As senior lecturer and undergraduate program director in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical, & Environmental Engineering, Dr. Mariajosé Castellanos’ reach extends far beyond the classroom. From core undergraduate to advanced graduate coursework, Castellanos serves as “a doorway into our department,” and “doorway from our department into the world,” according to UMBC professor and department chair Dr. Mark Marten.

Castellanos will receive the Outstanding Faculty Award at the UMBC Alumni Awards ceremony on October 4.

Notably, Castellanos transformed Thermodynamics, a challenging departmental core class, from a traditional lecture style course to a flipped-learning and team-based class in an effort to improve student outcome. She applied the same principles to revamp the senior level capstone design class, again implementing a team-based learning approach incorporating soft skills rarely learned in the classroom yet critical to success beyond graduation.

A 2013 Hrabowski Innovation Fund seed grant recipient, Castellanos has advised 24 undergraduate independent study projects, participates in the Faculty Development Center and professional conferences focused on pedagogy and college-level teaching, and contributes to numerous campus committees and initiatives outside of her department.

Yet Castellanos’ most compelling endorsements come from her students, whose feedback helped Castellanos earn the department’s only exceptional instructor rating from a recent ABET evaluation. For many former students, Castellanos – or Dr. C as she is best known – is more than just a professor. With over 30 former students providing feedback in support of Castellanos’ outstanding faculty award nomination, many cited Castellanos’ support and innovative teaching in a highly challenging course of study as influential.

“Dr. C was the first professor who truly showed me the value in working a problem that I wasn’t sure how to proceed with,” notes nominator Jeremy Drew ’17, chemical engineering. Adds former student Marc Scimonelli ’13, chemical engineering, “Dr. C helped me develop non-technical skills that have helped me work in diverse multidisciplinary groups, build relationships, and consider the whole picture.”

According to Cody Kendig ’17, chemical engineering, “Dr. C cares about the well-being of her students, and adapts to each of their individual needs in order to bring them the most comprehensive education possible.”

— Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

From undergraduate student at UMBC to Chief Economist and Under Secretary of Economic Affairs for the Department of Commerce under the Obama administration, Mark Doms ’86, mathematics and economics, has spent his career as an economist focused on economic public policy.

Specializing in monetary policy, forecasting, labor force developments, innovation, big data, and applied microeconomics, Doms has made hundreds of presentations about the U.S. economy and appeared regularly as a subject-matter expert on CNBC’s Squawk Box and Bloomberg. His highly-cited research is published regularly in top journals, earning Doms recognition in the top 3% of economists as measured by citations.

“Mark’s distinguished record of government service, along with a publication and Google Scholar citation count would be the envy of most academic economists,” said David Mitch, professor of economics and chair of the department at UMBC.

Doms will receive the UMBC Alumni Award for Outstanding Alumnus in Natural & Mathematical Sciences at a ceremony on October 4.

While a student at UMBC, Doms worked with the economics faculty to measure the costs and benefits of the Maryland vehicle emissions program. In a position he landed with the help of UMBC faculty, Doms also worked part-time as a student for a private company, assisting with the evaluation of a random design experiment of a welfare to work program.

After graduating from UMBC, Doms went on to pursue a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From there, Doms held positions at the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., before transferring to the Federal Reserve in San Francisco. In 2009, Doms joined the Obama administration as Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce, advising the Administration on a wide variety of issues, including trade, competitiveness, innovation, and education. In this role he oversaw and authored reports on the middle class, intellectual property, broadband adoption, productivity, and STEM education. In January 2013, the U.S. Senate confirmed Doms as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Department of Commerce, a position that oversaw the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, comprising more than 10,000 staff and budgets exceeding $1 billion.

After leaving the Obama administration, Doms worked for two years at Nomura Securities, Japan’s largest investment bank. There he monitored economic developments, developed economic forecasts, and traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Asia. While Doms continues exploring his next step professionally, he remains thankful for the wonderful – and affordable – education that UMBC provided.

— Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

Mina Cheon MFA ’02, Imaging & Digital Arts, is a Korean American global new media artist, scholar, and educator. Dividing her time between Baltimore, New York, and Seoul, Korea, Cheon produces artwork – “Polipop” – that draws inspiration from global media and popular culture, intersecting politics and pop art in evocative ways, while maintaining her connections to UMBC and the MFA program.

“All of Dr. Cheon’s accomplishments indicate a level of insight, innovation, persistence, and quality of production that serves as a model for what our IMDA grads and alumni might attain at not only a local and national, but also international level,” says nominator Dr. Kathy O’Dell, Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Special Assistant to the Dean for Education & Arts Partnerships at UMBC.

Cheon will receive the UMBC Alumni Award for Outstanding Alumna in Visual & Performing Arts at a ceremony on October 4.

Cheon received a Ph.D. in philosophy of media and communications from1 the European Graduate School at the European University for Interdisciplinary Studies in Switzerland, an MFA in painting from the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and a BFA in painting from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea.

With a thematic focus on geopolitical and contested spaces, race culture and postcolonialism, and Asia’s relationship to the Western world in global media culture, Cheon has worked on North Korean awareness and global peace projects since 2004. Cheon’s work has been exhibited in or is in the collection of numerous and varied museums and galleries internationally. Represented by Ethan Cohen Gallery in New York, Cheon’s art is currently featured at the international Busan Biennale 2018 in Korea where her art installation of 100,000 choco-pies is meant for the audience to eat. The famous snack loved by North Koreans and produced in South Korea has become the product of the existing cultural loving exchanges between the two Koreas and the work advocates for Korean unification.

The author of Shamanism and Cyberspace, Cheon contributes to a variety of publications and serves on the Board of Directors of the New Media Caucus of the College Art Association. Awarded the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Unity Week Award for her efforts promoting cultural diversity within and beyond her college, Cheon is a full-time Professor at MICA and a mentor of Art-Uni-On, a global mentorship network by Hyundai Co. and the Seoul National University College of Fine Arts.

Despite her global reach, Cheon remains committed to the local Baltimore art scene. Alongside husband and architect Gabriel Kroiz, Cheon owns and operates K-Town Studios in the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore City. Home to their own studios, Cheon and Kroiz rent affordable studio space to artists and creative entrepreneurs. Additionally, the husband and wife team, known professionally as Cheon Kroiz, launched the installation Diamonds Light Baltimore at the inaugural Light City festival in 2016.  

At UMBC, Cheon is known for her support of Intermedia and Digital Arts (IMDA) graduate students, returning to campus for lectures to current students and offering feedback to graduates on current research and creative work. In May, Cheon presented the inaugural IMDA Friends + Alumni MFA Award. Founded and inspired by Cheon, the award recognizes the most outstanding MFA exhibition and written thesis with $1,000 monetary award, with the goal of boosting the emerging career of promising IMDA alumni.

— Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

When Saira Khan ’09, English, was accepted into UMBC, she had just moved back to the United States form Pakistan. As Khan reacclimated to the country, she found UMBC’s welcoming campus a good fit.

“I didn’t want to go to a campus with tens of thousands of students,” says Khan, who spent two and a half years as a student manager for Commonvision, designing and developing media strategy. “UMBC was the perfect choice.”

Kahn will receive the Outstanding Alumna in Humanities award at the UMBC Alumni Awards ceremony on October 4.

Since then, Khan has come a long way, achieving in less than a decade more than some aspiring journalists achieve in their careers. In January 2018, Kahn was promoted to Director of Social Media for The New Yorker after leading the publication’s social media team to a significant increase in follows across all social media platforms, the launch of the 24,000-member Movie Club on Facebook, and live-tweeting coverage of events like presidential debates, awards shows, and The New Yorker Festival. In her current role, Khan oversees the development, design, and execution of the publication’s social media strategy. In 2018, Khan’s team at The New Yorker was a finalist for the 2018 Ellie award in social media.

Prior to joining The New Yorker, Khan was a founding member of Facebook’s Trending Team, providing real-time editorial insight and curation for the social media platform. Khan considers her work at Facebook as one of her greatest personal successes, though met challenges. “It was not a rewarding job but the work was important,” says Khan. “My greatest challenge was defending the integrity of this work from misinformation, which resulted in [Facebook CEO and co-founder] Mark Zuckerberg being asked to testify before Senate.”

As a freelance writer, Khan’s journalism – featuring topics ranging from queer artists to cleaning up crime scenes and personal essays about literature, street harassment, and dating – has appeared in A Woman’s Thing, The Atlantic, The Baltimore Sun, Bustle, Dawn, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and newyorker.com.

After graduating from UMBC in 2009, Khan worked in financial publishing and freelance writing for Dawn, an English newspaper in Khan’s native Pakistan, and The Baltimore Sun before moving to New York to pursue a Master of Science at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In December 2016, Khan co-founded High-Strung, a monthly newsletter + playlist with fellow New York-based creatives; their work has been featured in a variety of local and national publications.

— Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

For many in the UMBC community, “success is never final” has become a familiar motto. Kimberly Ellison-Taylor ’93, information systems management, epitomizes UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski’s familiar words by excelling in her work, while also creating opportunities for women and minorities in her field of technology and accounting.

“Kimberly shares UMBC’s mission of inclusive excellence,” says UMBC development officer Susie Lynch, who nominated Taylor for the award.

Ellison-Taylor will receive the UMBC Alumni Award for Outstanding Alumna in Engineering & Information Technology at a ceremony on October 4.

As the Global Strategy Director for the Financial and Professional Services Industries for Oracle America, Ellison-Taylor is an influential leader in the continually evolving fields of big data, cybersecurity, and assurance and advisory services. After graduating from UMBC, she went on to earn an an M.B.A. from Loyola University, an accounting certificate from the Community College of Baltimore County, and a Master’s of Science in Information Technology as well as chief information officer certificate from Carnegie Mellon University. Ellison-Taylor’s shared background in accounting and information systems management has led to leadership positions in a multitude of organizations, including the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Motorola; KPMG; and Prince George’s County Government, where she served as Chief Information Technology Officer.

In 2016, Ellison-Taylor made history as the first African American Chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The youngest ever to be appointed and first AICPA chair from the state of Maryland, Ellison-Taylor’s platform around Technology and Transformation and Next Generation Leadership guided the organization toward increased technology and globalization of the accounting field. She also served as the Chairman of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, an organization of more than 670,000 and in 184 countries. The recipient of numerous professional awards, she has been recognized by Accounting Today as a one of the 100 Most Influential People in Accounting annually over the past three years, and as one of the Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor for 2016, 2017, and 2018. Ellison-Taylor also serves as a member of the Robert H. Smith School of Business Advisory Board and is a former member of the UMBC Alumni Association Board of Directors. A charter member of UMBC’s Sigma Gamma Rho, Ellison-Taylor remains active in the organization, serving in local, regional, and national levels over 28 years. She is also an active member of the Maryland Association of CPAs where she is a past Chairman. Ellison-Taylor is a lifetime member of the National Association of Black Accountants.  

Ellison-Taylor is married to UMBC alumnus Darius Taylor ’92 Modern Languages & Linguistics, and is the dedicated mother of two sons, Darius II and Dominic.

— Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

On September 19, 1966, UMBC opened its doors to students for the first day of classes in the institution’s history. Mimi Dietrich ’70, American studies, was among those “pioneer” students, encouraged by faculty and administrators to take advantage of a campus where everything was both new and possible.

“So many of them were inspiring because they were joining us in this new university,” says Dietrich, who has in her decades as an alumna continued to show her passion for UMBC in a variety of ways.

Dietrich will receive the UMBC Alumni Award for Distinguished Service at a ceremony on October 4.

The pioneering spirit has continued to carry Dietrich to pursue her passion in quilting. After teaching middle school and pre-school for 6 years, Dietrich shifted her focus to teach needlework and quilting. For 50 years, Dietrich has traveled across the United States to teach at guilds, festivals, state conferences, cruises, and an American studies course at UMBC. Dietrich was inducted into The Quilters Hall of Fame in 2015 and was named Professional Quilt Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals in 2013. The author of 17 books and countless publications, Dietrich now teaches a year-long class focused on Baltimore Album Quilts. A founding member of The Village Quilters in Catonsville and the Baltimore Applique Society, Dietrich is preparing for an exhibit of her quilts in 2019.

Alongside her professional successes, Dietrich hasn’t strayed far from UMBC in the decades following graduation. A founding member of the Fab Four, an alumni group comprised of graduates of UMBC’s first four graduating classes, Dietrich took on a pivotal volunteer role engaging the earliest alumni heading into UMBC’s milestone 25th and 50th anniversaries. During UMBC’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2016, The Fab Four hosted several events, and continues to plan initiatives aimed at connecting UMBC’s early alumni with the university.

Dietrich credits her husband and fellow alumnus Robert “Bob” Dietrich ’70, biological science, for keeping her connected to UMBC, where he worked for 40 years. A former member of UMBC’s Alumni Association Board of Directors, Dietrich was named UMBC Volunteer of the Year in 1997, an honor she shared with husband Bob. Together, they’ve raised two sons, Jon and Ryan, who have grown up to be wonderful dads to their three grandchildren.

– Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

Growing up, Zainab Alkebsi ’09, political science, always knew she wanted to become a lawyer. The daughter of Yemeni immigrants, Alkebsi is the first in her family to attend law school, as well as the only deaf member of her family.

As an attorney, Alkebsi hoped she could help break down barriers to accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Now, as policy counsel for the National Association for the Deaf (NAD), Alkebsi does just that. In her role with NAD, Alkebsi interfaces with government agencies, Congress, coalitions, media, and businesses on all issues affecting the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Alkebsi will receive the UMBC Rising Star award at the UMBC Alumni Awards ceremony on October 4.

Advocating for full access for deaf and hard of hearing people across all walks of life, Alkebsi reflects on her greatest professional success – and challenge – with pride. After seven months of grueling negotiation with major airlines for captioning access in flight, Alkebsi reached consensus with the airlines for 100% captioning. “On my next flight,” says Alkebsi, “I saw captioning on in-flight entertainment for the first time. I had goosebumps!”

The Sondheim Scholars Program, along with the small-campus feel, drew Alkebsi to UMBC for her undergraduate coursework. After graduating from UMBC, Alkebsi attended the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she was a policy intern for the Governor’s Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and volunteer Rule 16 student attorney for the Innocence Project Clinic.

After receiving a degree from the Baltimore School of Law, Alkebsi clerked for the Honorable Alexandra Williams before becoming Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. As deputy director, Alkebsi developed bills for introduction in Maryland’s legislative session, monitored state and federal legislation, conducted legal research analysis, and developed training presentations for law enforcement, hospitals, and other key agencies and organizations that interactive with the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Lending her advocacy efforts to current UMBC students, Alkebsi serves as a guest lecturer in a class focused on deaf community and culture. She also serves on the Board of Deaf VISA, which partners with UMBC’s Signs of Life ASL Club for deaf-friendly events on campus.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Alkebsi spends her free time supporting D.C. sports, reading historical non-fiction, and raising her 5-month-old daughter.

– Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

Chief Judge Wanda Keyes Heard ’79, political science, was drawn to UMBC by the intimate class sizes and impressive credentials of the political science faculty, but quickly grew to love the campus and remained an on-campus student throughout her undergraduate days.

Today, she is the first female Chief Judge in the history of the 8th Judicial Circuit, appointed to the position after serving the citizens of Baltimore City as a Circuit Court Judge in Baltimore for 19 years. Though 40 years have passed since her time at UMBC, she credits her time as an undergraduate student for her professional successes today.

Chief Judge Heard will receive the UMBC Alumni Award for Outstanding Alumna in Social Sciences at a ceremony on October 4.

Former UMBC professor and advisor Philip Brenner encouraged her as a student, leading her to an internship during her junior year for the Honorable Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. It was her internship with Congresswoman Chisholm that provided the confidence she would need to pursue a career in a field then dominated by white men.

“I refused to let anyone say ‘no’ or ‘it’s not possible,’” she said. “There was no glass ceiling I could not break.”

Over her 36-year career, she has received numerous awards and accolades, though she cites receiving the Thurgood Marshall Award for Judicial Excellence by the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP in 2013 as one of her greatest professional successes.

“My greatest challenges occurred during the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s when faced with and overcoming
the false limitations being placed on me merely because of my race and gender.”

– Baltimore City Circuit Court Chief Judge Wanda Heard ’79

Well known for mentoring law students, interns, and new attorneys, she has mentored more than 25 students from UMBC. She volunteers her time advising and judging mock trial teams for area students, including a now-famous trial program for elementary and middle school students designed to develop critical thinking and civic engagement.

An active UMBC alumna, she is a member of UMBC’s 1966 Society, supporting fundraising efforts for the Second Generation Scholarship, which provides support to outstanding UMBC undergraduates who have demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of minorities. She also remains an active member of the Beta Alpha Tau Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Chief Judge Heard, who resides in West Baltimore with her aptly-named dog Justice, said she considers watching her daughter Whitney grow into an independent, vibrant, and successful young woman her proudest personal achievement and greatest joy.

– Amy Dalrymple

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REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UMBC Alumni Association recognizing alumni and faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the University, their professions, and communities. In October, the individuals below will be honored. Interested in learning more about the award recipients? Profiles will be posted here at UMBC Magazine leading up to the awards ceremony.

REGISTER TODAY: Join us Thursday, October 4, to celebrate these individuals at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall.

2018 UMBC Alumni Award Winners

Outstanding Alumna in Engineering & Information Technology
Kimberly Ellison Taylor ‘93, Information Systems
Global Strategy Director, Oracle

Outstanding Alumna in Humanities
Saira Khan ‘09, English
Director of Social Media, The New Yorker

Outstanding Alumnus in Natural & Mathematical Sciences
Dr. Mark Doms ‘86, Mathematics and Economics
Former Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, US Department of Commerce

Outstanding Alumna in Social Sciences
The Honorable Wanda Keyes Heard ‘79, Political Science
Chief Judge, 8th Circuit Court of Maryland (Baltimore City)

Outstanding Alumna in Visual & Performing Arts
Dr. Mina Cheon M.F.A ‘02, Imaging & Digital Arts
Professor, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)

Distinguished Service
Mimi (Haw) Dietrich ‘70, American Studies
Quilter,  Teacher, Writer

Rising Star
Zainab Alkebsi ‘09, Political Science
Policy Counsel, National Association of the Deaf

Outstanding Faculty Award
Mariajosé Castellanos
Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Program Director, Department of Chemical, Biochemical & Environmental Engineering, UMBC

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For more information about the Alumni Awards, please contact Sara Lerma Jones, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, at 410-455-2276 or via email at slj@umbc.edu.

Read more about past Alumni Award winners here.