There are less than three days left to be entered into the $500 bookstore cash giveaway! Simply complete the Cash Course, UMBC's free financial literacy Blackboard class, and you'll be entered to win.

Students that complete one module will be entered to win a $100 voucher, two or more modules for $300, and students that complete all of the modules will be entered to win $500 in bookstore cash. 

Head over to financialsmarts.umbc.edu/cash-course/ for more details and your chance to win.

Featuring a Keynote from Dr. Saundra McGuire

Friday, September 22, 2017 · 8:45 AM – 2:15 PM

UMBC Campus – University Center

The Faculty Developing Center at UMBC extends an invitation to all PROMISE AGEP and Postdoctoral Fellows at UMBC Community to participate.

Please join us for the fourth annual Provost’s Teaching and Learning Symposium!  This symposium, part of the Hrabowski Innovation Fund initiative, will bring together UMBC faculty and staff to discuss ways to use evidence to inform teaching and learning. Samples of sessions include:

Please join us for the fourth annual Provost’s Teaching and Learning Symposium!  This symposium, part of the Hrabowski Innovation Fund initiative, will bring together UMBC faculty and staff to discuss ways to use evidence to inform teaching and learning. Samples of sessions include:

• Hrabowski Innovation Fund Fellows’ and Awardees’ Projects
• Pedagogical Innovation Demonstration
• Bridging Student Learning Outcomes & Student Success Analytics
• Closing the Loop with Evidence Based Interventions
• Effective and Efficient Grading
• Next Steps in Assessing Graduate Student Learning
• …as well as posters

For more information, please download the agenda and a detailed program.

This year’s keynote address will be given by Saundra McGuire, Ph.D., author of Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation, Stylus Publishing LLC, 2015. 

Keynote: Get Students to Focus on Learning Instead of Grades:  Metacognition is the Key!  21st Century students come to college with widely varying academic skills, approaches to learning, and motivation levels.  Faculty often lament that students are focused on achieving high grades, but are not willing to invest much time or effort in learning.  This session will focus on the importance of helping students acquire simple, but effective learning strategies based on cognitive science principles.  We will engage in interactive reflection activities that will allow attendees to experience strategies that significantly improve learning while transforming student attitudes about the meaning of learning.

Dr. Saundra Yancy McGuire is the Director Emerita of the Center for Academic Success and retired Assistant Vice Chancellor and Professor of Chemistry at LSU. Prior to joining LSU, she spent eleven years at Cornell University, where she received the coveted Clark Distinguished Teaching Award.  She has delivered keynote addresses or presented workshops at over 250 institutions in 43 states and eight countries.  Her latest book, Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation, was released in October 2015.  The most recent of her awards is the 2017 American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students to Pursue Careers in the Chemical Sciences.  She received her B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, her Master’s degree from Cornell and her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where she received the Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Professional Promise.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR LUNCH!  PLEASE CLICK “I CAN ATTEND” BELOW BY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 TO REGISTER FOR LUNCH.

https://my.umbc.edu/groups/fdc/events/50998

FACULTY ARE INVITED TO ATTEND ANY OR ALL PRESENTATIONS!

√ Counts toward ALIT Certificate
§ Counts towards INNOVATE Certificate
Ͼ CIRTL graduate students are invited to attend

Join us to discuss ethical, effective, and inspiring mentors

Thursday, September 21, 2017 ,· 8 AM – 8 PM

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and The Graduate School at University of Maryland College Park (UMD) extend an invitation to all Postdoctoral Fellows and Associates and Graduate Students of the USM System interested in pursuing an Academic Career to attend this event.

All events, save for the networking reception, will be held at the University of Maryland, College Park Campus. The reception will tentatively be held at the Milkboy Arthouse, subject to confirmation from the venue.

Adele Stamp Student Union

3972 Campus Drive

College Park, MD 20142

The registration as a cost of $15 for Non-UMD Students or Faculty members.

REGISTER HERE

The symposium has four goals:

1. To recognize and discuss the issues surrounding mentoring in STEM fields.
2. To discuss effective mentorship and advocacy techniques at all levels: PhD, Postdoc, Faculty
3. To provide a platform to connect like-minded young scientists who wish to effect change at their own institutions at the grassroots level.
4. To inspire participants to practice effective mentorship practices and promote these skill sets to their peers and colleagues at their own institutions.

Among the many roles that scientists play, mentoring younger scientists is one which researchers are rarely trained for. In the current STEM research environment, where lack of funding is but one of the systemic issues faced by young scientists, the roles, responsibilities, and career trajectories are changing. Organizations such as Future of Research and Rescuing Biomedical Research have been formed in recent years to address systemic issues facing academic research. Others, such as the National Mentoring Research Network, have arisen to address the training needs of those who wish to remain in academia but receive no formal training in how to supervise and mentor students. Still, there are gaps in the cultural awareness and value of being an inspiring leader, promoting a positive work environment, and in having happy, mentally fit employees. Where other industries recognize these benefits, academic culture lags.

But all of these issues are intertwined, and lead to the pessimism and learned helplessness found in many young researchers regarding their careers across the nation and the world. Because system, training, and culture all intersect to provide a scientist’s well-being and productivity, Labmosphere and Future of Research are holding a conference in collaboration with UMD-College Park to discuss current mentorship practices and the way in which they could be improved upon.

This whole day conference will take place at the end of National Postdoc Appreciation week (September 21st). It will consist of three speakers with break-out sessions in between the talks, as well as a mentorship panel at the end followed by discussion and a networking reception.

Tentative schedule:

8:00 – 9:00 AM

Event Registration and continental breakfast served in main auditorium

9:00 AM – 10: 30 AM

9:00 AM Opening remarks (Blessing Enekwe (UMD); Jeff Franke (UMD); Gary McDowell (FoR))

9:30 AM Keynote Speaker (UMD-Faculty and NRMN Core faculty (Dr. Sandra Quinn))

10:15 AM Questions and first talk wrap-up

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Break-out Sessions for workshops:

Culturally Aware Mentoring (Dr. Sandra Quinn)

Local Advocacy (Gary McDowell and Union of Concerned Scientists)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Networking lunch in the main auditorium

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

1:00 PM Hypercompetition in Research (Dr. Chris Pickett, Rescuing Biomedical Research)

1:45 PM Courageous and Value-Based Leadership in Academic Research (Brooke Deterline, Courage to Lead)

2:45 PM – 4:00 PM

Break-out Sessions for second round of workshops:

Mentorship across the industry/academia divide (Will Olds, Proteintech)

Support Networks (Juan Pablo Ruiz, Labmosphere)

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Workshop wrap-up and mentoring panel:

Meg Bentley, Director in Residence of Laboratories, Dept of Biology, American University

Andy De Los Reyes, University of Maryland

Belinda Huang, George Washington University

Chinonye “Chi-Chi” Nnakwe, American Association for the Advancement of Science

5:45 PM – 6:00 PM

Transfer to Milkboy Arthouse for Reception

6:00 PM  –  8:00 PM

Final remarks by organizers and networking reception

Official website: http://futureofresearch.org/college-park-2017/

For more information please contact:

Blessing Enekwe, Ph.D.
Program Director, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA)
The Graduate School, University of Maryland
2123 Lee Building,
7809 Regents Drive, College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-6009 I  blessing@umd.edu  I  gradschool.umd.edu  I  @UMDGradSchool
Advancing graduate education. Enhancing the graduate student experience.

ALL PROMISE AGEP Community invited to attend! Postdocs from the USM System are welcome to join!

Friday, September 15, 2017 · Noon – 2 PM

UMBC Campus – The Commons: 329

This seminar is part of the PROF-it (Professors-in-Training) series. Participants will learn how to develop a syllabus, manage time in the classroom, and plan content for the semester. Guest Facilitator: Dr. Linda Hodges, Director, UMBC Faculty Development Center.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017 · Noon – 1:30 PM

UMBC Campus – Engineering 102

Create writing assignments to deepen understanding

The Faculty Development Center at UMBC extends an invitation to all UMBC AGEP and PROF-it students to participate.

Join FDC and Writing Center staff to learn how to create writing assignments that scaffold students’ writing skills, deepen their understanding and connection to the subject at hand, and prepare them to adapt these skills to other situations. We’ll explore ways to help students focus on the writing process with special attention to guiding students towards effective use of the Writing Center.  Lunch is provided.

* Part of Provost’s New Faculty Lunch series – all faculty are welcome to attend
√ Counts toward ALIT Certificate
§ Counts towards INNOVATE Certificate
Ͼ CIRTL graduate students are invited to attend

Whether new or seasoned, faculty often struggle to manage grading. How can you speed up your grading, make feedback more useful, and gain insights about how to improve student learning? Join your colleagues to discuss best practices for making grading more efficient for you and more useful for students. We’ll discuss the advantages of aligning questions on tests, quizzes, and assignments to your learning goals and of using rubrics to grade student assignments. We’ll also show how using rubrics in Blackboard can integrate grading and assessment of student learning outcomes. Lunch will be provided.

* Part of Provost’s New Faculty Lunch series – all faculty are welcome to attend
√ Counts toward ALIT Certificate
§ Counts towards INNOVATE Certificate
Ͼ CIRTL graduate students are invited to attend

This event forms part of the Prof-it: Professors in Traning Seminars @ UMBC

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017 

9 a.m. – 10 a.m. 

685 W. Baltimore Street, Medical School Teaching Facility (MSTF) Building, Room 316

The Graduate School, The Office of Postdoctoral Scholars (OPS), The Office of Research Career Development and the PROMISE Program at University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) Campus extend an invitation to all the Postdoctoral Fellows and Associates to attend this event.