Fulbright Accelerator Workshop for CAHSS Faculty

Friday, February 12, 2021, Noon-1:00pm (invitation with a registration link will be sent in January)

Online

Please save the date for this overview of the Fulbright Core Scholar Program and other exciting Fulbright opportunities for UMBC faculty. The workshop will include information on the upcoming competition and provide tips for short- and long-term planning and preparing strong Fulbright applications. Time will be given for Q&A.

We will be joined by a Program Officer from the Institute of International Education (IIE), which develops and implements the Fulbright programs. Brian Souders, Associate Director for Global Engagement Opportunities in UMBC’s Office of International Education Services, will discuss UMBC’s support for faculty applicants. CIRCA Director and Professor of Visual Arts Lynn Cazabon will share her experiences as a Fulbright Scholar in Latvia in 2015. There, she developed and taught classes in the New Media Arts Program at Liepaja University while pursuing her own project, a series of photographic and text portraits of Liepaja residents at the edge of the Baltic Sea.

The 2021 Fulbright Accelerator Workshop is co-sponsored by the CAHSS Dean’s Office; the Center for Social Science Scholarship; the Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts; the Dresher Center for the Humanities; and the Office of International Education Services.

In this USM OnTrack virtual workshop, UMGC professionals from course development, curriculum design, academic integrity, writing instruction, and educational technology will share strategies to enhance the student experience and motivate students to work with greater integrity in the online environment. The team will use participant examples to demonstrate adaptation of face-to-face learning activities into high-quality online experiences.

UMGC Presenters:

• Kate Cardin, PhD, PMP, Senior Director, CBE & Curriculum Design
• Rob Coyle, Assistant Vice President for Course Development
• Brandie Shatto, EdD, Program Director, Educational Technology
• Jen Simonds, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President for Academic Integrity & Accountability
• Jeanine Williams, Ph.D., Program Director, Writing Across the Curriculum

• The Office of Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC) at UMBC will facilitate the workshop. ORPC will provide guidance to students so that they can utilize this allotted time to complete their certifications.
• The speakers from ORPC will present during the first 30 minutes of the session to discuss creating a user profile, provide instruction regarding which certification blocks need to be completed (according to the type of research being conducted), and address questions. After the first 30 minutes, all participants will work independently within the space, using their own laptops to finish the certification online.
• BRING YOUR LAPTOP AND CHARGERS/POWER CORDS. We will provide the space, electrical cords/power strips, food, and beverages to facilitate completion. We encourage students to set aside this time to complete their certifications during the session.
• CITI has retroactively updated all RCR training completion expiration dates. When faculty and students log into their individual accounts, they should now be able to see when to take the refresher course. Please let the Compliance Office know if this is not the case. Users should also receive a reminder email from CITI when the refresher training is due. RCR training information can be accessed using the following link: http://research.umbc.edu/2135-2/. Human Subjects Use Training can be accessed using the following link: http://research.umbc.edu/human-subjects-use-training-2/. Questions? Contact compliance@umbc.edu.

Professional Development Writers Workshop

UMBC welcomed the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a regional grant-writing workshop on February 20, 2015. The workshop, conducted by the NEH’s Division of Research Programs, was sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS); and the Office of the Vice President for Research. 

Faculty participants from UMBC and seven area colleges and universities learned about NEH grant and fellowship programs, and special initiatives. The Maryland Humanities Council also spoke about its grant opportunities. A “mock” evaluation panel, led by UMBC NEH Fellows Kate Brown (History), Thomas Field (MLLI), and Anna Shields (MLLI), discussed the NEH proposal review process. Grant application-writing strategies were also shared. 

"The Dresher Center was pleased to welcome the NEH to campus,” noted director Jessica Berman. “Workshops like these give a shot in the arm to researchers, who then begin to consider how their work fits into national priorities and initiatives. The workshop also showcased the strengths of UMBC faculty work in the humanities.”

With an annual program budget of $108 million, the NEH awards grants to individuals and groups of humanities researchers at universities, museums, libraries and archives, and other cultural and educational organizations. These highly competitive grants, which are evaluated by scholars and other experts in their field, have an average award rate of between seven and ten per cent per year. If denied, NEH encourages applicants to re-submit.

The Endowment also supports public programs and special initiatives, like the new “Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square,” which seeks to bring humanities scholarship to public attention in new, significant ways. The NEH’s Office of Digital Humanities provides grants to projects that integrate new technologies in humanities research, as well as those that study digital culture from a humanistic perspective. 

NEH-funded research projects often cross the disciplinary boundaries between the arts, humanities, and social sciences. At UMBC, NEH fellowships and grants have been awarded to CAHSS faculty in the departments of Africana Studies; English; Geography and Environmental Systems; History; Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication; Political Science, Sociology-Anthropology, Theatre, and Visual Arts. 

For information on NEH programs, contact Rachel Brubaker, Assistant Director for Grants and Program Development, Dresher Center for the Humanities: rbruba1@umbc.edu. 

Photo (from left to right): Anna Shields, MLLI; Tom Field, MLLI; and Kate Brown, History