So You Want to Be a Pioneer? Founding UMBC faculty across disciplines reflect on building a new public university. By Richard Byrne ’86 See Editor’s Note UMBC opened its doors on September 19, 1966. But as concrete was poured and red bricks were laid, founding chancellor Albin O. Kuhn and founding dean of faculty Homer Schamp were also recruiting faculty members for a new research institution. In a 1994 oral history interview conducted by Ed Orser, emeritus professor of American studies, Kuhn observed that adventure and ambition were his key selling points to recruits. “[T]hat was the thing we talked… Continue Reading From the Editor – Summer 2016
From the day UMBC opened its doors, the work of teaching and research has been at the heart of university life. The love of learning has been passed on by the university’s faculty across disciplines in lecture halls, laboratories, office hours, and in the field. We’ve selected some of the best images of a dynamic endeavor of teaching and exploration that has stretched from 1966 to the present day, aspiring not only to excellence but to greater access for all students to the wisdom and understanding that our faculty carry with them.
UMBC’s growing reputation as a hub for research with powerful impact isn’t founded on the achievements of renowned scholars who have created laboratories or explored the limits of the arts, humanities and social sciences at the university alone. It is also built on a growing number of impressive younger scholars who have found a home for their work at UMBC. The pedigree of the scholars who will propel research and teaching at the university in its next 50 years can be measured in part by the number of early career teaching and research awards these up-and-coming faculty members have received.… Continue Reading Bright Futures
UMBC Magazine put a call out for questions about our institution’s history and mysteries, and alumni responded by submitting inquiries about True Grit, secret campus tunnels, UMBC football, Hillcrest, and more. What questions do YOU have? Continue Reading UMBC’s Top 9 Histories and Mysteries
UMBC alumna Mary Slicher founded one of Baltimore’s leading advocacy groups for the homeless forty years ago. Now her organization is finding a new home of its own. By Elizabeth Heubeck ’91 With a discernible bounce in her loping gait, Mary Slicher ’73, sociology approaches the double doors of a formidable stone building that dates back to the 1950’s. A stubborn folding metal gate renders the building’s inside areas off-limits to intruders, and as Slicher pushes her weight against the gate and it finally slides to the side, she flashes a ready smile and tosses her long wavy black hair… Continue Reading Finding a Way Home
UMBC professor of psychology Robert Provine’s “small science” makes big strides in explaining human behavior. By Chelsea Haddaway Twenty five right-handed UMBC students sit cross-legged in their chairs in a classroom, shoes and socks removed, with the ankle of one leg resting on the knee of the other. Slowly, they stroke the soles of each foot with their fingertips, recording what they feel using first one hand, then the other. The students are testing an idea that professor of psychology Robert Provine stumbled on as he soaped his own foot in the shower one day. It tickled more than he… Continue Reading Curious About Us
America’s urban landscapes have long been a battleground in wars against bedbugs, roaches, rats and flies. In a new book, UMBC professor Dawn Biehler traces that conflict’s history across boundaries of class and race. By Richard Byrne ’86 Illustrations by Joanna Barnum Most city dwellers feel nothing but loathing and fear when they see the rats and roaches that often plague their neighborhoods. And even visitors to the big city can panic when bedbugs infest their hotel beds. So what sort of researcher likes to dig into the vexed dynamics of our interactions with such pests? Dawn Biehler, an assistant… Continue Reading Pest Panic
Team Player – Stephanie Hill ’86, computer science and economics Composition as Conversation – James Polchin ’89, political science and English A Sense of Play – Kathleen Warnock ’80, interdisciplinary studies Giving Back – Greg Cantori ’84, geography
Yesterday, Maryland State Senator Allan Kittleman ’81, political science, launched his campaign for Howard County Executive. He is the first to announce his candidacy for county executive, a position that has been left vacant by term limits. According to the Baltimore Sun: During a 15-minute address to his supporters, Kittleman, 54, said his priorities for the county are education, solving transportation issues, fostering economic development, and assisting county residents who are suffering. If he is elected, Kittleman would be the first Republican to hold county executive office in Howard County since 1998. Read the full article.
In his junior year at UMBC, Collin Wojciechowski ’13, political science, represented nearly 180,000 students within the University System of Maryland (USM) as their sole student representative on the Board of Regents. Wojciechowski advocated against “doomsday” budget cuts and tuition increases and successfully lobbied to overhaul the USM policy for assessing student fees, making students an active part of the discussion. Without the aid of scholarships, he would never have been able to serve his fellow students in this way. We sat down with the newly graduated Sondheim Scholar to talk a little bit about the part scholarships have played… Continue Reading 30 Days/30 Scholarships: Q&A with Collin Wojciechowski
FROM: Freeman Hrabowski, President, and Philip Rous, Provost TO: The UMBC Community RE: New Grants from the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation We are delighted to announce the second set of projects to receive grants from the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation. These projects build on the strong commitment of our faculty to continually reimagine our students’ learning experiences. The selection committee received a number of outstanding applications. The grant recipients were chosen by a committee comprised of faculty from each college, teaching award winners, and representatives from the Provost’s Office, Graduate School, and Office of Undergraduate Education. In selecting projects to… Continue Reading New Grants from the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation
As a master of marketing tech and entrepreneurship, UMBC alumnus Greg Cangialosi ’96, English, always seems to be two – or ten – steps ahead of pretty much everyone else. He has to be. When many of us were still figuring out listservs, his vision for power e-marketing was already permanently changing the communications scene. When we finally started to grasp the concept of “the cloud,” he had already measured potential and created a community for big thinkers and even bigger collaboration. Follow him on Twitter, and it sometimes feels like time travel. And yet, in the best of ways,… Continue Reading Time, Treasure and Talent: Greg Cangialosi ’96, English
