When La Jerne Terry Cornish first started classes at UMBC, her son was two years old, she was teaching full-time, and she had to drive 45 minutes to get to campus. 

The journey was never easy. But in the seven years it took to finish her Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture, the discussions hit home and the supportive community around her made all the difference, she says.

“The LLC program allowed me to dream a dream I didn’t dream,” says Cornish, Ph.D. ’05, who now serves as provost and senior vice president of Ithaca College, following a long career in teaching and administration at Goucher College. 

“I never thought I would end up where I am, but the preparation I received as a result of that program, and the support of the faculty, staff, and students prepared me for my next steps.”

This week, Cornish will receive the UMBC Outstanding Alumni Award for the Humanities. Fellow LLC alumna Beverly Bickel, M.A. ’94, instructional development systems, Ph.D. ’05, LLC, will also be honored with the Outstanding Faculty Award for her work as clinical associate professor, UMBC, language, literacy, and culture; affiliate associate professor, gender and women’s studies. (Learn more about the winners and the October 2 ceremony.)

Teaching our teachers

Like Cornish, Bickel found a community she loved dearly at UMBC. And since she has pretty much always wanted to be a teacher herself—she frequently taught her younger siblings during their playtime “school”—working as a professor within the LLC program and in other departments at UMBC just makes sense.

After starting her career in early childhood education and earning her master’s at UMBC, Bickel was teaching at the Community College of Baltimore County when a new position opening at UMBC—director of the English Language Center—caught her eye.

Her husband, David Truscello, Ph.D. ’04, was a member of the first cohort of LLC doctoral students with Cornish, and between that connection and the gentle, but persistent, encouragement from LLC founding director and professor emerita Joann “Jodi” Crandall, Bickel soon was pulled into the program as a student herself as she took on the ELC director position. 

Now, as a professor, Bickel likes to take the time to understand where her students are in their lives. That means creating a comfortable environment where they can be honest about their needs and providing a support system for those who are figuring things out as they navigate their doctoral pathways.

“As my instructor, Bev listened carefully to my interests and ideas, affirmed some of my most adventurous instincts, and shared resources that could help me find my path,” wrote David Hoffman, Ph.D. ’13, LLC, and director of UMBC’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life, in nominating Bickel for this award. 

“She was unfailingly patient and creative, and above all, responsive to me: truly hearing my hopes, amplifying my curiosity, and helping me to believe in myself as a researcher.”

At home, Bickel and her husband, now retired, have what they call a “lifelong study group.” Her ongoing desire to connect with her students on a personal basis keeps her energized with every semester, where she often starts her classes with a conversation about their days, their lives. Sometimes they listen to a song or read an essay. Many drink tea while they chat.

“We’ve got to connect as humans before we try to think about whatever texts we’ve read,” she says. “I love that about teaching. It might be four- and five-year-olds, or it might be adults, but everybody is coming in with themselves first before engaging in this work we call teaching and learning.”

A special community

Founded in 1998, UMBC’s language, literacy, and culture Ph.D. program was the first of its kind to bring an interdisciplinary approach to a type of research that crosses the humanities, social sciences, and education. Since then, many universities have copied the model, Crandall says. But, breaking new ground at the time meant the first cohorts of students played an important role in making the program what it is today.

Because the program attracted such a variety of students—many of whom taught, had families, and were well along in their careers—it became a true experiment in balance and community. 

Cornish remembers her first class with Crandall. The discussion was so interesting, intense, and fun, she says, it went at least 15 minutes over. 

“I was so taken by that first class,” said Cornish, who laughs as she recalls having to remind Crandall that “‘We have to teach in the morning!’ But, the material was so rich. She challenged us, she made us think. It was wonderful.”

Following graduation, Cornish spent nearly 20 years helping to build the education department at Goucher, where she had previously earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Having spent the last few months settling into her new position at Ithaca, she says she looks forward to re-connecting with LLC faculty on her return visit to campus.

Kimberly Moffitt, chair of the LLC Ph.D., said Cornish represents the best of what their alumni have to offer. “In a program designed to enhance critical thinking skills in areas of culture across disciplinary and methodological boundaries, Dr. Cornish was not only a member of the first cohort of graduates, but she also lent her educational expertise to shape and co-facilitate the curriculum,” she writes.

As Crandall recalls the first years of the program, she emphasizes that Bickel and Cornish were both instrumental in building the LCC into the standard bearer it is today.

“These are two wonderful women who had all the right leadership skills and just such a strong sense of themselves…and a strong sense of social justice,” she says. “I am just so thrilled for them both.”

Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Bart & Associates, Paul Mangus ’86, information systems management, has been integral to developing some of the United States’ most critical homeland security systems created over the last 20 years. Winner of the 2019 Outstanding Alumni of the Year Award for Engineering and Information Technology, Mangus came to campus to sit down and chat with UMBC’s director of the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, Vivian Armor ’73, American studies.

Vivian Armor: It’s been a while since you graduated from UMBC, but it’s been longer for me. What was it like then, for you as a student?

Paul Mangus: I initially went to community college because I couldn’t get into any colleges because my grades were really bad. I’m dyslexic, so education was very hard for me.

VA: That seems to be common for entrepreneurs.

PM: But when I got into this campus atmosphere, I just flourished. For some odd reason, classwork became a lot easier for me. Maybe because it wasn’t as structured as it was in school, where you had set assignments and set timeframes you had to get things done in, which is very difficult for dyslexic people. So then, I started flourishing.

VA: What about the IT program caught your attention?

PM: I initially wanted to be an accountant because I like numbers. I went to my first accounting class and I just got super, super bored. So then, that’s when I discovered computers and IT, and changed my degree into information systems.

The IT department was a very small group of people, and we got to know each other very quickly. We got along, although there was some competition there. The only computers available to us were in a lab that closed at night, and we’d have to sign up for time slots in advance. I got to know the guy that managed the room, and he would allow me to spend the night in the lab, but the room would be locked after 11 p.m. I would go in with food and whatever I needed, and he would shut me in there to do my work. Then, at 7 in the morning, the door would open and there would be a line of students to get in, and I’d be walking out with all my assignments done.

They got back at me because at the time, you also had to use computer cards—it was before you had CRTs or computers and keyboards—you did everything on these cards. So, when the other students found out that I was going into the computer lab at night, they would chase me down the hallway and tackle me, then 1,000 cards would go everywhere.

VA: Did you always know you’d probably start a company, or not? Was this a surprise even to you?

PM: It was a surprise to me. I guess you could call me an entrepreneur when I was young because I used to always walk around the neighborhood and knock on doors, ask to mow your grass, rake your leaves, shovel your sidewalks, and all that other stuff. I’d collect bottles, turn them in for five cents apiece.

But I never had a vision of running my own company until I started working and realized I’d be better suited to create something of my own.

VA: Then, that major opportunity after 9/11, an unfortunate opportunity.

PM: I so happened to be right where I needed to be after 9/11. Out of tragedy comes opportunities, I guess. It was something we got involved in because the systems our company had built were for identifying drug trafficking, child pornography, people trying to smuggle drugs and people into the United States. After 9/11, the government asked if we had systems in place to monitor people. It so happened that, yes, we had built the system already.

VA: I think of you every time I go through an airport.

PM: It was a great experience for me. I traveled the world, meeting with various airlines on developing interfaces with their systems so we could communicate with the reservation systems to gather all the data we needed. We ingest all of that and do the analytics.

VA: I’ve met a lot of entrepreneurs and they just have this incredible confidence, and they do whatever it takes to start. They take these risks, like starting out with lots of credit card debt. You were one of those entrepreneurs. What gave you the confidence to do that?

PM: I was single. I didn’t have any responsibilities, which is huge. I don’t know if I’d do it again, but I have a wonderful wife and she supports me.

The confidence and credit cards were a necessity because when we started the company, the bank refused to give us a loan. The bank officer wanted to see hard assets, like “Where are your trucks? Where’s your manufacturing equipment?” We didn’t have any of that.

Cash flow is huge. So, out of necessity, one day I was at home and I got an envelope in the mail, and it was the classic thing: open up a credit card today and you could write a check for $3,000. So, I called up my partner, and I was like, “Hey, are you getting these in the mail?” He goes, “Yes.” I was like, “Game on.” 

VA: Obviously, it paid off, but it’s a risk.

PM: It paid off because it allowed us to hire people. But, it’s a huge risk, yes.

VA: Paul, I know any time I’ve asked you to do anything, you’ve said yes. You’ve been a speaker for us in a speaker series. You’ve been a judge in our competition. You’ve been a mentor to our teams. You’ve worked with the digital students. Any time I ask you, and you’re incredibly busy, you say yes. What got you involved as an alum with UMBC?

PM: It is because of you.

VA: Is that right?

PM: When I became successful financially, I started donating back. Then, you sent me a polite email saying, “Hey, would you like a tour of the campus?” You brought me on a tour and we ate lunch. You said your goodbye and that was it. I was like, that’s nice.

My wife and I have a pay-it-forward attitude. We’ve been blessed with success. I’m not driven by money, so that was never in the equation—that I want to be a rich man, and be wealthy, and show off wealth—that was never a driving factor.

VA: One of the many things I like about you.

PM: Money actually makes us uncomfortable in some ways. There’s a lot of responsibility associated with money. So, we decided we need to start giving back to the community.

VA: Things obviously have changed so much for entrepreneurs. What would be your advice for students here, who have that entrepreneurial spirit? 

PM: Our lives are too short to learn everything we need to learn, so that’s why universities are here, so we can jump-start our understanding by coming to institutions like this to learn from other people’s experience. When you’re an entrepreneur, you leave college, you’re still learning, and you need to find, constantly seeking out those mentors.

It’s constantly maintaining a Rolodex of people that you meet. I wish I had done that earlier in my career because there’s a lot of wonderful people I’ve met early in my career that I’ve lost touch with that would have really helped me to be more successful.

The mentors and the relationships with other professionals… it allows all that noise to dissipate, and you can really focus on why you got into business in the first place. 

***** 

Learn more about the 2019 Alumni Award winners and register to attend the October 2 ceremony.  

Header image by Marlayna Demond ’11.

Health is one of the many things we take for granted until we don’t have it. Like a software glitch, you don’t notice the apparatus providing you a service until it fails to follow a command. 

Three of UMBC’s 2019 Alumni Award winners play a role in smoothing out the flaws in health care access—designing apps to create an easier pathway to medical care, serving the United States as the “nation’s doctor,” and on a global scale, improving the medical supply chain for remote locations. 

The way they overlap in their missions stems from their shared Retriever roots and a common empathy for the people they serve, ultimately influencing millions of lives at home and abroad. 

Design with empathy in mind

Kelsey Krach ’14, anthropology, recipient of the 2019 Rising Star award, leans heavily on her background as a Sondheim Public Affairs scholar when thinking about designing information so that it’s accessible to people—creating a seamless software experience through research, so that users achieve their end goal without frustration. Currently she works for Fearless, a UMBC alumni-founded digital services firm, a job that started with “really loving to understand what people need and want,” she says. As someone in the tech world with an anthropology major, Krach says that her degree allows her “to look at critical problems that people and cultures and societies interact with, and critically think about what it means to approach those problems.”

Krach underwent a personal health crisis shortly before leaving for Spain to pursue her master’s in visual and digital media at IE Business School—one that made her reexamine the American health system with a critical lens. Grappling with the consequences of her health issues, she was left with a question after studying in Madrid: “What are the ethical obligations that we have as designers to ensure that we’re doing good stuff in the world?” When she returned to the States after completing her master’s program, Krach took a position through Baltimore Corps and was able to start addressing that question through her work with the Baltimore City Health Department.

One of her projects included approaching public health challenges in the city using human-centric design methodology—designing information in a way that is accessible to people. This involved partnering with tech companies to create prototypes that would address issues like the opioid epidemic. “Right then, I realized that this is the power that technology has to elevate what’s happening for citizens, to provide better solutions for citizens, provide better services. It was just pure civic tech engagement.”

Subsequently she worked on the launch of an app for LifeBridge Health by researching patient experience, specifically those suffering from heart failure. Krach interviewed more than 40 patients while shadowing doctors and nurses and listening in on emergency room conversation. She says she recognized the fear on the patients’ faces because it mirrored her own fear when her health failed her. “I think at the end of the day, the empathy that a designer needs to have for the people they’re designing for is so powerful.”

Compassion as part of the cure

For Jerome Adams ’97, M4, biochemistry and molecular biology and psychology, that empathy also forms the bedrock of his mission as the 20th U.S. Surgeon General. This year’s recipient of the Outstanding Alumni of the Year award for natural and mathematical sciences, Adams has often shared his personal story about his younger brother, who suffers from substance use disorders. “Even as the surgeon general, I’m not immune to this,” Adams says. “I was not able to prevent my family from going down the pathway of addiction.”

Far from just being a political talking point, Adams has plans on how to address the opioid crisis with methods that more effectively reach those suffering from addiction. As a graduate of one of the early Meyerhoff Scholar Program cohorts, Adams intimately knows the benefits and necessity of relying on your community for accountability and support. The mandatory six-week Meyerhoff Summer Bridge program builds close-knit connections between the young scholars through a “we rise together” mentality. 

That reliance on one another is a building block of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs. Increasing access to this type of treatment is among Adams’ proposed steps toward addressing the opioid crisis in America. MAT combines medication with behavioral support and is often referred to as “whole-patient” treatment. Community organizations like churches are encouraged to step in and build relationships with the participants in the program to further strengthen their ties to the community and available support options. Adams is working to increase the number of MAT programs in the country. 

“We know that the only way we’re going to turn this thing around is by everyone owning their part of it and not pointing fingers,” Adams told Mediaplanet. “One of the things I’ve tried to help people understand is that addiction touches all of us. People with opioid use disorder are our friends, our neighbors, our family.”

While compassion is not a cure-all, he says, it’s the right step toward valuing those struggling with substance use disorders. 

A good reason to go to work in the morning

Projecting that empathy even further afield is Kim Shelsby ’85, geography. While at UMBC, the 2019 recipient of the Outstanding Alumni of the Year award for social sciences decided that he wanted to travel the world. He just needed a good reason to do so. 

Shelsby cycled through several majors before taking a class with Sandy Parker, former chair of the department of geography and environmental systems. “Parker made the first and most lasting impression on me,” says Shelsby. “I recall him describing his work with a tribe in the Amazon, and I was hooked.” And what Shelsby ultimately took away from UMBC is that “geographers study everything from anthropology to zoology but their primary question is about the distribution—why things happen where they happen.”

This focus on distribution would shape Shelsby’s career. In his current position with Chemonics International, his team focuses on improving supply chains, mostly for medicine reaching remote health facilities. “Our job is to get the right medicine to the right patient, anywhere in the world, as efficiently as possible.”

His role in an international development organization has allowed him to fulfill his goal of traveling the world for the right reasons. “My company’s mission is to help people live healthier, more productive and independent lives. That’s a good reason to go to work in the morning.”

As manager director on the largest U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project ever—an eight-year, $9.5 billion Global Health Supply Chain Procurement and Supply Management program—Shelsby helped provide medicine and health commodities to more than 60 countries. “It was a massive undertaking,” he put it bluntly. “The first few years were crazy, and it had some rough times, but it is now delivering with about 90 percent on-time delivery.” 

Making the mundane meaningful

Shelsby admits that even though traveling abroad for his job is exciting and fulfills many of his wishes as a student, the day-to-day program management can grow humdrum even while producing so many positive health outcomes. And this is where his advice for students who want to change the world comes in: “Even the mundane tasks can be meaningful when it serves a greater purpose.”

Krach builds on that theme for students looking to make a difference through their work. “I really hate saying, ‘make the world a better place,’ because that’s so subjective to everybody—but at least do things in a way that you can analyze and try to work with other people to make their situations better toward the collective betterment for our society.”

Using your voice to promote and protect others’ health is a platform Adams has embraced. After his 2017 appointment to the position of surgeon general, Adams spoke out about the change from being the health commissioner for the state of Indiana to his current role. “I don’t have a lot of programs under me, I don’t have a lot of funding to go out there and fund different grants or programs. What I do have is the bully pulpit.”

Adams has accepted that national microphone through his natural repartee on Twitter as well as through issuing the first Surgeon General’s Advisory in 13 years, urging more Americans to carry naloxone, an FDA-approved medication that can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. 

While there are no quick fixes for most major health problems, the different roles Krach, Adams, and Shelsby play in designing healthier communities make evident that faithful work in service of those suffering from disease and addiction combined with empathy and compassion will be the bedrock of positive changes in the future. 

In recognition of their service to others and giving back to UMBC with their time and skills, the UMBC community will honor these alumni and others at an award ceremony on October 2 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, but please register in advance. 

Now in its 31st year of celebration, UMBC’s annual Alumni Awards honor graduates who have accomplished significant milestones throughout a long career as well as those who inspire us with admirable achievements early on in their fields. 

“This outstanding group of award winners are leading the way for others and making an impact on all facets of our society and on the local, national, and global stages,” says Stanyell Odom, director of Alumni Engagement. “They exemplify the best qualities of a UMBC education—they are intellectually curious, creative, entrepreneurial, innovative, committed to making a difference, and passionate and proud of their UMBC.”

On Wednesday, October 2, the UMBC Alumni Association will present awards to honor these alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the university. The Association board will also honor a faculty member for extraordinary teaching and overall impact on students and alumni. 

“Each year, the selection seems to be a more competitive process,” says Sara Lerma Jones, associate director of Alumni Engagement, “especially as we have more alumni and they grow into their careers. The nominators have done a wonderful job highlighting alumni from various backgrounds.”

Leading up the award ceremony, UMBC Magazine will continue publishing stories about the 2019 cohort. 

Outstanding Alumni of the Year Award: 

Visual & Performing Arts: 

Kimberly Patrick ’08 Music Technology —Sound Editor, Skywalker Sound, Lucasfilm, Ltd.

Natural & Mathematical Sciences: 

Jerome Adams ’97, M4, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Psychology —Surgeon General, US Department of Health & Human Services

Social Sciences: 

Kim Shelsby ’85 Geography —Director, Supply Chain Solutions, Chemonics International

Engineering & Information Technology:

Paul Mangus ’86 Information Systems Management —Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, Bart and Associates, Inc. 

Humanities:

La Jerne Cornish ’05 Ph.D. Language, Literacy & Culture —Provost and Senior Vice President, Ithaca College

The Young Alumni Rising Star Award:

Kelsey Krach ’14 Anthropology —Product Manager & Designer, Fearless 

The Outstanding Faculty Award: 

Beverly Bickel ’94 M.A. Instructional Development Systems, ’05 Ph.D. Language, Literacy, & Culture —Clinical Associate Professor, UMBC, Language, Literacy, & Culture; Affiliate Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies

Register here alumni.umbc.edu/alumniawards2019 to join the Alumni Association Board of Directors for our alumni awards ceremony to recognize and celebrate the professional personal achievements of this year’s recipients. 

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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.