As an analytical chemist and senior scientist for consumer goods giant Proctor & Gamble, Ronita Marple ’05 Ph.D., chemistry, observes that it’s not unusual for her to walk past a lab and catch a glimpse of a robot testing a product by performing a household chore over and over again, for hours on end, to identify a product’s weaknesses without stressing out human testers in the process.
Such grueling tests are part of how all of the nearly 125 products marketed by Proctor & Gamble end up in a consumer’s shopping cart. So is Marple’s own job mundane and robotic? “Never,” laughs the recipient of UMBC Alumna of the Year Award in the Sciences, who manages a team of chemists that unravel the technology behind each line of personal care at the corporation’s Cincinnati headquarters.
“Maybe there’s a new ingredient [in a product]: It’s my job to come up with a method to measure it,” she explains. Shampoo, for example. “There are just tons of ingredients in every bottle,” she says. Her team can scan a dollop of shampoo using a technique known as “whole product NMR” to determine the identity and concentration of each ingredient in the formula.
Marple and her team must also help ensure that most important ingredients of all – those responsible for cleaning and conditioning hair – remain stable and optimally concentrated between factory and shower. After all, that dollop of shampoo must trek cross country in a sweltering delivery truck before it becomes lather on a lustrous head of hair.
You don’t want to feel like you’re washing your hair with dish soap,” says Marple. “On the other hand, you want enough conditioning that it feels good.”
To get that balance just right, Marple’s team needs hair. And lots of it. “We probably spend more than a million dollars a year just buying hair to test on,” she says. The company purchases real human hair from suppliers in the form of ponytails (or “switches” as Marple calls them), which are sent off to a lab for testing. Once a shampoo has been developed for a specific hair type, the final formulation is tested by consumers in the company’s on-site salon.
Before any of the nearly 125 products marketed by Proctor & Gamble end up in a consumer’s shopping cart, each one – personal care or not – must be beaten, battered, diluted, pressured and manipulated in every imaginable way to see how it holds up under the most grueling conditions. Growing up in the small town of Bellaire, OH, Marple’s early exposure to science was relatively simple. “We didn’t have things like AP classes or weighted graded systems,” she says. “It was just a basic public school education.”
Graduate school is never easy, but Marple remembers her time at UMBC in the doctoral program in chemistry with great fondness. “Even though it was really, really difficult,” she recalls, “probably one of the most difficult times in my life, trying to do all the research and pass my qualifying exams and finish my dissertation. I just had so much fun. It was such a satisfying experience.”
The research that she did at UMBC made it even more worthwhile, Marple says. “A lot of times you’re doing really cutting edge things that no one has ever done before,” she says. And the best part? “That whole sense of discovery; just knowing that you’re really pushing the limit and discovering new things.”
After graduation, Marple began working at Proctor & Gamble. In addition to her work as a chemist, she also encourages mentoring and networking relationships among emerging female scientists from all corners of the world through the company’s Analytical Women of Excellence program. The job also has her traveling the world – including India, Sweden, Russia, Italy, Germany, England and Belgium – to connect with Proctor & Gamble’s other technical centers and establish projects through the company’s Connect and Development program.
But regardless of how far she’s traveled on her road to becoming a chemist, she credits “the family-like culture” at UMBC with teaching her the lesson of a lifetime: “You can be what you want to be. There might be obstacles but you can overcome them,” Marple says. “Just do what you have your heart set on.”
— Ann Griswold

As an analytical chemist and senior scientist for consumer goods giant Proctor & Gamble, Ronita Marple ’05 Ph.D., chemistry, observes that it’s not unusual for her to walk past a lab and catch a glimpse of a robot testing a product by performing a household chore over and over again, for hours on end, to identify a product’s weaknesses without stressing out human testers in the process.

Such grueling tests are part of how all of the nearly 125 products marketed by Proctor & Gamble end up in a consumer’s shopping cart. So is Marple’s own job mundane and robotic? “Never,” laughs the recipient of UMBC Alumna of the Year Award in the Sciences, who manages a team of chemists that unravel the technology behind each line of personal care at the corporation’s Cincinnati headquarters.

“Maybe there’s a new ingredient [in a product]: It’s my job to come up with a method to measure it,” she explains. Shampoo, for example. “There are just tons of ingredients in every bottle,” she says. Her team can scan a dollop of shampoo using a technique known as “whole product NMR” to determine the identity and concentration of each ingredient in the formula.

Marple and her team must also help ensure that most important ingredients of all – those responsible for cleaning and conditioning hair – remain stable and optimally concentrated between factory and shower. After all, that dollop of shampoo must trek cross country in a sweltering delivery truck before it becomes lather on a lustrous head of hair.

You don’t want to feel like you’re washing your hair with dish soap,” says Marple. “On the other hand, you want enough conditioning that it feels good.”

To get that balance just right, Marple’s team needs hair. And lots of it. “We probably spend more than a million dollars a year just buying hair to test on,” she says. The company purchases real human hair from suppliers in the form of ponytails (or “switches” as Marple calls them), which are sent off to a lab for testing. Once a shampoo has been developed for a specific hair type, the final formulation is tested by consumers in the company’s on-site salon.

Before any of the nearly 125 products marketed by Proctor & Gamble end up in a consumer’s shopping cart, each one – personal care or not – must be beaten, battered, diluted, pressured and manipulated in every imaginable way to see how it holds up under the most grueling conditions. Growing up in the small town of Bellaire, OH, Marple’s early exposure to science was relatively simple. “We didn’t have things like AP classes or weighted graded systems,” she says. “It was just a basic public school education.”

Graduate school is never easy, but Marple remembers her time at UMBC in the doctoral program in chemistry with great fondness. “Even though it was really, really difficult,” she recalls, “probably one of the most difficult times in my life, trying to do all the research and pass my qualifying exams and finish my dissertation. I just had so much fun. It was such a satisfying experience.”

The research that she did at UMBC made it even more worthwhile, Marple says. “A lot of times you’re doing really cutting edge things that no one has ever done before,” she says. And the best part? “That whole sense of discovery; just knowing that you’re really pushing the limit and discovering new things.”

After graduation, Marple began working at Proctor & Gamble. In addition to her work as a chemist, she also encourages mentoring and networking relationships among emerging female scientists from all corners of the world through the company’s Analytical Women of Excellence program. The job also has her traveling the world – including India, Sweden, Russia, Italy, Germany, England and Belgium – to connect with Proctor & Gamble’s other technical centers and establish projects through the company’s Connect and Development program.

But regardless of how far she’s traveled on her road to becoming a chemist, she credits “the family-like culture” at UMBC with teaching her the lesson of a lifetime: “You can be what you want to be. There might be obstacles but you can overcome them,” Marple says. “Just do what you have your heart set on.”

— Ann Griswold

LEARNING (FROM) THE LINGO

“Baldamoreans do not speak the king’s English.”

That’s how one Lexington Market patron jokingly described the city’s linguistic style to Inte’a DeShields ’13 in a podcast that was produced as a class assignment by the language, literacy and culture Ph.D. student.

But that’s exactly how Christine Mallinson, an assistant professor in the program, likes it.

“Not that much linguistic research has been done on the unique accents of Baltimore, but the city is a good laboratory for studying language variation,” Mallinson explains.

Charm City is a living laboratory for Mallinson’s research and pedagogy. The podcast, for example, was a product of firsthand research on linguistic variations in Baltimore by students in Mallinson’s “Language in Diverse Schools and Communities” class.

DeShields’ research and podcast explored common pronunciations among African American communities in Baltimore, especially a tendency to pronounce the city’s name as “Baldamore.” Other students researched language in multilingual communities and what Baltimore’s women say about themselves when they claim the word “hon.”

Mallinson created her own podcast, too, featuring teachers who discuss how language variation affects students and the strategies they’ve used to improve their teaching. Working with these teachers is the current focus of Mallinson’s research, and the subject of her recent book, Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools, which she co-authored with Charity Hudley, an associate professor of English, linguistics, and Africana studies at the College of William and Mary.

“Language really matters in everything we do,” says Mallinson. She argues language is an important part of social identity: a definitional marker not only for others but for one’s self.

For students without a background in academic English, she continues, language can often be a barrier to achievement.

Mallinson is committed not only to describing that classroom challenge, but also to giving teachers tools to combat it. One teacher in Mallinson’s podcast tells the story of a non-native English speaker who was reluctant to participate in classroom discussions. However, when that teacher had the class read a story containing a Spanish word, the student eagerly joined in the discussion.

Mallinson has recently turned her focus to science and math teaching in K-12 classrooms, organizing workshops that train teachers to recognize and help students who struggle with the language elements of math and science curricula. If students understand the arithmetic in a word problem but produce a wrong answer because they misunderstand the question’s syntax, Mallinson and Hudley offer strategies to assist both students and teachers.

“Linguistically diverse students don’t leave their language patterns at the door when they come to math and science classrooms,” Mallinson explains. She and Hudley were recently awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to continue conducting workshops in Maryland and Virginia and follow up with teachers to learn which strategies are most successful.

“Linguists have usually studied language variation with respect to English classrooms,” Mallinson says. “Teachers are really excited that somebody is paying attention to language in math and science.”

— Chelsea Haddaway

(All of the podcasts are available at www.BaltimoreLanguage.com.)

A COLLECTING CALL

It took Marie Spiro five decades – and a bit of heavy lifting – to create her personal collection of ancient artifacts. “Anytime I came back from a site,” she quips, “I had the heaviest suitcase.”

Spiro is an associate professor emerita of art and archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and her dramatic recounting of a particular object’s discovery can quiet a rowdy classroom. The collection features over 1,000 Greek, Roman and Byzantine artifacts, and contains mosaics, pottery, figurines and other pieces that date back as far as 15,000 years.

Indeed, students were at the heart of Spiro’s enterprise. She relished sharing the pieces she brought home with them in classes, encouraging them to touch and handle the objects in ways that they couldn’t at a museum, or by looking at a photograph.

So when Spiro decided to donate her collection, she looked for a place that would follow her example. She settled on UMBC’s ancient studies department, where the first third of Spiro’s collection was used in classrooms this past February. (The next third of the artifacts will come to campus in early 2012, with the final portion arriving in 2013.)

“I think the ancient studies program [at UMBC] is the best, I really do,” says Spiro. “I’m so happy that the collection has found a home. That’s my dream fulfilled.”

Hands-on learning is a priority for Marilyn Goldberg, chair of ancient studies, who says she is delighted with the gift. She points to the value in the number of objects in the collection that ancient people used in their everyday lives, and how students can now physically interact with ancient artifacts without even leaving campus.

“Students can look at a piece in its entirety, look at the back of it and the profile of it, see how it’s made,” Goldberg says. “You can’t turn a picture over.”

Goldberg and other campus leaders secured the financial support of local Greek organizations – including the Baltimore-Piraeus Sister City Committee and the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Associations of Baltimore and Washington, DC – to bring the collection to UMBC. UMBC’s plans for the collection include an archaeology lab that will be part of the second phase of construction of the university’s Performing Arts and Humanities Building. It will be a space where students can study the artifacts and display the exhibits they curate.

Students enrolled in a museum studies class taught by Esther Read, lecturer in ancient studies, in the spring semester were the first to use the collection. The class was a lecture/lab hybrid in which students discussed issues faced by museums in each session before working with the Spiro’s artifacts.

“I want them to see that these objects are more than just pretty things in cases. Whoever owned that piece originally, it had meaning to them. It had meaning to Marie Spiro when she collected it. It has different meaning now that she’s given it to us, and it’ll have a meaning here at the institution and for the student who works with it,” says Read. “You have so many groups and so many relationships with one object. Which story do you present?”

— Chelsea Haddaway

THE WRITE STUFF

Many doctoral candidates will tell you that the biggest obstacle they face in obtaining a Ph.D. is a task that’s completely in their own hands: their doctoral dissertation.

That’s why nine UMBC graduate students have assembled on the third floor of The Commons bright and early on a Monday in July to attend “Dissertation House” – a weeklong session of goal-setting, dedicated working time and concrete advice from experts aimed at getting them closer to finishing the capstone of their graduate experience.

The week of coaching was created by PROMISE – Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, which includes UMBC as well as the University of Maryland campuses at Baltimore and College Park. PROMISE is one of 21 alliances created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to increase the number of U.S. students receiving Ph.D.’s in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or “STEM”) disciplines, with a special focus on boosting the numbers of doctorates taken by minority students.

The “head coach” of Dissertation House is Wendy Carter, a nationally renowned expert on strategies for dissertation completion. (She’s even written a book and created a company – TADA!: Thesis and Dissertation Accomplished – to tackle the completion problems that students face.)

Carter shares her mantra with the assembled graduate students: “A good dissertation is a done dissertation.” After laying out challenges and offering tips (“When you read journal articles, always do a summary”), she has the students write their goals for the week on large sheets of white paper hung on the walls of the room.

The coaching starts as soon as the students present those goals to the group. Carter urges some students to clarify their tasks, and revise them towards greater self-accountability. “They need to be measurable,” she tells the group.

Renetta Garrison Tull, the director of the PROMISE program, says that participants gain valuable tips and advice from Carter and a wide range of guest speakers throughout the week – including Janet Rutledge, the dean of UMBC’s Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education, who stresses the importance of developing a strong mentoring relationship with one’s thesis advisor.

Tull also sees personal transformation and the acquisition of clarity, direction and self-discipline in the dissertation process as the key benefit of the weeklong experience. She tells the students that such things don’t come easily – and that Dissertation House is intended to be a catalyst to get them there. “We don’t leave you where you are,” she tells the group. “We move you forward. And sometimes that’s uncomfortable.” The Dissertation House was founded in 2006 and has shepherded over 70 students to Ph.D. completion in its first five years.

And when Friday rolls around for the Summer 2011 class, the sense that these nine students are on their way to joining those other alumni is palpable. The room is abuzz with activity, and the lists of goals placed on the wall on Monday are now emblazoned with items crossed out or checked off.

Look for them in a commencement ceremony soon.

— Richard Byrne ’86

DECADE OF SERVICE

When Jason Woody ’04, sociology, received his acceptance letter to be part of the first class of the Shriver Living Learning Center (SLLC) ten years ago, he wanted to be a film major. And though he was interested in the social justice focus of the new center, he was also enticed by Erickson Hall, the sleek new dorm on campus that SLLC students would call home.

Woody found the SLLC’s service mentality contagious and it quickly came to define his worldview. In his sophomore year, he came across a poster asking students to dedicate service hours to honor those killed in the 9/11 attacks and took that call to heart. Back in his dorm room, he paged through biographies of the victims.

The story of Deora Bodley – a college student who died aboard United Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania – gripped him most personally. Friends remembered Bodley for her own dedication to serving others. In her name, Woody launched a mentorship program for elementary-aged Baltimore youth to learn team-building skills: Project Team. The Shriver Center offered a van, help recruiting volunteers and credibility with partner organizations.

Shriver Center Director Michele Wolff remembers designing the SLLC to reflect “the true essence of service-learning.” Community members are required to complete both regular service throughout their residency and coursework that provides context and promotes reflection. As an affinity program, the SLLC also offers students a purposeful living experience with a built-in peer support network to help them confront the demands of service commitments.

Woody credits the support of fellow SLLC residents for his growth as a service leader. Kelly Subramanian ’08, biology and psychology, a former SLLC resident assistant, understands his perspective. “Personal relationships develop where you’re not only living together, you’re also serving together,” she says.

By the time Subramanian arrived a few years after Woody, the SLLC had already developed a reputation for its unique way of fostering students’ intellectual and personal growth. The program itself – more than the sleek new dorm – had become the attraction. “You’re helping other people and learning about what’s out there, but you’re also learning about yourself, what you value and what you want to do with your life,” Subramanian reflects.

Senior Benjamin Davis ’12, who hopes to teach in Baltimore City after graduation, calls the SLLC “a home for people just like me who expressed passion or interest in volunteering.” Davis tackled personal hardships and shyness, he says, by “working with other civically engaged individuals.”

Jason Woody never did take a single film class at UMBC. Instead, he pursued a career serving adults with mental illness. His organization, B’more Clubhouse, offers transitional employment and social and educational programs to help adults with mental illness develop confidence, skills and meaningful relationships, and reduce stigma against mental illness in the broader community. “I’ve seen people achieve milestones, big and small, that are life-changing,” he says.

Woody adds that he is still learning from others through service. His work has helped him develop patience and understanding. In this way, he says, the members of B’more Clubhouse are now his teachers.

— Dinah Winnick

WORDS AND MUSIC

Open the door to Annapolis’ Rams Head Tavern and the sounds of upbeat banjo and guitar fly out into the warm night air, followed by closely by the gruff voice of Adam Trice ’04, English – who’s in the middle of a 45-minute set with his band, Red Sammy.

“It ain’t you, it ain’t her,” Trice growls tunefully in a song called “It Ain’t You (Carolina Road Anthem).” “I’m heading south, but I’m not sure. You got me high, it’s kind of funny. I’m playing bars for gas money.”

Trice dubs Red Sammy’s music as “graveyard country” because he likes the verbal interplay of the phrase. “I feel like it brings up a lot of different connotations that are associated with those two words,” explains Trice. The band has released a few records, including A Cheap Kind of Love Song and Dog Hang Low, both of which are available online or at the band’s shows.

Studying literature at UMBC had a hand in his musical direction. “My music’s more lyric driven, and I think it really banks off my English degree,” he explains. “A lot of electives in the creative writing track. They are the strong focus from which I draw.”

While Trice also pursues a day job as director of foundation relations and grant writing and development at Capitol College in Laurel, he enjoys playing for tips in a Jeremiah Weed bucket and is going to keep playing for the foreseeable future. “My plan is to continue pushing the art and seeing where that goes,” he says.

— Derek Roper ’11
Photo: Tedd Henn

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

The UMBC men’s soccer team’s 2010 campaign was a season to remember – and the 2011 squad will have a chance to shine on national television during UMBC’s Homecoming weekend as a result.

The America East conference announced that the Retrievers’ October 14 match against the University of New Hampshire will be televised nationally at 7 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel as part of the network’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America Game of the Week package.

A traditional part of UMBC Homecoming, the men’s soccer game moved last year from its customary slot on Saturday afternoon to a new slot under the lights as a linchpin of Friday night’s festivities. The new tradition was a big hit: last year’s game against Boston University drew almost 3,000 spectators to Retriever Soccer Park.

This year’s game against New Hampshire is a rematch of a bitterly fought America East championship game last November at Retriever Soccer Park, which saw UMBC triumph after double overtime and a series of penalty kicks. The victory sent the Retrievers to the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament, where they won a thrilling come-from-behind victory against Princeton University before bowing to the College of William and Mary (also on penalty kicks) to end their season.

The national television audience won’t only get a glimpse of this year’s team and UMBC’s Homecoming spirit on October 14; they will also see a revamped Retriever Soccer Park that has added even more seats and more lights to one of the best soccer facilities in the region.

— Richard Byrne ’86

PLASTIC FANTASTIC

Plastic cups with UMBC’s logo and wild orange and yellow splashes were a hit at the university’s New Student Day. But incoming UMBC freshman Allison Olender decided to make a hit of her own – a sprightly video cover version of “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by Lulu and the Lampshades – in which she used the funky giveaway cup as percussion.

Olender posted her video on UMBC’s Class of 2015 Meet and Greet site – a Facebook group where incoming freshmen can find out who might be in their classes or dorm room, get a head start on making new friends and have their questions answered by fellow classmates.

The video made a splash with Olender’s fellow classmates, which isn’t surprising. The recent Bel Air High School grad with “an affinity for jazz” says that she has “been singing for the majority of my life” – in musicals, on the web and in a new band called “Prison Music.”

“When I posted the video,” Olender says, “I did not expect to generate such a warm and positive response.” She says she was attracted to UMBC by “the terrific atmosphere…. I knew that I wanted to attend a school that had excitement and integrity rooted in the system, and when I visited UMBC, my expectations were met.”

Look for UMBC’s new viral video star in person when she starts attending class in Spring 2012. “It means the world to me that the others were so responsive,” Olender says, “and I hope to share my music on campus.”

(You can check out more of Allison Olender’s music at her website: www.allisonolender.com)

— Richard Byrne ’86

CLIMBING THE LADDER

In 2008, former UMBC Retriever pitcher Zach Clark ’06, psychology, was with the Frederick Keys – a Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles – when he got the news that he was needed at Class AAA Norfolk Tides for a spot starting assignment.

The good news traveled fast, but Clark didn’t. It was only after a long bus trip with the Keys from Kinston, NC, to Myrtle Beach, SC, and an early morning flight to Syracuse, NY, that Clark finally joined his new club. He pitched for the Tides that same night.

“I slept at the hotel during the day, went to the field and pitched,” recalls Clark, who has played in the Orioles farm system since 2006. “That was pretty crazy. I didn’t know anybody. That was my first time at Triple A.”

Signed by Orioles’ scout Dean Albany as a non-drafted free agent after leaving UMBC in 2006, Clark started this season pitching for the Class AA Bowie Baysox. He began 2011 with a minor league record of 24-28 and an ERA of 3.61 in 119 games.

Clark knows life as a pitcher on-call is part of the path to the big leagues. He once battled heavy traffic from Bowie to Norfolk, VA to take the mound for Tides in a night game.

In games through Aug. 4 of this season Clark was 6-7 with an ERA of 5.14 in 18 games (with 17 starts) for Bowie in the Eastern League. Clark was named the Eastern League pitcher of the week on May 2 of this season.

— David Driver

This year’s Arts and Humanities Afternoon at UMBC Homecoming on Saturday, October 15, 2011 will focus on alumni filmmakers. To whet your appetite for our afternoon discussion on the art of moving images, we’d like to introduce you to some of the filmmakers who’ll be coming to the event, which will be held in the Skylight Room of the UMBC Commons from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. We’re also planning some screenings of the work of these filmmakers on campus in the week before the event. Please stay tuned!

Films by the alumni filmmakers will be shown at the Skylight Room in The Commons on the following dates:
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 7 p.m.: Saved! (Brian Dannelly ’97)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 7 p.m.: Films by Richard Chisolm ’82, Steven Fischer ’98 and Daphner Gardner ’09

* * * * *

Daphne Gardner ’09, acting and interdisciplinary studies, makes films that focus on the young female experience in America: loneliness, complicated friendships, getting laid, and hunting down the guy that shot your friend in the leg. She and her partner Patrick Letterii ’09, acting and interdisciplinary studies, are currently directing and acting in their first feature film, Get Lost. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Getting Started: “It was a culmination of events that led me to filmmaking. I always knew I wanted to act, but it was the desire to control action that led me to realize I wanted to direct. Coming from a background in performance it seemed natural to explore the role of directing, and once I took my first production class I’d felt I’d found a way to manipulate my emotional impulses into something bigger than myself.”

What It Takes: “In my mind, to be a good filmmaker, you have to be so many different things, but right now as I work on my first feature film, I think of the following attributes: patient, flexible, positive and determined. All of these qualities of course, are extremely difficult to possess at the same time on every shoot, but I’m working on it.”

To see a selection of Daphne Gardner’s work, check out her website:
http://www.daphnegardner.com

* * * * *

Steven Fischer ’98, visual and performing arts, is a two-time Emmy-nominated writer/producer and the creator of Steve & Bluey, a modern day Abbot & Costello comedy team that has starred in two published books, on television through TCI Communications, and in a variety of radio comedies. His credits include, Carl Clark: Life at 1/125 of a Second (2000), Silence of Falling Leaves (2000), Camp Med (2005), Now & Forever Yours (2007), Freedom Dance (2007), Old School New School (2010), and Urban Paradise (2011). His latest effort, River of Stone, was commissioned by Maryland Public Television and follows noted artist Jim Sanborn (Kryptos) as he attempts to reproduce Maryland’s Piedmont Plateau in a 300-foot sculpture.

Getting Started: “There was no singular event that made me want to become a storyteller. I think growing up I just instinctively knew I was one; or let’s put it this way, I knew that I enjoyed the time in my imagination. I wrote and produced my first script at age 9. It was a silly radio theater-style adventure play, probably 10 minutes long. That’s how it was for me growing up.”

What It Takes: “I think ultimately it takes many things…. In a general sense I think it takes dedication to learning the craft, always creating, always writing, continually studying the work of the masters and of those who inspire you. It takes passion. It takes tenacity. It takes experimentation. It takes honesty. Take chances and don’t be afraid of failure. There is no such thing as failure if we learn from it and apply the wisdom to our future.”

Works written and directed by Steven Fischer available online include:
* Old School New School (Snag Films!): A documentary on the creative process including interviews with jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, actor Brian Cox and many others…

* Urban Paradise: The Director’s Cut (MPT/PBS)

Watch Fischer talk about his work:
Steven Fischer at Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, CA.
Steven Fischer on Cinematography.tv
Steven Fischer on Cine Maryland

* * * * *

Richard Chisolm ’82, interdisciplinary studies, is a national Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and cinematographer with over thirty years of production experience. Based in Baltimore, he has shot films and television programs on a wide variety of subjects in the U.S. and abroad working for PBS, National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel and HBO. He was the director of photography for both of ABC’s Hopkins prime time medical documentaries (2000 and 2008). In 2011, he directed and shot Cafeteria Man, a feature documentary on school food reform. He is also the recipient of a Peabody Award, a Columbia duPont Journalism award, two Kodak Vision awards, three CINE Golden Eagles, and received a Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award from UMBC in 2001.

Getting Started: “I was an artist as a kid, and when I hit adolescence, was given a movie camera by my brother. My creative pack of friends and I began to play with it for fun on weekends, treating it as just another tool for making art and experimentation. Eventually we edited together some footage and submitted a short film to a local film festival. It was accepted and screened publicly to a full auditorium at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Being in that audience, hearing and feeling the reaction of the viewers, was a powerful rush of inspiration.”

What It Takes: “I think to be happy and successful in film and video production, a person must either have a deep desire to tell stories, or to make art with it, or to embrace the skills of the craft, or any combination of the three.”

Check out video clips from Richard Chisolm’s work at http://www.richardchisolm.com/video.php

* * * * *

Shawn Vanden ’87, interdisciplinary studies, says he found his career passion in his junior year at UMBC, when the (then) information systems management major took a film class as an elective. He set up his own production company, and writes and produces infomercials, commercials, and corporate video. He is best known for his creative ventures including the pilot television project Red Rivers Healing; Untold War Stories from the Archives (2001). He is currently working on a new project called Grey Angel, which weaves together a contemporary dramatic narrative with an actual supernatural legend which originated 200 years ago just a dozen miles from where he resides.

Getting Started: “Upon moving to Columbia in 1969, some neighbors were making an apocalyptic monster film in which they used me as an actor. They were also kind enough to allow me to sit in on some showing of “dailies” and some initial cuts. And in 1986, at UMBC, when I took my first film class, I realized that the early doodling in grade school and high school classes, my artistic skills, and my vivid imagination were coming full circle.”

What It Takes: “First, a passion to have a perspective, a point of view. Then a passion to tell that story in an original way – a way in which it has not been told before. This is where your unique perspective comes from.”

Check out Shawn Vanden’s work on his Vimeo site: http://vimeo.com/4109511

* * * * *

Brian Dannelly ’97, visual and performing arts, was born in Wurtzburg, Germany and spent his early years in Lederhosen skiing and climbing the cheese and sausage strewn hills of Bavaria and putting on elaborate puppet shows with puppets he designed with his grandmother. After surviving Catholic elementary school, a Jewish summer camp and a Baptist high school, he attended UMBC and graduated magna cum laude. He was a directing fellow at the American Film Institute (AFI) and graduated from the prestigious directing program in 1999. His short films have played in festivals around the world. At AFI, Dannelly met his writing partner Michael Urban with whome he wrote his critically-acclaimed comedy Saved! – which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by MGM/UA. He has also directed episodes of two Showtime series Weeds and United States of Tara, and is finishing a new feature film called Struck by Lightning. He was a 2005 recipient of UMBC’s Alumnus of the Year Award.

Getting Started: Looking back, I realized my need to tell stories started when I was a kid. I didn’t have a video camera so I didn’t make short films but I did make puppets and put on puppet shows….My real journey actually began when I was an International Studies major at another university and I took an “Intro to Film” class. I became so obsessed with making my first short that, during that semester, I almost got kicked out of my apartment because I spent all my money on production. I also went from being vice president of my class and an honor student to failing out of school. I loved making film so much that I lost interest in all my other classes. I also was depressed because I had no idea how to pursue this dream. Finally, after two years working a crappy job, I found UMBC. I had heard they had an amazing film department and that, back-in-the-day, John Waters had used their equipment to shoot some of his films. I crawled into the admissions office and begged them to give me a second chance. UMBC changed my life. Professors like Holly Lavenstein, Jill Johnson and Kathy O’Dell inspired me, supported me and gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my dreams. When it came to applying to grad schools, I was scared to apply to the top-tier schools so I was only pursuing the ones I thought I might accept me. Holly sat me down and scolded me- “Brian, what are you doing? You apply to the best schools. You can do this.” So, I did. To my surprise, I was accepted into Cal Arts and AFI. I chose AFI (recently rated the number one film school in the country) but I was terrified I couldn’t afford the program. I sold everything I owned, packed up my little Mazda, bought a tent and camped my way across the country to face my destiny. UMBC gave me all the tools I needed to be successful at AFI and for that I will always be grateful.

What It Takes: The first quality you need is a complete obsession and passion for making film. If you do not have this passion, you will never survive all the ups-and-downs of this industry. I do what I do because I love it and I can’t do anything else. That means I’ve been scared, poor, lonely and rejected a lot of the time and I still move forward. In addition to the obsession and passion, a good filmmaker should (among a number of things): Be observant and aware of the complexities of the human experience. Be collaborative and trust the people that he has hired to tell their story (cinematographer, production designer, wardrobe, editor, etc.). Not be afraid to say what they think but they should also know when it’s best not to say anything. Be loyal. Watch lots of movies

The trailer for Dannelly’s critically acclaimed film Saved!

This year’s Arts and Humanities Afternoon at UMBC Homecoming on Saturday, October 15, 2011 will focus on alumni filmmakers. To whet your appetite for our afternoon discussion on the art of moving images, we’d like to introduce you to some of the filmmakers who’ll be coming to the event, which will be held in the Skylight Room of the UMBC Commons from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. We’re also planning some screenings of the work of these filmmakers on campus in the week before the event. Please stay tuned!
Films by the alumni filmmakers will be shown at the Skylight Room in The Commons on the following dates:
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 7 p.m.: Saved! (Brian Dannelly ’97)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 7 p.m.: Films by Richard Chisolm ’82, Steven Fischer ’98 and Daphner Gardner ’09
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Daphne Gardner ’09, acting and interdisciplinary studies, makes films that focus on the young female experience in America: loneliness, complicated friendships, getting laid, and hunting down the guy that shot your friend in the leg. She and her partner Patrick Letterii ’09, acting and interdisciplinary studies, are currently directing and acting in their first feature film, Get Lost. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Getting Started: “It was a culmination of events that led me to filmmaking. I always knew I wanted to act, but it was the desire to control action that led me to realize I wanted to direct. Coming from a background in performance it seemed natural to explore the role of directing, and once I took my first production class I’d felt I’d found a way to manipulate my emotional impulses into something bigger than myself.”
What It Takes: “In my mind, to be a good filmmaker, you have to be so many different things, but right now as I work on my first feature film, I think of the following attributes: patient, flexible, positive and determined. All of these qualities of course, are extremely difficult to possess at the same time on every shoot, but I’m working on it.”
To see a selection of Daphne Gardner’s work, check out her website:
http://www.daphnegardner.com
 
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Steven Fischer ’98, visual and performing arts, is a two-time Emmy-nominated writer/producer and the creator of Steve & Bluey, a modern day Abbot & Costello comedy team that has starred in two published books, on television through TCI Communications, and in a variety of radio comedies. His credits include, Carl Clark: Life at 1/125 of a Second (2000), Silence of Falling Leaves (2000), Camp Med (2005), Now & Forever Yours (2007), Freedom Dance (2007), Old School New School (2010), and Urban Paradise (2011). His latest effort, River of Stone, was commissioned by Maryland Public Television and follows noted artist Jim Sanborn (Kryptos) as he attempts to reproduce Maryland’s Piedmont Plateau in a 300-foot sculpture.
Getting Started: “There was no singular event that made me want to become a storyteller. I think growing up I just instinctively knew I was one; or let’s put it this way, I knew that I enjoyed the time in my imagination. I wrote and produced my first script at age 9. It was a silly radio theater-style adventure play, probably 10 minutes long. That’s how it was for me growing up.”
What It Takes: “I think ultimately it takes many things…. In a general sense I think it takes dedication to learning the craft, always creating, always writing, continually studying the work of the masters and of those who inspire you. It takes passion. It takes tenacity. It takes experimentation. It takes honesty. Take chances and don’t be afraid of failure. There is no such thing as failure if we learn from it and apply the wisdom to our future.”
Works written and directed by Steven Fischer available online include:
* Old School New School (Snag Films!): A documentary on the creative process including interviews with jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, actor Brian Cox and many others…
* Urban Paradise: The Director’s Cut (MPT/PBS)
Watch Fischer talk about his work:
Steven Fischer at Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, CA.
Steven Fischer on Cinematography.tv
Steven Fischer on Cine Maryland
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Richard Chisolm ’82, interdisciplinary studies, is a national Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and cinematographer with over thirty years of production experience. Based in Baltimore, he has shot films and television programs on a wide variety of subjects in the U.S. and abroad working for PBS, National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel and HBO. He was the director of photography for both of ABC’s Hopkins prime time medical documentaries (2000 and 2008). In 2011, he directed and shot Cafeteria Man, a feature documentary on school food reform. He is also the recipient of a Peabody Award, a Columbia duPont Journalism award, two Kodak Vision awards, three CINE Golden Eagles, and received a Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award from UMBC in 2001.
Getting Started: “I was an artist as a kid, and when I hit adolescence, was given a movie camera by my brother. My creative pack of friends and I began to play with it for fun on weekends, treating it as just another tool for making art and experimentation. Eventually we edited together some footage and submitted a short film to a local film festival. It was accepted and screened publicly to a full auditorium at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Being in that audience, hearing and feeling the reaction of the viewers, was a powerful rush of inspiration.”
What It Takes: “I think to be happy and successful in film and video production, a person must either have a deep desire to tell stories, or to make art with it, or to embrace the skills of the craft, or any combination of the three.”
Check out video clips from Richard Chisolm’s work at http://www.richardchisolm.com/video.php
 
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Shawn Vanden ’87, interdisciplinary studies, says he found his career passion in his junior year at UMBC, when the (then) information systems management major took a film class as an elective. He set up his own production company, and writes and produces infomercials, commercials, and corporate video. He is best known for his creative ventures including the pilot television project Red Rivers Healing; Untold War Stories from the Archives (2001). He is currently working on a new project called Grey Angel, which weaves together a contemporary dramatic narrative with an actual supernatural legend which originated 200 years ago just a dozen miles from where he resides.
Getting Started: “Upon moving to Columbia in 1969, some neighbors were making an apocalyptic monster film in which they used me as an actor. They were also kind enough to allow me to sit in on some showing of “dailies” and some initial cuts. And in 1986, at UMBC, when I took my first film class, I realized that the early doodling in grade school and high school classes, my artistic skills, and my vivid imagination were coming full circle.”
What It Takes: “First, a passion to have a perspective, a point of view. Then a passion to tell that story in an original way – a way in which it has not been told before. This is where your unique perspective comes from.”
Check out Shawn Vanden’s work on his Vimeo site: http://vimeo.com/4109511
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Brian Dannelly ’97, visual and performing arts, was born in Wurtzburg, Germany and spent his early years in Lederhosen skiing and climbing the cheese and sausage strewn hills of Bavaria and putting on elaborate puppet shows with puppets he designed with his grandmother. After surviving Catholic elementary school, a Jewish summer camp and a Baptist high school, he attended UMBC and graduated magna cum laude. He was a directing fellow at the American Film Institute (AFI) and graduated from the prestigious directing program in 1999. His short films have played in festivals around the world. At AFI, Dannelly met his writing partner Michael Urban with whome he wrote his critically-acclaimed comedy Saved! – which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by MGM/UA. He has also directed episodes of two Showtime series Weeds and United States of Tara, and is finishing a new feature film called Struck by Lightning. He was a 2005 recipient of UMBC’s Alumnus of the Year Award.
Getting Started: Looking back, I realized my need to tell stories started when I was a kid. I didn’t have a video camera so I didn’t make short films but I did make puppets and put on puppet shows….My real journey actually began when I was an International Studies major at another university and I took an “Intro to Film” class. I became so obsessed with making my first short that, during that semester, I almost got kicked out of my apartment because I spent all my money on production. I also went from being vice president of my class and an honor student to failing out of school. I loved making film so much that I lost interest in all my other classes. I also was depressed because I had no idea how to pursue this dream. Finally, after two years working a crappy job, I found UMBC. I had heard they had an amazing film department and that, back-in-the-day, John Waters had used their equipment to shoot some of his films. I crawled into the admissions office and begged them to give me a second chance. UMBC changed my life. Professors like Holly Lavenstein, Jill Johnson and Kathy O’Dell inspired me, supported me and gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my dreams. When it came to applying to grad schools, I was scared to apply to the top-tier schools so I was only pursuing the ones I thought I might accept me. Holly sat me down and scolded me- “Brian, what are you doing? You apply to the best schools. You can do this.” So, I did. To my surprise, I was accepted into Cal Arts and AFI. I chose AFI (recently rated the number one film school in the country) but I was terrified I couldn’t afford the program. I sold everything I owned, packed up my little Mazda, bought a tent and camped my way across the country to face my destiny. UMBC gave me all the tools I needed to be successful at AFI and for that I will always be grateful.
What It Takes: The first quality you need is a complete obsession and passion for making film. If you do not have this passion, you will never survive all the ups-and-downs of this industry. I do what I do because I love it and I can’t do anything else. That means I’ve been scared, poor, lonely and rejected a lot of the time and I still move forward. In addition to the obsession and passion, a good filmmaker should (among a number of things): Be observant and aware of the complexities of the human experience. Be collaborative and trust the people that he has hired to tell their story (cinematographer, production designer, wardrobe, editor, etc.). Not be afraid to say what they think but they should also know when it’s best not to say anything. Be loyal. Watch lots of movies
The trailer for Dannelly’s critically acclaimed film Saved!

Rachel Robinson ’12, applied linguistics, and Germán Westphal, professor of modern language and linguistics, will present a paper they co-authored at the International Congress of the Chilean Linguistics Society, which will be held in Valparaíso, Chile, November 9-11, 2010

The paper is titled “Introducción a un Modelo Teórico de Adquisición de Segundas Lenguas” (Introduction to a Theoretical Model of Second Language Acquisition), and it develops a theoretical approach to second language acquisition. Westphal has been working with this topic in the context of current linguistic research, and the paper includes a discussion of the neurological correlates that Robinson has identified as empirical evidence in favor of such approach.

Robinson’s initial work on the topic was completed as a term paper for LING 470, Language and Cognition, which was taught by Westphal in the spring of 2011. She revised, expanded and refined her LING 470 work over the summer for presentation at the international conference. Upon her return from Chile, Robinson will present a summary of her findings in the Language Acquisition section of LING 190, a course also taught by Westphal.

Robinson is currently researching child language acquisition pertaining to comprehension of syntactic structures that are not overtly realized in her two-year old son’s utterances, but fully understood by him. After graduation from UMBC, Robinson intends to pursue graduate work in neuroscience.

In a new guest column on Sabato’s Crystal ball, Thomas Schaller, professor of political science, discusses President Obama’s campaign message a year from now at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in a new guest column on Sabato’s Crystal Ball. “However good the field of potential Republican challengers may or may not be… winning reelection will not be easy,” argues Schaller. He suggests, “in order to win President Obama is going to have to go negative.” As for his campaign message, Schaller predicts, “Obama is most likely to frame his election as an appeal for four more years because the problems he inherited simply take more than four years to fix. He’ll have to make the case…that not only could things have been worse these past four years but that with another four he can actually make them significantly better.”

Ka-che Yip, professor of history, has been awarded a grant by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. Beginning January 2012, Yip will be the co-investigator of the project, “A History of Diseases and Epidemics in Hong Kong, 1841-2003.” The grant will last for three years and is for HK $480,048 or about U.S. $62,000.

The grant builds upon another completed project, “A History of Public Health in Hong Kong,” which was funded by the same agency several years ago. Yip was also a co-investigator of that project.

Constantine Vaporis, professor of history and director of Asian studies, has been asked to serve as a consultant on an exhibition on Japan at the National Geographic Museum in DC. The exhibit will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Japanese donation of cherry trees to the U.S., which will take place in 2012.