UMBC is a community that gives. Nearly each day in the breezeway next to The Commons, one might stroll by multiple tables occupied by students raising money for this charity or that. Our faculty and staff give annually in support of UMBC and organizations supported through the Maryland Charities Campaign. And, of course, alumni dedication to UMBC spans decades — starting with the first graduating class, in fact.

In a guest post on UMBC’s Breaking Ground blog, UMBC archivist Lindsey Loeper ’04, American studies, recently uncovered evidence of a truly momentous philanthropic action made by the Class of 1970:

The first senior project that I can locate in UMBC’s history is from 1970. The class of 1970 is often referred to as the Founding Class, because the graduates were the first group to complete all four years of their degree at UMBC. As in the origin stories of many of our campus traditions, UMBC students decided to forge their own path. During the Spring 1970 semester, a group of seniors organized to collect donations from the UMBC community as well as area businesses. Their goal was to establish a campus fund to assist students that were having trouble paying their full tuition bill.

According to the 1970 edition of Skipjack, the early UMBC student yearbook, the final total collected was $13,000, which is equivalent to more $75,000 today! For in-state students in 1970, a year of tuition at UMBC cost just $506, so a $13,000 emergency fund would have helped quite a few of them continue taking classes and working toward their degrees.

We’re so happy to see the celebration of student philanthropy on the Breaking Ground site not only because it was a truly generous moment shared by the Class of 1970, but because it signifies a spirit of giving that continues to live in our current students. And, it serves as an excellent segue to a new initiative that will be launched soon to help current students use the most modern online techniques to raise money for UMBC-based projects. Stay tuned for more on that!

Meanwhile, please enjoy Lindsey’s full post here.

Lindsay DiCuirci, assistant professor of English, has been selected as the Stephen Botein Fellow in the History of the Book in American Culture at the American Antiquarian Society. She will be conducting research for a book based on her dissertation research, titled “History’s Imprint: The Colonial Book and the Writing of American History, 1790-1855,” this summer.

Botein Fellows are selected for the one-month fellowship on the basis of the applicant’s scholarly qualifications, the scholarly significance or importance of the project and the appropriateness of the proposed study to the Society’s collections.

Alumna Kimberly Haines ’12, visual arts, will display a collection of paintings centered around the theme “New Skies” at the David Mikow Art Gallery in Catonsville starting later this week. An opening reception will be held at the gallery on Friday, May 3, from 5 to 7 p.m.

“New Skies, is full of new planets and surreal landscape paintings created with a variety of different mediums including watercolor, spray paint and acrylics,” said Haines, who was part of the gallery’s inaugural show with four other UMBC alumnae last fall. This is her first solo show.

“I am ecstatic to see so much of my own work line the walls of an art gallery,” she said.

The David Mikow Art Gallery is run by UMBC political science professor Carolyn Forestiere and her husband, Asher. For more information, including directions to the gallery, visit the gallery’s website here.

Read more about the gallery in this story featured in UMBC Magazine.

On Saturday, April 27, UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller spoke at the 9th annual Western Maryland Democratic Summit, alongside Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen and others.

According to coverage in the Herald-Mail, Schaller commented that the Republican Party has become a “Housified party” in recent years. Since 1994, Republican majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives have been driving the policies, philosophy and message of the party, which Schaller argued is to the GOP’s detriment in Senate and presidential politics. On the 2014 midterm election, Schaller predicted the Democrats are unlikely to regain a majority in the House because that would require 18 more seats and there are fewer swing districts across the nation than in the past.

UMBC’s Social Work Department, along with UMBC-Shady Grove, is pleased to announce Katie Morris as the Program Director of the Year at The Universities at Shady Grove. Ms. Morris received her award at the Student Achievement & Leadership Breakfast at The Universities at Shady Grove on Friday, April 12, 2013.

The Program Director of the Year Award is given to a program director from a participating USM institution who has served the students at the Universities at Shady Grove for at least two years. To be eligible the program director must have demonstrated a strong participation in creating a unique campus environment that is supportive of student success through activities such as community service and academic achievement, advanced the educational or career goals of students.

Ms. Morris serves as the Program Director for UMBC’s Social Work bachelor’s degree program and is in her tenth year as a faculty member at UMBC-Shady Grove. Her ability to connect and coordinate with her team of professors in the social work program has made the program among the best at The Universities at Shady Grove. She provides competent and professional leadership while also maintaining a collaborative atmosphere within the social work program. Recently, she presented at a national conference of baccalaureate social work programs and noted an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education on the use of technology in the social work curriculum. Ms. Morris has also been actively involved in inter-professional and interdisciplinary initiatives at The Universities at Shady Grove, including the very successful Poverty Simulation this past fall.

Ms. Morris is a motivator, educator, and a tireless advocate for students. She is totally dedicated to her job, always ready to intervene, to empower, and support students in finding solutions to problems. A student observed, “Katie wants us to take on challenges and do the best we can. She wants us to realize our full potential and is always there for us when we need her. She sees our strengths when we may not be able to see them, and she encourages us to be the best.”

Ms. Morris states, “I am truly honored to receive this award. I received this award because of my students. It is their curiosity, questions, experiences, hard work, passion and interest in social work that encourages me to be a better teacher, administrator, advisor, and go the extra mile to help them.”

Congratulations, Ms. Morris, for your accomplishment and proudly representing UMBC and the Social Work department.

Hilltop Institute Senior Research Analyst Michael T. Abrams, MPH, presented his work on substance use disorder (SUD) treatment to the Maryland Addictions Directors Council on on March 11, 2013. The work focuses on coordination of care and cost saving opportunities evident in the federal Affordable Care Act, and traceable within Maryland’s Medicaid program.

On April 10, 2013, Abrams presented a description of three UMBC-centered research projects examining supported employment for persons with serious mental illness at the Behavioral Health Research Conference. The University of Maryland Department of Psychiatry and Maryland Mental Hygiene Administration sponsored the conference. The audience included statewide policymakers and other stakeholders.

Two of the projects are federally funded and direct collaborations between The Hilltop Institute and the UMBC Department of Public Policy, and the third was the dissertation project of Brent Gibbons (Public Policy PhD candidate). All three studies are under the leadership of David Salkever, professor of public policy. To learn more about these projects, contact Abrams at mabrams@hilltop.umbc.edu.

Join the Department of Dance, Friday, May 3 at 8:00 p.m. in Studio 317 of the Fine Arts Building, as Dance students debut their first ever choreographic pieces for this First Works concert.

Admission to First Works is free.

The Chapter of Black and Latino Alumni and the Office of Student Life’s Mosaic: Center for Culture and Diversity hosted the Black and Latino Senior Reception yesterday to celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2013. This annual dessert reception presents a great opportunity for black and Latino alumni to connect and network with some of our newly graduating seniors.

Congratulations to all! See a full slideshow of photos from the event here.

As injured survivors of the Boston bombing start their long and challenging road to recovery, Washington D.C.’s WTOP interviewed UMBC’s Seth D. Messinger yesterday on the topic of rehabilitation following traumatic limb loss.

Messinger, an associate professor of anthropology who works primarily with service members, notes, “the question is whether or not civilian patients are going to be able to have the kind of time in therapy or in rehab that military patients take for granted.” He also highlights the financial hardship that the recovery process might place on victims and their families, remarking, “It’s not only the individual who’s injured who then steps out of work, but also a caregiver.”

Thomas F. Schaller, professor of political science at UMBC, offers his expertise on Maryland politics in a new Governing Magazine article that asks “Are the States Deepening the Nation’s Red-Blue Divide?”

The article explores how the expansion of unified party control and legislative supermajorities at the state level are impacting policymaking, examining what policies are being approved in strongly Republican and strongly Democratic states.

The article identifies Maryland as a Democratic state that has taken a turn to the left with recent legislation on assault weapons, education, same-sex marriage and the death penalty. “Maryland is getting bluer in election results,” says Schaller; conveying that Maryland’s GOP has become increasingly marginalized.