UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III takes your questions. Q. What book do you recommend that every young person read before they go out into the “real world?” — Shivonne L. Laird ’99, biological sciences A. Right now, I think it’s important for students to be constantly reading. And to read even more when they go into the real world, because life is changing in so many ways. Now if I were forced to choose a book, I would say Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded today. Because it focuses on the need for a green revolution, the impact of… Continue Reading Up On The Roof – Fall 2009
Many theatre companies are born out of a mixture of inspiration and frustration. Take The Venus Theatre in Laurel, for instance. When its founder, Deborah Randall ’94, theatre, graduated from UMBC, she pursued a career as a playwright and a performer in Washington, D.C. Like many recent graduates, Randall had a desire to succeed in a challenging profession. But she also found some of the roles she played and the theatrical atmosphere that surrounded her to be stifling her creativity. She craved a theatre that valued women and living playwrights. Randall recalls UMBC theatre professor Wendy Salkind’s advice to her.… Continue Reading Venus, If You Will – Deborah Randall ’94, Theatre
From UMBC Magazine Summer 2009, Early Risers, featuring Crew Club practice, ROTC morning routine, True Grits dining hall, and other UMBC voices — including one hungry squirrel. Video by Jim Lord.
UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, takes your questions. Q. How does UMBC prepare students for the real world? What is UMBC doing to instill a work ethic in students? — Monique Jones Cephas ’92, information systems management Q. I’m curious to know what UMBC is doing for its students and alumni in helping them to bridge the “backpack to briefcase” gap between the academic world and the professional world? How is UMBC helping students to prepare for professional careers even while they are still students? And, is it enough? What more can be done? — Tom Briggs ’05, psychology… Continue Reading Up on the Roof – Summer 2009
According to Google Maps, it takes a little over three hours to get from Catonsville to Morgantown, West Virginia. For James P. Clements ’85, computer science, and ’91 M.S. and ’93 Ph.D., operations analysis, the journey has taken a little bit longer than that – about 27 years, in fact. But the destination has been worth the drive, which also took detours through The Johns Hopkins University (where he took an M.S. in computer science in 1988) and Towson University, where he has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs for the past two years. On June 30,… Continue Reading Top Mountaineer – James P. Clements ’85, CompSci, and ’91 M.S. and ’93 Ph.D., operations analysis
We were gratified by the enthusiastic response that greeted our first issue. We have also been eager to obtain your constructive feedback. There is a sampling of both on our “From You” page, and we will incorporate the best of your suggestions to create an even better magazine. As the 21st Century sweeps toward the conclusion of its first decade, readers might be wondering: “Why is the university publishing a print version of this magazine?” It is a question that seems particularly pertinent in a moment when headlines about the “death of newspapers” and other print media are very much… Continue Reading To You – Summer 2009
UMBC’s Multicore Computational Center (MC2) unleashes new energies in the race to make computers faster. By Joab Jackson ’90 Here’s a Silicon Valley secret: Computer microprocessors aren’t getting any faster. The limits of processor technology have been reached. If they ran any speedier, they’d melt their cases. And all those snazzy new desktop and laptop computers on sale at the local consumer electronics store? They seem sprightlier not because they have faster chips, but because they have more of them. New computers usually come with either two or four processors, or “cores.” And even then the difference in speed may… Continue Reading The Power of Parallels
Sketches to Shovels Right now, the site is marked on campus maps as Parking Lots 9 and 16. But next summer, the university hopes that shovels will be busy breaking that ground to build a new $150 million Performing Arts and Humanities Facility. At a forum held at UMBC in late April, architects showed off the latest plans for the new building, which is slated to be built in two phases between 2010 and 2014. The first phase will house the Theatre and English Departments – as well as the Dresher Center for the Humanities and the Linehan Scholars Program… Continue Reading The News – Summer 2009
The importance of community colleges in educating students in Maryland and elsewhere in the United States is often overlooked. So perhaps the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching were underscoring the key role played by community colleges when they named Scott Jeffrey ’81, geography and environmental systems, as Maryland’s 2008 U.S. Professor of the Year. Jeffrey is an associate professor of geography at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), where he is the director of the college’s Geospatial Applications Program. The program teaches students to analyze map data for… Continue Reading Plotting Pedagogy – Scott Jeffrey ’81, geography and environmental systems
Kosher and halal dining options began to pop up in the dining halls and other spots on campus over the past few years. Why? A big reason was a joint multiyear effort by a number of groups on campus, including UMBC’s Hillel, the Jewish Student Union and the Muslim Student Association. UMBC Magazine talked with Rella Kaplowitz ’06, psychology (right) and Syed Junaid Hassan ’09, biochemistry and molecular biology about the collaborative process to achieve this common goal. Why kosher and halal food on campus? Syed: The main reason was so that Muslims would have an easier time adhering to… Continue Reading Over Coffee – Summer 2009
In four decades at UMBC, W. Edward Orser’s research and teaching have helped uncover American triumphs and tragedies in city neighborhoods, small towns and parklands. By Richard Byrne ’86 Forty years ago, when W. Edward Orser arrived in Baltimore as a young professor in American studies at UMBC, he was also planting himself in new soil. Orser had studied at Randolph-Macon College and Yale University before he and his wife, Jo Annette, were among the first waves of those who answered John F. Kennedy’s call to service in the Peace Corps. They spent two years in Ethiopia before he returned… Continue Reading Locale Hero
