The following message was shared with the UMBC community on May 19 to announce Alice Middleton, a nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert, as the new executive director of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC:

* * * * *

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce that following a national search Alice Middleton has been selected as the fourth executive director for The Hilltop Institute at UMBC, effective June 1, 2025. Alice is a nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert and brings a wealth of experience to Hilltop.

Alice joined Hilltop in 2017 as chief of staff, became Hilltop’s deputy director in 2022, and has been serving as Hilltop’s interim executive director since May 1, 2024, following the retirement of Cynthia Woodcock. Alice will continue to provide leadership on programmatic strategy, direction, and delivery of client engagements for research, policy analysis, and data analytics on Medicaid, health care financing, and delivery system reform. She will lead Hilltop’s work with the institute’s long-time partner, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). She will also continue to serve as the steering committee chair for AcademyHealth’s State-University Partnership Learning Network.

UMBC originally established The Hilltop Institute in 1994 as the Center for Health Program Development and Management in a unique partnership with the Maryland Department of Health acting as a non-partisan health research organization, with expertise in Medicaid and in improving publicly financed health care systems, dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of people and communities. It comprises close to 60 staff members with a broad spectrum of expertise, from social sciences, financial analysis, economics, law, and programming.

Alice came to Hilltop from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was deputy director of CMS’ Division of Eligibility and Enrollment and was responsible for establishing national Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility and enrollment policies for low-income children and adults. Prior to that, she held various director-level positions at the MDH, such as deputy director of the Office of Medicaid Planning and the director of eligibility policy and special projects in the Office of Eligibility Services. She served as the MDH’s liaison to the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange during the launch of Maryland Health Connection, the state’s insurance marketplace.

Alice earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2005. She also has a bachelor’s in women’s studies from Towson University.

Please join me in congratulating Alice on this well-deserved position.

Karl V. Steiner
Vice President for Research and Creative Achievement

* * * * *

Learn more about the work of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC.

The following message was shared with the UMBC community on May 19 to announce nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert Alice Middleton as the new executive director of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC:

* * * * *

Dear UMBC Community,

I am delighted to announce that following a national search Alice Middleton has been selected as the fourth executive director for The Hilltop Institute at UMBC, effective June 1, 2025. Alice is a nationally recognized Medicaid subject matter expert and brings a wealth of experience to Hilltop.

Alice joined Hilltop in 2017 as chief of staff, became Hilltop’s deputy director in 2022, and has been serving as Hilltop’s interim executive director since May 1, 2024, following the retirement of Cynthia Woodcock. Alice will continue to provide leadership on programmatic strategy, direction, and delivery of client engagements for research, policy analysis, and data analytics on Medicaid, health care financing, and delivery system reform. She will lead Hilltop’s work with the institute’s long-time partner, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). She will also continue to serve as the steering committee chair for AcademyHealth’s State-University Partnership Learning Network.

UMBC originally established The Hilltop Institute in 1994 as the Center for Health Program Development and Management in a unique partnership with the Maryland Department of Health acting as a non-partisan health research organization, with expertise in Medicaid and in improving publicly financed health care systems, dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of people and communities. It comprises close to 60 staff members with a broad spectrum of expertise, from social sciences, financial analysis, economics, law, and programming.

Alice came to Hilltop from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she was deputy director of CMS’ Division of Eligibility and Enrollment and was responsible for establishing national Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility and enrollment policies for low-income children and adults. Prior to that, she held various director-level positions at the MDH, such as deputy director of the Office of Medicaid Planning and the director of eligibility policy and special projects in the Office of Eligibility Services. She served as the MDH’s liaison to the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange during the launch of Maryland Health Connection, the state’s insurance marketplace.

Alice earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2005. She also has a bachelor’s in women’s studies from Towson University.

Please join me in congratulating Alice on this well-deserved position.

Karl V. Steiner
Vice President for Research and Creative Achievement

* * * * *

Learn more about the work of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC.

The following message was shared with the UMBC community on April 28 to announce the naming of a new interim dean for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences:

* * * * *

Dear UMBC Community, 

As you probably are aware, the current dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), Kimberly Moffitt, will be leaving UMBC this summer to join Howard University. I am excited to announce that John Stolle-McAllister has been appointed interim dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences effective July 1. John brings two-and-a-half decades of experience at UMBC to his new role. He is a professor of modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication and currently serves as chair.

John previously served as associate dean in CAHSS from 2014 to 2022, and in that role he focused on student success initiatives, including creating the CAHSS advising center, collaboratively designing classroom renovations, leading the college’s response to COVID, and organizing faculty participation in the Planning Instructional Variety for Online Teaching (PIVOT) program.

John earned his bachelor’s from Bates College, and he received his master’s in Hispanic literatures and Ph.D. in comparative studies of discourse and society from the University of Minnesota. His research and teaching interests include multilingualism, cultural change, environmental issues, and social movements in Latin America.

A national search for a permanent dean will be conducted over the next year. I have asked Ana Oskoz, vice provost for faculty affairs, to chair the search committee. Isaacson Miller will support UMBC in this search for the next dean for CAHSS.

Please join me in welcoming John to his new role as interim dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. 

Sincerely, 

Manfred H.M. van Dulmen

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

The following message was shared with the UMBC community on April 15 to announce the naming of a new vice provost and dean of the Graduate School:

* * * * *

Dear UMBC Community,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Christa J. Porter as the next vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. Christa joins UMBC on July 1 from Kent State University in Ohio where she serves as the interim dean of the Graduate College and as a faculty member. 

The vice provost and dean of the Graduate School is a key position in serving the university to guide the future of graduate education and graduate student success at UMBC. Christa is a collaborative leader who brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to inclusive excellence and student success to the role. She brings substantial administrative experience at the department and university level, working across colleges and divisions in a shared governance environment. 

As we embark on strategic planning, Christa also has significant experience in this space. In addition to her administrative experience, Christa brings a very strong record as a faculty member. Christa is a nationally recognized scholar, teacher, and mentor. Her areas of expertise include the socialization and trajectory of Black women in higher education, student development at the intersections of identities, and research and praxis in higher education and student affairs. In addition to serving as the next vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, Christa will also have a faculty appointment in the Language, Literacy, and Culture doctoral program.

Christa earned a Ph.D. in college student affairs administration and an interdisciplinary qualitative research studies certificate at the University of Georgia, a M.A. in higher education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.A. in social relations and policy from Michigan State University.

I want to give a special thanks to Jeffrey Halverson, who has selflessly served as the interim vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. His thoughtful leadership has been invaluable during this season of transition. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Ana Oskoz for chairing the search committee and everyone who was involved in the search process. I appreciate your continued commitment to graduate education at UMBC. 

Please welcome Christa to the UMBC community as she returns to Maryland. 

Sincerely, 

Manfred H.M. van Dulmen

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

As an undergraduate student at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Nancy Miller, professor of public policy, participated in a National Science Foundation grant-funded program to train students in academic research. Miller traveled throughout Indianapolis, gaining skills in interviewing participants and managing data to investigate how the school, health, and justice systems coordinated child welfare cases. A spark was lit, and Miller has been doing research ever since for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and now, the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Miller, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Baltimore, is now offering undergraduate students here a similar research experience to her own in college. She is the lead principal investigator (PI) on a 5-year cooperative agreement from the SSA to support the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC) program. Joining her as co-directors are Lisa Lynch, a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and director of the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity, and Jarnee Riley ’97, mathematics, associate vice president at Westat, a Maryland-based company that provides research services to government agencies and businesses. The five-year, multimillion-dollar cooperative agreement requires the team to submit each year’s research, training, and dissemination plan and an activity and budget proposal to SSA, which then reviews and releases the necessary funds.

The RDRC cooperative agreement—Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health—is focusing on three research areas: equity in access to Social Security retirement for underserved people, the intersection of health and access to healthcare and equitable Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and SS Disability Insurance (SSDI) program participation, and disparities in SSI/SSDI program access and participation.

“We’re training students to conduct relevant Social Security-related research at various points in their academic careers,” Miller explains. This includes a mentored undergraduate summer research program housed at UMBC and UB; a doctoral fellowship program; dissertation grants for research on retirement, health, and disability; and mentoring for early scholars as they conduct pilot studies and academic papers. “The consortium aims to create a diverse pipeline of new scholars interested in SSA and its programs and to increase research interest in this area,” says Miller. To meet this goal, the SSA supports research and engages with minority-serving institutions like UMBC and UB.

This summer marks the end of their first six-week cohort of undergraduates gathering to learn about the research skills needed to deepen the understanding of the cross-cutting issues of the SSA programs.

Faculty as students and mentors

Miller who primarily works with graduate and doctoral students at UMBC’s School of Public Policy was thrilled to engage with UMBC’s undergraduate students, especially since it meant collaborating with her former mentee and long-term research partner, Yu “Sunny” Kang, M.P.P. ’06, and Ph.D. ’09, gerontology. Kang is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Baltimore’s School of Health and Human Services, where she has dedicated the past 12 years to working with nontraditional adult undergraduate students. 

Kang began her master’s in the early 2000s and found a kindred spirit in Miller, who served as her dissertation chair. They began publishing research together during Kang’s master’s program and have continued to publish in journals like Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, The Gerontologist, and Medical Care Research and Review. “I was fortunate to publish before I graduated. Those opportunities helped me in my understanding of the field and my career,” says Kang. She researches health disparities in long-term care settings among underserved populations, the role of government in mitigating these disparities, and how Medicare and Medicaid shape healthcare delivery and access. “Nancy kept mentoring me afterward and offering career advice. That’s why we continue to work together.” Kang has implemented that same mentorship approach with her students. 

To develop the six-week summer undergraduate research fellowship, Miller and Kang worked with David Mitch, professor and chair of economics at UMBC, fellow UMBC alum and UB colleague Ting Zhang, M.A. ’03, intercultural communications, the associate director of the Jacob France Institute, and Riley, who helped design the topics for the summer fellowship and helped select fellows.

The first cohort comprised five UMBC students and three UB students across the social and natural sciences. Fellows received a $7,500 stipend to learn various research methods and then apply these new skills to research a topic of their choice related to equity in retirement, health, and disability. Fellows had a mix of opportunities to learn and engage via in-person classes, independent and group research, and one-to-one mentorships. Kang, Miller, and Zhang—who is an associate professor of finance and economics at the Merrick School of Business—taught classes and mentored fellows. Mitch mentored Hala Malik, a political science sophomore at UMBC, who worked with Mitch on her research “Supplemental Security Income and Child Enrollment Based on Family Structure.” 

“We are engaging students who may have never heard of Social Security, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Supplemental Security Income to get them excited about the opportunities and issues associated with them,” explains Miller. “We’re trying to focus on young and very early career people who may not be thinking about research and training in this area, introduce them to this area, and get them excited about it.”

Collaboration and independence 

When Molly Quinn Walker became a Retriever,she was certain that political science would be her major and her career would center on policy. “My grandfather loved explaining the policy behind the news to me,” Quinn Walker explains. “Often, as I sit in classes, I feel like I’m drawing on nearly a decade of knowledge to reflect on public policy.”

Quinn Walker, now a senior political science major, learned about the Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health fellowship in Miller’s Politics of Health class. “It’s probably one of my favorite classes because it was very conversation-based. Dr. Miller had so much information to share,” says Quinn Walker. “Each week, we went over a different section of health policy and discussed where it began, when it was enacted and why, what it was addressing, and how difficult it was to get that policy placed.” 

The fellowship offered Quinn Walker yet another opportunity to learn from Miller. “Dr. Miller helped me fine-tune my idea and was extremely helpful in finding each of the data I utilized in the project,” says Quinn Walker. This feedback led her to research “The Life Expectancy Inequalities of Social Security Beneficiaries.” She also found the structure of the fellowship fostered collaboration and independence. Kang, Miller, and Zhang held online lectures to introduce the SSA programs from a social science perspective and met in person to discuss ideas and give feedback. “Hearing about how the other fellows were structuring their research was very helpful for implementing my project,” says Quinn Walker. 

Quinn Walker hopes to continue participating in the Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health program in the coming years as she transitions from an undergraduate to a master’s student at UMBC’s School of Public Policy Accelerated Pathways Program, where she earns graduate credits while completing her undergraduate degree.

A mentorship powerhouse

Presenting his research findings was exciting for Jacob Bassetti, a UB student who participated in the summer fellowship. “I love talking about policy. I was so excited to share my results that I offered to be the first to present,” says Bassetti. Bassetti a policy, politics, and international affairs senior was preparing for his next academic journey at UB’s School of Law when his economics professor encouraged Bassetti to apply for the summer fellowship. “I love to challenge myself,” says Bassetti, who up until recently was working on construction crews who had jobs at UMBC and UB, but was always hoping he could be the student instead. Bassetti made his dream come true as an adult learner. “I have always wanted to do real work with the education that I’ve received. This was my first opportunity to do so.”

Bassetti’s research resulted in “An Evaluation of Medicaid Expansion through the Affordable Care Act and Its Effects on Chronic Disease Death,” with a focus on the three most prevalent chronic diseases that lead to death—diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. 

“I felt lost for the first week trying to sort through sources and data,” shares Bassetti. “I talked to Dr. Miller. She knows everything. In less than 20 seconds, she guided me towards the appropriate resources for the question I was exploring.” Bassetti began to understand that conducting research of this scale involves making numerous small decisions to find, analyze, and interpret large datasets. Kang advised Bassetti to be as precise as possible in his approach. “She helped me find my way, the purpose of my findings, and what I wanted to achieve,” explains Bassetti. “Dr. Kang showed me what didn’t make sense but not how to fix it. She wanted to engage my thought process, and it worked.” 

Building a research community

The first year of funding established the undergraduate summer fellowship, supported graduate and doctoral research, and two faculty research projects. At UMBC, Zoë McLaren, associate professor of public policy, Mir Usman Ali, assistant professor of public policy, and Miller researched “COVID-19 in adults with disabilities: Disparities in prevalence, health care access and use, and employment.” At UB, Zhang and Kang conducted a study on “The experience of SSDI beneficiaries in the two-year waiting period for Medicare.” Graduate and doctoral students at Brandeis University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison began their research in retirement, disability, and health policy in institutions across the U.S., including UMBC public policy doctoral student, Shadi Seyedi. 

This fall will begin the second year of funding. McLaren, Usman Ali, and Miller proposed to continue their project. Miller and Kang requested funding to begin working on a new research project “Identifying Disparities in and Potential Facilitators to Receipt of SSDI.” Graduate and doctoral students will have opportunities to share their research throughout the academic year. Seyedi will present her research “Evaluating the Effects of Affordable Care Act on Health Care Coverage, Utilization, and Outcomes: A Comparison of Foreign-born and US-born Populations” at UMBC’s Judith A. Shinogle Memorial Award Lecture this November.

Miller, along with the co-directors and collaborators, emphasizes that the essence of the cooperative agreement is creating a new multigenerational and diverse network of researchers and community partners invested in advancing research on SSA programs. Learning, mentoring, research, and disseminating knowledge are communal, ongoing, and fluid processes. 

“It’s important to learn from Nancy. She is a leading expert in health policy, disability and long-term care, health disparities, and aging policy. Her dedication extends beyond her research. She genuinely cares about her students and the populations she studies,” says Kang. “Fellows understand that our support extends beyond their academic performance to their overall growth and well-being. This project represents a lasting tradition of mentorship and teamwork, shaping the future of research in retirement, health, and disability.”

To learn more about the program or to apply contact Melanie Keys, UMBC SSA program manager, MKeys3@umbc.edu.

2024 – 2025 Application deadlines:
Undergraduate and Masters Summer Research Fellowship Program, April – May
Masters and Doctoral Student Research Grant Program, November – December
Doctoral Student Mentored Pilot Studies Program, April – May

As an undergraduate student at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Nancy Miller, professor of public policy, participated in a National Science Foundation grant-funded program to train students in academic research. Miller traveled throughout Indianapolis, gaining skills in interviewing participants and managing data to investigate how the school, health, and justice systems coordinated child welfare cases. A spark was lit, and Miller has been doing research ever since for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and now, the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Miller, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Baltimore, is now offering undergraduate students here a similar research experience to her own in college. She is the lead principal investigator (PI) on a 5-year cooperative agreement from the SSA to support the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC) program. Joining her as co-directors are Lisa Lynch, a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and director of the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity, and Jarnee Riley ’97, mathematics, associate vice president at Westat, a Maryland-based company that provides research services to government agencies and businesses. The five-year, multimillion-dollar cooperative agreement requires the team to submit each year’s research, training, and dissemination plan and an activity and budget proposal to SSA, which then reviews and releases the necessary funds.

The RDRC cooperative agreement—Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health—is focusing on three research areas: equity in access to Social Security retirement for underserved people, the intersection of health and access to healthcare and equitable Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and SS Disability Insurance (SSDI) program participation, and disparities in SSI/SSDI program access and participation.

“We’re training students to conduct relevant Social Security-related research at various points in their academic careers,” Miller explains. This includes a mentored undergraduate summer research program housed at UMBC and UB; a doctoral fellowship program; dissertation grants for research on retirement, health, and disability; and mentoring for early scholars as they conduct pilot studies and academic papers. “The consortium aims to create a diverse pipeline of new scholars interested in SSA and its programs and to increase research interest in this area,” says Miller. To meet this goal, the SSA supports research and engages with minority-serving institutions like UMBC and UB.

This summer marks the end of their first six-week cohort of undergraduates gathering to learn about the research skills needed to deepen the understanding of the cross-cutting issues of the SSA programs.

Faculty as students and mentors

Miller who primarily works with graduate and doctoral students at UMBC’s School of Public Policy was thrilled to engage with UMBC’s undergraduate students, especially since it meant collaborating with her former mentee and long-term research partner, Yu “Sunny” Kang, M.P.P. ’06, and Ph.D. ’09, gerontology. Kang is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Baltimore’s School of Health and Human Services, where she has dedicated the past 12 years to working with nontraditional adult undergraduate students. 

Kang began her master’s in the early 2000s and found a kindred spirit in Miller, who served as her dissertation chair. They began publishing research together during Kang’s master’s program and have continued to publish in journals like Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, The Gerontologist, and Medical Care Research and Review. “I was fortunate to publish before I graduated. Those opportunities helped me in my understanding of the field and my career,” says Kang. She researches health disparities in long-term care settings among underserved populations, the role of government in mitigating these disparities, and how Medicare and Medicaid shape healthcare delivery and access. “Nancy kept mentoring me afterward and offering career advice. That’s why we continue to work together.” Kang has implemented that same mentorship approach with her students. 

To develop the six-week summer undergraduate research fellowship, Miller and Kang worked with David Mitch, professor and chair of economics at UMBC, fellow UMBC alum and UB colleague Ting Zhang, M.A. ’03, intercultural communications, the associate director of the Jacob France Institute, and Riley, who helped design the topics for the summer fellowship and helped select fellows.

The first cohort comprised five UMBC students and three UB students across the social and natural sciences. Fellows received a $7,500 stipend to learn various research methods and then apply these new skills to research a topic of their choice related to equity in retirement, health, and disability. Fellows had a mix of opportunities to learn and engage via in-person classes, independent and group research, and one-to-one mentorships. Kang, Miller, and Zhang—who is an associate professor of finance and economics at the Merrick School of Business—taught classes and mentored fellows. Mitch mentored Hala Malik, a political science sophomore at UMBC, who worked with Mitch on her research “Supplemental Security Income and Child Enrollment Based on Family Structure.” 

“We are engaging students who may have never heard of Social Security, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Supplemental Security Income to get them excited about the opportunities and issues associated with them,” explains Miller. “We’re trying to focus on young and very early career people who may not be thinking about research and training in this area, introduce them to this area, and get them excited about it.”

Collaboration and independence 

When Molly Quinn Walker became a Retriever,she was certain that political science would be her major and her career would center on policy. “My grandfather loved explaining the policy behind the news to me,” Quinn Walker explains. “Often, as I sit in classes, I feel like I’m drawing on nearly a decade of knowledge to reflect on public policy.”

Quinn Walker, now a senior political science major, learned about the Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health fellowship in Miller’s Politics of Health class. “It’s probably one of my favorite classes because it was very conversation-based. Dr. Miller had so much information to share,” says Quinn Walker. “Each week, we went over a different section of health policy and discussed where it began, when it was enacted and why, what it was addressing, and how difficult it was to get that policy placed.” 

The fellowship offered Quinn Walker yet another opportunity to learn from Miller. “Dr. Miller helped me fine-tune my idea and was extremely helpful in finding each of the data I utilized in the project,” says Quinn Walker. This feedback led her to research “The Life Expectancy Inequalities of Social Security Beneficiaries.” She also found the structure of the fellowship fostered collaboration and independence. Kang, Miller, and Zhang held online lectures to introduce the SSA programs from a social science perspective and met in person to discuss ideas and give feedback. “Hearing about how the other fellows were structuring their research was very helpful for implementing my project,” says Quinn Walker. 

Quinn Walker hopes to continue participating in the Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health program in the coming years as she transitions from an undergraduate to a master’s student at UMBC’s School of Public Policy Accelerated Pathways Program, where she earns graduate credits while completing her undergraduate degree.

A mentorship powerhouse

Presenting his research findings was exciting for Jacob Bassetti, a UB student who participated in the summer fellowship. “I love talking about policy. I was so excited to share my results that I offered to be the first to present,” says Bassetti. Bassetti a policy, politics, and international affairs senior was preparing for his next academic journey at UB’s School of Law when his economics professor encouraged Bassetti to apply for the summer fellowship. “I love to challenge myself,” says Bassetti, who up until recently was working on construction crews who had jobs at UMBC and UB, but was always hoping he could be the student instead. Bassetti made his dream come true as an adult learner. “I have always wanted to do real work with the education that I’ve received. This was my first opportunity to do so.”

Bassetti’s research resulted in “An Evaluation of Medicaid Expansion through the Affordable Care Act and Its Effects on Chronic Disease Death,” with a focus on the three most prevalent chronic diseases that lead to death—diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. 

“I felt lost for the first week trying to sort through sources and data,” shares Bassetti. “I talked to Dr. Miller. She knows everything. In less than 20 seconds, she guided me towards the appropriate resources for the question I was exploring.” Bassetti began to understand that conducting research of this scale involves making numerous small decisions to find, analyze, and interpret large datasets. Kang advised Bassetti to be as precise as possible in his approach. “She helped me find my way, the purpose of my findings, and what I wanted to achieve,” explains Bassetti. “Dr. Kang showed me what didn’t make sense but not how to fix it. She wanted to engage my thought process, and it worked.” 

Building a research community

The first year of funding established the undergraduate summer fellowship, supported graduate and doctoral research, and two faculty research projects. At UMBC, Zoë McLaren, associate professor of public policy, Mir Usman Ali, assistant professor of public policy, and Miller researched “COVID-19 in adults with disabilities: Disparities in prevalence, health care access and use, and employment.” At UB, Zhang and Kang conducted a study on “The experience of SSDI beneficiaries in the two-year waiting period for Medicare.” Graduate and doctoral students at Brandeis University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison began their research in retirement, disability, and health policy in institutions across the U.S., including UMBC public policy doctoral student, Shadi Seyedi. 

This fall will begin the second year of funding. McLaren, Usman Ali, and Miller proposed to continue their project. Miller and Kang requested funding to begin working on a new research project “Identifying Disparities in and Potential Facilitators to Receipt of SSDI.” Graduate and doctoral students will have opportunities to share their research throughout the academic year. Seyedi will present her research “Evaluating the Effects of Affordable Care Act on Health Care Coverage, Utilization, and Outcomes: A Comparison of Foreign-born and US-born Populations” at UMBC’s Judith A. Shinogle Memorial Award Lecture this November.

Miller, along with the co-directors and collaborators, emphasizes that the essence of the cooperative agreement is creating a new multigenerational and diverse network of researchers and community partners invested in advancing research on SSA programs. Learning, mentoring, research, and disseminating knowledge are communal, ongoing, and fluid processes. 

“It’s important to learn from Nancy. She is a leading expert in health policy, disability and long-term care, health disparities, and aging policy. Her dedication extends beyond her research. She genuinely cares about her students and the populations she studies,” says Kang. “Fellows understand that our support extends beyond their academic performance to their overall growth and well-being. This project represents a lasting tradition of mentorship and teamwork, shaping the future of research in retirement, health, and disability.”

To learn more about the program or to apply contact Melanie Keys, UMBC SSA program manager, MKeys1@umbc.edu.

2024 – 2025 Application deadlines:
Undergraduate and Masters Summer Research Fellowship Program, April – May
Masters and Doctoral Student Research Grant Program, November – December
Doctoral Student Mentored Pilot Studies Program, April – May

As an undergraduate student at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Nancy Miller, professor of public policy, participated in a National Science Foundation grant-funded program to train students in academic research. Miller traveled throughout Indianapolis, gaining skills in interviewing participants and managing data to investigate how the school, health, and justice systems coordinated child welfare cases. A spark was lit, and Miller has been doing research ever since for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and now, the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Miller, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Baltimore, is now offering undergraduate students here a similar research experience to her own in college. She is the lead principal investigator (PI) on a 5-year cooperative agreement from the SSA to support the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC) program. Joining her as co-directors are Lisa Lynch, a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and director of the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity, and Jarnee Riley ’97, mathematics, associate vice president at Westat, a Maryland-based company that provides research services to government agencies and businesses. The five-year, multimillion-dollar cooperative agreement requires the team to submit each year’s research, training, and dissemination plan and an activity and budget proposal to SSA, which then reviews and releases the necessary funds.

The RDRC cooperative agreement—Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health—is focusing on three research areas: equity in access to Social Security retirement for underserved people, the intersection of health and access to healthcare and equitable Social Security Income (SSI) and SS Disability Insurance (SSDI) program participation, and disparities in SSI/SSDI program access and participation.

“We’re training students to conduct relevant Social Security-related research at various points in their academic careers,” Miller explains. This includes a mentored undergraduate summer research program housed at UMBC and UB; a doctoral fellowship program; dissertation grants for research on retirement, health, and disability; and mentoring for early scholars as they conduct pilot studies and academic papers. “The consortium aims to create a diverse pipeline of new scholars interested in SSA and its programs and to increase research interest in this area,” says Miller. To meet this goal, the SSA supports research and engages with minority-serving institutions like UMBC and UB.

This summer marks the end of their first six-week cohort of undergraduates gathering to learn about the research skills needed to deepen the understanding of the cross-cutting issues of the SSA programs.

Faculty as students and mentors

Miller who primarily works with graduate and doctoral students at UMBC’s School of Public Policy was thrilled to engage with UMBC’s undergraduate students, especially since it meant collaborating with her former mentee and long-term research partner, Yu “Sunny” Kang, M.P.P. ’06, and Ph.D. ’09, gerontology. Kang is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Baltimore’s School of Health and Human Services, where she has dedicated the past 12 years to working with nontraditional adult undergraduate students. 

Kang began her master’s in the early 2000s and found a kindred spirit in Miller, who served as her dissertation chair. They began publishing research together during Kang’s master’s program and have continued to publish in journals like Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, The Gerontologist, and Medical Care Research and Review. “I was fortunate to publish before I graduated. Those opportunities helped me in my understanding of the field and my career,” says Kang. She researches health disparities in long-term care settings among underserved populations, the role of government in mitigating these disparities, and how Medicare and Medicaid shape healthcare delivery and access. “Nancy kept mentoring me afterward and offering career advice. That’s why we continue to work together.” Kang has implemented that same mentorship approach with her students. 

To develop the six-week summer undergraduate research fellowship, Miller and Kang worked with David Mitch, professor and chair of economics at UMBC, fellow UMBC alum and UB colleague Ting Zhang, M.A. ’03, intercultural communications, the associate director of the Jacob France Institute, and Riley, who helped design the topics for the summer fellowship and helped select fellows.

The first cohort comprised five UMBC students and three UB students across the social and natural sciences. Fellows received a $7,500 stipend to learn various research methods and then apply these new skills to research a topic of their choice related to equity in retirement, health, and disability. Fellows had a mix of opportunities to learn and engage via in-person classes, independent and group research, and one-to-one mentorships. Kang, Miller, and Zhang—who is an associate professor of finance and economics at the Merrick School of Business—taught classes and mentored fellows. Mitch mentored Hala Malik, a political science sophomore at UMBC, who worked with Mitch on her research “Supplemental Security Income and Child Enrollment Based on Family Structure.” 

“We are engaging students who may have never heard of Social Security, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Supplemental Security Income to get them excited about the opportunities and issues associated with them,” explains Miller. “We’re trying to focus on young and very early career people who may not be thinking about research and training in this area, introduce them to this area, and get them excited about it.”

Collaboration and independence 

When Molly Quinn Walker became a Retriever,she was certain that political science would be her major and her career would center on policy. “My grandfather loved explaining the policy behind the news to me,” Quinn Walker explains. “Often, as I sit in classes, I feel like I’m drawing on nearly a decade of knowledge to reflect on public policy.”

Quinn Walker, now a senior political science major, learned about the Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health fellowship in Miller’s Politics of Health class. “It’s probably one of my favorite classes because it was very conversation-based. Dr. Miller had so much information to share,” says Quinn Walker. “Each week, we went over a different section of health policy and discussed where it began, when it was enacted and why, what it was addressing, and how difficult it was to get that policy placed.” 

The fellowship offered Quinn Walker yet another opportunity to learn from Miller. “Dr. Miller helped me fine-tune my idea and was extremely helpful in finding each of the data I utilized in the project,” says Quinn Walker. This feedback led her to research “The Life Expectancy Inequalities of Social Security Beneficiaries.” She also found the structure of the fellowship fostered collaboration and independence. Kang, Miller, and Zhang held online lectures to introduce the SSA programs from a social science perspective and met in person to discuss ideas and give feedback. “Hearing about how the other fellows were structuring their research was very helpful for implementing my project,” says Quinn Walker. 

Quinn Walker hopes to continue participating in the Promoting Equity in Retirement, Disability, and Health program in the coming years as she transitions from an undergraduate to a master’s student at UMBC’s School of Public Policy Accelerated Pathways Program, where she earns graduate credits while completing her undergraduate degree.

A mentorship powerhouse

Presenting his research findings was exciting for Jacob Bassetti, a UB student who participated in the summer fellowship. “I love talking about policy. I was so excited to share my results that I offered to be the first to present,” says Bassetti. Bassetti a policy, politics, and international affairs senior was preparing for his next academic journey at UB’s School of Law when his economics professor encouraged Bassetti to apply for the summer fellowship. “I love to challenge myself,” says Bassetti, who up until recently was working on construction crews who had jobs at UMBC and UB, but was always hoping he could be the student instead. Bassetti made his dream come true as an adult learner. “I have always wanted to do real work with the education that I’ve received. This was my first opportunity to do so.”

Bassetti’s research resulted in “An Evaluation of Medicaid Expansion through the Affordable Care Act and Its Effects on Chronic Disease Death,” with a focus on the three most prevalent chronic diseases that lead to death—diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. 

“I felt lost for the first week trying to sort through sources and data,” shares Bassetti. “I talked to Dr. Miller. She knows everything. In less than 20 seconds, she guided me towards the appropriate resources for the question I was exploring.” Bassetti began to understand that conducting research of this scale involves making numerous small decisions to find, analyze, and interpret large datasets. Kang advised Bassetti to be as precise as possible in his approach. “She helped me find my way, the purpose of my findings, and what I wanted to achieve,” explains Bassetti. “Dr. Kang showed me what didn’t make sense but not how to fix it. She wanted to engage my thought process, and it worked.” 

Building a research community

The first year of funding established the undergraduate summer fellowship, supported graduate and doctoral research, and two faculty research projects. At UMBC, Zoë McLaren, associate professor of public policy, Mir Usman Ali, assistant professor of public policy, and Miller researched “COVID-19 in adults with disabilities: Disparities in prevalence, health care access and use, and employment.” At UB, Zhang and Kang conducted a study on “The experience of SSDI beneficiaries in the two-year waiting period for Medicare.” Graduate and doctoral students at Brandeis University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison began their research in retirement, disability, and health policy in institutions across the U.S., including UMBC public policy doctoral student, Shadi Seyedi. 

This fall will begin the second year of funding. McLaren, Usman Ali, and Miller proposed to continue their project. Miller and Kang requested funding to begin working on a new research project “Identifying Disparities in and Potential Facilitators to Receipt of SSDI.” Graduate and doctoral students will have opportunities to share their research throughout the academic year. Seyedi will present her research “Evaluating the Effects of Affordable Care Act on Health Care Coverage, Utilization, and Outcomes: A Comparison of Foreign-born and US-born Populations” at UMBC’s Judith A. Shinogle Memorial Award Lecture this November.

Miller, along with the co-directors and collaborators, emphasizes that the essence of the cooperative agreement is creating a new multigenerational and diverse network of researchers and community partners invested in advancing research on SSA programs. Learning, mentoring, research, and disseminating knowledge are communal, ongoing, and fluid processes. 

“It’s important to learn from Nancy. She is a leading expert in health policy, disability and long-term care, health disparities, and aging policy. Her dedication extends beyond her research. She genuinely cares about her students and the populations she studies,” says Kang. “Fellows understand that our support extends beyond their academic performance to their overall growth and well-being. This project represents a lasting tradition of mentorship and teamwork, shaping the future of research in retirement, health, and disability.”

To learn more about the program or to apply contact Melanie Keys, UMBC SSA program manager, MKeys1@umbc.edu.

2024 – 2025 Application deadlines:
Undergraduate and Masters Summer Research Fellowship Program, April – May
Masters and Doctoral Student Research Grant Program, November – December
Doctoral Student Mentored Pilot Studies Program, April – May

In an email to the campus community, UMBC President Valerie Sheares Ashby has announced that Paul A. Meggett will join the university as general counsel, and that Yaakov “Jake” Weissmann ’06 will assume the role of vice president for government relations and community affairs. The letter follows in full:

Dear UMBC Community, 

With great pleasure, I write to share the news of two key appointments in UMBC’s senior leadership team. Both are highly specialized roles, and in the two individuals who will fill them, UMBC will have the very best people to lead these areas into the future. 

Following a national search supported by Major, Lindsey & Africa, a leading global legal executive search firm, I have appointed Paul A. Meggett as our next general counsel, the university’s chief legal officer. Paul, who has served since 2018 as general counsel at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, has deep and broad experience in all aspects of higher education law and in leading such work at public institutions, including top-tier research universities and healthcare systems. 

At Appalachian, Paul successfully launched a Division of Institutional Integrity comprising enterprise-wide legal, risk, and compliance functions, helping to drive institutional excellence and a comprehensive approach in those areas. Because that institution owns and operates a regulated electric utility, his experience also extended into the utility regulatory field.   

Paul’s career has spanned legal counsel in academic and healthcare systems, as well as faculty and administration roles in higher education. He spent more than a decade at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving from 1999 to 2011 concurrently as assistant university counsel and as associate general counsel for UNC Health, an integrated healthcare system of 11 hospitals and more than 33,000 employees. Prior to his time at Appalachian, Paul served on the faculty and briefly as interim dean of the Charlotte School of Law in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he served from 2004 to 2009 as an adjunct professor of law at UNC School of Law. 

Paul earned his bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University and his law degree from UNC School of Law. After graduating from law school, he clerked for Chief Justice Burley B. Mitchell Jr. of the North Carolina Supreme Court. In 2023, Paul was awarded the John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award from the North Carolina State Bar.

I am delighted that Paul has accepted our offer to join the UMBC community. I also am grateful to the team in our general counsel’s office, including John Burke, who has taken on a great volume and scope of work since joining the office in 2023. I know John and the team join all of us in welcoming Paul, who will begin at UMBC on September 16. 

For another very specialized role, the best candidate was already in our midst. Yaakov “Jake” Weissmann ’06 has been serving for nearly a year as associate vice president for government relations and community affairs. He will now assume the role of vice president, and I am thrilled that UMBC will continue to benefit from his leadership, his deep knowledge of local and state politics, and his love for UMBC. 

Jake majored in social work and psychology at UMBC, and it was here that he became passionate about a life in public service and community engagement. Before returning to UMBC as associate vice president in 2023, he served for two years as the assistant chief administrative officer in Montgomery County and spent 14 years with the Maryland General Assembly, including two years working in the House of Delegates and 12 years in the Office of the Senate President. During his time in the state Senate, he served in many roles, including as chief of staff for two Senate presidents. 

Jake earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and a law degree from the University of Baltimore. In 2023, Governor Wes Moore appointed him to the State Board of Elections. Anyone who has had the opportunity to work with Jake—and that is a great many of you, I am sure—undoubtedly have come to know how knowledgeable and talented he is, how infectious his energy is, and how his deep relationships throughout Maryland and his belief in UMBC’s mission and vision are helping to advance our goals every day. 

With these two appointments, we are making great strides. Our senior leadership team is growing even stronger, and UMBC’s future is brighter than ever. 

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby

Meet Fritzie Charne-Merriwether, associate vice president for administration and chief of staff in the Division of Student Affairs. Fritzie started her career at UMBC as a community director in Residential Life, left to pursue other passions, and came back to serve our Retriever community for the last 14 years. What excites Fritzie so much about her work with students? We’ll let her tell you herself!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I am a native New Yorker. I have a B.A. in psychology from Roger Williams University and a M.Ed. in student affairs higher education from the University of Vermont. I have over 20 years of professional experience in a variety of leadership positions in student affairs and with the federal government. This includes serving as the contractor installation manager for the Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

In this role I was responsible for overseeing the ACAP Resource Center that provided social work services to Warriors in Transition Soldiers, and disabled veterans/retirees, as well as transitioning service personnel and family members in support of rehabilitation and transition to civilian life. I began my career at UMBC as a community director in Residential Life, and returned to the university in 2010. Currently I serve as the associate vice president for administration and chief of staff for the Division of Student Affairs.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: UMBC is such a caring place. We really go above and beyond to support each other. I feel that at all levels and see examples of this daily. If you are looking to join a strong and supportive community, this is the place for you.

Q: What do you love most about your job and why?

A: Working with students and their families. It so rewarding to be able to help a student or family member. I know that I am making a difference and helping prepare our next generation of leaders.

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: It is really hard to narrow to just one person specifically. I feel like I have been inspired and supported by countless people in the Division of Student Affairs. So I would have to say our whole division. I get to work with amazing people and they give me life. I am consistently inspired by how amazing each person is and how they go above and beyond to support our students. They push me to a higher standard because they are so amazing. So from the VP’s office to our leadership team to each department, they all inspire and support me in some capacity.

Q: Tell us what you love about your department.

A: I laugh a lot with our team. Even when things are really hard we find ways to lift each other and find a sliver of joy. This work can be really difficult at times. I appreciate our team’s humanity and ability to find the light.

Q: Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: I originally came to UMBC because I felt I had great opportunities to grow professionally. It seemed like an exciting place that was growing and brimming with potential. I came back to UMBC because of the people. It truly is a special place. Even after being away for a few years, I still felt very much connected to this place and coming back felt like home.

Q: Since you’ve been a part of the UMBC community, how have you found support of your WHY?

A: A great example of support occurred a few years back when my mother passed away. As an only child, my mom and I were really close and losing her rocked my entire foundation. The outpouring of support from our VP and leadership team allowed me to take all the time I needed to grieve and find my new normal. The love and support I received from fellow colleagues got me through some of my most difficult moments. That continues to this day. Our division has gone through significant change recently. During that time, countless individuals have stepped up to support me from all over campus. Our new VP and members of our leadership team have been incredibly supportive as I have stepped into my new role. I feel very fortunate to be part of such a caring community.

Q: What would you tell someone who is considering a career at UMBC?

A: It is a great community to belong to and depending on your interest you can find ample opportunities to grow and develop.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Meet Amanda Sharp, director of academic advocacy in UMBC’s Academic Success Center. What keeps her coming back to work each day? Supporting students! She says she is privileged to sit with students in some of their hardest moments and also see them reach their highest successes. We’re excited to hear more about your work, Amanda—take it away!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: My name is Amanda, and I’m a director in the Academic Advocacy Office here at UMBC! One essential thing you should know about me is that I’m deeply passionate about helping students succeed and thrive in their academic journey. When I’m not working, you can usually find me with my pup, Jayla, or with my sorors. I’m a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone who hasn’t joined the UMBC community to know about the support you find here?

A: The people at UMBC are genuinely committed to student success, and this commitment permeates every aspect of campus life. From the moment you step onto campus, you’re surrounded by a network of dedicated professionals, staff, and faculty who are invested in helping you achieve your goals. They will motivate you, support you, and recognize the work you do. For example, many of my colleagues nominated me for the Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate Award at the 2024 FYE® Conference. When I won, I dedicated that award to the staff and students who devote themselves to uplifting others.

Q: What do you love most about your job and why?

A: Every day, I witness the transformative power of the support and guidance my colleagues and I provide. Seeing a student who once struggled academically or personally now thriving and succeeding is an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s the moments when students share how our support helped them stay on track or graduate that remind me of the significance of the work we do as academic advocates.

Q: Tell us about someone in the community who has inspired you or supported you, and how they did it.

A: I’ve been consistently inspired by the dedication, compassion, and wisdom of our Academic Peer Advocates (APAs). These students, who come from diverse academic disciplines and backgrounds, have stepped up to provide a listening ear, offer guidance, and connect their peers with the resources and support they need to succeed. Their commitment to normalizing the challenges that students face and creating a safe, non-judgmental space for their peers to share their struggles has been truly remarkable.

Q: Tell us what you love about your academic program or an organization you’re involved in.

A: I love empowering students through our Academic Advocacy and Academic Peer Advocacy program. By connecting students with caring staff and peers and providing holistic support, we help them build confidence, overcome barriers, and thrive academically and personally.

Q: Tell us about your primary WHY, and how it led you to UMBC.

A: I came to UMBC because I believed in its mission, values, and commitment to students. I saw an opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact on the lives of the students we serve. I’m grateful for this decision every day, as I continue to be inspired by the resilience, dedication, and achievements of our remarkable students and the unwavering support of the UMBC community.

Q: Since you’ve been a part of the UMBC community, how have you found support of your WHY?

A: I’m truly humbled to have had the privilege of supporting so many students across the country through some of the most challenging moments of their lives, some of which were filled with extreme personal loss or immense feelings of failure. As I sit in those moments with students, with the weight of those feelings on their shoulders, my main goal is to instill in them the belief that they are truly worthy of success and happiness. As I watch them leave my office, I oftentimes see that weight they walked in with, the weight that tells them that they can’t succeed, lift just a little, and is replaced with confidence and compassion. These are the moments that support my “why.”

Q: Are you involved in any other campus organizations?

A: I’m on the Women’s Center Advisory Board, and I couldn’t be more proud of the work they do. The center’s staff focuses their efforts on raising awareness, facilitating dialogue, and implementing policies and practices that support marginalized students and communities. These efforts have been crucial to fostering a sense of belonging and ensuring that every student has the resources and support they need to thrive.

Q: What would you tell someone considering working at UMBC?

A: I would tell them that they have the opportunity to be part of an exceptional community that is deeply committed to making a positive impact on student’s lives and contributing to society’s greater good. If you are passionate about education, committed to excellence, and eager to contribute to something greater than yourself, UMBC is the perfect place to build a fulfilling and meaningful career.

* * * * *

UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.