Perspectives

UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, takes your questions. Q. When you speak about UMBC’s achievements, you always stress the contribution made by your predecessor as president: the late Michael Hooker. What is his legacy at UMBC? What role did he play in your life as a mentor and friend? — Richard Byrne ’86, English A. Michael Hooker was capable of seeing what others did not think possible. He clearly saw the great potential of UMBC to become an increasingly important institution of higher education in our country. He had no trouble saying that UMBC was going to be the… Continue Reading Up on the Roof – Fall 2012

Traditions don’t start easily. Someone has to plant the seeds. Attract attention to them. Nurture them. Allow them both to grow and take root. The image on the cover of the Fall 2012 issue of UMBC Magazine is one tradition that has taken root at the university. UMBC’s presidential insignia – worn by the university’s president at every commencement – was a gift from the university’s Alumni Association that recognized the school’s milestone 30th anniversary in 1996. The insignia was purposely created to have a contemporary look that reflected the innovation that characterized the institution. The insignia’s design includes not… Continue Reading To You – Fall 2012

From the moment we rise each day, we are surrounded by messages from the media: news, advertising, images, sounds, video, texts. How do we make sense of it all intellectually? Students in UMBC’s Media & Communication Studies (MCS) major are trying to do just that. UMBC Magazine sat down with Jason Loviglio, director of the program, and Donald Snyder, a lecturer and director of the MCS internship program, to find out more about one of UMBC’s fastest growing majors. * * * * * UMBC Magazine: People might be surprised that many of the major’s introductory classes are grounded in… Continue Reading Over Coffee – Fall 2012

Whether he is enlightening readers on the nuances of photographs with his posts on “The Lens” blog at The New York Times, curating an exhibit such as For All the World to See, or testing the boundaries of memoir and cultural criticism (as he did with his book White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness), you can count on Maurice Berger to be at the forefront of American culture’s engagement with its history and visual culture. Berger is research professor and the chief curator at UMBC’s Center for Arts, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC). He is also a consulting… Continue Reading Interrogating Images: Q&A with Maurice Berger

Whether he is enlightening readers on the nuances of photographs with his posts on “The Lens” blog at The New York Times, curating an exhibit such as For All the World to See, or testing the boundaries of memoir and cultural criticism (as he did with his book White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness), you can count on Maurice Berger to be at the forefront of American culture’s engagement with its history and visual culture. Berger is research professor and the chief curator at UMBC’s Center for Arts, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC). He is also a consulting… Continue Reading Interrogating Images: Q&A with Maurice Berger

Proposition: The natural sciences will forever be at odds with the humanities and social sciences. Steven Gimbel ’90, philosophy and physics, argues in the negative. As chair of the philosophy department at Gettysburg College and the author of works such as Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion, Gimbel has made his career finding useful and provocative intersections between the sciences and the humanities and social sciences. * * * * * There are days in college that leave an indelible trace on your mind. I will never forget sitting in professor (and now professor emeritus… Continue Reading Alumni Essay – Battles Can Build Bridges