In 1989, Baltimore philanthropist Robert E. Meyerhoff sat down with then-UMBC vice provost Freeman Hrabowski with a bold vision for the University—to create a program that would offer high-achieving African American men a doorway into STEM scholarship at the highest levels. Thirty years later, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program is a national leader on the forefront of efforts to increase diversity among future leaders—both women and men—in science, engineering, and related fields. Because of that, UMBC is also the leading producer nationally of African American undergraduates who go on to earn M.D./Ph.D. degrees.

This spring, as the program celebrates its 30th anniversary with its more than 1,100 alumni worldwide, Meyerhoff and Hrabowski sat down again to discuss the impact of what they started. This is an edited excerpt of that conversation.

Hrabowski:  Bob, you may recall that at that time UMBC was having a challenge in that young African Americans were coming in wanting to major in science or pre-med, and they were not doing well. They were not doing well….

Bob Embry of the Abell Foundation called me and he said, “Bob Meyerhoff has an interest in talking to you.” And when I got to you, it was like a marriage made in heaven, because all you did, the whole time, was ask me questions. You were trying to understand the problems, and the issues, and you did tell me, I will never forget it, that you truly believed that if children were given the same opportunities as your children, with the same support, they would do just as well. They would do quite well. And that’s how we got started.

Meyerhoff: And, there’s no question about it, that I was impressed right from the beginning with the first class. the students you had … were really impressive….And almost every year, they are more impressive.

Hrabowski: And let me just say, the fact that [the] Howard Hughes [Medical Institute] has put so much money into replicating the program at other places, and that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is just starting this process out in California, replicating the program, says a lot. The most important thing is…you have to have people who really care, and as you said at the beginning, who believe these young people can do it. And then we have to be clear about those expectations…And then we have to evaluate and be honest about what works and what doesn’t work. That makes the difference.

Meyerhoff: I’m so proud. I mean, if I wasn’t proud of them, I wouldn’t like the idea they call themselves Meyerhoffs. It’s complimentary to me that they’re called Meyerhoffs. I mean, they’re all much more educated in science than I am, and they have accomplished much more in science and engineering than I have or ever could. So I’m so very proud of the fact that they are where they are. They’re just so outstanding, and they’re just proving day after day after day how successful the program is.

Hrabowski: That’s right. And you have been a pioneer in being a visionary for this program, and these students are pioneers, because many have become the first African American, for example, or the first woman to complete these degrees. And once the first does it, then other people say, “I want to be like that.”

Meyerhoff: Right.

Hrabowski: “And I want to do that.” And that’s for every race in the program, for every possible group, they have been leading and showing other kids that it can be done…

You know when I think about it, this 30th anniversary, Bob, represents two things. Number one, your belief in the dream. The dream that these young people could excel. And number two, the magical notion that this is a time that we celebrate dreams realized. These are dreams realized, when you look out and you see hundreds of young people who are now serving society as scientists, and engineers, and physicians, we can’t help but think dreams realized. We continue to hold fast to dreams.

For more information about the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and the 30th Anniversary Celebration, visit meyerhoff.umbc.edu.

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Header image by Marlayna Demond ’11. 

Paul Raphael ’83, economics, posed this question to a group of students who gathered in the Fireside Lounge to mingle with the executive vice-chairman of the Swiss bank, UBS.

When Paul Raphael arrived at BWI airport in July 1981—a month and a half before his first semester started—he was fleeing the Lebanese civil war. And although he had arranged with UMBC to arrive early to escape the fighting in his country, he didn’t know what his next step was going to be after getting off the plane. He introduced himself to his seatmate to explain his predicament, and she quickly put his fears to rest. She and her husband were professors at UMBC and would deliver him to the campus on their way home. They ended up waiting with him until he was settled into his dorm room.

Although Raphael doesn’t remember their names, to this day he remembers their hospitality. Their kindness, along with the support of longtime international student advocate Bobbie Shahpazian, who retired as the Associate Director of Scholarships in 2012, shaped the way Raphael thought about his education. “I remember knowing that I couldn’t go back to Lebanon because of the war,” says Raphael to the students circled around him. “I had no choice but to be successful here…and you have more chances if you’re really trying.”

Raphael quickly began planning out the rest of his life’s steps that would ultimately lead him to his position as an executive in the financial industry.

“If I really want to stay in this country I would have to do two or three things,” Raphael remembers thinking early on in his studies. “One, distinguish myself in every possible way, including academically. Two, get a master’s degree, so I am are even further distinguished. And three,” Raphael recounts, “get some work experience. So, together that was kind of my plan.”

Speaking to a predominately international group of students, the investment banker recognizes that the American political situation has changed since he was welcomed to campus three decades ago, but encourages the same work ethic he embraced decades ago: hustle. Learn another language (or two) to make yourself more competitive, take an extra class over summer break, write handwritten thank you notes after every internship, keep an on campus job (or two), connect with your professors outside of class.

Raphael’s plan to distinguish himself led him to successfully graduating in two-and-a-half years, accomplishing an MBA at MIT, and then on to a long career in investment banking. But how did he get to where it all started?

In Lebanon as a high school student, Raphael had limited information about colleges in the United States, but he knew he didn’t want to attend a large campus. From the applications available at an educational resource office connected to the American Embassy in Beirut, Raphael heard about a young college outside of Baltimore. “When I arrived I actually liked UMBC. It was, yes, small but new and nurturing… I didn’t find it as I had feared, you know, really difficult. I have to say, it was a very formative time for me.”

In the roundtable discussion with the students gathered, Raphael turns the questions back on them. Was UMBC your first choice? What is the atmosphere like for international students now? The students respond eagerly and tell Raphael about the dozens of student groups that exist to celebrate different cultural heritages on campus, and that there are now over 1,000 international students studying at UMBC from over 100 counties.

“What I am hearing,” sums up Raphael, “is that once you are here you feel—and it certainly was the case with me—the possibilities are all there to do what you want and to go where you want and to, and that’s not a given elsewhere.”

“I arrived here in 1981, and I feel like I’m a different person now,” Raphael concludes. “So coming back here almost puts me in touch with someone else, someone that’s … buried somewhere inside me. But these are layers, you know, so unless I had the UMBC layer I wouldn’t have the next layer. So this is still very important to me.”

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Header image courtesy of Raquel Hamner ’20.

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.

With five no hitters under her belt, first-year pitcher Courtney Coppersmith spent the semester picking off batters and picking up accolades—including several firsts for UMBC.

By Zach Seidel ’12, M.S. ’15

Flashback to April, and the UMBC Softball team’s bout against Norfolk State. The crowd roared and then began laughing out of astonishment: Coppersmith ’22, biochemistry and molecular biology, had just hit a tie-breaking (and eventual game-winning), two-out, two-strike grand slam in the bottom of the sixth (out of the seven innings in a collegiate softball game).

This hit was her first career home run, but more impressively, it happened just three days after she pitched the second perfect game in program history.

Her teammates and fans couldn’t stop shaking their heads and smiling because every time the lefthander from York, Pennsylvania, stepped on the field, it seemed like she was either breaking another record or coming up clutch.

Coppersmith helped lead UMBC to its first-ever America East championship and first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2002—despite the fact that the Retrievers were picked to finish last in the preseason coaches’ poll. In addition to being named UMBC Softball’s first-ever All-American, she was also the first person in America East history to be named both Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season. And the list goes on.

The Retrievers entered the America East tournament in Hartford, Connecticut. as the No. 4 seed, and had to face the hosts, No. 5 Hartford, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Coppersmith threw an 11-strikeout no-hitter, and then followed that up the following day by throwing another no-hitter, this time against the regular season champion No. 1 UMass Lowell. She then helped lead UMBC to a pair of victories over Stony Brook to clinch the championship. Coppersmith went 4 – 0 while allowing just two runs in 28 innings pitched, a 0.50 ERA on only eight hits, and 33 strikeouts en route to being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

The previous UMBC record for strikeouts in a single game was 13, set over a decade ago. Coppersmith has already reached or surpassed that total in a game seven times this season. She absolutely shattered the record in one of the best performances in the nation this season: a 17 strikeout, no walk, one-hit masterpiece in a 1 – 0 win at UNC Wilmington, in which she scored the only run of the game on offense for UMBC. She then one-upped that with a 17 strikeout no-hitter in a 7 – 0 win over conference rival Maine.

No one has more fun on the diamond than Coppersmith, who can be seen dancing to the music in between pitches. She’s top three in the country in strikeouts (a school single-season record 346) and near the top in strikeouts per game (10.16). We sat down with the thrower of a nasty “rise ball”—and aspiring future pharmacist—for a Q&A.

Zach Seidel: You were obviously recruited to play at multiple schools, so what made UMBC your top choice?

Courtney Coppersmith: They say it’s like a wedding dress, you know it when you see it and then you cry. When I visited campus I knew it was the perfect fit. (I didn’t cry, though.) Academics are very important to me, and it’s a very good academic school. UMBC offered me a sense of community. It offers a lot programs and academic opportunities on top of being an athlete.

Seidel: You want to be a pharmacist, correct? Why is that?

Coppersmith: I like helping people and pharmacists provide medicine to people to help them do that. If I don’t end up doing that, I do want to do research and help create drugs that can cure cancer and help treat various diseases.

Seidel: What feels better for you: acing a chemistry test or striking out a batter?

Coppersmith: Acing a chemistry test. A hundred percent acing a chemistry test!

Seidel: What is the coolest thing about striking someone out?

Coppersmith: The best part is when you fall behind 3-0, and then you throw two strikes that they don’t swing at and then you get them to chase the rise ball anyway. Or, I’ll throw a low rise ball right into the edge of the zone [for a called third strike] and they’ll just look at the umpire; that’s also very amusing to watch.

Seidel: Do you prefer striking batters out swinging or looking?

Coppersmith: Oh, that’s a tough one because I get a lot of my strikeouts swinging, but I guess I like them equally. It’s really funny to watch them when they think it’s not going to be a strike and it’s a strike, but also really funny to watch them swing at a ball that’s over their head, because in no way is that going to be a strike, and they still swing at it anyway!”

Seidel: What’s your walkout song and why?

Coppersmith: For my normal walkout, I use the song “Wild Thing” from the movie Major League for the simple reason that it is one of mine and my dad’s favorite movies, and it is such an important moment in that movie. For my second walkout, it is the Little Einsteins trap remix. While it may sound super childish, I really enjoy the remix and the hype that it brings my teammates, myself, and even the other team.

Seidel:  What’s the Retriever fan support like?

Coppersmith: Retriever fans are one of the major parts to the game; while we still go out and do our jobs, either way, fans only bring even more support to us as we are out there playing our game.

Seidel: If you could strike out anybody in the world, who would it be?

Coppersmith: Heck, I would love to be able to strikeout Coach [Chris] Kuhlmeyer. He always talks a lot of smack, and I know that he doesn’t think I could strike him out, so that would be a cherry on top of the ice cream!

All-Star Stats

Coppersmith helped lead UMBC Softball to its first-ever America East championship. During the same season, she also became:

• UMBC Softball’s first-ever All-American (Softball America Honorable Mention)
• The first person in America East history to be named both Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season
• UMBC’s first Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division 1 National Pitcher of the Week
• The first in America East Conference history to sweep the weekly awards in the same week as she was named as the Player, Pitcher, and Rookie of the Week (April 9)
• The first member of the America East Conference to be included as a member in the 2019 Schutt Sports/NFCA Freshman of the Year Top 25, an award honoring the top freshmen in the entire nation
• The ECAC (an organization of 87 Division 1 institutions) Rookie of the Year and made the All-ECAC First Team twice, as a pitcher and a designated player (only player to make first team at two separate positions)

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Header image courtesy of Ian Feldmann, The Retriever.

The U.S. Small Business Administration recently recognized a UMBC information systems alumnus among its 2019 Small Business Persons of the Year winners.

Zhensen Huang, M.S. ‘00, Ph.D. ‘04, information systems, was the winner of the award for Maryland. He is the CEO of Precise Software Solutions, Inc., a company that supports government agencies’ information technology needs by offering innovative solutions.

Huang explains that he has always wanted to use technology to impact people’s lives, and as an entrepreneur he’s been able to make that a reality. “I am both honored and humbled to receive this Person of the Year recognition,” he says.

In 2013, Huang started Precise and began attracting talented professionals to his company. He says that he wanted to address technological challenges and “deliver elegant technical solutions to the health and science industry’s most complex problems.” He credits the high caliber work of his team at Precise for recognition from the Small Business Administration.

The winners will attend a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in early May during National Small Business Week, where they will receive their awards. The Small Business Administration recognizes winners from each state, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. During the ceremonies, the Small Business Administration will announce the 2019 National Small Business Person of the Year from the 53 winners from across the U.S. and territories. 

Alumni in the filmmaking industry are behind the scenes of UMBC’s new brand video.

Last week, UMBC rolled out a sparkling new brand based on more than a year’s worth of community input. With it launched a fresh new homepage and icon, as well as a video meant not only to pull at the heartstrings of #RetrieverNation, but to welcome new Dawgs into our special community.

Woven through the video are scenes and sentiments that many in our community will immediately recognize. But what you might not know is that there was as much Retriever effort put in behind the scenes as there was captured by the camera. Here’s a sneak peek at the Retriever alumni—directors, producers, gaffers, and makeup artists—who helped make this video a success.

Reconnecting and Directing

For UMBC’s video producer, Corey Jennings ’10, economics, this project was the culmination of months of collaboration with campus partners—partnerships that he created as a student on campus. In directing a video to announce the launch of the University’s new brand, Jennings instinctively knew the strengths of his alma mater to highlight.

In the UMBC community, he says, “we all knew in the back of our minds there’d be this flashpoint where we could say ‘look and see.’ The 2018 NCAA upset and our first Rhodes Scholar [Naomi Mburu ’18, chemical engineering] gave us an opportunity to tell our story in a larger way, and through this brand launch we’re given the chance to refocus the narrative of UMBC.”

Jennings points to an unscripted moment of the production that made the cut when President Hrabowski is chatting with students on set. “It was just Freeman being Freeman,” says Jennings. “Your character is who you are,” Hrabowski said to the small group gathered. “Through his words, we found a story we didn’t even know we were telling. Something like this happens in almost every interaction with leadership here,” says Jennings. “They truly care about the community.”

While Jennings knew that the project’s executive producer, Liz Norton, was also a fellow alum, the rest of the Retrievers on set were a surprise to him, but only slightly. “The University is deeply ingrained in the local production industry,” says Jennings, whose wife Carly Faye Engelke ’08—a Linehan Scholar and a dance major—is active in the Baltimore performing arts scene. Even the project’s videographer Kyle Deitz can trace his Retriever roots through his mother, Mary M. Deitz, who earned her degree in economics from UMBC in 1982.

Through the investment of students and alumni and staff in the UMBC community, says Jennings, “this video allows us to reflect on who we already are and the truth that we’ve always been this way, but maybe the outside world just didn’t know.”

A Makeover for the Ages

Alexis Arenas ’01, history, didn’t anticipate being the makeup artist for a film production at her alma mater, but as a history major, she knows the importance of returning to the past. “It’s an honor to play a part in telling the story of the future. I enjoyed my time here so much, I want to bring UMBC to a wider audience.”

Tucked away in a corner of The Commons, Arenas stood by her makeup staging area, ready to touch up the faces of the UMBC talent on set. In the past, she’s brushed the faces of Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, but today’s star is someone slightly more familiar: President Freeman Hrabowski. Between shots, Arenas commented on the many campus changes in the past two decades—in her time, she said, students’ central hangout space was the University Center.

As a member of the Makeup Artist Union in New York and having trained in London, Arenas sees a clear tie from her roots at UMBC to her career based in Ellicott City today. “UMBC taught me research skills, and research is necessary to what I do,” said Arenas, who often works on period piece films and vintage projects. “History is integral to being a top notch makeup artist.”

Putting UMBC in the Best Light

Daniel Stack ’10, fine arts, the gaffer—or the chief lighting technician—of the film crew, boasts quite the UMBC family tree. His parents both graduated in the first decade of graduating student classes, and his mother is a member of the Founding Four (Anne Brant Stack ’72, English, and W. Stewart Stack ’78, interdisciplinary studies). His wife, Elise Stack ’03, English, is also a UMBC alumna, as is his brother, and several cousins.

One thing people should know about UMBC, said Stack, is this: “If one person in your family comes to UMBC, everyone else will come to UMBC, at least that’s what I’ve learned.”

Stack was a Linehan Scholar who immediately started working in the family business. His father started Serious Grip and Electric in 1983 (we recommend their website for the most thrilling About Us page on the internet). As the gaffer on set for this project, he’s literally in charge of letting the best parts of UMBC shine—from lab beakers to sports bleachers.

Nerd Pride Production

Liz Norton ’06, visual arts, is the executive producer on set. Another former Linehan Scholar (who showed up to the first day of the shoot in her UMBC vs. University of Virginia bracket t-shirt) was clearly happy to be back on campus, repping her Retriever pride. Norton works at Three Seas, a collective of boutique creative companies. She reached out to UMBC creative services after UMBC’s NCAA 2018 upset. With reignited pride in her alma mater, she suggested collaborating on future projects.

Thinking back on what’s stayed the same since her time on campus, Norton immediately replies: “Nerd pride. We’re here and we’re ourselves. We’re proud to be excited about whatever cool is going on at the University.”

After coordinating the project behind the scenes weeks in advance—including organizing the crew and equipment and managing the timeline and budget—Liz now watches her production advance smoothly throughout the day, Norton notes, “there’s so much diversity here that the video captures so well. There’s diversity among the students, but the students also pursue diverse interests.”

On the last day of the shoot, again wearing black and gold, Norton reflects on the project, “The creators’ vision for this video resonates with me in terms of community and character. UMBC has stayed really consistent with these things over time.”

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All photos courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11, Raquel Hamner ’20, and Ana Isabel Martinez Chamorro for UMBC.

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Cast: Giavanni Powell, Kennedy Lamb, Linda Wiratan, Joe Sherburne, Ryan Odom, Lloyd Ekpe, Laura Schraven,  Mia Rickenbach, Darian Garcia

Crew:

Director of Content Development: Jenny O’Grady
UMBC Video Producer/Director: Corey Jennings
Executive Producer: Liz Norton
Producer: Dave Willis
Director of Photography: Kyle Deitz
Assistant Camera: Nate Spivey
Gaffer: Dan Stack
Audio: Lorenzo Millan
Hair/Makeup: Alexis Arenas
PA: Alex Papalitskas
PA: Andrew Hwang

Special Thanks: UMBC Athletics, Center for Art Design and Visual Culture, Campus Life Operations, Commonvision, UMBC Dance Department, Michael Summers, Summers Lab Staff, UMBC Transportation, Residential Life

A degree from UMBC can take you anywhere — even a galaxy far, far away. Kimberly Patrick ’08, recipient of UMBC’s 2019 Outstanding Alumni of the Year award for Visual and Performing Arts, has a geek’s dream job, working as a sound editor and foley artist for Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound.

Just reading the experience section of this alumna’s resume will make you crave popcorn. In it are Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as well as the Marvel movies Captain Marvel and Thor: Ragnarok, all indelible parts of modern pop culture. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy award for her sound editing for the animated series Star Wars Rebels.

Studying music technology at UMBC kick started Patrick’s interest in film sound.

“I realized how much I enjoy recording and adding sounds to moving images,” she says, and after graduation she went to film school at the University of Southern California to get her MFA in film and television production. She started as an intern at Lucasfilm in 2012 and advanced from there.

“I was able to make some fart sounds!”

For Patrick, a typical day as a foley artist might include shaking together rollerblades and running around to make the sounds of stormtroopers on the move. As a sound editor, she might be helping to decide the exact amount of fire sound in Captain Marvel’s superpowers.

In a documentary on YouTube about the making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Patrick can be seen making those sounds and talking about her experience with such a seminal franchise. “It’s really exciting to be a part of that and to know that you’re part of this future generation of Star Wars movies,” which are iconic for sound and filmmaking in general, she says.

And then there is her work that slightly less auspicious — like the fart noises she made for Despicable Me 2. “There’s an end credit sequence with three of the minions and you know how… they’re always doing crazy things, one of them pulled out a trumpet and they wanted the trumpet to sound like a fart.” Patrick put her musical background to work and made it happen. “It definitely makes my parents super proud,” she says, “all those trumpet lessons. I was able to make some fart sounds!”

“Is it going to be lasery?”

Most of what she does, however, is edit previously-recorded sounds together to achieve the right effect. For the recent Captain Marvel, Patrick was given about a third of the movie to work with and tasked with deciding what sounds needed to go where.

“With these movies, you do get direction from the directors of what they have in mind, how they imagine it to sound, and then you have to sort of translate back.” Sometimes they might ask, “Can you do a woosh kind of thing? Or it should go like vroom pow!” Other times they use emotional direction, like “This needs to be powerful but have weight to it,” and then she might use a low-end sound.

For the superpower effects used in Captain Marvel, “You have to decide is it going to be like electrical, it is going to be fiery, is it going to be lasery? You generally give a bunch of options to the directors like, here’s this version where it’s very fiery and here’s this version where it’s a lot of electricity,” she says.

Star Wars fans will recognize her work from an eerie scene in The Last Jedi in which the main character Rey snaps her fingers in a hall of mirrors. For that effect Patrick had to use cloth and snapping sounds to create an echo. “I couldn’t just copy-paste the same sound over and over again; it would sound mechanical. There had to be a distinct rhythm, as well as a sense that her reflection repeated indefinitely away from her into the cave, so the quality of the sound would need to change as it got further and further away.  It was a bit of a painstaking process to cut each individual repeated sound and sculpt it all into a believable performance that had some nuance, but it ultimately became a pretty cool sound moment in the film,” she says.

“You have to be an experimenter.”

UMBC may seem like it’s pretty far from that world of Jedi and superheroes, but Patrick says she uses her time as a Retriever to inform her work. “Having a degree in music from UMBC has been beneficial in so many ways. The music tech program emphasizes both the creative and technical sides of music-making which prepared me for the work I now do every day,” she says.

Patrick credits Professor Alan Wonneberger with encouraging her to pursue a career in film sound and the Linehan Scholars program with giving her much needed financial help and an introduction to artistic collaboration. “It exposed me to a large group of artists that I got to work with, which ultimately is what I do every day now — I get to work with a bunch of different artists from different departments and… we can just make beautiful things together.”

To give back to the school, Patrick coaches current students on how to get into the business. She has gone back to UMBC to speak to music classes and did a foley recording exercise with Professor Wonneberger’s class. She also spoke with Dr. Lisa Cella’s professional development classes about her career path. Recently, current student Jenna Polignone ’19, information systems and music technology got to pick her brain via Skype about applying for a summer internship at Skywalker.

To succeed, Patrick says, “I think you have to be an experimenter. And you have to have an ear for what things work and what things don’t and be able to describe why things work and why they don’t.” It can be rewarding artistically when it all comes together, she says, particularly when she works on a documentary with social impact like the 2016 film Looking at the Stars. But being part of blockbusters brings Patrick’s work to the hearts of geeks the world over.

“It’s really awesome that I get to work on these movies that are well known — I think that’s part of what makes my job very exciting… you get to be a part of this thing that’s bigger than you and say, yeah, I contributed to that.” 

— Karen Stysley

All photos courtesy of Kimberly Patrick. 

Maryland Historical Society to launch year-long display of quilts by Mimi Dietrich ’70, American studies

When Mimi Dietrich sews, the corners of her mouth form a soft, confident smile as she pieces together scraps of the colorful fabric in her lap. On the walls of her Catonsville home hang years of quilting work made during moments like this – intricate swirls and complex geometries of color and texture – that tell her stories and the stories of her hometown, Baltimore.

On the middle finger of her right hand, she wears a tiny silver thimble in the shape of a bee – an apt companion for a woman who for more than 30 years has taught thousands of students and written 17 books about her art, garnering national audiences and acclaim. And the buzz about her quilting continues to grow just as fast as she can stitch.

This March 23, in celebration of Maryland Day, the Maryland Historical Society will launch a year-long retrospective of Dietrich’s work at its Baltimore headquarters. Titled “Hometown Girl,” the show dives deep into her decades-long quilting career, with an emphasis on her Baltimore album quilts, a style of appliqué quilt made popular in the 1840s and 1850s.

“To me, it’s just so unbelievable,” says Dietrich ‘70, American studies, who in 2013 was named Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Professional Quilters and in 2015 was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame. “I’m just so excited.”

INTERPRETING HISTORY

Among Dietrich’s works to be shown are an array of scenes that peek into modern and historic Baltimore life. Some of the more traditional quilts feature baskets, wreaths, and flowers popular to the album quilt style. Yet others push the limits a bit more. Her 1981 Baltimore: Through a Glass Brightly features a rainbow gradient skyline, complete with the Bromo Seltzer tower, the Constellation, the Baltimore Shot Tower, and other buildings framed by the state flower, the Black-Eyed Susan.

In another, Baltimore Hon, from 2012, a blonde with a beehive and cat-eye glasses peers from within a scene of flowers, crab cake – that is, a birthday cake with a freshly-steamed crab on top – and a flamingo garnished with shiny pink buttons and three-dimensional fluffy feathering. Beneath her feet, careful script declares: “There’s no place like home, Hon!”

Dietrich’s work was a natural fit for the Maryland Historical Society, where she has volunteered in various capacities over the years.

“Mimi is … one of the finest quilters in the state as well as the nation, and, to me, her work embodies MdHS’s mission to interpret the history of Maryland. She loves Maryland, particularly Baltimore, and stitches that love metaphorically and aesthetically into the quilts she creates,” says Alexandra Deutsch, vice president of Collections and Interpretation at the Maryland Historical Society.

“Her legacy as a teacher is also extraordinary. For more than 30 years, she has been sharing her knowledge, skill, and passion for appliqué with hundreds of quilters from novice to expert.”

LEARNING AND TEACHING

Dietrich made her first quilt in 1974, when she and two friends were pregnant with their first children. (She wound up making a sweet quilt of blue and yellow.)

“I’ve always loved sewing, and I figured if I could sew, I could quilt,” she said. And it was true. As the nation caught Bicentennial fever, the preponderance of flag and celebration imagery – as well as interest in national history – took root in her own work. As she learned to quilt with friends, she quickly became a local expert in the traditional (and Charm City originating) album quilt style.

In 1983, she and fellow alumna Laurie Griffith Gregg ‘95, visual and performing arts, formed their first guild, The Village Quilters. The group, which has grown to more than 120 members, still meets today, bringing artist speakers, antiques dealers, and fellowship to the area’s quilting enthusiasts. They also volunteer their time regularly to groups like the Linus Project and Quilts of Valor, which make quilts for babies and veterans, respectively.

Dietrich has also built a professional life around her art, teaching classes regularly in Maryland and around the world while building a loyal following for her popular instructional books. As a teacher, she’s known for her creative spirit and generosity.

“Mimi wants her students to have fun while learning to quilt,” said Gregg, who met Dietrich in 1972 when they were both working at the former Stretch “n” Sew Fabrics in Catonsville. “She shares everything she knows with her students, while encouraging them to ‘do your own thing.’ … She has a large following of loyal appliqué quilters. Every student in her class, actually every person she meets, considers Mimi their friend. Mimi is as friendly and down to earth as she was at the very beginning of her quilting journey.”

RETRIEVER ROOTS

Considering the tight community she has built among fellow quilters, it’s no surprise that Dietrich also maintains close ties to her alma mater. She and her husband Bob Dietrich ’70, biological sciences, serve as consistent volunteers, leaders, and athletic supporters. Stanyell Odom, director of UMBC’s Office of Alumni Engagement, shared Dietrich’s excitement about her upcoming show.

“I am so happy for her. Mimi has been a dedicated alumni leader for decades,” says Odom. “From her leadership as a founding member of the Fab Four [graduates of the first four classes], to her avid volunteerism for many years with the Alumni Association Board of Directors, to her role in leading up several initiatives in celebration of UMBC’s 25th and 50th anniversaries, Mimi has demonstrated her love and commitment to UMBC.”

In 2018, the Alumni Association recognized Dietrich with the Distinguished Service Award at the 30th Anniversary Alumni Awards. “It was wonderful to celebrate her many contributions to the UMBC community,” says Odom.

As for her successes and her upcoming show, Dietrich is excited but humble. Her friends, however, crow about her whenever they can. Gregg, for one, can’t wait for the world to see Dietrich’s work on display.

“It’s about time!” says Gregg. “Seriously, no one deserves this more than Mimi. She is a very proud Baltimorean. Mimi’s love for her hometown is expressed in her quilts… I’m thrilled that so many people will have the opportunity to see her exhibition.”

* * * * *

“Hometown Girl: Contemporary Quilts of Mimi Dietrich,” opens March 23, 2019, at the Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument St., Baltimore. A reception for Dietrich’s year-long exhibit will be held Saturday, March 23, 2019, 2-5 p.m. For more information, visit the Maryland Historical Society.

Images by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC Magazine unless otherwise noted.