In the corner of the Performing Arts building, a haunting melody rises up in goosebump-inducing refrain and is suddenly interrupted by a quick stamping foot and an insistent correction. In a gruff but kind voice, the director of UMBC’s Russian Chorus rectifies the soloist’s rolled “r”s and the group immediately begins singing again, at ease with the complex syllables of the Russian ballad, even though some of them speak no Russian outside of this hour long course twice a week.

The chorus is one of only three like it in the whole country. Yale and the University of Chicago also boast ensembles, making UMBC’s group something of an anomaly. At the heart of the choir is the director: Slava Liberman, a formally trained choral director from Belarus who moved to Maryland with his family in the early 1990s. His passion for the folk traditions in Russian classical music has not faded in the two decades directing at UMBC; and his current group of students and alumni performers are enthralled with the world of Russian music to which Liberman holds the key.

“I love working with Slava,” says junior Felicia Jones, modern languages and linguistics. “He is the first chorus instructor I have ever had that is so passionate about what he does. He gives me a clear idea of how he wants things sung, and he always will make time for me if I feel that I need extra time to work on a certain song.”

Vira Zhdanovych, the Russian Club advisor, instructor of Russian, and herself an accomplished mezzo-soprano, sees the chorus as a compelling aspect of the Russian community on campus. Often, she says, her students need to be encouraged with a little extra credit to begin participating, but once Liberman connects them to these historic songs, they keep coming back—even as alumni.

“The chorus was an amazing way to learn a language through experience,” says Logan Dean ’17, political science and social work, who joined the group in 2017 while in Russian 101. Currently a financial aid counselor at UMBC, Dean says that Liberman is the reason he spends his lunch breaks returning to sing songs like Katyusha, The Long Road, and Moscow Nights.

“There is something about seeing someone so passionate about something, it just really motivates you,” Dean says. “He regularly tells us to stop laughing at him when he’s stomping his feet and shouting in Russian, but all his actions happen because he has a vision for us and for the music and it gives him this intense energy about directing.”

Liberman says he plans on continuing the Russian Chorus until he’s no longer able or allowed. He turns to a poetic Russian phrase to describe its effect on the students and campus alike: “Луч света в тёмном царстве,” which translates as “the brightest light in the darkest kingdom.” Watching his American students overcome linguistic barriers, learn to sing Russian vowels, or fall in love with folk music of the 20th century is a moment of watching that light shine. “For me, it’s a big privilege to work with these American students. Each time when I hear they are doing better, it’s like a victory.”

“I think everyone should find their version of Russian Chorus,” says Dean. “Something weird and maybe unusual that they enjoy. It makes life more interesting and opens doors to new things that you may have never experienced otherwise.”

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Header image: Sheets of Russian choral music with student notes. Photo courtesy of Randianne Leyshon ’09.

It’s a cozy space decorated in lively yellows, blues, and reds, a perfect representation of the dynamic individuals present and the discussions taking place here, coloring the UMBC campus. The Mosaic: Center for Culture and Diversity makes its home on the second floor of The Commons and has been an influential presence, shaping conversations at UMBC for the past 15 years.

Immediately behind the front desk sits a roundtable area—an inviting corner for group meetings, events, or simply a spot where students can come chat and unwind in between classes. On this day, eight of the center’s interns sit in its space, offering up generous amounts of finger-snaps and support as they each recall what initially drew them to The Mosaic. While each intern differs in graduation year, major, and internship specialization, the thread that binds them together is the warmth and immediate acceptance they felt when first introduced to Mosaic and its community.

For Sylvia C. Anokam ’20, gender, women’s, and sexuality studies, and Mosaic Intern for Black and Africana Student Engagement, the center is integral in helping to develop her sense of purpose both in and outside of UMBC. “As I started working at Mosaic, I started thinking about all the various identities that I hold,” said Anokam. “I know I’m a woman and I’m a black woman, but I never thought of my immigrant identity and how it played a role in my life.” This past February, Anokam participated as a panelist in the Mosaic’s Fifteenth Anniversary Celebration where she shared her journey with other students, faculty, alumni, and guests.

In its 15 years, The Mosaic has grown to include Associate Director for Student Diversity and Inclusion Lisa Gray; two Coordinators for Student Diversity and Inclusion, Carlos Turcios ’15, psychology and sociology, M.A. ’17, applied sociology, and Erin Waddles; 10 student staff; and two additional sister spaces—Campus Life’s Interfaith Student Lounge and Campus Life’s Queer Center.

Turcios, who originally joined The Mosaic as the first Intern for Hispanic and Latinx Student Community Outreach, believes UMBC’s practice of inclusive excellence, as well as the sociopolitical challenges present in our country over the past few years, have helped to bring focus to the crucial social justice and intersectional based work being done by The Mosaic. As students and their families affected by travel bans and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) deal with the ongoing policy changes, The Mosaic has maintained an inclusive and supportive environment for anyone looking for a place to speak freely. And while The Mosaic stresses that the staff are not counselors, they believe in fully supporting their student community however they can.

Among the many educational, outreach, and training programs developed by The Mosaic, there is What’s the T? A Social Justice Dialogue Series and How to Be a Better Ally: Workshop Series, both of which use Brave Space Guidelines as their foundation. Originally created by The Women’s Center, The Mosaic’s key partner, Brave Space Guidelines assist in fostering meaningful, social justice-based conversations that promote accountability and learning from a place of positive intent. “[Brave spaces] allow us to address things that might seem small to the folks who are saying it but have a larger impact if they keep using those terms,” said Turcios.

Going forward in the next 15 years, Waddles, Turcios, and Gray hope that the growing recognition The Mosaic is receiving will result in increased staffing and resources, all of which will aid them in providing larger spaces and innovative programming for their students and community.

“My hope is that we work our way out of a job.” says Gray, who has led The Mosaic’s mission for more than 12 years. “There will not need to be a need for these spaces anymore, because the entire campus will be The Mosaic.”

As the interns wrap up their group discussion for the day and head to other obligations, Hispanic, Latinx, and Indigenous Student Engagement Intern Karina Aquiahuatl Villagran ’19, individualized studies, offers one final sentiment, perfectly summing up the empowered collective voice of The Mosaic community: “I love The Mosaic because I can have real conversations here. Society has normalized keeping the difficult conversations to ourselves, but Mosaic is a part of society and it can branch out from this space to whatever we do in the future.”

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Header photo: The Mosaic staff and students gather to talk regularly. All photos courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11.

By Mariano R. Sto. Domingo, Department of Psychology Faculty, UMBC, and Viji Sathy, Teaching Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jerome Adams is the 20th surgeon general of the United States and former Indiana state health commissioner.

Angelique Johnson is a co-founder and CEO of MEMStim, a company that produces implantable electronics to treat brain disorders.

Isaac Kinde is the chief scientific officer at PapGene, Inc., a company that sells molecular tests meant to detect cancer early. He is also a recognized national expert in molecular cancer diagnostics.

All three graduated from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. The program was co-founded by Robert Meyerhoff, a Baltimore philanthropist, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County President Freeman Hrabowski in 1988 with the goal of increasing representation of minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs at UMBC.

Since then, about 1,500 students have gone through the program and pursued careers that range from public health practitioners to entrepreneurs. Many alumni are professors.

What makes the Meyerhoff work?

The Meyerhoff Scholars program has been called the “gold standard” for providing a path into STEM research for African Americans, Hispanics, and economically disadvantaged white students who are underrepresented in the field. It has also been credited with changing the culture of the campus at UMBC.

Based on the success of the Meyerhoff program at UMBC, we wondered if the program could be successfully replicated on other college campuses, particularly in light of the fact that earlier attempts at other schools did not succeed.

In a study published April 26, we conclude that the answer is: yes. We conducted the study with funding and advisory support from Howard Hughes Medical Institute. We are part of the inter-institutional research team that has tracked the academic performance of the students on our campuses.

Before we get into the details of our findings, first here’s a bit of background on the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and how it works.

Practice for success

For the past 30 years, minority students who are part of the program are coached to sit in the front rows of their classes, raise their hands to ask challenging questions, and stay after class to engage their professors. These cohorts of students attend a summer bridge program before their first semester in college, live on the same residence hall and form study groups. They also volunteer in communities, work in laboratories on campus during the semesters and off-campus during summers throughout college.

Faculty and campus leaders serve as champions for their success until and after they complete bachelor’s degrees.

The cohort-based program recruits high achieving high school students to work closely and excel together. Critics have said that practice of picking top students is “elitist.” But Hrabowski, the co-founder, has defended the program as being responsive to students who want to earn an advanced STEM degree.

The program includes 13 key program components designed to provide academic, social and professional support to equip students for STEM graduate programs. These components include advising and counseling, tutoring, quality research experience and mentorship.

Payoffs and benefits

Evidence shows that African American Meyerhoff scholars earn higher grades in STEM majors – 0.25 points higher on a 4.0 GPA, to be exact. Evidence also shows that African American Meyerhoff scholars are twice as likely to graduate from STEM majors than similar students. They are also 7.5 times more likely to pursue and complete advanced degrees versus those who decline the scholarship.

UMBC is now the second top producer of black STEM-Ph.D. degree recipients, second only to Howard University, and the number one producer of MD-Ph.D. degree recipients.

Brent Staples, an editorial writer for The New York Times, has noted that the Meyerhoff Scholars Program is “so well known that the university no longer needs to recruit for it.”

“Critics have sometimes accused the Meyerhoff program of cherry-picking bright students who would perform spectacularly well wherever they went to school,” Staples wrote. “But the numbers suggest that the school’s instructional strategy makes a real difference.”

Can the program be replicated?

“Some critics have argued that although the Meyerhoff program is successful at UMBC, its success could not be replicated elsewhere,” Freeman Hrabowski acknowledged in an article he co-authored for Issues in Science and Technology. “They maintain that UMBC is a unique place with a president who is African American and a program champion in a way that cannot be copied. They also claim the program is expensive.”

To put the issue of whether the program could be copied to the test, we looked at two different programs that were patterned after the Meyerhoff Scholars program – the Millennium Scholars program at Penn State University, which began in 2012, and the Chancellor’s Science Scholars program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which began in 2013.

Prior to these programs, UNC and Penn State each had between 100 and 200 graduates who went on to earn STEM doctoral degrees but only four to six of the students were African American students. While it’s too early to tell what the outcome will be, preliminary indicators suggest that both programs are on target to surpass early Meyerhoff rates of entry into STEM Ph.D. and MD-Ph.D. programs. For instance, the rate for the first group of Meyerhoff scholars back in 1993 was 10%, whereas the rates for UNC and Penn State in 2017 were 21% and 50%, respectively. The current Meyerhoff rate of entry into STEM Ph.D. and MD-Ph.D. programs is 48% immediately after graduation.

Some may think that the programs got these results by cherry-picking exceptionally talented students. To address this question, we looked at students who were in the programs and compared them to students of similar demographics and academic strength and interest who were not in the programs. The study involved nearly 1,500 students across the three campuses.

We found that students who are part of the programs stayed in their STEM majors at a rate of between 91% and 94%, versus 78% to 80% for non-participants. And program participants earned GPAs of between 3.48 to 3.59, versus 3.15 to 3.22 for those who were not in the program.

Adopting the model

What our findings show is that in order for a Meyerhoff-type program to work, the program can’t be implemented in just any old way. Success requires a full commitment to the entire Meyerhoff model. It also takes training program staff and faculty on how to follow the model fully. Unlike earlier attempts at other schools, UNC and Penn State implemented all aspects of the program.

It also takes money. For instance, the programs at Penn State and North Carolina run off endowments of US$7.1 million and $15.5 million, respectively. Both endowments were created by dedicated fundraising campaigns, much of it going to scholarships to cover the cost of tuition, research and travel experiences for the students.

Finally, there should be a rigorous evaluation of the program that provides ongoing feedback and that tracks the academic performance of program participants.

If more colleges follow the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, it stands to reason that years from now there will be more individuals from diverse backgrounds excelling in STEM careers, much like Jerome Adams, Angelique Johnson and Isaac Kinde are now.

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Header image: Joshua Brown, an IMSD Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows, works in the lab at UMBC. Photo courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11.

Editor’s Note: The Conversation has received funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Mariano R. Sto. Domingo, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Viji Sathy, Program Evaluator, Chancellor’s Science Scholars; Teaching Associate Professor, Dept of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Business First has named UMBC one of the best U.S. public colleges and universities in a national report issued this month. The publication notes that their study “pinpoints the public universities and colleges that offer the best educational experiences to their students.”

The ranking assesses over 500 four-year higher education institutions based on 22 key indicators. These factors measure a combination of academic excellence, affordability, diversity, and the economic strength of communities.

Three Maryland institutions are featured in the top 70, including UMBC; the University of Maryland, College Park; and St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Other universities featured prominently include UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, UMBC’s partners for a recently announced $6.9 million replication of UMBC’s gold-standard Meyerhoff Scholars Program. Also highlighted are Penn State and UNC Chapel Hill, UMBC’s partners for the inaugural Meyerhoff replication, whose success was just featured in Science.

A full list of the top 250 ranked public universities is available through Business First.

Featured image: Students walk down the stairs near UMBC’s Albin O. Kuhn library in April 2019. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

When UMBC’s 23rd annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) was briefly paused to respond to a fire drill, Howard Nicholson ’21, chemical engineering, did not skip a beat. The Undergraduate Research Awardee unrolled his poster outside and continued to explain his work done with biosensors, which would allow real time drug monitoring to compensate for patient-to-patient variabilities.

“It’s great to see your work come to fruition,” says Nicholson, who also presented at URCAD in 2018. “You see how it all makes sense, and I’m able to solidify my own knowledge and educate others on pressing issues in the scientific community.”

Through the course of the day, which featured undergraduate work from thermodynamic modeling of pollutant uptake by freshwater mussels to a video game that promoted therapy rehabilitation for post-stroke patients, and even a light show with a fog machine, students shared their best and brightest ideas with the campus community and beyond. Now in its 23rd year, URCAD has given thousands of young researchers the chance to highlight their individual interests as well as collaborative work between professors and students.

Campus practically comes to a standstill on this day, with ample opportunities to geek out about groundbreaking research from students just starting out in the field. 

“I love to see students succeed,” says Dr. April Householder, Director of Undergraduate Research and Prestigious Scholarships, and URCAD coordinator. “There’s nothing better than to watch a student have an idea that they’ve taken maybe a couple of months ago, maybe a couple of years ago, and develop that over time… and then to come to a day like this and see the culmination of that work and to celebrate within our community and see, really, from beginning to end what that process was like for them.”

Back in the Ballroom, Hye Jin Park ’20, psychology, explains the connections she found in her research with Charissa S. L. Cheah on the role marital quality and parenting plays in Korean-American children’s social problem-solving skills. Park, who is Korean, says that Cheah, a professor of psychology, provided her with two graduate student mentors to work with who were also Korean, and that their collective language abilities allowed them to connect with their subjects on a deeper level.

“Dr. Cheah’s door was always open, “ says Park, an undergraduate research awardee. “She was open to how I wanted to conduct the research and present the findings. We met often for her to explain any revisions, and in fact, we’re planning on working together on a different project in the future.” Park plans on continuing to focus her research on Korean populations, “We’re underrepresented in research.”

Eric Grollman ’07, sociology and psychology, now an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Richmond, spoke in the keynote address about the inherent political aspects of science. As a scholar-activist during their time on campus, Grollman encouraged the students present to embrace the activism necessary to have their voice heard.

Here’s a small collection of highlights from the day. To learn more, visit ur.umbc.edu.

 

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Scott Sainz, theatre, shows off his Light Show, using “the most powerful console on the market.” Scott was inspired by a conference he attended in Las Vegas, and by the scale and production of the shows there. #UMBCurcad

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Students lined up to try a virtual reality game created by Levan Sulimanov, computer science and electrical engineering, which aims to assist in the rehabilitation of post-stroke patients. #UMBCurcad

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Unless otherwise noted, all photos, including the header image, are courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11.

UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars Program has been lauded as a national model for supporting diverse students in STEM fields. Other institutions across the United States have begun to ask if UMBC’s approach could work for them. A new paper published in Science answers that question with a resounding “yes.”

Since its inception in 1989, UMBC’s Meyerhoff Scholars Program has graduated 739 students with undergraduate degrees in science and engineering, with 76 percent continuing on to graduate or professional programs in STEM. Meyerhoff alumni have earned 300 Ph.D. degrees, 130 M.D. degrees, 54 M.D.-Ph.D. degrees, and 253 master’s degrees to date, and hundreds more are currently pursuing graduate degrees.

Culture shift

While these high achieving, research-focused students are more likely than the average student to go on to a graduate degree, research has shown that their UMBC experience has had a major impact on their trajectories. Highly qualified students who were offered admission to the program but opted to attend other universities were half as likely to graduate with a STEM undergraduate degree and about five times less likely to pursue a graduate degree in STEM than those who accepted the offer to join the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

The program has also resulted in a culture shift that supports the success of underrepresented students in STEM who are not Meyerhoff Scholars, and has informed the creation of similar scholars programs at UMBC focused on other fields.

With all these positive results, the major question became: Is the Meyerhoff Scholars Program inherently unique to UMBC, with its charismatic African American president, status as a historically diverse institution that has welcomed students of all races from its founding, and location in a region rich in diversity? Or could similar programs be implemented at very different institutions with similar success?

Shared commitment

The new paper in Science reveals, for the first time, findings from the first four years of a five-year initiative to adapt the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at Pennsylvania State University at University Park and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

While strikingly different in some ways, these three institutions now share a commitment to all components of Meyerhoff-style programs. These include intensive advising, immersive transition activities the summer before the students’ first semester of college, institutional leadership that makes the program a priority, training for faculty and staff, and other components.

Findings from Penn State’s Millennium Scholars program and UNC’s Chancellor’s Science Scholars program show exciting success at an accelerated pace, with students achieving the project’s goals at a level on par with the success of recent Meyerhoff cohorts. For example, retention in STEM among the Penn State and UNC cohorts was similar to that of current Meyerhoff Scholars. Additionally, the average GPAs and four-year graduation rates of the first Penn State and UNC cohorts exceeded that of the first four Meyerhoff cohorts, in the early 1990s. These findings are especially encouraging, because the locations, historical leadership, and student bodies at these institutions look very different than they do at UMBC.

Findings also suggest benefits for students of all backgrounds—including, but not limited to, the 65 to 80 percent of program participants who are from underrepresented groups in STEM. At all three institutions, students in the program had higher GPAs and were more likely to stay in STEM majors than classmates who did not participate in the program, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender.

Laying the groundwork

“These findings confirm that Meyerhoff-like programs and student outcomes can be achieved elsewhere, even at institutions very different from UMBC,” says Michael Summers, Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring and Distinguished University Professor at UMBC.

Based on the promise of this adaptation, other universities have begun exploring Meyerhoff-like programs, with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative recently announcing a massive replication effort in University of California system. “It is my hope that this initial effort has laid the groundwork for partnership expansion with an even broader range of institutions,” Summers says.  

With the impressive results just published in Science, Summers notes, “The high level of success achieved at UNC Chapel Hill and Penn State should now show all institutions that inclusive excellence is an achievable priority, regardless of the institution’s size, location, and history. Success was dependent on the willingness of institutions to partner together and learn from each other.”

Learn more about the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

Banner image: Eudorah Vital ’18, a Meyerhoff Scholar and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar and the 2018 UMBC valedictorian, hugs President Hrabowski after giving her remarks at commencement. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Earlier this month, UMBC officially launched a new icon and homepage as the culmination of a two-year, community-driven brand message and logo development process—the first University-wide branding initiative in UMBC history.

“Our community has been looking for new tools to share with others what the UMBC experience is all about. This work focused on developing those tools,” says Lisa Akchin, UMBC’s associate vice president for engagement.

Introducing this new brand is a powerful video with a message that will already be familiar to many in Retriever Nation.

This launch comes at an important moment for the University, following UMBC’s 50th anniversary, the start of the $150 million Campaign for UMBC, and UMBC’s historic 16-over-1 NCAA appearance in 2018. The project team set out to capture the essence of what makes UMBC such a distinctive community, and to share that vision with the world.

Putting it all together

UMBC’s Office of Institutional Advancement led the brand development project, in close collaboration with marketing and communications colleagues across the University, and with essential input from faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Jim Lord ’99, director of creative services and adjunct professor of visual arts, designed the striking new UMBC icon.

“As an alumnus of UMBC and Director of Creative Services, I was excited to work on the new logo. The project took a long time, but along the way, I was able to take direct feedback from so many of my colleagues across campus,” says Lord. “The logo that was ultimately selected received a positive response in the online surveys and it has been great to see the mark make its way onto campus and be used in the marketing materials.”

UMBC’s new icon is the most visible element of the branding project, but beneath it is a strong foundation of core ideas and values that define the University. The icon is also part of a larger fresh visual identity for UMBC, including UMBC logos, colors, letterhead, and guidance for sharing the UMBC experience through photography and video.

UMBC’s Creative Services team was tasked with bringing these ideas to life and the campus itself has gone through a springtime transformation. Windows are emblazoned with black and gold banners, a larger-than-life silo banner welcomes visitors to campus, and new pavement decals remind Retrievers that they’re part of a community with each passing step.

Laura Schraven, associate director for Campus Life marketing and communications, led UMBC’s student-focused design center, commonvision, to create supplemental materials highlighting UMBC’s new visual identity.

“It’s exciting to see people embracing the brand and wanting to use the logo, imagery and messaging in their materials. It is also a unique opportunity for our staff and student staff to become brand ambassadors,” says Schraven. “They are not just adding a logo to a brochure, they’re making sure that the brand is being reflected accurately and justly,” she explains. “This role gives another layer of investment in the brand from our students.”

Plus, she notes, “we are all definitely excited about the expanded color palette.”

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The new UMBC homepage was designed to quickly give a clear, powerful sense of all the University offers, and how students can claim their futures at UMBC. The site’s main audience is prospective undergraduate and graduate students and their families—people who are just starting to learn more about the University. At the same time, improved homepage navigation will help all site visitors—including current students, faculty, staff, alumni, and University partners—to find what they are looking for.

The site will continue to grow over time, featuring content that meets the needs of visitors.

Community impact

Feedback from the UMBC community has been integral to every stage of the branding process. The project team asked UMBC students, faculty, staff, and alumni to share their opinions through surveys and group discussions. These were used to craft the new designs that could effectively express UMBC’s culture and identity.

“As an alumnus and staff member, I have the privilege of watching UMBC constantly evolve as an institution,” says Bobby Lubaszewski ‘10, marketing coordinator, Division of Professional Studies. “The new brand is the perfect example of that evolution, taking our existing, well-established logo and identity and taking it one step further.”

To further introduce the brand and logo to the UMBC community, an on-campus branch launch event was held on April 11. Students were invited to stop by Main Street and grab new graphic stickers, pose for a selfie, enjoy snacks, and pick up a coupon for new logo merchandise in the Campus Bookstore.

UMBC faculty and staff also had a chance to watch the new video and share their thoughts about what being part of UMBC means to them during the Presidential Faculty and Staff Awards ceremony, which took place on brand launch day.

The core ideas behind this project resonated with Morgan Thomas ‘13, general counsel. During the PFASA event, she shared, “When you’re at UMBC, you can explore at every angle” and always find new opportunities “because this is a rich campus full of culture and full of wonderful people where you can learn something new.”

Karl Steiner, vice president of research, agrees, saying, “The themes, including ‘Explore every Angle’ and ‘Extend Beyond’ highlight and value the experiences and ideas of our faculty, students, and staff to pursue new knowledge and thrive to make a positive and lasting impact on our global society through education, research and service.”

“I am excited about how UMBC’s updated brand captures the continuing growth of our institution,” he shares, “as we enter into our second half-century as a campus.”

Banner image: Laptop stickers celebrate launch of new UMBC brand. All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

by Michelle R. Scott, Associate Professor of History, UMBC and Earl Brooks, Assistant Professor of English, UMBC

At a moment when there is a longstanding heated debate over how artists and pop culture figures should engage in social activism, the life and career of musical legend Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington offers a model of how to do it right.

Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. His tight-knit black middle-class family nurtured his racial pride and shielded him from many of the difficulties of segregation in the nation’s capital. Washington was home to a sizable black middle class, despite prevalent racism. That included the racial riots of 1919’s Red Summer, three months of bloody violence directed at black communities in cities from San Francisco to Chicago and Washington D.C.

Ellington’s development from a D.C. piano prodigy to the world’s elegant and sophisticated “Duke” is well documented. Yet a fusion of art and social activism also marked his more than 56-year career.

Ellington’s battle for social justice was personal. Films like the award-winning “Green Book” only hint at the costs of segregation for black performing artists during the 1950s and 60s.

Duke’s experiences reveal the reality.

Cotton Club to Scottsboro Boys

Ellington first rose to fame at Harlem’s “whites only” Cotton Club in the 1920s. There, the only mingling of black and white happened on the piano keyboard itself, as black performers entered through back doors and could not interact with white customers.

Ellington quietly devoted his services to the NAACP and its racial equality activities in the 1930s. Whether it was demanding that black youth have equal entrance rights to segregated dance halls or holding benefit concerts for the Scottsboro Boys, nine black adolescents falsely imprisoned for rape in 1931, Ellington used his growing fame as a prominent band leader for a greater good.

In our literary and historical research on African American entertainment, Ellington’s ability to travel and perform across national boundaries stands out.

After success in Harlem’s night spots, Ellington composed, recorded and appeared in film shorts like 1935’s “Symphony in Black” as himself. He traveled the world with his orchestra, at first performing in the U.K. in the 1930s. Later, Ellington continued to perform on behalf of the U.S. State Department as a “jazz ambassador” in the 1960s and 70s. Audiences in such places as India, Syria, Turkey, Ethiopia and Zambia were given the opportunity to hear and dance to Ellington’s compositions.

However, not even international popularity ensured that hotels would host Ellington’s all-black ensemble during a tour in the U.K. in June 1933. Members scrambled to find boarding homes in London’s Bloomsbury neighborhood when mainstream hotels turned them away on account of their race.

Despite success, racism

Ellington’s 1932 “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” was the soundtrack for the nation’s swing era of the 1930s and 40s. The tune stayed on the Billboard charts for six weeks in 1932 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

But when Ellington traveled in the South, he still had to hire a private rail car to avoid crowded, poorly maintained “colored only” train seating, or hotels and restaurants that refused service to black Southerners.

Northern or western engagements in the 1930s and 1940s often proved no better. While there were no “white only” signs on the doors of these hotels or restaurants, establishments enforced segregation by telling black customers to enter through back doors or purchase their meals to go.

Bassist Milt Hinton recalled that Ellington and fellow band leader Count Basie often stayed at black-owned boarding houses rather than risk being thrown out or ignored.

White band managers attempted to protect the black bands they managed from these racist practices, but this still did not prevent Ellington from being denied service in a Salt Lake City hotel’s cafe in the 1940s.

Subtle style

Once the civil rights movement of the 1950s began to fight for racial equality through direct-action techniques like mass protests, boycotts and sit-ins, activists in the early 1950s criticized the older Ellington. His subtle activism style had focused on benefit concerts, and not “in the streets” protests.

But as the movement continued, Ellington included a non-segregation clause in his contracts and refused to play before segregated audiences by 1961. He maintained in an interview in the Baltimore Afro American newspaper that he had always been devoted to “the fight for first class citizenship.”

This was a devotion best seen in his music.

Ellington used his creative musical talents against racist beliefs that African Americans were inferior or unintelligent.

His diverse and wide-ranging catalog of music demanded the kind of serious attention and respect that had previously only been reserved for elite, white composers of classical music.

Songs such as “Black and Tan Fantasy” completely challenged what was then called “jungle music,” a negative term used to reference music inspired by the African diaspora. As a fusion of sacred and secular black culture, both the “Black and Tan Fantasy” composition and film combined the speaking traditions of black preachers with the humor and rhythms of black life.

Modern black variety shows such as “Wild ‘N Out” and “In Living Color” share a lineage with Ellington’s major stage production of 1941, “Jump for Joy.”

“Jump for Joy” combined comedy skits and music into a revue that featured African American stars of the mid-20th century, including actress, singer and dancer Dorothy Dandridge and poet Langston Hughes.

Ellington claimed that his production “would take Uncle Tom out of the theater and say things that would make the audience think.”

He used his music to showcase black excellence as a resistance tactic against the negative stereotypes of African Americans made popular in American blackface minstrelsy.

Ellington also used “Jump for Joy” to call out those who borrowed from black music without any credit or financial compensation to its creators.

Melody’s other purpose

One of Ellington’s most powerful works is the orchestral piece “Black, Brown and Beige.”

This work shows his ability to infuse the blues into classical music and his commitment to tell the history of black America through song.

From the spirituals developed through the trials of slavery to the fight for civil rights and the modern rhythms of big band swing music, Ellington sought to tell a story about black life that was both beautiful and complex.

For Ellington, melody became message.

* * * * *

Michelle R. Scott, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Earl Brooks, Assistant Professor of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Header image: Duke Ellington, Paramount Theater, New York, 1946. Library of Congress/William P. Gottlieb photographer

by Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, Professor of History, UMBC

For the first time in 217 years, a Japanese emperor will cede his place on the imperial throne.

On April 30, Japan’s ailing 85-year-old Emperor Akihito will abdicate and be replaced the following day by his 59-year-old son, Crown Prince Naruhito.

Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, are a modern couple. Both have studied overseas – he at Oxford University, she in Russia, England and the United States. Born after World War II, Naruhito will be the first Japanese emperor not shaped by the upheaval that war brought to his country.

Many Japanese are hopeful that these younger royals can update Japan’s ancient “Chrysanthemum Throne.” But changing a 14-century-old monarchy to reflect the times will not be easy.

A democracy with an emperor

Japan has the oldest continuous monarchy in the world.

The current emperor, Akihito, is the 125th in a royal line of succession officially founded in the 7th century. According to Japanese legend, however, the Chrysanthemum Throne dates back 2,600 years – to the country’s founding in 660 B.C. by Emperor Jimmu, a descendant of the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu.

Despite their sacred status, Japanese emperors have traditionally reigned but not run the country. For most of its long history, military governments or oligarchs governed Japan in a day-to-day sense.

In 1947, two years after its surrender to Allied forces, Japan became a democracy, with several political parties, parliament and a prime minister. The monarchy also changed profoundly after World War II.

Emperor Hirohito – father of Japan’s current emperor, Akihito – renounced “the false conception that the emperor is divine” in 1946 under pressure from Allied forces. The largely American-written 1947 constitution that followed officially reduced the emperor to a figurehead.

Still, the monarchy continued. And Hirohito remained on the throne until his death at age 88 in 1989.

The people’s emperor

Hirohito’s son, Emperor Akihito has, by most accounts, been a hugely popular monarch – one who put his personal stamp on this institution.

As a young crown prince in U.S.-occupied Japan, Akihito studied the English language and western culture, and his American tutor sought to encourage independence in her young student. Akihito later broke with the Japanese royal tradition of arranged marriages by wedding a commoner, Michiko Shoda, whom he met playing tennis.

Akihito has brought the monarchy closer to the people of Japan in other ways over the last 30 years, too.

He spent more time outside the confines of his palace, interacting with ordinary Japanese, than his aloof father. He and the empress also made official visits to some 35 countries.

After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered Japan’s Fukushima nuclear crisis, Emperor Akihito made a historic television appearance, urging his people not to give up hope, and visited refugees at an evacuation center.

In a 2016 speech, Akihito indirectly signaled his intention to abdicate, saying that his advanced age and declining health made it difficult for him to carry out his duties.

Resigning on April 30 will be the last modernizing act of Akhito’s 30-year reign.

The crown prince says that as emperor he hopes to emulate his father’s personal touch – to “share the joys and sorrows of the people.”

Controversy over all-male succession

The abdication of a living emperor created a legal problem for Japan, where imperial law defines imperial succession only upon death.

The last Japanese monarch to step down, Emperor Kokaku, did so in 1817 for unknown reasons, and before Japan became a democracy. There is simply no modern precedent for Akihito’s decision.

Amending Japanese imperial law to accommodate abdication would have opened it up to other changes. Specifically, many Japanese legislators and a majority of Japanese people wanted to allow women to inherit the throne.

That would be a big symbolic boost for women in a country where female executives occupy less than 1% of management positions.

Conservative forces in legislature, however, blocked calls to change Japan’s male succession tradition. Rather than amend the imperial law, they simply passed a special law allowing Akihito to step down.

That means Aiko, the daughter of Japan’s soon-to-be emperor and empress cannot succeed her father. Next in line, instead, is Naruhito’s younger brother, 53-year-old Prince Fumihito. Fumihito will be followed by his son, Hisahito.

Emperor Naruhito, the environmentalist

I had occasion to meet Prince Naruhito, Japan’s next emperor in 1990, at an academic conference in Japan.

As a scholar of Japanese history, I spoke about the travels of a prominent samurai in early modern Japan. Naruhito – long a global advocate for clean water – presented his research, conducted at Oxford University, on medieval English water transport.

Naruhito has continued to develop his environmental pursuits since. In 2007, he was appointed honorary president of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.

Naruhito’s global civic engagement shows how the crown prince has sought to steer his own course in life.

His wife, Masako, will also be unlike any empress in Japanese history.

The daughter of a diplomat and fluent in several languages, Masako graduated from Harvard in 1985 with a degree in economics, and later studied law at the University of Tokyo. In 1987, she was one of only three women – in a pool of 800 applicants – to pass the entrance exam for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nahurito proposed three times before Masako agreed to marry him, in 1993. That decision forced her, reluctantly, to give up her diplomatic career.

The lifestyle change appears to have been difficult for Masako.

As crown princess, she came under intense pressure to produce a male heir. Royal household officials also limited her overseas travel and closely monitored her movements.

In 2001, eight years after their marriage, Masako gave birth – but to a girl, Aiko. Shortly afterward, she vanished from public life. According to her doctors, Masako suffered an “adjustment disorder” – what outside observers might identify as depression.

Prince Naruhito has broken with a royal tradition of discretion in 2004 and spoken publicly about his wife’s struggle to adapt to her constrained new existence.

“There were moves to negate Masako’s career and her personality, which was influenced by that career,” he told reporters in 2004.

Masako began reappearing in public again only in 2014. She has expressed both anxiety and optimism about becoming empress, given the stresses and ceremonial duties of that office.

Naruhito, for his part, says he will work to change how Japan’s royal family operates, updating the imperial household to reflect changing times.

His goal for his reign, he says, is to bring “a fresh breeze” to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

* * * * *

Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Header Image: ID 6838463 © Norman Chan | Dreamstime.com

JEROME ADAMS ’97
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Notable Achievement: U.S. Surgeon General

Back in the ’90s, Jerome Adams was just a kid watching UMBC basketball games and making sure he never missed Quadmania. Now, he has a bit more on his plate—like being “Top Doctor” for the entire United States.

“UMBC as a school has constantly shown they punch above their weight. There’s nothing we can’t do.”

— Jerome Adams ’97

In 2017, Adams was named Surgeon General, tasked as the leading spokesperson on public health for the federal government and serving as the “Nation’s Doctor.”

Adams credits UMBC with helping him get to where he is today. As a student in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, he never forgot UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski’s reminder that to whom much is given, much is required.

“UMBC and Dr. Hrabowski and the Meyerhoff Program work together
to inspire folks to be the best that they can be.”