholar, I learned about and took advantage of many incredible opportunities, such as summer internships at Georgia Tech and MIT. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program and its co-founder, Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, have inspired me to give back to the community that gave me so much.
Q: As alumni, how have you and Katelyn given back?
A. “To whom much is given, much is required.” I have been a donor every year since I graduated in 2007. My support focuses on scholarships, including the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and the Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund. My wife, Katelyn, and I established an endowed scholarship in 2014 to support undergraduate students. Katelyn and I were fortunate to receive scholarships at UMBC. We are giving back so students who come after us can continue to have the same extraordinary experience that shaped our future.
Katelyn Niu and Kevin Yang pose for a photo with Naiyah Lewis, one of their scholars, and UMBC President Emeritus Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, at the 2022 Endowed Scholars Luncheon.
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?
A. UMBC community members work together to help our students achieve their academic and professional goals. We are proud of our collaborative culture!
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
It’s 4 a.m. on a Wednesday—earlier than most people rise, though a preference for Chandra Smith, M.S. ’21, information systems. After saying her daily devotion, she begins to get ready for the day ahead: brushing her teeth, taking a shower, getting dressed and having some breakfast.
If she’s lucky, the day ahead is one where her employer’s “reasonable accommodations” for her disabilities allow her to work from home rather than having to schedule a Paratransit bus pickup near Baltimore, then get on the Marc train to D.C., then get picked up by another Paratransit bus to take her to work at the Defense Intelligence Agency: a process that takes several hours—each way—assuming the bus even shows up, which doesn’t always happen.
Smith on a visit to campus in 2023. (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)
Everything Smith does now, even previously simple tasks such as getting dressed, have become complicated, time-consuming, and in her words, “close to an Olympic sport,” ever since Chandra’s Life As She Knew It screeched to a halt in the fall of 2021 when she fainted after fasting for religious purposes. She was medevaced to Georgetown University Hospital, when her body started shutting down, and then she was pumped with medicines to keep her organs functioning.
While life-saving, the emergency medicine she was given caused blood from her extremities to move to her core, essentially causing medical burns on 25 percent of her body and sepsis, triggering yet another medical emergency.
When a doctor told her she had 10 minutes to decide whether she wanted to live or die—with one small caveat: she’d be a triple amputee—Smith chose life.
She would go on to clock one year and one day from entering the hospital to exiting it, experiencing along the way: a stroke, dialysis, severe liver ketosis, three amputations, 10 painful surgeries (on one foot alone), and a host of other medical issues, procedures, and therapies.
Little did Smith know then, but the master’s degree in information systems she received from UMBC earlier that year would soon position her for a new role, a new voice and, ultimately, a new mission, not just within her job at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), but in life.
“An upfront and center seat”
At age 32, Smith wasn’t looking for the campus-immersion experience she’d had when she was younger. “UMBC’s online masters program was the perfect mix of everything I wanted,” Smith says. Easy access to courses, professors with real-world experience, and fellow students from many walks of life and many parts of the world made picking UMBC an easy choice for Smith.
“I felt like I had an upfront and center seat in the field I was studying, as my professors wove challenges they faced in their jobs into the class instruction,” Smith says. Though, when reflecting on her experience at UMBC, the connections with other students stood out as most memorable to her.
“As I continued in the program, I often found myself in classes with people I’d met and worked with in previous classes,” she says. “To this day, I still come across people I recognize from the program when attending various professional conferences and events.”
A door opens
Long cloaked behind a “national-security exemption,” the nation’s seven intelligence agencies—including Smith’s employer, the DIA—had in recent years started addressing the complications of providing accessible technologies for disabled employees who needed what are called “reasonable accommodations” in order to do their work. This issue was particularly complex for those whose work involved top-clearance activities. For the DIA, a key area of concern was making sure their internal website met federal accessibility standards and requirements for online content.
The agency needed an IT engineer who could review various technologies used by employees—such as a Bluetooth hearing device for deaf or hard-of-hearing employees who need to access sensitive compartmented Information rooms or voice-to-text tools for someone with limited hand mobility. The official could then grant approval to use these technologies in national intelligence and top-secret environments. Smith, with her new degree in information systems, was the only person in her department with the skills to do this work.
From left to right: Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman; Carol Beatty, Maryland Department of Disabilities; Chandra Smith, Ms. Wheelchair America 2024; Karrisa Kelly, director, Department of Aging and Disabilities. (Photo courtesy of Smith)
“The job just fell in my lap after I graduated,” Smith says, who notes that in this “before” version of her life, she saw the position as important, but it had yet to become personal to her. “As I dove in, I found the field and challenges fascinating in that I had to balance significant national-security concerns with the legitimate and legally compelling needs for people with various disabilities to be given ‘reasonable accommodations’ to do their intelligence-related work.”
And then things became personal
Only several months after earning her master’s degree, Smith experienced her medical trauma and began her year-long hospital stay of surgeries, occupational therapy, and recovery—including six months in the burn unit. But in the midst of this, Smith found time to apply for a higher government position, received the promotion, and came back to the DIA a notch up in her career, with more fire in her than ever and now positioned as a team lead, mentor, and accessibility policy creator.
“It’s one thing to try and think like someone who has various disabilities,” Smith says. “It’s another thing to be that person: to be a triple amputee and someone who, essentially, doesn’t have functioning appendages.” (Her one remaining appendage—her right hand—was rendered near-useless and stiff when she had a stroke in the hospital.) “There are so many more nuances and deeper levels of understanding about universal design and accessible technology I understand now because I have to face these hurdles and challenges myself.”
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At UMBC, I felt like I had an upfront and center seat in the field I was studying, as my professors wove challenges they faced in their jobs into the class instruction.
Chandra Smith, M.S. '21
In her new role, she still advocates for expanded definitions of reasonable accommodation hardware and software for employees, but now Smith gravitates toward policy and agency-wide mandates. And she’s creating change not just at the DIA, but across all the nation’s intelligence agencies. “I’m absolutely and avidly an advocate for universal design and making these technologies available to more people.”
Smith has had to advocate for herself and her own needs, too, including a desk printer she can access from her wheelchair, a sit-to-stand desk, working from home for a significant portion of the week, voice-recognition software, speech-to-text software, and a policy change for the need to provide biodata such as fingerprints. She asks, “How can someone provide a fingerprint if they don’t have a hand?”
There she is …
Of all the things a younger Smith never saw in her future, being crowned Ms. Wheelchair America 2024 was certainly one of them.
Top 5 contestants and members of the board at the 2024 Ms. Wheelchair America (MWA) pageant. For the past 52 years, MWA has given women with disabilities an opportunity to enact meaningful change in society. (Photo courtesy of Smith)
But after her medical trauma, she was encouraged to compete in the Ms. Wheelchair Maryland 2023 contest, which she won; and that title allowed her to compete nationally, which she also won. More of a competition about resilience, advocacy, and helping to eliminate architectural and attitudinal barriers people with disabilities experience in the world, Smith’s response was, “I can do that!”
“The contest judges and members of the board were quite taken with Chandra’s presence, the clarity and logic with which she advocates about universal design, her personal story and challenges… and coming out all the stronger,” says Shelly Loose, president of Ms. Wheelchair America.
“Even before I was so personally impacted by these workplace and daily accessibility challenges of being disabled,” says Smith, “I could already see how designing for the few helps the many.”
Maryland governor Wes Moore shakes hands with Smith at the governor’s mansion. (Photo courtesy of Smith)
For example, closed captioning of videos for hearing-impaired people helps many others with improved comprehension and retention. Ramps into buildings help people in wheelchairs and parents with strollers. “Universal design is inclusive. It should be the starting point, not an afterthought,” Smith says.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore heard of Smith’s work after she testified for a Prince George’s County universal-access bill. Soon after, he appointed her to a three-year term on the Maryland Commission on Disabilities, where she’s already working on accessibility policy recommendations to support a variety of disabilities. “We just recommended rewriting the MVA manual to a 6th-grade level to accommodate those with learning and reading disabilities,” Smith says. “Disabilities manifest in many ways—seen and unseen.”
Architecture and attitudes toward accessibility
For as much as Smith and others advocate for universal design and reasonable accommodations at work, at the end of the day, people and their attitudes about their peers with disabilities are the biggest hurdle to overcome, she says.
When Smith returned to work after her medical trauma, one coworker said, “If that happened to me, I’d kill myself.” Another one asked, “Do you know you’re missing a leg?”
Eyes rolled but mind set, Smith plows on. “There aren’t many people who look like me in a military-focused work environment, as most people who are disabled or use a wheelchair are discharged and don’t return to their former jobs,” she says.
While Smith has suffered quite a few “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” as Shakespeare put it, she knows the way forward is, well, forward. “When I was an able-bodied person, I had some bad days. As a disabled person, I have some incapacitating days. But I’ve come to understand that having difficult days doesn’t make a bad life. I appreciate more things now. I have more gratitude,” Smith says.
“I know it’s cliché and a bit corny, but if I help one employer add voice-to-text software for their employees or one property manager install a ramp for a building, I’ve done my job,” Smith says. “Universal design is a core value; it’s a perspective; it’s a way of seeing the world and making things accessible for all because—and I can speak from experience here—being disabled is a club anyone can join at any moment for any reason.”
The vote of Jan. 13, 2024, is seen as a litmus test for the future of cross-strait relations, coming at a time when the status quo over Taiwan – a territory Beijing claims as an integral part of “one China” – is being challenged. If Taiwan’s incumbent, independence-oriented party stays in power, Chinese leader Xi Jinping might feel he has no choice but to force the issue of reunification.
Conversely, if the opposition – which agrees with Beijing that Taiwan and the mainland are part of “one China” but not about who governs it – wins the election, Beijing might feel it has more space to be patient on the issue.
In the run-up to the vote, Beijing has ramped up military exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait in an apparent warning to Taiwanese voters. On Jan. 6, in one of the most recent incidents, China sent a series of balloons over the island, which the Taiwan government cited as a threat to air travel and an attempt at intimidation.
Meanwhile, in his annual New Year’s address, Xi stated that “China will surely be reunified,” raising fears internationally that he intends to pursue the issue militarily if necessary.
For Washington, too, the outcome of the vote will have implications. The United States has cultivated strong ties with the current leadership of Taiwan. But recent tensions in the strait have raised the risk of war. U.S. actions deemed provocative by Beijing, such as the 2022 visit of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, have resulted in China upping its military threats in the strait. And this has raised speculation that China’s patience is growing thin and its timeline for reunification is growing shorter.
The presidential election in Taiwan has come down to a three-way race. The front-runner is current Vice President William Lai,* who is the candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party. The DPP views Taiwan as a sovereign country and does not seek reunification with China.
Lai’s challengers are New Taipei City mayor Hou Yu-ih, of the Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko Wen-je, a former mayor of Taipei running for the center-left Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The KMT embraces the idea of future reunification with China under a democratic government. The TPP criticizes both DPP and KMT platforms on cross-strait relations as too extreme and seeks a middle ground that maintains the status quo: A Taiwan that is de facto sovereign, but with strong economic and cultural ties with China.
Taiwan law mandates that no polls are published in the 10 days before the election. As of Jan. 3, when the final polls were published, averages had Lai leading with 36%, with Hou at 31% and Ko at 24%.
This may prove crucial, as joining forces may have represented the best chance of a KMT candidate being elected – an outcome that may have cooled tensions with Beijing.
Taiwanese democracy
The island of Taiwan has been governed as the “Republic of China” since 1949, when the KMT lost a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP set up the People’s Republic of China on the mainland, and the KMT retreated to Taiwan.
For decades, both the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China diverged on every possible policy except one: Both governments agreed that there was only one China, and that Taiwan was a part of China. They each sought to unite Taiwan and the mainland – but under their own rule.
Although that remains the goal in Beijing today, for Taiwan the outlook has started to change.
The change began with Taiwanese democratization – a process that began in the early 1990s after decades of autocratic rule. After gradually rolling out direct elections for the legislature, governors and mayors, the island held its first democratic election for president in 1996. Despite Beijing holding military exercises in the Taiwan Strait in an attempt to interfere with the vote, the KMT-affiliated incumbent won against a DPP candidate with strong ties to the Taiwan independence movement.
Four years later, the DPP’s candidate won and started the first of two consecutive terms. In 2008, a KMT candidate returned to power. But since 2016, Taiwan has been led by Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP.
Uneasy consensus
Cross-strait tensions tend to rise when the DPP is in office and calm somewhat when the KMT is in power. This isn’t because the KMT agrees with Beijing over the status of Taiwan – the party has always been clear that unification could happen only under its own government and never under the leadership of the Communist Party in Beijing. But the KMT affirms the idea that eventual unification with China is its goal for Taiwan.
In 1992, representatives of the KMT and the CCP met in Hong Kong and reached the “1992 Consensus.” Despite the name, the two sides do not fully agree on what it meant. The KMT affirmed the idea of one China but noted disagreement on what the government of that China should be; the People’s Republic of China interpreted it as affirming one China under CCP rule.
Still, the 1992 Consensus became the basis of a series of policies strengthening cross-strait ties, and it made KMT-led governments easier for the PRC to tolerate.
Pro-independence sentiment
Though speculation about the geopolitical fallout and China’s reaction to the election has dominated coverageof the votearound the world, for Taiwan voters, independence is one of several critical issues the island faces. The economy frequently rises even above cross-strait issues in importance, with many voters expressing concern over the rapid rise of housing prices, stagnating salaries, slow economic growth and how the incumbent party handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the issue of independence itself, Taiwanese polls have shown a creep toward pro-independence sentiment. As of September 2023, nearly half of Taiwanese voters said they preferred independence (48.9%) for the island, while 26.9% sought a continuation of the status quo. A shrinking minority – now just 11.8% – said they hoped for future reunification.
If the DPP remains in power, Beijing may feel the pressure to force the issue of reunification. Xi has called for the Chinese military to be capable of a successful cross-strait invasion by 2027, though a forceful reunification effort might include a combination of economic blockade and military pressure.
If that were to be the case, U.S. commitments to Taiwan – along with U.S. credibility among its Asian allies – could be on the line. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he is prepared to defend the island militarily against an attack from mainland China.
Already in 2024, the U.S. is having to contend with two significant conflicts that are demanding its attention. How Taiwanese voters mark their ballot – and how policymakers in Beijing respond – may determine whether a third war is more or less likely.
On a recent research trip to China, I wandered through the Oasis Mall in suburban Shanghai. Like many Chinese shopping malls, this complex was filled with empty stores that reflected the end of China’s 30-year-long economic expansion. But there also were surprises.
Along a stretch of the mall’s interior walkway, a cluster of parents and grandparents sat on chairs. They were looking through a plate glass window, watching a dozen 5- to 7-year-old girls practice ballet steps, carefully following their teacher’s choreography. A space initially designed for retail had been turned into a dance studio.
From 1990 through 2020, large, shiny shopping malls embodied China’s spectacular economic growth. They sprouted in cities large and small to meet consumer demand from an emerging middle class that was keen to express its newfound affluence. These centers look familiar to American eyes, which isn’t surprising: U.S. architectural firms built 170 malls in China during this period.
The Oasis (blue building) is one of some 6,700 shopping malls in Chinese cities. Hundreds of new centers open yearly. John Rennie Short, CC BY-ND
Like their U.S. counterparts, many Chinese malls have fallen on hard times. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of online shopping have devastated foot traffic, leaving the nation with a huge overhang of retail space. But many Chinese malls are being re-imagined by owners and users as palaces of experience – civic areas for communities to meet and interact, with new configurations of public and private space.
As a longtime urban policy scholar, I was fascinated by the new uses I saw for malls in China. In my view, these experiments could become models for new, creative uses of retail space in the U.S., where the mall was invented.
Malls became a motif of modernity during the country’s economic expansion. They offered consumers year-round protection from heat, humidity, cold and frost, as well as from busy streets and polluting traffic. Malls were safe environments where the steadily increasing numbers of more affluent Chinese families could shop and eat, stroll and meet.
Over the past 30 years, China’s malls have faced economic booms and slumps. For example, the New South China Mall in Dongguan – which is twice the size of Minnesota’s Mall of America, its largest U.S. counterpart – opened in 2005. But most of its 2,300 storefronts remained closed for over a decade as China fought off recession after the 2008 world financial crisis. https://www.youtube.com/embed/5zPkm2SU1DM?wmode=transparent&start=0 This 2013 news report takes viewers inside the then-deserted New South China Mall in Dongguan.
Then COVID-19 struck in 2020. The Chinese government adopted a rigid zero-COVID policy, in which local governments could impose lockdowns after detecting just a few cases. Hundreds of millions of people were restricted to their homes for weeks or months at a stretch.
But the Chinese are making creative use of excess mall space. New users are filling nonretail areas, such as indoor walkways and atriums that now house café tables. Others have become children’s play spaces filled with giant inflatable figures. The Raffles City Mall in Shenzen has a rooftop pet playground, a stage, an art display area and a sun-shaded lawn.
China’s informal economy of food stalls and sidewalk merchants is also filling the void. Although street vending has a long history in China, government officials sought to suppress it in recent years, calling it unsanitary and a throwback to pre-modern times. Now, however, they are encouraging it as a way to reduce growing unemployment, especially among young people, which currently exceeds 20%.
During my trip, I saw small-scale entrepreneurs selling produce, street food and crafts in mall parking lots and around public entrances. The distinction between public and private spaces is being reconfigured as vendors set up stalls in areas that once were open space.
People at Joy City Shopping Complex in Yantai, China, watch a live broadcast of the 2023 League of Legends world championship final on Nov. 19, 2023. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game. Tang Ke/VCG via Getty Images
I see these experiments as a shift in the meaning of the mall. What began as a cathedral of retail consumerism is becoming a place where people can connect and enjoy individual and collective experiences that aren’t available online.
Meet Jennifer Herson ’99, interdisciplinary studies. Jen is an executive at Data Canopy, a data center and cloud company, and the current Vice President of Operations of the UMBC Alumni Association Board of Directors. As a board member, Jen believes deeply in the mission of UMBC and the sense of community and belonging this institution fosters. She helps perpetuate these values through her work on the board and as a donor. Take it away, Jen!
Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?
A: Everyone can find their people here. I wasn’t a traditional student and I didn’t choose a science-focused major, but UMBC was the absolute best choice for me as it allowed me to customize my experience and find what worked for me so that I had the confidence to follow the path that worked for me.
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We’re a community of people with a similar dedication to excellence–and it’s evident everywhere you see us.
Jennifer Herson ’99
Herson ready to graduate with her degree in interdisciplinary studies from UMBC in 1999.
Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?
A: My area of study was interdisciplinary studies with a focus on visual arts, English, and modern language and linguistics. In my role as an executive at Data Canopy, a data center and cloud company, I have touched everything from operations and finance to marketing. I actually use (and have always used) my degree daily. I’m a mom to a ten-year-old, an avid concert-goer/music enthusiast, and, when I’m not cheering on my son at hockey, I like to root for the Baltimore Orioles or Washington Capitals.
Herson and her husband at the 2021 UMBC Alumni Awards ceremony.
Q: What’s your favorite part of being a part of Retriever Nation?
A: Being a part of Retriever Nation is a point of pride. We’re not just a little school from Baltimore County, we’re a community of people with a similar dedication to excellence–and it’s evident everywhere you see us.
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Everyone can find their people here.
Jennifer Herson ’99
Q: What drives you to support the Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund?
A: I love to support the Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund. As someone who worked their way through college, the mission of that fund is near and dear to my heart. I know that the donations I make will be put to good use by a student in need.
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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.
University Communications and Marketing social media intern Allison John ’24, psychology, isn’t only interested in Instagram engagement and sharing campus treasures—she’s also passionate about the creative process that brings a dancer’s performance to life. After watching this year’s Fall Dance Showcase, John sat down with one of the senior choreographers to learn more about her art.
When you listen to a song, what immediately comes to your mind? Eva McLaughlin ’24, dance, said this is exactly the story of how her choreography comes to life.
Every senior dance major at UMBC is required to create or perform a final piece to graduate. Two to five student dancers will work with a choreographer to pick a variety of songs to tell a story of their choosing. For McLaughlin, when she hears a song, she immediately begins to imagine a story or sometimes a phrase, and from there, her process starts.
This year was different from others as her piece was centered around research she conducted as part of an Undergraduate Research Award (URA). McLaughlin’s research centered on misophonia, a neurological condition characterized by an intense aversion to certain auditory stimuli. The dance piece was created in order to pull the audience into the reality of people who have misophonia. The dance depicted scenes of panic attacks and the image of a “fight or flight” response.
Transforming on the stage
When a choreographer first hears their music, their mind begins to shift through different visions of how their piece could be interpreted. McLaughlin described her choreography as being about the connections between dancers, and less about the counts or the logistics of a dance.
Dancers perform McLaughlin’s “Episodic Abrasion.” Photo by Kiirstn Pagan ’11.
“When I choreograph relationships, I create them based on touch and feelings. It makes their relationship feel more genuine on stage,” she says. Each dance has a story to tell and the responsibility of a choreographer is to guide their dancers in how they want this story to be delivered.
McLaughlin is not only a choreographer, she is also a dancer. Dance is an incredibly intense sport because it requires a dancer to focus on each precise movement. This is not only about their performance on stage, but about what they imagine as they stretch before a performance, the way their facial expressions depict their emotions, and how sharp their movements are. When these dancers walk on stage, they transform—in that moment they are not simply themselves—they are part of this elaborate story. Each audience member understands the story differently, depending on the dancers and how they chose to deliver a piece. McLaughlin describes this feeling as something unlike any other.
Showcasing a different side
When dancing, McLaughlin is telling someone else’s story, and it’s important to remember that story as you dance. As she described her own piece, she said that, “it wasn’t a dance that was meant to be pretty” but instead, she wanted the audience to be brought into the reality of those who live with misophonia.
“When I’m performing, it feels like I’m in a different reality. In that moment, I’m a part of someone else’s story, and I’m able to showcase another side of myself that most people don’t get to see.”
Photo by Kiirstn Pagan ’11.
The passion behind every choreographer and dancer is what makes each piece so unique. In the months leading up to the performance, each dancer is in some way intertwined with this story. They carry the responsibility to deliver it to the audience and hope that each person who comes in contact with this piece leaves feeling impacted by it in some way.
What gets you up and out the door each morning? And what makes a job more than a job—or even more than a career? For so many who make UMBC their professional home, the value goes way beyond a paycheck.
Case in point: Employees for the 14th consecutive year rated UMBC as one of ModernThink’s Great Colleges to Work For in all 10 categories, including shared governance, mission and pride, job satisfaction and support, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, the Baltimore Sun has once again named UMBC a 2023 Top Workplace winner based on a confidential employee survey conducted earlier this year. This is the 9th time UMBC has earned this designation since 2013.
What does this excellence look like in the day-to-day? We talked to some Retrievers about what they love about their work at UMBC.
UMBC is a place that considers the whole person, opening up space for both professional growth and work-life balance. From mentoring programs to embracing our individual stories, when we support each other in our work and lives, we all come out stronger.
Sharing Our Time
Dozens of Retrievers spent time this fall planting 900 new trees around campus, including those pictured here (L-R): Gavin Gilliland, Abby Hart ’18, and Tim Olivella.
Building bridges across campus
They met so many times at Starbucks, they knew each other’s orders.
Over their caffeine of choice, the two UMBC staff, who work in wildly divergent disciplines, forged connections through the Professional Staff Senate mentorship program—a staple of campus connectedness for the last decade.
Doyle, who works in information technology and has been a staff member at the university for almost 24 years, has served as a mentor for more than five years. Keniston, who started at the Shriver Center five years ago, anticipated a year of opportunity and transition and wanted a mentor to guide her toward balance between a demanding career, family, and finishing her Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture.
“It was a perfect fit because Damian saw the big picture of the university and explained the campus overarching structures that I had never understood and was really great at advising me on critical points I was at in my career,” Keniston said.
As a mentor to a number of staff over the years, Doyle finds the program rewarding.
“One of the things I loved was getting to know different parts of the university. I get exposed to these different areas of the campus at a deeper level. It confirms for me the kind of driven work that people are doing.”
The mentorship program matches staff through a mentee-first pairing system that includes a speed-dating session and goal analysis for a year-long commitment. Keniston said the mentorship was crucial to her path at UMBC.
“I was at the point where I felt like I couldn’t ask questions, like, ‘Who is this person?’” Keniston said with a laugh. “But being in this mentor/mentee relationship gave me an opportunity to say, ‘Help me understand this.’”
Doyle said that hearing Keniston’s questions and seeing the campus organization through new eyes helped him know what is working and what needs improvement at UMBC. “It’s very educational for me, having to think through what is the right answer, what is the honest answer.”
After a year of meeting about once a month, Doyle has a new mentee, and Keniston has now become a mentor. But they’ll be keeping in touch. Maybe over tea and coffee.
Inner Peace
Many of our staff and faculty take advantage of free exercise and wellness classes in the RAC, some of which are taught by Joella Lubaszewski ’10.
Telling her authentic story
Melessia Jasper’s journey to UMBC was not straight. But something kept pointing her toward UMBC. And toward herself.
“My path to UMBC started before I knew about UMBC,” Jasper said, explaining that after high school in Alabama, she arrived in Maryland only to find that the job she had been promised was locked in a hiring freeze. She started at American University, where she worked with two former UMBC staffers. Then she heard UMBC President Emeritus Freeman Hrabowski at a faculty retreat. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but God was laying the groundwork for where I am today.”
When she moved to Baltimore with her new husband, she applied to UMBC and worked in several different divisions, including Student Affairs and Administration and Finance. In each office, Jasper said, she found acceptance and growth. She now works in the Division of Institutional Equity.
“It was the first university I worked for where you’re applauded for your quirkiness,” Jasper said. “I was so empowered by the resources UMBC offered to me that I then could empower others.”
Last year, she stood on stage to tell her story in a Retriever Talk. For weeks, she and a cohort of other UMBC staff labored with Jill Wardell ’99, interdisciplinary studies, and other strategic talent management and storytelling staff to shape their life tales, a commitment of time and effort on the part of both the storytellers and for UMBC. Jasper said she felt like she was stripping naked. She was reluctant but told herself, “Sometimes, you have to be uncomfortable in order to follow your purpose in life.”
In addition to revealing lifelong intrusive thoughts of inadequacies and imposter syndrome, Jasper also shared—in front of hundreds of people she didn’t know—that in 2000, doctors discovered she had a rare condition called a Chiari malformation, in which part of her brain had grown down into her spine. Her doctor was amazed at what she had achieved, but Jasper knew she was only getting started.
After her Retriever Talk, many students, colleagues, and even strangers have since contacted her to affirm how her story helped them.
“This is something that I have gone through,” Jasper said. “If I can go through it and possibly help you by telling you my story, I want you to have that same freedom…freedom in understanding who I am and accepting who I am.”
Through our unique commitment to shared governance and a deep appreciation of community, we collectively build UMBC into what we know it should be.
Sharing the Moment
The annual cookout put on by the Professional Staff Senate and Nonexempt Staff Senate brings folks together from all over campus.
Finding a voice in leadership
There’s a reason the Nonexempt Staff Senate (NESS) carries the name of a democratic body. Alongside other staff and faculty shared governance groups and student government bodies serving their respective constituents, NESS exists to ensure all UMBC nonexempt employees have a voice, the way democracy is supposed to work.
Desiree Stonesifer, serving the second year of her term as president of NESS, and a business services specialist in the financial services department, believes that the shared governance organization builds trust at the university. UMBC offers both staff and faculty shared governance groups, in which all parties work together on the university’s leadership.
“I think it gives people the security of knowing that they’re welcome to speak their mind without it being held against them,” Stonesifer said. “They’re allowed to have thoughts outside the status quo. And a lot of times, those are the kind of thoughts that maybe the administration or other people in the university haven’t thought of. It gives everyone different perspectives and it allows staff the ability to grow more comfortable in their community so that they can be who they are and say what they think.”
NESS helps its members handle issues that are vital to employees: Are job descriptions adequate? Are positions equitably valued? Is professional development available?
Many of the nonexempt senate members aren’t interacting with students as much as other UMBC employees, Stonesifer said, and many of them want to reach out. The NESS, she said, can help members “find ways to get involved in the community.”
Creating Change
Campus offices like the Center for Democracy and Civic Life work alongside students to engage the community and make a difference.
Creating a green space of solace
Charles Hogan, UMBC’s landscape and grounds manager, is comfortable with trees. He grew up climbing them, building forts in them, and “falling out of them,” he said, laughing. For decades, he has run and biked through forests for mile upon mile every week.
As he walks UMBC’s Academic Row in his sturdy boots and cargo pants, Hogan (above, right) admires the trees that have survived years of building renovations, root system compromise by tunnels carrying utilities and water underground, and the hundreds of students who tramp over their soil and tie hammocks to their trunks.
Hogan, who has worked on UMBC’s landscaping for 26 years, likes to construct park-like pockets dotted throughout the campus. Each of those miniature parks is based around trees, whether that’s the pair of oaks in front of the Administration Building that tower over the hydrangeas below or the diminutive weeping redbud that Hogan wanted to top with a tiny hat and sunglasses because it looked so much like Cousin Itt from the Addams Family.
“I’m a tree person,” said Hogan, who is a certified arborist. “Trees should be the focal points. We’re creating a lot of little park environments.”
A campus’ green spaces, Hogan said, make a difference when students and their families are trying to decide where to attend as well as provide succor to everyone making their way through a busy semester. That’s why the grounds staff plants 30,000 summer annuals and 10,000 fall pansies every year. Each area on campus is assigned to a particular gardener, Hogan said, who takes pride in the beauty of the plants under their charge.
Those gardens and the shade of the trees surrounding the buildings offer comfort to the staff, faculty, and students who make the campus their living rooms.
“I never went to college, but I know students are under a lot of stress. They should be able to sit outside, read, study, write a paper,” Hogan said. “Any landscape, whether it’s at your house or on campus, should make you feel good, feel relaxed.”
Living the Mission
At the end of the day, UMBC’s values and mission are what bring us all together. When we work in service of our students and our academic mission of inclusive excellence, it’s hard not to feel connected to the work on another level.
A Student-Centered Community
At the beginning of each school year, our new students are officially welcomed with the Convocation ceremony, where they each receive a special UMBC shield pin.
Lifting students to the next level
When he’s deep into extolling the mission and benefits of the McNair Scholars Program he directs, Michael Hunt ’06, computer engineering, needs only a pulpit to become the preacher he trained to be.
When Hunt sees a student achieve, he feels “that parent feeling, that joy that comes to you. Sometimes I’m more excited than they are when they’re telling me. Sometimes it’s a sense of awe in knowing their story, in knowing all that had to happen to get to that space,” said Hunt, who has a masters in theology. “I feel like we’re the mama bird, teaching them all they need before they fly away.”
The federally funded McNair program, with a goal of boosting students from underrepresented segments of society into earning research-based doctoral degrees, has expanded over the six years of Hunt’s directorship.
Every year, the McNair Scholars Program funds 30 slots for students, who meet with mentors, fulfill service obligations, attend cross-cultural events, and receive the help they need to prepare for, apply to, and excel in graduate school.
Hunt, who was a Meyerhoff and McNair scholar, is earning his own interdisciplinary Ph.D. from UMBC. After he became director of the McNair program in 2019, he found himself frustrated when he had to shut some students out of opportunities. So he spearheaded, with the backing of the then-current scholars, staff, and McNair Advisory Council, the creation of the Friends of McNair network, a group of students who reap some of the mentoring, community, and support benefits that McNair Scholars enjoy.
Hunt is exploring ways for the university to expand the support it gives to students not in formal scholar programs. He enthusiastically advocates for the need for holistic critical mentoring (HCM), a network of power-dynamic-flipped, student-centered, reciprocal relationships. HCM is the mentoring framework that uplifts both mentor and mentee while dismantling systems of oppression.
“Because of my heart and because of the work that I do, I don’t want to turn anyone away when I know there are resources to support them. The institution has to rise and say, ‘This is a part of the work of inclusive excellence, and we’re going to fund this to make it happen.’ What I love about my institution is that the more I talk and have these conversations, the more I do see people beginning to question and challenge what we are doing. And so I don’t feel quieted. In other spaces, I know that folks would have been quieted.”
Moments of Joy
There’s simply nothing like the feeling of watching our students cross the stage to get their diplomas.
Shaping success in all sizes
At Commencement, Kyung-Eun Yoon likes to sneak out of her academic division’s seating section to hug students in other majors, she confesses. Of course, she gets to hug all the Korean majors when they rise to receive their diplomas, but other students have taken maybe five or six courses or minored in Korean, and she wants to embrace them, too, to recognize that achievement.
Student success, Yoon says, doesn’t come in one shape or size.
“For some students, yes, excelling in every class and getting double degrees and finishing an honors program with a wonderful thesis, going to Korea’s top university as a graduate student, getting a job—that’s a wonderful, wonderful success story,” Yoon said. “But for some students, completing the semester without withdrawing from too many classes, or without failing one or two courses, completing their degree, finally, in five or six years, that’s a wonderful success story for them too.”
Yoon started at UMBC in 2009 as the coordinator of the new Korean program and has grown the program so that students can now major or minor in Korean within the modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication department. Over her 14 years, Yoon’s Korean program graduates have gone on to work at the National Security Agency, to pursue graduate schools in various fields including Korean studies and international relations, to teach English in Korea, and more.
But sometimes, she said, success looks like one student whose achievement she particularly treasures. The student had dropped out, withdrawn from many classes, but after six years and many advising sessions with Yoon, last May, she graduated.
“It was not just a mere graduation for her, it was a really, really huge success for her,” Yoon said, and that student’s achievement made Yoon feel proud. “I did this much,” she says, holding up her finger and thumb an inch apart. Yoon and her colleagues can help students along the path of hard work, but eventually, she says, “you have to have your ownership. We’ll help you, but without your ownership of this time, success cannot be happening.”
And when success happens, Yoon is sure to find that student to give them a hug.
Aimee, Jamie, and Gina Joshua have a lot in common. All three went to UMBC as members of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. And the sisters all have great memories of growing up in a house filled with delicious food and love. So, when their mother’s YouTube channel focusing on Indian cooking techniques started to take off, the trio made it their mission to create a cookbook of family recipes that would honor their beloved parents.
Our parents, Sara and Abraham Joshua, known to us as Mummy and Chacha, immigrated from India in their twenties separately to begin their careers and continued education to help provide for their families back home. Coming to America in the ’70s, they were learning how to navigate a new country and a new culture. After getting married and starting a family, they began raising three daughters in Baltimore, Maryland. The challenge was to figure out how to teach and preserve our Indian culture and traditions when it was over 8,000 miles away.
The Joshua Sisters: Gina, Jamie, and Aimee.
Growing up as “the Joshua sisters,” we did many things together—singing songs in church at talent shows, Girl Scouts, karate, and even attending UMBC! They wanted the best for us and every day showed us the value and importance of hard work and being and staying humble. Since we were young girls, Mummy and Chacha taught us that everything is possible if you put your mind to it and work hard. Our parents encouraged us to chase our dreams, but as with many parents, they didn’t think about pursuing their own, only providing for their family.
Mummy, affectionately known as “Ammini Aunty,” was a nurse at the University of Maryland Medical System and Chacha, affectionately known as “Bejoy Uncle,” was a realtor. They both kept busy outside of work hours with community and church activities.
If you wanted to find our parents in the house, it was usually in the kitchen—and the garden was a close second. Mummy loved to cook our traditional South Indian dishes and prepare food for others and Chacha enjoyed being her sous chef. Food was their love language and we had so many conversations around the kitchen table.
During our years at UMBC, we often brought Mummy’s home-cooked food when we returned to campus, always willing to share some chicken biriyani or beans mezhukkupuratti with our friends. Mummy didn’t often have time to do more than cooking for her family or special events because of her nursing career and her focus on our education. This meant she didn’t get to cook and experiment as much as she would have liked. It was only once we were in college that we began to understand the joy being in the kitchen would bring her.
Once we were older, some of our favorite memories were when we gathered in the kitchen to catch up on how everyone’s day had been. When we came home with our friends, Mummy would recruit them to help prepare whatever was on the menu, even if they had never cooked before. We did our best and Mummy would walk us through the recipe and cooking techniques with a lot of patience. Mummy always said “If you put your mind to it, you can do it. It’s a passion, and it takes hard work. But at the end of it all, you get something great.”
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Food is meant to be shared, and while Mummy was teaching us to cook, she was also teaching us to curate and nurture relationships and be proud of our culture.
The Joshua Sisters
Whether we were peeling ginger, grating coconut, or chopping vegetables, we knew we were not just creating a meal, we were also building and creating something better: loving memories and an appreciation for our Kerala food. Because that’s what it’s about.
Food is meant to be shared, and while Mummy was teaching us to cook, she was also teaching us to curate and nurture relationships and be proud of our culture. Cooking together is creating together, which involves trust and building a connection between each person helping create the meal. In addition, we are Indian American and are so proud of what it means to be both Indian and American.
Known as Mummy to her three girls, Sara Joshua poses in her kitchen.
We learned an important lesson during our time at UMBC, taught to us by the late great Lamont Toliver, “Mr. T,” former director of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program. In a moment of vulnerability, Aimee shared with Mr. T that she had been rejected by all of the Ph.D. programs she had applied to but had gotten into a master’s program.
In all his wisdom, Mr. T comforted Aimee with these wise words: “Not all paths from point A to point B are a straight line. Sometimes you have to take the long way to get where you want to go.” That’s a lesson that has stayed with us for some time and that, we soon realized during the pandemic, applied to Mummy.
By this time, Gina had started a family and we welcomed our next generation of children. The pandemic taught us how precious life is and that making every moment count is important. As sisters, we decided that we would work together to make Mummy’s dream of teaching our generation and future generations how to cook Kerala food come true.
After the pandemic began, Mummy retired from an over 40-year nursing career to help care for Chacha and avoid any risk due to COVID-19. With more time as a retiree, Mummy began experimenting with recipes and sharing them with close by family, who would pick up the care packages she would leave on the porch. They would then text or call her with feedback, helping perfect the recipes.
In April 2020, Mummy came into our room and asked if we wanted to take a picture of what she was cooking in the kitchen. So Jamie and Aimee, armed only with their iPhones and short notice to their friends online, began to livestream Mummy making Mango curry. Then the unexpected happened.
Thousands of people watched it within the first three days, and a flame was lit. Instead of waiting for perfection, we continued to dive into video after video, each an improvement on the one before. What started as a fun project became a thriving YouTube channel, Ammini Aunty’s A Pinch of Kerala, and a full-blown community of “Pinchers.” People were excited to learn from Mummy, and we were all thrilled to share her love for cooking with everyone.
Fast forward to today, our first cookbook, Ammini Aunty’s A Pinch of Kerala: A South Indian Inspired Cookbook, is being published. Thanks to the power of Kickstarter and Pinchers worldwide, what was just once a dream is now becoming a reality. As Mummy reminds her Pinchers, “If you put your mind to it, you can do it.” Don’t let your dreams stay a dream. Work toward making it a reality.
Jamie Joshua ’02, biological sciences, is the diversity, equity, and inclusion manager for Giant Food. Aimee Joshua ’03, M.S. ’05, computer science, is the senior manager, IT contracts, at PBS Distribution. Gina Wright ’05, biological sciences, is a dentist at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
One of the most influential sets of historical photos in UMBC’s Special Collections is an archive of more than 5,400 images documenting the harsh conditions of child laborers in early 20th-century America. Recently the team in Special Collections—which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year—undertook a massive project to digitize and rehouse the photos in more protective sheaths to help safeguard the images and the hand-written details on them.
The preservation effort gave UMBC student workers hands-on practice with handling the delicate photographs and allowed staff to dive deep into these historical records in order to comment on timely issues around current child labor conditions in the U.S. Their work will allow future students, faculty, and visiting scholars to access this important material for many years to come.
Preserving the photography of Lewis Hine
In the first article in this three-part feature, Rahne Alexander, M.F.A. ’21, writes about how photographer Lewis Hine secured a place in history as an investigative documentarian by observing and sharing the conditions for child laborers. From 1908 through 1930, Hine worked closely with the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), an organization devoted to preventing the exploitation of children in the workplace. Hine crisscrossed the U.S. creating portraits of a diverse array of children working in fields and factories.
Meredith Power, left, and Susan Graham, right, handle the century-old
photographs. (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)
Handle with care
Uncovering the work UMBC students put into the project of preserving these historical photos, Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque interview Special Collections interns Meredith Power ’21, history, a public history graduate student, and Gabe Morrison ’23, anthropology. Along with library staff members, these two worked diligently to ensure that the images of the families and children who lived through these harrowing work conditions are accessible to the public for research and learning.
7-year old Rosie. Regular shucker. Her second year at it. Illiterate. Works all day. Shucks only a few pots a day. Varn & Platt Canning Co. in Bluffton, South Carolina, 1911 – 1913.
Elwood Palmer Cooper, helper on miller’s wagon, 7 years of age. Carries bags of flour, weighing 25 pounds, from wagon to stores. Receives 25 cents per week. Money not needed at home. Wants money to spend. Wilmington, Delaware, 1910.
The U.S. has a child labor problem
Lastly, in a piece originally published in The Conversation, Curator of Special Collections Beth Saunders, writes, “As I’ve worked with this collection over the last two years, the social and political implications of Hine’s photographs have been very much on my mind. The patina of these black-and-white photographs suggests a bygone era—an embarrassing past that many Americans might imagine they’ve left behind. But with numerous reports of child labor violations, many involving immigrants, occurring in the U.S., along with an uptick in state legislation rolling back the legal working age, it’s clear that Hine’s work is as relevant today as it was a century ago.”
Renique Kersh became UMBC’s vice president for student affairs in August 2023, and her first days were a whirlwind that included dropping her sons at school, moving from Boston to Maryland, and attending a number of UMBC welcome events for students and the community.
Now that she’s had the chance to replant her roots at UMBC (her first job out of graduate school was as a community director for Residential Life from 2001 – 2003), Kersh is using her time to listen to the community and bring her expertise to the table as she works with campus leadership and partners to support student success and well-being.
Her excitement and eagerness to be here is evident in the way she enthusiastically talks about UMBC students, staff, faculty, alumni, and families—and the work ahead.
UMBC Magazine: What has excited you the most about being at UMBC so far?
The students! One of the most exciting parts of my interview process was meeting students in person. I appreciate how humble they are and how seriously they take the privilege of being here and caring for our community.
I’ve also loved meeting and hearing from staff and faculty across campus. It’s a phenomenal group with a lot of spirit, energy, and commitment to the university and creating opportunities for students.
Kersh meets with staff and students at a Division of Student Affairs welcome event. (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)
Some people have heard me say this already, but it’s true: When we moved from Boston and crossed the border into Maryland, I immediately felt a sense of home. I do believe that this is my home, and it’s where my heart has been for many years. I wake up every morning thankful to be part of such a supportive campus environment.
I’m also honored and humbled to work for a president who is a dynamic leader who deeply appreciates UMBC’s history and is committed to taking the university to the next level. I’m excited to be part of that work too.
I’m grateful for the alumni who have welcomed me, and I look forward to additional opportunities to engage with them and hear about their experiences as students here. I would love to bring alumni who were student leaders during their time here to meet with our current student leaders.
UMBC Magazine: What are your initial goals to connect and support students and the campus—now and future? What is the importance of campus partnerships in student affairs?
I’ve been doing a lot of listening, and I hear five areas where we need to grow: belonging; staff well-being and capacity; space; structure; and synergy. I want to build priorities around what I am hearing.
Kersh spoke at the 2023 Fall Opening Meeting. (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)
We are a diverse community but we still need to pay attention to how students feel welcome. Our demographics are changing quickly and as part of our commitment to inclusive excellence we need to have the infrastructure to support the diverse student body. The goal of the Division of Student Affairs is to support and engage both undergraduate and graduate students. To do that fully we need to engage in some difficult conversations in order to build community, while honoring differences and similarities between the two.
We are in need of additional space to support students, staff, and faculty. The pandemic has changed how we use space, and we need to consider these changes and look at how we can use space. We need to find more spaces where students can gather together in the ways we hope for them.
Partnerships across our division and campus are key. We do work better together. Together we can address capacity and efficiency so that students are successful. This includes technology to evaluate success, communication structures, and bringing academics together with co-curricular engagement experiences.
Over the course of my career, I’ve spent a great deal of time in student affairs, and a long time on the academic side of universities as well. Both areas show a care and concern for student success, but sometimes barriers build up between the two. This work cannot be done in silos, and I’m committed to finding the connection points and focusing on ways we can work together.
UMBC Magazine: How do we support students in challenging times?
It’s really important to listen to students and not impose our way of being on them. What do they need? Often, the first things they begin to share with us don’t give us an immediate sense of what they are feeling or need; we have to keep listening and encourage them to tell their story before we respond. What is their concern a symptom of, and how do we diagnose it?
Being present with students also calls for humility and understanding our limitations. Answers aren’t always simple. We have to look at the support systems we offer, and if they don’t have the impact we are hoping for, we may need to change how we do things or consider new ways of doing them.
The mental health crisis is ongoing, so we need to think creatively about what we offer students. That may mean going beyond care appointments to, for example, pop-up spaces with resources and trained facilitators. We know this crisis calls for a major shift in how universities approach this work and that there’s also an impact on faculty and staff, who may struggle to know how to help students while dealing with their own challenges. Sometimes it calls for difficult discussions about students and their responsibility as a member of this community and how they can support themselves and others.
UMBC Magazine: As you began your vice president’s role, you also traveled to Germany in October as part of your Fulbright Administrators Award. What did you learn from the experience?
The experience was transformative both personally and professionally, and I was honored to be one of the 15 leaders chosen from across the country.
First of all, everyone in my group shared their schools’ challenges with equity issues. While our educational systems and our assessment methods are different, we had important conversations and struggled with the idea of trying to change a system that has been in place for quite some time.
I learned that administrators from Germany traveled to Kentucky as part of their Fulbright, and they were shocked by our standard of care. They shared that the level of support and guidance we provide seems excessive and indicated that in Germany the philosophy is that when students turn 18 they are adults who can navigate institutions on their own.
Kersh’s first job out of graduate school was as a community director in UMBC’s Residential Life. (Marlayna Demond ’11/UMBC)
Our conversations led us to discussions about what we can learn from Germans about giving students more space to figure things out and what they can learn from us about meeting students where they are and considering the standard of care that may be needed at each stage of development. In the future, I would love to teach a comparative analysis class and take students to Germany to learn more about their approach to education and care.
In reflecting back, I see the Fulbright as a seed for me and my work, but also an opportunity for my sons to see what is possible for them, too.
UMBC Magazine: In 2022 you were also selected to be an Aspen Institute Senior Impact Fellow. What were the outcomes of this program?
What I loved about this fellowship is that it’s an intergenerational program, so there were leaders in high school and college up to university presidents. We discussed our perspectives on what leadership means and how to create opportunities for experiential equity for students. Some of the things children engage in or are responsible for can be examples of leadership, but are not traditionally acknowledged as such. How do we capture that and provide more resources and support for them?
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Being present with students also calls for humility and understanding our limitations. Answers aren’t always simple.
UMBC Magazine: As a leader, how important is self care to you and how do you practice it?
My doctoral research focused on the relationship between stress and the health risks for women leaders in higher education. It’s real, and the more responsibility women have as leaders the more unhealthy they become. This really spoke to me, and as I grow as a leader I’ve never forgotten it. I have to remind myself to take time for me, that no one else will do that for me. For me, this means personal retreats focused on what I need at the time, whether it’s space to think and write or just a relaxing getaway.
In the day-to-day, I love Peloton, and I just started shadowboxing! I also love spending time in community with family and friends.
