Mind Over Matter – Jay Witasick '93

Aug 6, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

The tough-minded attitude that pitcher Jay Witasick ’93, learned on the way to the major leagues served him well during a 12-year career there – and informs his work these days with TWC Sports Management in Timonium. “I was mentally tough,” says Witasick. “No matter what happened in the game, I was ready the next day. When the game was over, the game was over. Even today in business, I never let any one game or one out define a whole career.” As a transfer to UMBC as a rising sophomore, Witasick posted a 7-5 record for the Retrievers over… Continue Reading Mind Over Matter – Jay Witasick '93

Tech Boomer: Kara Freeman ’91

Aug 6, 2011 / 4 minutes of reading

Sometimes a small act of kindness can lead to big results. One year into her undergraduate education, Kara Freeman ’91, engineering and information technology, was doing well at UMBC. Unbeknownst to her, however, her parents were fretting how to pay for the next semester. A grade school principal of Freeman’s contacted then-vice provost Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, to ask for help. UMBC’s future president did not know Freeman or her family personally back in 1987, but found time to speak with her mother and offer useful financial assistance tips. The family secured the necessary aid for Freeman not only to… Continue Reading Tech Boomer: Kara Freeman ’91

Bridging the Distance

Aug 6, 2011 / 3 minutes of reading

How does a student 1,500 miles from home cope when disaster strikes? How does he offer help and hope across an ocean? Huguens Jean ’12, Ph.D., electrical engineering, flew to Haiti in March 2010 to find Port-au-Prince still reeling from a devastating earthquake. The streets surrounding his childhood home felt foreign and distorted – unusually silent, filled with unfamiliar smells and crumbling buildings. The earthquake struck in January, during the final days of his grandfather Andre Torchon’s battle with cancer. Travel to Port-au-Prince for the funeral became impossible. Two months later Jean was able to fly to Haiti with his… Continue Reading Bridging the Distance

Class of 2011

Aug 6, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

On May 23, UMBC’s alumni community grew by more than 2000 members at the university’s 41st annual spring commencement ceremonies. UMBC Magazine would like to introduce you to four graduates who have joined the select ranks of Retriever alumni – Phillip Fitzgerald, Donna Viola, Michael Young, and Brian Mathew Courson – and encourage you to check out more at our Class of 2011 website. Read the full story in the Summer 2011 issue of UMBC Magazine.

Finding Their Light

Aug 1, 2011 / 13 minutes of reading

UMBC’s Department of Theatre takes center stage at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – and extends the university’s impressive legacy in college theatre’s biggest annual festival. By Richard Byrne ’86 Washington, D.C. – It’s 7 a.m. and a pickup truck pulls up outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the purples and pinks of a May dawn fade into morning daylight. Inside the truck is the entire set for the UMBC Department of Theatre’s production of Lynn Nottage’s play Las Meninas. It’s going to be a big day for the students, faculty… Continue Reading Finding Their Light

Missing Journalist Imprisoned But Healthy

Jul 21, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

A story in today’s Baltimore Sun reports that freelance journalist Matthew Van Dyke ’02, political science, is being held in a prison in Tripoli, but that he is in good health. Read the full story here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-missing-man-found-20110722,0,1468133.story

Pamela Meister '08 Appointed as Harford County Council Administrator

Jul 18, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Pamela Meister ’08, M.P.P., has been appointed as the next Harford County Council administrator. Meister most recently served as the associate executive director at the Baltimore Jewish Council after working as the director of government relations and public policy with the same organization. She also worked as the legislative director to state Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a Prince George’s County Democrat, from 2004 to 2008. She has a psychology degree from George Washington University and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Read the full story…

Congratulations to the Alumni Scholarship Recipients!

Jul 7, 2011 / 3 minutes of reading

The UMBC Alumni Association is pleased to offer scholarships to outstanding current UMBC undergraduate students. This year, the Alumni Association was proud to award scholarships to four deserving students. Eligible students may apply for general and legacy scholarships worth up to $1,500. Applicants for general scholarships must: Be a rising senior scheduled to graduate in the 2011-2012 academic year Have completed at least one semester of study at UMBC Have earned a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or higher Have unmet financial need Applicants for the Legacy Scholarship must: Be the child or grandchild of a UMBC graduate Be a degree-seeking… Continue Reading Congratulations to the Alumni Scholarship Recipients!

Three UMBC Alumni Recognized through “20 in their 20s”

Jul 7, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

In The Daily Record‘s inaugural year of recognizing Maryland’s top “Twenty in Their 20s,” three UMBC alumni made the list. Eduardo Gonzalez ’06, attorney with Hearne & Bailey in Salisbury; Aaron Merki ’05, associate with Venable LLP in Baltimore; and Alicia Wilson ’04, associate with Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander LLC in Baltimore, were selected by The Daily Record staff for this recognition. Honorees were chosen on the basis of professional accomplishment, civic involvement and impact of achievement. According to The Daily Record, “the program celebrates the best and brightest under 30…whose creativity and spirit are already contributing to… Continue Reading Three UMBC Alumni Recognized through “20 in their 20s”

Three UMBC Alumni Recognized through “20 in their 20s”

Jul 7, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Touched by a Nobel: Phillip Fitzgerald '11

Jul 5, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

It’s not often one gets to meet a Nobel prize winner. But here’s our very own recent salutatorian, Phillip Fitzgerald ’11, biochemistry and molecular biology, rubbing elbows with Ei-ichi Negishi, who won the chemistry prize last year. As you might imagine, this meeting was not a complete coincidence. Phillip, who plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine this fall, is the second UMBC student in as many years to attend the annual meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany. (Read the full story here.) Perhaps someday he’ll be the first UMBC Nobel winner!

Where the Choices are Endless: Seth Sawyers '99, History

Jun 22, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

Growing up in rural western Maryland, history alumnus Seth Sawyers ’99 couldn’t possibly have known what was in store for him — or how his world would expand — as a student at UMBC. Now a writing lecturer at UMBC, Sawyers shares some of those initial experiences in an essay appearing in The Morning News: When I was 18, I left the skinny part of Maryland and woke up in a place paved over with asphalt, girded by concrete, nourished by it. I awoke fascinated by the mechanized hum, disoriented, wide-mouthed before the man-made angularity, the downtown steel visible from… Continue Reading Where the Choices are Endless: Seth Sawyers '99, History

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