Beginning this month, Catonsville’s David Mikow Art Gallery will host the first in-person exhibition of the online publication, The Light Ekphrastic, featuring collaborative works of literature, poetry and fine art by UMBC faculty, staff, students and alumni. Join the Ekphrastic team this Friday, February 22 for a special opening event from 5-7 p.m., with informal discussion taking place at 6 p.m. Exhibiting writers and artists from the UMBC community include: Sara Abbott (former staff), Richard Byrne ’86, English (UMBC Magazine), Dayna Carpenter (OIA), Marlayna Demond ’11, visual arts (Creative Services), Vin Grabill (Visual Arts), Katie Heater ’09, visual arts (current MFA student), Michelle Jordan ’93, visual arts… Continue Reading Alumni and UMBC Community Talents on Display at David Mikow Gallery, Feb. 22
Earlier this month UMBC’s chess team was formally recognized on the floor of the Maryland State Senate and the House with a citation from Speaker Pro Tem, Delegate Adrienne Jones ’76, psychology. The UMBC team then played a friendly match with the members of the Maryland General Assembly Chess Challenge. “It was a great experience to be recognized by the House of Senate and the House of Delegates. After being awarded we ended up playing for about two hours games with some of the senators, said Sabina Foisor, a member of the team and a graduate student at UMBC. According… Continue Reading Del. Jones ’76, Psych, Recognizes UMBC Chess on Maryland Senate Floor
Lekelia “Kiki” Jenkins ’97, biological sciences, assistant professor of marine and environmental affairs at the University of Washington, is one off 126 recipients of the Sloan Research Fellowship, named annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. A National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, Jenkins received her Ph.D. from Duke University in 2006 by pioneering a new field of study into the invention and adoption of marine conservation technology. Her research interests include: the theoretical and empirical study of the invention and adoption of marine technologies, especially bycatch reduction devices and tidal energy arrays; the study of the integration of “lay” expertise… Continue Reading Jenkins ’97, BioSci, Named Sloan Research Fellow
In a recent interview with Baltimore’s City Paper, Nick Podgurski ’07, music, lets readers in on his latest project, Feast of the Epiphany. Podgurski, who first made a name for himself in the Baltimore indie scene as drummer for the band Yukon, has released numerous albums since graduating from UMBC featuring his drumming, songwriting, vocal and synthesizer skills. Speaking about Feast of the Epiphany, which is uncharacteristically devoid of drums, he tells City Paper: “The interaction between the parts is kind of a drum set, that’s the way I sort of hear it,” he says. “It’s so interactive it becomes… Continue Reading Podgurski ’07, Music, Profiled in City Paper
Three UMBC alumnae and one faculty member were among the list of semi-finalists for the 2013 Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize, the The Baltimore Office for Promotion and Arts announced this week. Congratulations Imaging Media and Digital Arts MFA alumni Mina Cheon ’02, Marian Glebes ’09, and Agnes Moon ’99 for their selection. Associate professor Lynn Cazabon, visual arts, is also a semi-finalist. The Sondheim prize awards a $25,000 fellowship to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Baltimore region. The prize is in conjunction with the annual Artscape juried exhibition and is produced with our partners, The… Continue Reading Alumnae Named Semi-Finalists for Sondheim Art Prize
On Tuesday, February 19, at 5:30 p.m. in the AOK Library Gallery, artist and UMBC alum, Hadi Gharabaghi will speak about the works in the exhibition currently on display in the gallery, Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran. Gharabaghi, originally form Tehran, Iran, will speak about the photographs, shedding light on the appearance of some of the cultural, historic and religious symbolism and imagery depicted. The lecture will also touch upon the way in which the current political climate in Iran affects practicing artists. Hadi Gharabaghi’s background in photography, film, art history, theory and criticism includes a B.A. in Photography… Continue Reading Hadi Gharabaghi ’06, Visual Arts, Visiting Artist Lecture (2/19)
UMBC alumnus and staff member Kevin Gibbons-O’Neill ’86, economics, shared this photo of himself and his team of family and friends shortly after emerging from the cold waters of the Chesapeake Bay at this year’s Polar Bear Plunge. Gibbons-O’Neill, who works in development for the Department of Athletics, is also a co-chair of UMBC’s annual Homecoming. Together, his team raised more than $2,000 for Special Olympics of Maryland. Pictured in front: Bryce Gibbons-O’Neill. Middle (L-R): Rory Gibbons-O’Neill, Olivia McNulty, Brittan Gibbons-O’Neill, Keira McNulty, Cole McNulty. Back: Kevin Gibbons-O’Neill ’86. UMBC Alumni: Did you take the plunge this year? Send your… Continue Reading Gibbons-O’Neill ’86, Econ, Takes the Plunge
Every so often, we’ll chat with an alum about what they do and how they got there. Today, we’re talking with independent illustrator Joshua Budich ’00, visual and performing arts, about what it’s like to start a business in the arts — and to create screenprint designs for some pretty big names. Most recently, he was one of a small group of young international artists to create original screen prints inspired by this year’s nine Best Picture Academy Awards nominees (he illustrated Silver Linings Playbook). Name: Joshua Budich Job: Independent Illustrator Based In: Maryland Website: www.joshuabudich.com Q: What would you… Continue Reading Career Q&A: Independent Illustrator Joshua Budich ’00, Visual Arts
The Ancient Studies department will hold a reunion luncheon featuring Greek foods at the Albin O. Kuhn Library (7th floor) on April 6 from noon to 3 p.m. A number of founding faculty will be present, including Walt Sherwin, Rudy Storch, and Carolyn Koehler. Jay Freyman, who is retiring this summer, will also be there.Please visit http://www.umbc.edu/blogs/ancs/events/ for more information. WHEN: Saturday, April 6, 2013, noon – 3 p.m. WHERE: Albin O. Kuhn Library- 7th Floor, UMBC, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 COST: $30 per person for non-students; $25 per person for current UMBC students. If you would like… Continue Reading ANCS Reunion Lunch, 4/6, To Feature Founding Professors
Travels and travails play a big part in award-winning UMBC historian Kate Brown’s highly-personal approach to investigating nuclear power and nationalism. By David Glenn A few years ago, historian Kate Brown spent several weeks in a tiny cottage in an obscure corner of Russia’s Ural Mountains. She was studying the history of Ozersk, a secret Soviet city built in the late 1940s to house the country’s first plutonium-processing plant. Ozersk itself remains just as closed to outsiders in Vladimir Putin’s Russia as it was in Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union. So a cottage that Brown rented several miles outside the city’s… Continue Reading On the Road to Plutopia
Brendan Mundorf ’07 is one of the world’s best (and toughest) lacrosse players. Now he’s bouncing back from an injury to pursue a professional championship. By Jeff Seidel ’85 Brendan Mundorf ’07, sociology, still smiles when he remembers his first lacrosse stick: a beautiful blue STX Hi-Wall. The stick was a gift from his grandmother, given to the two-year-old Mundorf after a trip to see his Uncle Matt play for Mount St. Mary’s lacrosse team. He used it practically non-stop in all kinds of weather, shooting balls at a goal or the side of his grandparents’ shed. The future UMBC… Continue Reading Behind the Mask
For Manil Suri, Math + Fiction + Ambition = A Career > The Sum of Its Parts by Mark Athitakis Last October, UMBC professor of mathematics Manil Suri planned to end a session of his Introduction to Numerical Analysis class with a short video presentation he had created called Pride and Prejudice on the Complex Plane. The class is a 400-level course on complex matters like fixed-point iteration, Taylor series, and the mean value theorem. But Pride and Prejudice on the Complex Plane is breezy six-minute PowerPoint riff on imaginary numbers (such as the square root of -2). The presentation… Continue Reading The Write Equation
