UMBC is pleased to announce today a $2.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build a national model for ensuring more transfer students earn degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. Anne Arundel Community College, the Community College of Baltimore County, Howard Community College and Montgomery College will work with UMBC on the “STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative.”

Sarah Gantz of the Baltimore Business Journal wrote:

“Transfer students account for about 38 percent of UMBC’s new students in STEM fields and largely come from the initiative’s partner community colleges.

“How they succeed depends quite a lot on the transition and this is one of the really important issues of why a standard bridging model doesn’t work,” said Philip Rous, provost at UMBC.”

The foundation’s grant will allow UMBC and its community college partners to:
Better align their STEM curricula, reducing lost credits and the need for students to retake courses. Improve academic and career advising, heavily utilizing online tools.
Create programs, such as peer mentoring and transfer seminars, to better support students during the transition from a two-year to four-year college. Develop a robust “Transfer STEM Scholar Pathway” that lays out a clear program of study, from community college to university to graduation. Disseminate guiding principles and best practices to the national higher education community.

Alexandra Tilsley of Inside Higher Education wrote:

“Transfer students in STEM fields face the any community college transfer might face: courses that don’t line up, credits that don’t transfer, trouble adjusting to the class size or format, a lack of a community feeling. Those problems, however, are often more acute for STEM students. After all, 500-person lecture classes are more common in science departments, and requirements are often more stringent in those fields, too; an engineering student who takes the wrong class in his first year at community college will likely have a harder time finishing a bachelor of science degree in four years than an English student would have with a bachelor of arts.

“There are all sorts of differences,” said Bill LaCourse, dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at UMBC. “And yes, we have students coming from high school, but there are all kinds of first-year programs. Transfer students … come in not knowing exactly what to do because we never gave them the grounding to understand what it takes or what it entails.”

Supported by a three-year grant from the Gates Foundation, this project will not only serve as a national model, but also stands to directly benefit more than 1,000 Maryland students in the next few years and thousands more in years to come.”

In less than ten years, jobs requiring postsecondary education or training will account for more than 60 percent of all new jobs in the United States, and demand for workers in the STEM fields will be particularly acute. Accordingly, Maryland has set a goal of raising the proportion of the state’s adults with college degrees to 55 percent by 2025, with an added emphasis on STEM degrees. The state’s goal mirrors a national one supported through the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative recognizes that shaping the transfer process to better support students is crucial to meeting the nation’s education goals. The initiative builds on the Gates Foundation’s existing postsecondary work, as well as UMBC’s longstanding commitment to helping students of all backgrounds succeed in the sciences. The university’s highly-successful Meyerhoff Scholars Program, for example, serves as a national model for sending students on to earn Ph.D.’s in the STEM fields.

This post originally appeared in UMBC Insights.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is pleased to announce today a $2.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build a national model for ensuring more transfer students earn degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. Anne Arundel Community College, the Community College of Baltimore County, Howard Community College and Montgomery College will work with UMBC on the “STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative.”

Sarah Gantz of the Baltimore Business Journal wrote:

“Transfer students account for about 38 percent of UMBC’s new students in STEM fields and largely come from the initiative’s partner community colleges.

“How they succeed depends quite a lot on the transition and this is one of the really important issues of why a standard bridging model doesn’t work,” said Philip Rous, provost at UMBC.”

The foundation’s grant will allow UMBC and its community college partners to:
Better align their STEM curricula, reducing lost credits and the need for students to retake courses. Improve academic and career advising, heavily utilizing online tools.
Create programs, such as peer mentoring and transfer seminars, to better support students during the transition from a two-year to four-year college. Develop a robust “Transfer STEM Scholar Pathway” that lays out a clear program of study, from community college to university to graduation. Disseminate guiding principles and best practices to the national higher education community.

Alexandra Tilsley of Inside Higher Education wrote:

“Transfer students in STEM fields face the any community college transfer might face: courses that don’t line up, credits that don’t transfer, trouble adjusting to the class size or format, a lack of a community feeling. Those problems, however, are often more acute for STEM students. After all, 500-person lecture classes are more common in science departments, and requirements are often more stringent in those fields, too; an engineering student who takes the wrong class in his first year at community college will likely have a harder time finishing a bachelor of science degree in four years than an English student would have with a bachelor of arts.

“There are all sorts of differences,” said Bill LaCourse, dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at UMBC. “And yes, we have students coming from high school, but there are all kinds of first-year programs. Transfer students … come in not knowing exactly what to do because we never gave them the grounding to understand what it takes or what it entails.”

Supported by a three-year grant from the Gates Foundation, this project will not only serve as a national model, but also stands to directly benefit more than 1,000 Maryland students in the next few years and thousands more in years to come.”

In less than ten years, jobs requiring postsecondary education or training will account for more than 60 percent of all new jobs in the United States, and demand for workers in the STEM fields will be particularly acute. Accordingly, Maryland has set a goal of raising the proportion of the state’s adults with college degrees to 55 percent by 2025, with an added emphasis on STEM degrees. The state’s goal mirrors a national one supported through the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The STEM Transfer Student Success Initiative recognizes that shaping the transfer process to better support students is crucial to meeting the nation’s education goals. The initiative builds on the Gates Foundation’s existing postsecondary work, as well as UMBC’s longstanding commitment to helping students of all backgrounds succeed in the sciences. The university’s highly-successful Meyerhoff Scholars Program, for example, serves as a national model for sending students on to earn Ph.D.’s in the STEM fields.

Former UMBC baseball standout Zach Clark ’06, psychology, has been added to the Baltimore Orioles’ roster, the Baltimore Sun reported yesterday.

Clark, who pitched and was a designated hitter for the Retrievers, has spent seven years in the Orioles farm system, most recently with the Bowie Baysox.

Read the Baltimore Sun story here.

He was profiled in a recent UMBC Magazine story here.

Read more about Clark in two recent news releases from UMBC Athletics:

• Clark Throws One Inning, But Western Division Falls in Double-A All Star Game

• Clark Named to Double-A Eastern League All Star Game for Baysox

The U.S. State Department counts Arabic as flat out one of the most difficult languages to learn. For Loren Siebert ’93, computer science, however, the study of a language that started as a hobby has blossomed into a career that blends both tech and teaching skills.

The founder of LinguaStep, an online language learning service praised by students for being both speedy and effective, was featured in Salon last week as part of a story explaining how Siebert has partnered with the U.S. military to develop language programs for soldiers serving in Iraq.

On a lark, the story says, Siebert decided to take lessons in Arabic at the University of California, Berkeley. He found the language beautiful, but incredibly challenging. Finding little in the way of online resources for learning Arabic, he began to develop a software to fill the teaching gap. In 2006, he launched LinguaStep.

“Arabic is a language of memorization,” [Siebert] said. “You just have to drill the words into your head, which unfortunately takes a lot of time.” He thought, “How can I maximize the number of words I learn in the minimum amount of time?”

Read the full story here.

Meet Krista, a sophomore studying animation and interactive media. Someday she hopes to create video games that educate as much as they entertain. And, like so many of her friends in disciplines across the board at UMBC, she is an innovator-in-training.

Krista also supports her education by working part-time as a phonathon caller, so she speaks all the time with alumni about their time at UMBC. She enjoys the stories – and the idea that so many memories have come together to build the UMBC of today.

Watch Krista’s video to learn more about her work, and check out the links below to see her progress in her studies!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7thtRhLKx14]

– Flight Rotoscoping

– Sunflower Seeds

– Krista’s Portfolio

The UMBC women’s soccer team raised $1300 for breast cancer research during its recent “Fight in Pink” contest on Oct. 14 against Stony Brook. The money will go directly to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a foundation that has become the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.

The Retrievers sold t-shirts prior to the event and held a silent auction throughout UMBC’s matchup with the Seawolves, in addition to accepting donations.

“I have to give credit to all the UMBC women’s soccer players who initiated the pink game,” head coach Leslie Wray said. “It was their idea to have a match that promoted breast cancer awareness and to help raise funds for Susan G. Komen by selling “Fight in Pink” t-shirts, that they designed.

“We would like to thanks the UMBC students, parents and fans who bought t-shirts to help women’s soccer raise money for this incredible cause,” Wray continued. “So many women are affected by breast cancer and for many of us it hits very close to home. I am glad the UMBC women’s soccer team could contribute to helping all the brave women who are fighting this disease.”

This story originally appeared on UMBC Retrievers.com.

Today’s Gazette reports on clergy in Prince George’s County who are encouraging parishioners to vote against the referendum to expand gambling in Maryland and in Prince George’s County in particular. But Laura Hussey, assistant professor of political science, remarks in the article that clergy who talk politics from the pulpit are less common than some might expect.

Hussey suggests that this is in part because the multifaceted nature of ballot questions, such as the gambling referendum, can make it difficult to take a clear religious stance. “It’s an issue that doesn’t lend itself to being easily decided by the average voter,” she says.

Update (10/27/2012): In a later Washington Examiner article, Hussey remarked on the meaning this election’s historic ballot measures have for voters in Maryland, an overwhelmingly Democratic state where presidential and senatorial races are usually a foregone conclusion. Hussey said, “Here citizens have an opportunity to weigh in, to cast a vote that means something.”

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

In a new UMBClife video, Eric Zeemering, assistant professor of public policy, explores how local governments, constrained by tight budgets, find partners to deliver public services and achieve policy goals.

Zeemering’s work focuses on public management, intergovernmental relations and urban policy, including policy relating to the sustainability of cities. He was recently named recipient of both the Clarence Stone Young Scholar Award and the Norton Long Developing Scholar Award from the Urban section of the American Political Science Association, in recognition of his scholarship, teaching and public service.

Maryland voters will soon decide whether to allow undocumented immigrants who graduate from Maryland high schools and meet other requirements to pay in-county/in-state tuition at local community colleges and public universities. A recent study on the Dream Act’s economic impacts by UMBC professors T.H. Gindling (economics) and Marvin Mandell (public policy) has received significant media attention and today appeared on TIME magazine‘s online coverage of the referendum.

TIME notes that Gindling and Mandell’s study concludes, “the Dream Act would generate $66 million in economic activity for each incoming new class of undocumented students.” See the website of UMBC’s Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR) for the original working paper: “Private and Government Fiscal Costs and Benefits of the Maryland Dream Act.”

An op-ed by George Derek Musgrove ’97, history, assistant professor of history, recently appeared on The Root DC blog on the Washington Post website.

In the piece, Musgrove and co-author Chris Myers Asch discuss why current discussions of gentrification in the Washington D.C. region can be so heated.

“Simply put, people do not want to be gone or forgotten,” they write.

“Displacement and struggles over who ‘owns’ the city have a long history in Washington. Ours is a city both Southern and transient, where the constant churn of newcomers has amplified the importance of place and rootedness.”

The authors conclude that “We must also help create the conditions in which a diverse population can flourish now and in the future.”

The story, “Not gone, not forgotten: Struggling over history in a gentrifying D.C.” appeared online on October 19.

This story originally appeared in UMBC Insights.