A partnership between BAE Systems and UMBC will support teaching, research and technology development in the cybersecurity field. The $150,000 investment will not only include a partnership with UMBC’s Career Services Employer Partnership Program, but enable UMBC’s Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering to develop an active learning computer science classroom that meets the unique goals and challenges of the department’s introductory courses.

Paul Falkler, BAE Systems’ Vice President and General Manager of Information Technology & Cybersecurity Solutions (ITCS) said, “While working with UMBC over the last eight years, I have continuously been impressed by the high level of professionalism of its employees, its strong academic programs and the caliber of its students. This past summer, we needed interns to support our cybersecurity business on short notice, and UMBC delivered talented ones that helped shaped the solutions we offer our customers. That’s very impressive.”

Read the full story on the UMBC News site.

Sonya Caesar, cohort 13, Language, Literacy and Culture, appeared on a PBS Nightly Business Report segment on student debt. Caesar is on staff at the Community College of Baltimore County, where she is spearheading a campus-wide financial literacy campaign. She discusses what students know and don’t know when it comes to taking on student debt – the challenges of managing their money and paying back student loans which are never erased from their records.

The espisode aired on Tuesday, October 25, and can be watched here. The segment on financial literacty begins at about 17:00.

Caesar previously wrote and co-produced a mini documentary, “Beyond the Classroom Walls” for CCBC. The short film is one component of the campus’s financial literacy awareness campaign.

Amanda Gunther is a writer for the Maryland Theatre Guide. According to Gunther, “writing for the Maryland Theatre Guide will give her a chance to pursue her passion of the theatre and will broaden her horizons in the writer’s field.” Here’s an excerpt from one of her most recent artciles:

“Watch out Washington! The fireworks aren’t in the sky but on the stage at the Prince George’s Little Theatre’s production of Born Yesterday written by Garson Kanin. A charismatic politically charged dramadey directed by Norma Ozur – the cast of Born Yesterdayreally drives their act home as they explode their politics and emotions all over the stage.”

Read the full article in the Maryland Theatre Guide.

Read more about UMBC alumni at Retriever Net, UMBC’s alumni online community.

Erick Sahler ’89 brings color and brightness to his work as a serigraph artist. Most recently, he has brought new life to Salisbury University’s Holloway Hall. From an article at delmarvanow.com:

The iconic facade of Holloway Hall is the subject of a limited-edition silkscreen print by serigraph artist Erick Sahler of Salisbury.

The 11-color image features the main entrance of the historic building — one of its doors invitingly open — surrounded by lush trees, colorful flowers and a bright blue sky.

Read the full article on delmarvanow.com.

Read more about UMBC alumni at Retriever Net, UMBC’s alumni online community.

Pete Eibner is enjoying his first year as the boys’ soccer coach at Perry Hall. From the full article in PressBox:

The Gators are 6-5 heading into the final week of the regular season, and Eibner could not be happier. Graduation took is toll on Perry Hall, which won the Baltimore County championship last year under Skelton with a 15-3 record, and reached the Class 4A state finals two of the last four years.

“It’s a very fertile soccer area,” Eibner said. “A lot of these kids have very bright futures. The freshmen who have come in with the eighth graders who are coming in next year want to be a part of what’s been happening here.”

Three former Gators are actually now playing for Eibner’s former team, the UMBC Retrievers: goalkeeper Phil Saunders, who played on the Baltimore Bays Under-19 national championship team this summer, forward-midfielder Joe Glos and fullback/midfielder Nick Liberto.

Read the full story in PressBox.

Read more about UMBC alumni at Retriever Net, UMBC’s alumni online community.

Deciding to support student scholarships is often a very personal thing. For some, it represents a certain pay-it-forward sort of attitude that comes with the experience of once being a scholarship recipient. For others in the know, it is a realization that financial limits place seemingly impossible burdens upon some students – and that without support, many of those students will not graduate. Read more about scholarship need.

Anita Jackson ’80, health science and policy, a past UMBC Alumni Board president, understands both sides of it. As a student, she struggled to pay for school; as an alumni leader, she has seen the need in current generations. That’s why she makes student scholarships a priority today.  Read more about Anita’s gift.

Jackson comes back to UMBC once a year to have lunch with students who benefit from her scholarship. Above, she and junior media and communications major Nia Hampton (left), the 2010-2011 and the 2011-2012 Anita Maddox Jackson and Everett Jackson Scholar, enjoy a photo together.  Jackson’s other scholar, senior dance major Arnesha Reives, was unable to attend.

The Geography and Environmental Systems Seminar presents Robert Hirsch, research hydrologist, U.S. Geological Service, who will present “Streamflow, Floods and Climate Change.” The lecture will be held on Wednesday, November 2, at noon, in Sondheim Hall, Room 001.

For more information, contact Dawn Biehler at dbiehler@umbc.edu or ext. 5-2095.

“Art and Psyche,” a book by Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, has been translated into Serbian.

Through the book, Spitz explores three principal psychoanalytic approaches to art. The first considers the relations between an artist’s life and work; the second focuses on the work of art itself; and the third encompasses the intricate relations between a work of art and its audience or beholders. To illustrate her discussion, Spitz draws on a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, literature, music, and dance.

The book was originally published by Yale university Press, and has previously been translated to Italian.

Professor of the Practice of English Christopher Corbett’s latest essay in Style magazine discusses the complications surrounding recent improvements made to his home.

“They say no jobs were added to our economy last summer but that is just simply wrong. Half my neighborhood was under construction. The other half was thinking about it. And I was doing my part, too. I have the canceled checks to prove it,” he concludes.

The essay, “Home Improvements,” is featured in the November 2011 issue of the magazine.

Corbett was also interviewed by the Associated Press about the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental telegraph. The article can be found here.