From Diane Lee, Dean of Undergraduate Education

Thank you for your outpouring of compassion and support for the Meyerhoff Scholars Program since I shared the sad news about the passing of our colleague LaMont Toliver, who served as the program’s Director and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education.

I want to share details with you about the services for LaMont.

On Wednesday, March 7, a viewing will be held with the Toliver family from 5 to 7 p.m. at March Funeral Home West, located at 4300 Wabash Avenue, Baltimore, 21215. (The funeral home will also be open for viewing hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and you can view directions here.)

On Thursday, March 8, a “Family Hour” and viewing will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. at The People’s Community Baptist Church at 31 Norwood Road, Silver Spring, 20905 (view directions here). A service will be held immediately following the viewing.

Members of the UMBC community are welcome to attend these events. Flowers may be sent to the church.

Students also are planning an on-campus memorial service, and I will let you know the details when they are available. Additionally, information will be posted to the Meyerhoff website, where you can also share your memories of LaMont.

The Hilltop Institute at UMBC — a non-partisan health research organization dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations — has released a new issue brief in a series examining hospital community benefits after the Affordable Care Act.

The brief, titled “Partnerships for Community Health Improvement,” discusses a variety of options for collaboration in assessment, planning, priority setting and implementation of health improvement initiatives. It also provides examples of diverse collaboration models already in place among public health agencies, nonprofit hospitals and communities, and examines their efficacy as “powerful forces for promoting community health improvement and systemic change.”

This series is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kresge Foundation.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CimFrnWexx0&w=560&h=315]

Glass may be fragile. But the process of making it is not for the delicate of hand or heart. Tony Baney, a second-generation glass blower who works in UMBC’s glass shop, manages to keep his cool even while working with his hands ungloved amid Pyrex as hot as 1,500 degrees Celsius. On the floor near his feet, a cardboard box of broken shards bears the sign: “Tony FIX ME please!” A nearby radio blares “Beast of Burden” by the Rolling Stones.

Read more at umbc.edu/magazine.

Kristin Waters has set a 2012 challenge of raising $1,834.00 for First Descents, an organization that offers young adult cancer fighters and survivors a free outdoor adventure experience to empower them to defy their cancer and reclaim their lives. Kristin has set out to run 7 marathons in the state of Maryland in 2012; the total distance of 183.4 miles, with hopes of raising $10/mile. Kristin’s first marathon of the year was the 51st Annual George Washington Birthday Marathon on February 19 in which Kristin finished in 4:26:42. Her next marathon will be on March 3. More information on Kristin’s challenge and First Descents can be found here: http://teamfd.firstdescents.org/2011/fd/MDMarathoner/kristin/.

For more information, contact Kristin at kwaters@umbc.edu or ext. 5-8121.

UMBC junior fullback Liam Paddock has been named the 2011 America East Fall Scholar-Athlete for the sport of men’s soccer.

Paddock was amongst six recipients in the league’s fall sports of men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, field hockey and men’s and women’s cross country. He is the first Retriever soccer player to receive the honor.The award capped a windfall of accolades for Paddock. He earned first team all-conference honors and was the only first team league honoree to be named to the All-Academic team for men’s soccer in 2011.

Last month, Paddock was amongst three Retrievers selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America 2011 University Division Men’s Scholar All-East Region team, where he landed on the second team.

Paddock earned a place on the Fall 2011 America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll. He has a 3.91 GPA with a psychology/sociology major and has recorded four consecutive semesters with a 4.00 GPA.

On the pitch, the rugged defender has started all 55 games at fullback that he has dressed for in his tenure at UMBC.

A committee of athletic administrators and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives chose an honoree in each of the six fall championship sports. Each America East Scholar-Athlete was a starter or prominent reserve and carries a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.30. Each honoree will automatically be eligible for the America East Female or Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award to be announced this summer.

UMBC’s student-athletes posted a record-setting semester in the classroom in the fall of 2011.

Sixty-two percent (209) of Retriever student-athletes recorded grade-point averages of 3.00 or better, which is the highest figure since these statistics have been reported. Moreover, the combined grade-point average of the department was 3.03, also setting a new mark.

“I am extremely pleased with the dedication my staff showed to the success of UMBC’s student-athletes,” Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Services Jessica Hammond said. “The student-athletes bought into our program and their hard work certainly paid off in the classroom. We are hoping to continue this success through the spring semester.”UMBC’s fall-sport athletes also excelled, as 67.6 percent of athletes in men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball and men’s and women’s cross country earned 3.00 grade-point averages. UMBC was ranked fourth of the six America East Conference schools that sent better than 60 percent of its fall student-athletes to the league’s Academic Honor Roll.

“I am very pleased with the progress we’ve made with our student-athletes’ academic prowess,” Director of Athletics Dr. Charles Brown said. “These are the best results that we have ever had and I attribute that to the hard work of Jessica Hammond and her academic support staff, our head and assistant coaches, and, of course, the dedication of our student-athletes. It feels really good to reach our goal. Future goals will be to improve even more on these results.”

Lisa Drouillard, human resources, recently competed in the Rockville Economic Development’s StartRight business plan competition. The Washington Post covered the all-women’s competition and recorded the “elevator” pitches for each of the semi-finalists. “Pick the Pitch: Cast Your Vote on the Best Business Elevator Speech” highlights each company’s video and allows you to vote for your favorite pitch.

Drouillard was selected as a semi-finalist for “My Hopeful Journey,” a web-based organizer for women that are going through infertility treatment, and is in the running for best pitch. Voting is open through Tuesday, September 6.