The UMBC community is full of compassionate, caring people who love to give back to UMBC. Today we’re meeting one of those people, Justine Johnson, Associate Director of the Meyerhoff Graduate Program at UMBC. She was this year’s lucky – and deserving! – recipient of the Jakubik Family Endowment Award. This award was created to recognize a staff member who went beyond the norm in helping UMBC students achieve their goals. Learn more about the award and Stan Jakubik in part 1 of this series.

Q: What is your relationship to UMBC? How did you become involved with UMBC?

A: I love UMBC and I hope to retire from this wonderful place! I am currently the Associate Director of the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program and I became involved with UMBC in 1999 when I was hired as an Accounting Associate in the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program. I worked in the department during the transition from FAS to PeopleSoft and was later promoted to Business Manager. It was a very rewarding experience and I learned a great deal about higher education. But I learned my biggest lesson from the amazing students in the program. In 2004, I wasn’t looking to make any career changes, however I was working closely with MaryEllen Jackson, my predecessor who was leaving the position with the Meyerhoff Graduate Program. In casual conversation I said, “Your job looks like fun! What do you think about me doing it?” With excitement she said, “You would leave the Meyerhoff Program? I think you would be great for this position!” She immediately shared our conversation with Dr. Summers and the rest is history!

Q: Could you share a favorite memory from your time here?

A: There are so many! When I began working in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program I participated in Summer Bridge with the M11’s. As part of a trust-building field trip, we had to participate in a trust-fall where the students and staff had to catch you as you fell from a 10-foot-tall tree post. Later we had to climb a rock wall and I am afraid of heights. Those incoming M11 Meyerhoff Scholars and the staff rooted and cheered me on like I was an Olympian and I was determined to reach the top. Looking down at them and hearing them root me on was priceless! I knew I was going to love working here.

Q: How did it feel to receive the Jakubik Family Endowment Award?

A: I felt really honored to receive the Jakubik award, and it was especially nice to receive an email from Mr. Jakubik congratulating me on the award. It was also an honor to get nominated by Dr. Summers and the letters of recommendation from Dr. LaCourse, Greg Simmons, and Dr. Hrabowski. It is nice to be acknowledged for the work that you do with students every day. You never know how you are influencing their lives and decisions.  I enjoy working with students and seeing their growth and watching them accomplish their goals.

Q: What would you want to say to the Stan and the Jakubik Family?

A: I would tell them thank you for establishing such an award that acknowledges contributions to students by faculty and staff at UMBC. The acknowledgement itself is an honor and the monetary award is the icing on the cake! It encourages me to continue to do better.

Q: Why do you think it’s important to give back to UMBC and its students?

A: It’s important to give back to UMBC because this institution does so much for its students, staff, and the community at-large. When I think about what working at UMBC has done for me, I’m not sure what my life or my family would be like if I didn’t work here.  Giving back to the students is important because every person needs to feel connected. They also need encouragement along the way! When I think about all that I have gained from working here, giving back to students comes easy.

Read part 1 of this series.

Editor’s note: This is part 1 of 2 in a series on the Jakubik Family Endowment Award.

The UMBC community is full of compassionate, caring people who love to give back to UMBC. Stan Jakubik and Justine Johnson are two of those people. Jakubik, a former Assistant Provost at UMBC and now the Assistant Vice Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, along with his family, established the Jakubik Family Endowment in the early 2000s. Their goal was to acknowledge the role that the staff plays in the success of students at UMBC.

Along with the Office of Institutional Advancement, Jakubik created an award that would recognize a staff member who went beyond the norm in helping UMBC students achieve their goals. While the award does include a monetary component, it was designed to highlight the contributions made by all staff to the overall academic and social environment at UMBC.

Today we’re meeting Stan Jakubik, the founder and namesake of the Jakubik Family Endowment, to find out why he’s such a big supporter of UMBC.

Q: What is your relationship to UMBC? How did you become involved with UMBC?

A: I was a member of the UMBC staff from 1980 through most of 1997.  I originally was hired as Registrar, later became Registrar and Director of Academic Advising, finally moving to Assistant Provost in the early 1990s. I reluctantly left UMBC in 1997 to head up a project for the University System of Maryland, where I am currently Assistant Vice Chancellor.

Q: Could you share a favorite memory from your time here?

A: My most fond memories of UMBC involve the growth of team spirit among the staff over the years. In the mid 1980s, Michael Hooker became President and started the transition toward the academic powerhouse that is now UMBC, with Freeman later moving UMBC to the national acclaim it enjoys today. The staff supporting all of the changes became a critical part of UMBC’s success story by joining together to constantly try to find better ways to support students and faculty. There was a strong identity among the staff with the goals of UMBC, pushing bureaucracy aside and finding new ways to “make it happen.”

I must say my other fond memory is my daughter Stephanie’s graduation from UMBC and her first career steps, joining the UMBC staff in both the Shriver Center and Institutional Advancement.

Q: How do you hope your support will make UMBC a better place?

A: My daughter and I wanted to find a way to thank UMBC for the exceptional experiences we both had as staff members. We could think of no better way than to build a program to acknowledge the continuing efforts of UMBC people who want to make the experience of being a member of the UMBC community an exceptional positive period in the lives of our students. We wanted to publicize the achievements of those whose commitment to UMBC – and to the success of its students – set a very high bar for others to follow. I believe the award does that.

Q: Why do you think it’s important to give back to UMBC?

A: I think we all know that financial support from individuals is more critical today than it has ever been. What is most important, however, is that people associated with UMBC have an opportunity to give back in so many different ways. Financial support clearly is one, but volunteerism is another. Becoming involved in recruiting efforts, telling the story of UMBC in social media, mentoring students, and working the legislative issues that impact UMBC all provide the kind of support that UMBC needs. Supporting UMBC in whatever manner is appropriate to you will help UMBC to continue to be the incredible success story it is today.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series tomorrow.
In the meantime, you can support UMBC, too!

It’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air! For all of us here at UMBC, it’s a great day to tell you, our donors, how much we appreciate you and all that you do for UMBC.

When you give to the University, you make it possible for our students to get the highest quality education. You ensure that our faculty and staff have the resources to do amazing things. You invest in a place that strives for greatness. And though that investment means more to us than words can convey, we still want to say thank you. So we asked a few of our faculty and staff to say thank you to a donor who has made a difference to them:

“We’re so appreciative of the support that Ken Pittman ’80, economics, gives to our university. He is generous with his time through his service on our alumni board, and he and his family regularly contribute to several of our scholarship funds. His willingness to give back helps make UMBC a great place.”

~Stanyell Bruce, Director of Alumni Relations, UMBC

“We are so grateful for Next Century’s support of this software engineering course. Their gift helps students learn about the fundamentals of Software Engineering and the software development lifecycle. The students are getting a great opportunity to work with a ‘real-life’ application, developing a student alert system. Next Century personnel are acting as ‘customers’ for this project, which gives students valuable training in working with real customers. The students are also going to present their project in Next Century’s offices and will get an experience of actual office/industry setting.”

~Karuna Joshi, Research Assistant Professor, UMBC

“Through his work as a student caller with UMBC’s Phonathon, Jordan, class of 2014, has done exceptional work on behalf of UMBC and the Meyerhoff program. He has had hundreds of conversations with alumni and parents, helping to secure many gifts for the  LaMont Toliver Alumni Memorial Scholarship. This fall, Jordan himself made a contribution to the LaMont Toliver Alumni Memorial Scholarship. I was really impressed by his leadership as a student and donor. UMBC’s students often give back of their time and talent, but it’s more rare for students to part with their hard-earned paychecks. Jordan’s commitment to helping future generations of UMBC students excel was a really moving act that leaves a lasting legacy in Mr. Toliver’s name.”

~Dayna Carpenter, Director of Annual Giving

Check out UMBC’s Donor Roll, where we say thank you to everyone who has supported us each year.