In the spring 2019 issue of UMBC Magazine, writer Sarah Hansen, M.S. ’15, shares the research of Colin Studds, assistant professor of geography and environmental systems, senior author of a recent paper detailing the full life cycle of the dragonfly for the very first time. (Read the full story here.)
To celebrate this exciting discovery, UMBC designer Layla Thompson-Koch created this web extra to show the full cycle. Enjoy!
]]>
UMBC Magazine‘s longtime photographer Marlayna Demond ’11 is used to going to great lengths to get her shot. A former Linehan Scholar, she climbs on tables and ladders to achieve the right angle. She waits quietly in the cold for the right moment to snap the shutter. (Here’s one example of that.) She takes hundreds—and sometimes thousands—of photos to get the one perfect for print. And who even knows how many squirrel portraits she’s captured over the years, simply because we asked? In short: she’s a true team player.
So, when we decided to write a feature on UMBC’s award-winning swimming and diving team, the obvious first question was: “How do we safely get Marlayna (and her camera) under water?” (Read the full story here.)
In addition to the challenges of using electronics in and around the waters of the UMBC Natatorium, we also wanted to make sure Marlayna could breathe easily and have as much range of motion underwater as she would on land. Over the course of a month and a half, our team tested out lighting and camera solutions with the guinea pigs—ahem, wonderful student athletes—on the swimming and diving squads. Marlayna borrowed a “dry suit” that allowed her to float and move somewhat gracefully in the water. Some ideas worked right away, others didn’t. In the end, it was a win-win: Marlayna got what she wanted and no one got electrocuted.
Here’s Marlayna’s take: “When we started planning for this feature, the biggest challenge was how to get the underwater photos safely—both for my safety, and for my equipment’s! After searching a bit, the best solution was to use an underwater camera and a borrowed dry suit (it’s like a wet suit, but can also keep air trapped inside making floating much easier!). With the addition of a scuba mask and breathing tube, I hopped in the water for our test round photo shoot (looking absolutely ridiculous) and quickly found that my nervousness about photographing in such an unusual environment floated away, and my love of being in the water kicked in instead! The shoot day itself had lighting and timing obstacles to figure out, but all in all, the swimmers were fantastic and patient, and this was one of the most fun photo shoots I’ve gotten to be a part of here!”
We’re grateful to UMBC’s swimmers and divers and Coach Chad Cradock ’97 and his team for giving us the time and space to explore these new depths of photography with them. And we hope you enjoy these behind-the-scene peeks of our time in the water.
— Jenny O’Grady, Editor
Getting ready to jump in! With Candace Cage, designer.
Marlayna enjoying her time in the “dry suit.”
Marlayna waited in the water to capture Elijah Wright’s dive in slow motion.
Did we mention how amazing the student athletes were?
Testing out shot ideas with art director Jim Lord ’99 and designer Candace Cage.
* * * *
Read the full story: The Best Team You’ve Never Heard Of
Header image: There’s a strong possibility they’re cheering because it’s the final shot of the day.
]]>
Last week, UMBC rolled out a sparkling new brand based on more than a year’s worth of community input. With it launched a fresh new homepage and icon, as well as a video meant not only to pull at the heartstrings of #RetrieverNation, but to welcome new Dawgs into our special community.
Woven through the video are scenes and sentiments that many in our community will immediately recognize. But what you might not know is that there was as much Retriever effort put in behind the scenes as there was captured by the camera. Here’s a sneak peek at the Retriever alumni—directors, producers, gaffers, and makeup artists—who helped make this video a success.
For UMBC’s video producer, Corey Jennings ’10, economics, this project was the culmination of months of collaboration with campus partners—partnerships that he created as a student on campus. In directing a video to announce the launch of the University’s new brand, Jennings instinctively knew the strengths of his alma mater to highlight.
In the UMBC community, he says, “we all knew in the back of our minds there’d be this flashpoint where we could say ‘look and see.’ The 2018 NCAA upset and our first Rhodes Scholar [Naomi Mburu ’18, chemical engineering] gave us an opportunity to tell our story in a larger way, and through this brand launch we’re given the chance to refocus the narrative of UMBC.”
Jennings points to an unscripted moment of the production that made the cut when President Hrabowski is chatting with students on set. “It was just Freeman being Freeman,” says Jennings. “Your character is who you are,” Hrabowski said to the small group gathered. “Through his words, we found a story we didn’t even know we were telling. Something like this happens in almost every interaction with leadership here,” says Jennings. “They truly care about the community.”
While Jennings knew that the project’s executive producer, Liz Norton, was also a fellow alum, the rest of the Retrievers on set were a surprise to him, but only slightly. “The University is deeply ingrained in the local production industry,” says Jennings, whose wife Carly Faye Engelke ’08—a Linehan Scholar and a dance major—is active in the Baltimore performing arts scene. Even the project’s videographer Kyle Deitz can trace his Retriever roots through his mother, Mary M. Deitz, who earned her degree in economics from UMBC in 1982.
Through the investment of students and alumni and staff in the UMBC community, says Jennings, “this video allows us to reflect on who we already are and the truth that we’ve always been this way, but maybe the outside world just didn’t know.”
Alexis Arenas ’01, history, didn’t anticipate being the makeup artist for a film production at her alma mater, but as a history major, she knows the importance of returning to the past. “It’s an honor to play a part in telling the story of the future. I enjoyed my time here so much, I want to bring UMBC to a wider audience.”
Tucked away in a corner of The Commons, Arenas stood by her makeup staging area, ready to touch up the faces of the UMBC talent on set. In the past, she’s brushed the faces of Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, but today’s star is someone slightly more familiar: President Freeman Hrabowski. Between shots, Arenas commented on the many campus changes in the past two decades—in her time, she said, students’ central hangout space was the University Center.
As a member of the Makeup Artist Union in New York and having trained in London, Arenas sees a clear tie from her roots at UMBC to her career based in Ellicott City today. “UMBC taught me research skills, and research is necessary to what I do,” said Arenas, who often works on period piece films and vintage projects. “History is integral to being a top notch makeup artist.”
When Alexis Arenas ’01 arrived as the set’s makeup artist, she proudly claimed her alumna status.
Daniel Stack ’10, fine arts, the gaffer—or the chief lighting technician—of the film crew, boasts quite the UMBC family tree. His parents both graduated in the first decade of graduating student classes, and his mother is a member of the Founding Four (Anne Brant Stack ’72, English, and W. Stewart Stack ’78, interdisciplinary studies). His wife, Elise Stack ’03, English, is also a UMBC alumna, as is his brother, and several cousins.
One thing people should know about UMBC, said Stack, is this: “If one person in your family comes to UMBC, everyone else will come to UMBC, at least that’s what I’ve learned.”
Stack was a Linehan Scholar who immediately started working in the family business. His father started Serious Grip and Electric in 1983 (we recommend their website for the most thrilling About Us page on the internet). As the gaffer on set for this project, he’s literally in charge of letting the best parts of UMBC shine—from lab beakers to sports bleachers.
In charge of lighting on set, Dan Stack ’10 is part of a complex family tree of Retrievers.
Liz Norton ’06, visual arts, is the executive producer on set. Another former Linehan Scholar (who showed up to the first day of the shoot in her UMBC vs. University of Virginia bracket t-shirt) was clearly happy to be back on campus, repping her Retriever pride. Norton works at Three Seas, a collective of boutique creative companies. She reached out to UMBC creative services after UMBC’s NCAA 2018 upset. With reignited pride in her alma mater, she suggested collaborating on future projects.
Thinking back on what’s stayed the same since her time on campus, Norton immediately replies: “Nerd pride. We’re here and we’re ourselves. We’re proud to be excited about whatever cool is going on at the University.”
Liz Norton ’06 stands in for the basketball players as the crew gets the lighting ready for the shot.
After coordinating the project behind the scenes weeks in advance—including organizing the crew and equipment and managing the timeline and budget—Liz now watches her production advance smoothly throughout the day, Norton notes, “there’s so much diversity here that the video captures so well. There’s diversity among the students, but the students also pursue diverse interests.”
On the last day of the shoot, again wearing black and gold, Norton reflects on the project, “The creators’ vision for this video resonates with me in terms of community and character. UMBC has stayed really consistent with these things over time.”
****
All photos courtesy of Marlayna Demond ’11, Raquel Hamner ’20, and Ana Isabel Martinez Chamorro for UMBC.
****
Cast: Giavanni Powell, Kennedy Lamb, Linda Wiratan, Joe Sherburne, Ryan Odom, Lloyd Ekpe, Laura Schraven, Mia Rickenbach, Darian Garcia
Crew:
Director of Content Development: Jenny O’Grady
UMBC Video Producer/Director: Corey Jennings
Executive Producer: Liz Norton
Producer: Dave Willis
Director of Photography: Kyle Deitz
Assistant Camera: Nate Spivey
Gaffer: Dan Stack
Audio: Lorenzo Millan
Hair/Makeup: Alexis Arenas
PA: Alex Papalitskas
PA: Andrew Hwang
Special Thanks: UMBC Athletics, Center for Art Design and Visual Culture, Campus Life Operations, Commonvision, UMBC Dance Department, Michael Summers, Summers Lab Staff, UMBC Transportation, Residential Life
]]>
“Ilsa Lottes pulled me into Sociology, and Leslie Morgan convinced me to pursue a Ph.D. Both women were amazing mentors! So many great professors…a lot of fun was had in Rudy Storch’s Latin classes and I find myself still referring back to Jay Freyman’s word roots class.”
— Connie Krach Pierson ’90, economics, M.A. ’92, sociology
“Professor Schaller. He not only pushed me harder than any other professor, but he intensified my interest in politics and government. I still can’t believe he gave a quiz on my 21st birthday though. I’m pretty sure I aced it.”
– Sarah Candell Clifford ’10, political science
“Marjorie Herman, inspired me to go into the music profession. I ended up as a board certified music therapist. She was Margy Kleiman then in the early ’70s. This was before UMBC even had a music major. I majored in psych but took a lot of music courses …”
– Elizabeth Gardiner Myers ’75, psychology
“Dr. Jodi Kelber was such an important part of my UMBC life. I learned so much about evaluating life through critical lenses from her, but I learned just as much about leading an authentic and ethical life. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without her generous guidance and loving spirit.”
– Sarah Pevner ’08, English
“Almost every professor has been an inspiration… Narrowing it down to just one? Improbable. I was an Ancient Studies major, and it was the department as a whole which inspired me to push harder in my studies.”
– Deirdre Lohrmann ’16, ancient studies
“Sally Shivnan who taught me how to really tell a story with the written word in any medium. Christopher Corbett who taught generations of journalists the importance of chasing a story with a moral compass in hand, whom I think of whenever I read a really great piece of investigative journalism. Jason Loviglio who honed the lens through which his students view popular culture and politics and media, and whose course should be a requirement for every freshman. Christoph Irmscher who was my mentor and who taught me by example how to build consensus among peers which is a skill I rely on daily in my corporate career. I wouldn’t trade the UMBC professors I had for anything, not for admission to any other university in the world. I loved every minute in their classrooms and have such a deep-abiding nostalgia for my entire learning experience at UMBC.”
– Brett McKenzie Wood ’04, English
“Dr. Lumpkin who taught Thermodynamics around 94 or so. Sadly she passed after giving birth to her daughter. She truly exemplified a professor that cared about her students learning the material and having understanding. Dr. Lumpkin solidified my understanding of it taking a village sometimes to be successful. Because of her not giving up on me or allowing me to give up on myself and studying Chem. E., I make it a point to put the same into others that cross my path.”
– Gwen Blackwell ’97, chemical engineering
“Jason Rhodes. He was only an adjunct but he changed my way of thinking back in 2011 and I still remember what a great experience his class was. He taught me that for anything to change, it takes time, energy, and effort. I’m forever grateful for how he opened up my perspective on the outside world.”
– Jerrica Stanley ’14, psychology
“I loved my boss, Frank Tyminski, when I worked in Chem Prep. He was smart, dedicated to his students, and knew how to give us tough love. I used to go back to visit every few months when I was in grad school and could call him up any time I had a chemistry question. Frank was definitely one of the biggest influences in my college career.”
– Aimee Iannacci ’05, biological sciences and psychology
“Dr. Stephen Freeland was one of the professors who played an important role in my undergrad journey. He taught us how to bring disciplines together to maximize the results and taught us so much about effective skills and behaviors! No need to say the astrobiology class he taught was a great experience and the energy and effort he put toward teaching us was honorable.”
– Melorin Shahri ’17, biological sciences
“Dr. Osman Güler introduced me to operations research. He’s tough but fair, and always wants to make sure you truly get the concepts. When I was applying to grad schools, he pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of, as he did with his courses.”
– Emily Conley ’14, mathematics
“Ed Orser took over when Joel Jons left the American Studies Dept. to go to the U of New Mexico. Joel Jones recruited me into American Studies and Ed Orser took the reins and opened my mind to the concept of intellectual synthesis, taking disparate parts of society and beginning t understand the interplay of various disciplines on the realities of the world.”
– Jerry Kerr ’71, American studies
“Dr. JoAnn Argersinger. She was my advisor and helped to guide me through my years as a history major. She was a fascinating lecturer and I still use things she taught me as I teach my students!”
– Sheila Reed Magin ’88, history
“It is a tie for me.
Thanks UMBC #UMBCwow”
– Bill Glover ’90, information systems
“Dr. Andrea Kalfoglou taught me in the HAPP/SOCY Qualitative Research Methods course in 2009. It was life changing and showed me research comes in many forms. Thanks to UMBC, I use what I learned in my BA and MA programs in my job as a healthcare market researcher every single day. :)”
– Mary Faith James ’10, health administration and policy, M.A. ’12, sociology
“Dr. Michelle Stefano in American Studies. When I first signed up for her class, I just wanted to fulfill a requirement. I had no interest in the subject whatsoever, but she had so much passion that she made me care about and love the work we did in class. It ended up being one my favorite classes, and I ended up taking another class with her. She has so much passion that she can make anyone care about her topic. She is clearly in it for all the right reasons and she taught me that as long as you do what you love, you’ll be alright.”
– Hesham Hassanein ’16, political science
“Jim Thomas. Enough said.”
– Jen Joanna (Muston) ’04, American studies
]]>
Move-in day is a highly anticipated undertaking for college students everywhere, and UMBC is no exception. Lugging their suitcases, decorative furnishings, and pre-semester anxieties, UMBC students swarm the campus to turn their little dorm into home for the next four months. Sometimes they enjoy a little help from family and friends. Below are recent images of Retrievers moving in and enjoying the campus-wide welcome. A big thank-you to Alexis Harris ’19 for taking the photos!
[nivoslider id=”8438″]
Move-in day excitement always carries over into Welcome Week activities where students meet up with old friends and make new ones, too! Below you can see glimpses of move-in days and welcome weeks of the past, courtesy of Retriever Weekly‘s past, available online in UMBC’s digital archives.
[nivoslider id=”8495″]
“I loved those first days so much that I decided to become a New Resident Student Assistant helping freshmen with their move-ins for the next two years, and a Resident Assistant my senior year,” recalls Karen Lewis ’97, American studies, about moving in at UMBC. Lewis is pictured below.
What are some of your favorite move-in day memories at UMBC?
]]>
Upon entering the UMBC campus, visitors arriving at the drop-off circle in front of the Administration Building are greeted in a way that’s uniquely UMBC — with bricks saying “Welcome” in dozens of languages from around the world. The greetings are subtle but plentiful, displayed on the grey areas of the brick pavement.
This is but a small example of the many ways that diversity is celebrated on this campus, including the numerous flags of the world on display in The Commons, the variety of culturally-based clubs and organizations, and more. And, UMBC is always finding new ways to welcome international students to our campus, including participation in a nation-wide social media campaign.
The #YouAreWelcomeHere campaign is a message from United States higher education to welcome international students from all around the globe to attend our schools. According to the campaign website, the idea for #YouAreWelcomeHere started in 2016 with this short video from Study Group and some of their university clients:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61YgRD_B6FY]
Temple University soon made their own video with the hashtag #YouAreWelcomeHere and then extended the campaign for U.S. higher education. Today, the campaign is growing with more than 250 institutions participating. UMBC is now one of them.
So, what does #YouAreWelcomeHere look like at UMBC? Since the start of this Fall 2017 semester, the large screen outside the RAC has displayed this #YouAreWelcomeHere image for all entering UMBC to see.
UMBC’s English Language Institute (ELI) has also produced a series of videos featuring welcomes from members of the UMBC community. Check out those videos here.
“I think UMBC is a special place because we really are a community of people from all over the world that come together to work and learn and share our ideas and backgrounds,” says Ryan Sheldon M.A. ’15, ELI Assistant Director. “And this, to me, is why YOU are welcome here and why UMBC is special.”
— Allison Cruz ’18
]]>
In 1972, professor Mary Stuart fought to keep her maiden name and vote in Maryland, in what became a landmark case for women’s rights. Forty-five years later, the professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy at UMBC reflects on the experience and the ways it has impacted her teaching at UMBC.
– Allison Cruz ’18
* * * * *
AC: When did you move to Columbia, Maryland, and why?
MS: I think we moved to Columbia, Maryland, in 1971. I had graduated from college that year and got married. We were locating there because we both had worked with children at a summer camp for children with dyslexia. I taught horseback riding and he was a tutor. There were maybe four or five families who lived in Columbia whose children had been at the camp. They said if we would relocate to Columbia, then they would organize themselves so that he would have a core of students to begin tutoring. That seemed like a reasonable thing to do.
AC: How long have you taught here at UMBC?
MS: I joined the faculty at UMBC in 1996, twenty-one years ago.
AC: What brought you to teach at UMBC?
MS: I actually wanted to come teach at UMBC because I like the culture here. Like many people, I had heard Dr. Freeman Hrabowski speak. I felt like it was a campus where there was support for diversity and there were values that I could support. Because it was a young campus, it was innovative in ways that many older campuses weren’t.
AC: In what field do you teach?
MS: My field is health policy and health services research. I was very interested in helping educate the workforce, especially innovative health policies that could improve care for people and also potentially save money by providing better care for really sick people. Also, I was working with Medicaid data, which are large databases. It was very difficult to hire people with the skills we needed to do the kind of work that needed to be done.
I felt like UMBC had the interdisciplinary combination of departments that could help educate the workforce we needed. I also felt like I had a commitment to women and minorities. I felt that one of the best things you could do to help women and minorities was to educate them in skills that the labor force really needed.
AC: What do your courses generally focus on?
MS: My two favorite courses that I’ve taught are Organization and Delivery of Health Care and the International Field Research Program. The first class is self-explanatory, I think. In the second class, students prepare their research plan during the spring semester, and then I take them to Switzerland for a week and they actually do the research that they’ve planned.
AC: So, you were the landmark case for women’s right to keep their maiden name in marriage and still be able to vote. What was the significance behind your keeping the name Mary Stuart?
MS: The Scottish heritage had been really important in my family. My great-grandfather had raised sheep in Scotland and, in fact, won awards. He actually won a silver tea set that’s engraved to him from the Prince of Wales for the best pen of sheep in the show. Then my grandfather came to the U.S. when he was nineteen.
Growing up, there were many things we did as a family that involved Scottish culture, like going to the Scottish games and hearing the bagpipers, and my father playing the bagpipe music to wake us up. My grandparents would tell stories about Scotland, and I got to meet other relatives who had come from Scotland.
AC: Were there other reasons why keeping your maiden name was important to you?
MS: When I was in high school, I really remember thinking either I keep my own name or I don’t get married because I’m not giving up the name Mary Stuart. It was a famous name because of the Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart, who was ultimately beheaded but the Scots were very loyal to her.
The name Mary Stuart was me, it was part of my identity.
AC: Did you ever wonder if keeping your name after marriage would cause any problems?
MS: I spoke to a lawyer before I got married, and he said there wouldn’t be a problem. Just be consistent. He said never use your husband’s name. Always use your name.
AC: When did the legal battle to keep your own name and vote begin?
MS: It began when I registered to vote in Maryland, at least I thought I had registered to vote. I got a letter back that said I would have to refer to my husband’s name in order to vote.
AC: What kinds of challenges did you deal with during your fight to keep your name?
MS: One of the hardest challenges, or inconveniences, was when the MVA office revoked my driver’s license because then I couldn’t drive. I also found the media attention difficult to deal with. There was a lot being written because it ultimately became the landmark case in a woman keeping her own name. As it progressed through the stages, there was a lot of local and national media. I got letters from people and some of them were very supportive, but some of them were really nasty.
AC: At the time, did you consider the legal battle to keep your name as being a women’s rights issue or is that something that you considered later?
MS: It’s not like I went out looking for a fight. But when you’re faced with something that’s important to you, it just seemed like a matter of principle. I needed to stand up for what I believed in and then see it through. That was the long and short of it.
AC: When the courts finally did rule in your favor and you were able to keep your name and vote, how did you feel in the end?
MS: Well, I was really grateful and also happy to be able to drive again. It was also very important having the American Civil Liberties Union in New York come in and file a Friends of the Court brief. I learned that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had taken the lead on that for the ACLU in New York. I thought, oh my. Clearly the ACLU recognized that this was not a case to lose, that it was important to win this case.
AC: You were surrounded by lots of media attention during the legal fight, but when was the first revisit back to your experience since then?
MS: The first revisit was the article by The Howard County Times. Their reason for revisiting was for the 50th Anniversary for Howard County, they were reviewing some of the history of the area and they came across this case.
AC: When did it hit you that you were making a statement for women’s rights in Maryland and across the nation as well?
MS: I believed it was important for women’s rights but I didn’t realize that this would be the landmark case in a woman’s keeping her own name. In The Howard County Times article, they mention Sally Gold who is a lawyer in Baltimore. I was actually introduced to Sally Gold at a fundraiser some years after the case was over, and she said, “Oh, Mary Stuart. You’re the landmark case.” That was the first that I really understood that this was a landmark case that somebody would recognize.
But at the time I understood that it was important for me and other women to be able to keep their own name. We needed to win this case.
AC: Is there anything that you would like to add about this whole experience?
MS: Looking back on where we started with this interview, I think that being at UMBC has been a really important chapter in who I am and what I believe and being able to act on what I believe. I think it’s an exciting university that reflects the values that I have.
Most of us only have a small contribution in the river of how culture evolves and how the law evolves. But if each of us does our part, then society will be a better, more equitable place for women, minorities, and people of diversity. This campus really represents that kind of hope.
]]>
From the bonfire and Alumni Awards, to our soccer game and annual Comedy Show featuring Trevor Noah, UMBC Homecoming is not to be missed! What are YOUR top five reasons for catching Retriever Fever?
UMBC Homecoming 2017 runs October 5-14, right here on campus! Learn more at homecoming.umbc.edu.
Video by Jenny O’Grady.
]]>
Along with the rest of the country, members of the UMBC community came together to try to catch a glimpse of August’s total eclipse of the sun. Although Maryland was not in the “path of totality,” the 80% view from Catonsville still elicited the “oohs” and “ahs” of bespectacled Retrievers in front of the Albin O. Kuhn Library – where staff offered demonstrations in pinhole viewer construction – and around campus.
[nivoslider id=”8382″]
Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11
]]>
Want to learn more about how Kate Drabinski’s summer course is exploring food justice in Baltimore? UMBC Magazine’s Jenny O’Grady tagged along for a recent walking tour, exploring local historic food markets and a community garden.
Learn more about UMBC’s Summer Session here.