Nothing warms our hearts quite like witnessing the impact of alumni philanthropy among our students. We see it everywhere — in the classrooms, on our stages, among our volunteer organizations — and yesterday, we watched our students pull off the ultimate THANK YOU for the donors who help make their UMBC experience possible. In honor of National Philanthropy Day, students spent their free hour yesterday writing thank-you letters to alumni. Some of them even drew pictures of True Grit inside (our students are so creative)! We’re so grateful they’re grateful! [slideshow]
FROM: Bruce J. Walz, Chair, Department of Emergency Health Services It is with sadness that I report the passing of Emeritus Instructor William “Bill” Hathaway on November 1st after a battle with lung cancer. Know by his students as “Uncle Bill,” professor Hathaway served as the department’s undergraduate management track coordinator. He taught at UMBC from 1981 till his retirement in 1999. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, November 15, at Ascension Episcopal Church, located at 253 S. Main St., Amherst, VA 24521. Condolences may be sent to the Hathaway family at 125 Garland Avenue, Amherst,… Continue Reading Passing of Emeritus Instructor Bill Hathaway, EHS
Alumni representing a multiple Greek organizations gathered last month during Homecoming to celebrate the 25th anniversary of UMBC’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. Nearly 100 SAE alumni and active members attended the event at the Sheraton in Columbia on October 13, said Jim Lotfi ’89, visual and performing arts, who advises the student fraternity. In addition to recognizing some of the group’s founding brothers, Hugh Clifton Carr, III ’89 and Shawn Walker ’99 were presented with the “Order of the Lion” for outstanding Alumni service to the fraternity, Lotfi said. “I was very happy to see so many Alumni… Continue Reading Greek Alums Celebrate 25th Anniversary
Throughout the year, we will be introducing you to the winners of this year’s Alumni Association Scholarships, which are supported by alumni gifts. Today, we meet information systems major Savita Moses ’13. Name: Savita Moses ’13 Major: Information Systems Scholarship: Alumni Association Scholarship Q: Why did you decide to come to UMBC? A: I was a part of a Pre-College Program offered by University of Maryland, College Park and we went on many college tours throughout the area. UMBC was one of the places we visited and toured. I fell in love with the campus as soon as I stepped… Continue Reading Alumni Association Scholarship Q&A: Savita, Class of 2013
Attending college these days is expensive. You’ve got tuition, room and board, books and computers to buy — and that’s not even counting late night pizza runs! Even at a state school like UMBC, students find themselves struggling to keep up with bills. In Fall 2011, for example, 62% of undergraduate students applied for financial aid; 80% of those demonstrated some level of financial need. On average, the percentage of need that was met of students who were awarded any need-based aid was 60%. You don’t need to be a math genius to see that many students still need our… Continue Reading Online Tool: Calculate the Cost of a Semester
TO: The UMBC Community FROM: Larrabee Strow, Research Professor of Physics, and Sergio DeSouza Machado, Research Assistant Professor of Physics We are deeply saddened to report that Scott Hannon ’86, ’90 MS physics, passed away last Thursday night after a nearly two-year battle with cancer. Scott remained at UMBC for 22 years as a Research Assistant in the Physics Department/Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology. Scott was continuously involved with the development of new meteorological and climate satellites while at UMBC. In particular, Scott developed radiative transfer algorithms that were highly regarded throughout the meteorological community and are in continuous,… Continue Reading Remembering Scott Hannon ’86, ’90 MS Phys
UMBC’s alumni live and travel all over the world doing fun, amazing things! And UMBC Magazine wants to showcase this. That’s where the Roving Retriever project comes in. Next time you travel to an interesting place, take a copy of UMBC Magazine with you and snap a photo of yourself with it. Send the photo to jogrady@umbc.edu along with information about who’s in the photo and where you are, and we’ll feature you on the UMBC Magazine Facebook page! Take a look today…we’ve already got a couple! Where will our Retrievers go next?
William R. Soltesz ’72, financial economics and mathematics, one of UMBC’s early Student Government Association presidents, passed away on September 13 at his home in New Jersey. He was 62 years old. Soltesz, who grew up in Catonsville, served as president of the SGA from 1970 to 1971, and “was pivotal in working with faculty and students to keep the university open during a time when many other fledgling universities closed due to student riots and political pressures related to the Vietnam War,” his obituary reports. Read an essay about these times at UMBC by Soltesz’s classmate, former Retriever Weekly… Continue Reading Memorial Planned Friday for Soltesz ’72, Early SGA President
If you’re on campus regularly, it’s easy to see the excitement building this semester about both the 20th anniversary of Dr. Freeman Hrabowski’s presidency here and the launch of the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation, a fund created by Dr. Hrabowski to promote new thinking in the classroom. We’re equally excited to share this video (below), featuring Vice President of Institutional Advancement Greg Simmons, a 2004 graduate of UMBC’s master’s of public policy program, as he talks about the fund, Dr. Hrabowski’s legacy, and how we can all help keep UMBC strong. Enjoy! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNSn7tQR1GQ] Support the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation… Continue Reading VIDEO: Simmons ’04, MPP, on Excitement of Hrabowski Fund for Innovation
Click here to read more and see a video about Krista, just one of the many students who benefits from your support. UMBC faculty and staff give their all to the university each and every day simply by doing their jobs well. The launch of this year’s Faculty/Staff Campaign is another important way of showing that you care — and supporting the UMBC community beyond your individual reach. Even modest gifts add up to help students, faculty and staff succeed. We do great things at UMBC, and every little bit helps us continue to make a difference. Furthermore, our gifts… Continue Reading Faculty and Staff Support the UMBC Community
A Computational Biologist and Dartmouth professor, Alumnus Gevorg Grigoryan says his undergraduate research at UMBC was crucial to his success. Kids typically see college as a chance to get away from their parents. That wasn’t the case with alumnus Gevorg Grigoryan ’02, Computer Science and Biochemistry, who did research with his dad in UMBC’s Computational Photonics Lab as an undergraduate. In 2000, the pair co-authored a paper proposing a new visualization technique for wave transmissions that uses color to represent amplitude and phase information. Now an assistant professor of Computer Science and an adjunct assistant professor of Biology at Dartmouth… Continue Reading Grigoryan ’02, CompSci/BioChem, Teaching at Dartmouth
UMBC is pleased to announce today a $2.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build a national model for ensuring more transfer students earn degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. Anne Arundel Community College, the Community College of Baltimore County, Howard Community College and Montgomery College will work with UMBC on the “STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative.” Sarah Gantz of the Baltimore Business Journal wrote: “Transfer students account for about 38 percent of UMBC’s new students in STEM fields and largely come from the initiative’s partner community colleges. “How they succeed depends quite a lot… Continue Reading Gates Foundation Grants $2.6 Million to Ensure Transfer Student Success in STEM Fields
