Above: Lisa Moren, “Gulf Oil, Marbeled Paper 2,” 2010
Lisa Moren, associate professor of visual arts, is featured in Compression|Expansion, a group exhibition at the Gormley Gallery, Fourier Hall, on the campus of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. The show is an Artscape off-site exhibition and will run July 9-30, 2011. More information is available at http://www.ndm.edu/campuslife/GormleyGallery/.
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Robert Deluty, associate dean of the graduate school, has published a new book of poetry, “Too Old To Know Everything.” In his review, Joseph DeVitis writes, “Robert Deluty’s poetry offers a veritable parade of wisdom as we imagine his characters and events span the life cycle. He prods us to continue to ponder eternal questions that have escaped both the young and old. Above all, he is a teacher. He wants us to share felt knowledge, to be better human beings because of it. That is a remarkable achievement in an art form of so few words.”
Copies of “Too Old To Know Everything,” as well as of Deluty’s other books, are on sale at the UMBC Bookstore.
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“Lift Up,” an award-winning documentary on post-quake Haiti co-directed by Huguens Jean ’12, Ph.D., electrical engineering, and Phillip Knowlton ’03, visual arts, debuted at the 2011 DC Caribbean Film Festival last week (photo), bringing out a crowd of viewers from the region’s Haitian-American community. A screening recap from HaitianDiaspora.com noted, “The audience responded to the film because they recognized the language, the people, the humor, the culture. More importantly, they also recognize the voice telling the story,” referencing Jean and his family and community members in Haiti, profiled in the film. See the review for screening photos and viewer reactions. The film will show next at an independent film festival in northern California. “Like” the film on Facebook to receive future screening information.
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Associate professor of history Amy Froide will participate in the 2011 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women on June 9-12 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This theme of the conference is “Generations: Exploring Race, Sexuality, and Labor across Time and Space.”
Froide will lead a panel on “Gender in Corporate Spaces.” She will also participate in a panel entitled “Managing Women: The Challenges of Intertwining Gender and Business History,” where she will discuss her work on “The Business of Investing: The Public Stock Portfolios of Female Investors in 18th-Century Britain.”
Foide studies British and European women’s history, with a focus on entrepreneurship. She is the co-editor of “Singlewomen in the European Past, 1250-1800” and author of “Never Married: Singlewomen in Early Modern England.”
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UMBC’s study abroad office has received a GoAbroad Innovation award for offering the year’s “Most Innovative New Program.”
The “Culture & Identity Studies: Explore Gay Paris” program, which UMBC offers through a partnership with CEA Global Education, gives students the opportunity to explore the formations and constructions of gay and lesbian identities as they have been framed in Paris, particularly since the end of the 19th century. Throughout the semester, students create and utilize two physical maps: gay Paris and lesbian Paris. These maps pinpoint and reflect gay and lesbian urban spaces, community centers and locales in the contemporary city space, both geographically and temporally. Students live in the Marais district and are immersed not only in French culture, but in gay French culture.
GoAbroad is an international education and experiential travel resource that provides directories of opportunities abroad and a social networking site for travelers.
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The Department of Human Resources would like to congratulate Melody Knox and Collier Jones on being named employees of the quarter.
Melody Knox, administrative assistant II for the Graduate School, has been named UMBC’s Nonexempt Employee of the Quarter effective April 1 thru June 30, 2011. Melody began her career at UMBC in April 2007 in her current position.
She was nominated by Lisa Portis Morgan, Director of Graduate Progressions and Academic Services for the Graduate School. “Melody is the first line of contact for most of the graduate students,” Portis said. “When she started working in the Graduate School, she learned her job position quickly and does an exceptional job. Her customer service and people skills are to be modeled. Melody is always pleasant and her presence lends itself to a peaceful atmosphere. She has become a mentor for some of the student workers, and their work ethic and personal responsibilities have increased.”
Lisa also said, “Melody often speaks at Women’s conferences and I am sure that she brings as much joy to those women as she does to the Graduate School every day. She is a wonderful mother, wife, sister and daughter. She never complains and always seeks positive outcomes. She deserves to be recognized, for her contributions to the Graduate School and to UMBC.”
Melody was presented her award on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 during a surprise staff meeting. The guest list included staff from the Graduate School including her nominator, Lisa Portis Morgan
Collier Jones, campus portal architect of the Division of Information Technology, has been named UMBC’s Exempt Employee of the Quarter effective April 1 thru June 30, 2011. Collier began his career at UMBC in February 2006 in his current position.
Collier was nominated by Lee Calizo, Director of the Office of Student Life; Eleanor Lewis, Senior Director of Communications of the Office of Institutional Advancement; Erica Johnson, Coordinator of Student Organizations & Involvement of the Office of Student Life; and Rose Huber, former Assistant Director of Publications of the Office of Institutional Advancement.
The group shared the following thought: “Collier has been the ‘heart and the brains’ behind the myUMBC redesign and has been an incredible leader through the process. His collaborative energy is contagious. He listens intently to many audiences in order to make the best decisions possible for the site. He is a delight to work with as he has a positive attitude and he communicates with ‘non-tech’ folks in a way that is helpful and informative. He is a true gift to UMBC.”
Collier was presented his award on April 14, 2010 by Jack Suess, Vice President of the Division of Information Technology. The guest list included staff members from the Division of Information Technology, Office of Institutional Advancement and the Office of Student Life. Attendees celebrated Collier’s win with a sparkly pony cake and ice cream.
Both recipients received a check for $500, a special parking space, one day of administrative leave, a certificate, their names on the Employee of the Quarter plaques and an invitation to the annual Service Award Ceremony for all the recipients.
Human Resources offers special thanks to everyone who nominated an employee for the award. Previous nominations received will be eligible for consideration for one year from the date received. The next Employee of the Quarter recipients will be selected in January.
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“Lift Up,” a new documentary on post-quake Haiti co-directed by Huguens Jean ’12, Ph.D., electrical engineering, and Phillip Knowlton ’03, visual arts, received the Best Documentary Directing Award at the 2011 Amsterdam Film Festival. The juried festival received entries from over 20 countries this year. The documentary will make its festival premiere Sunday, June 5, 5:30 p.m., at the 2011 DC Caribbean Film Festival held at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. “Like” the film on Facebook to access future screening information.
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UMBC Public Policy alumnus Todd Eberly ’06, Ph.D., and Ph.D. student and adjunct professor Neil Bergsman have been named to Campaigns and Elections Magazine’s list of top political influencers in Maryland. Eberly is currently an assistant professor of political science at St. Mary’s College. His recognition paragraph notes: “He is often quoted in the media about the challenges faced by Republicans in a state dominated by Democrats.” Bergman is director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, a project of Maryland Nonprofits that conducts research and provides advocacy on fiscal issues impacting disadvantaged populations.
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UMBC’s Superhero advertising campaign was awarded a gold award in the national CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) awards. Only two gold awards were earned nationally. The campaign was organized and executed by Erika Ferrin, Erin Ouslander and Ed Neenan.
UMBC Magazine also won a bronze national CASE award for the outstanding work by Richard Byrne, Jim Lord, Jenny O’Grady, Michelle Jordan and Erin Ouslander.
CASE will post the winners to its website in mid-June.
DeLeon Gray ’07 has received the prestigious 2011-2012 Spencer Dissertation Fellowship from the Spencer Foundation.
Gray, a doctoral student of educational psychology in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University, was among the three percent of the 500 applicants who were awarded fellowships this year.
Gray will use the $25,000 fellowship grant as his primary funding source while writing his dissertation, A New Framework for Conceptualizing School Belonging: The Importance of “Fitting In” and “Standing Out.”
“Social processes contribute immensely to the way students undertake academic tasks,” Gray said. He is studying how a student’s balance between fitting in and standing out contributes to their positive self-perceptions, emotions and outlook on academics.
“I am humbled,” Gray said. “After learning that I received the fellowship, I thought about how amazing it is that people sometimes see things in you before you are able to see these things in yourself. In addition, the educational psychology and philosophy doctoral program at Ohio State has provided me with stellar academic training. For this, I am truly blessed.”
Gray augments his research with high-quality experiences, such as his summer as a program analyst at the Office of Science Education, National Institutes of Health. In 2009, a CIC (Council on Institutional Cooperation) Traveling Scholar award allowed him to conduct research with both his advisor Eric Anderman, professor of educational policy and leadership, and faculty of the highly ranked education and psychology program at University of Michigan.
Originally from Temple Hills, Maryland, Gray received a bachelor’s degree in 2007 from UMBC in interdisciplinary studies, with a concentration in psychological foundations of education. He received a master’s degree in 2009 from Ohio State in quantitative research, evaluation and measurement.
The Spencer Foundation investigates ways in which education, broadly conceived, can be improved around the world and has awarded grants totaling approximately $250 million. The Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program seeks to encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide range of disciplines and professional fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of education.
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