Dear Graduate Students,

The PROMISE AGEP co-sponsors monthly professional development seminars for graduate students, and one of the increasingly popular workshops is called, “When Faculty Say ‘X’ … Understanding Faculty Expectations, Unwritten Rules.” This seminar, held annually at UMBC, features a panel of faculty members who answer questions that students post (often anonymously) on the PROMISE website. Sometimes, faculty do not have a chance to answer all of the questions since the seminar has time limits. In addition, if students ask individual or small group questions following the seminar, the general audience does not have the benefit of hearing the answer. To address these additional questions, graduate students in PROMISE asked if I would take some time to provide some answers. The result is a short video series called “Moments To Mentor” which answers all of the questions that were not addressed in the seminar.

These “Moments to Mentor” will be posted throughout the rest of the Spring 2015 semester. We invite you to visit the PROMISE YouTube Channel for other videos that showcase seminars on topics such as financial education, and advanced statistics.

Best wishes as you pursue your degree and career goals.

Kind regards,

Renetta G. Tull, Ph.D.

Director, PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP

In the event of heavy snow or other emergency when classes cannot meet, UMBC faculty can choose from several tools and technologies to support teaching and learning. Online delivery methods offer many good alternative for supporting missed classroom time. 

Blackboard Learn supports three core components: 

• With Content Management, faculty can upload course materials & handouts; post presentations, share links & resources. Faculty can also embed YouTube videos or record with a webcam to embed video anywhere in the course.
• Faculty can also support Communication, Collaboration and other Student Engagement. Continue course discussions in Blackboard, send email, post announcements, or manage small group activities.
• With Assessment and Grade Management tools, faculty can distribute & collect assignments, grade electronically, deliver tests, and maintain a gradebook -- all in one central location.

Faculty may wish to use more than just Blackboard on a snow day. Other tools available include: 

The PROMISE AGEP, The Graduate School at UMBC, and The UMBC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs are co-sponsoring the “Advanced Statistics” seminar series with Dr. Christopher Rakes. Dr. Rakes is presenting series on structural equation modeling and meta-analysis. The next lunch seminar is on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. A live webcast will be available on our PROMISE YouTube channel for those who aren’t available to have lunch with us, to learn in person.

Session 4: Feb. 11, 2015
Structural Equation Modeling
Testing the Validity of a Causal Structure

Lunch and learn: 

Lunch will be served at the beginning of the seminar. You may eat during the session.

Live Webcast

Special Collections has a new music collection available for you to come and explore! Whether you’re a musician-in-training or simply a lover of the classics, you now have access to an impressive collection of noted concert violinist and conductor Robert Gerle’s personal, marked scores. At UMBC, Gerle is perhaps best known for beginning the orchestral program here and remaining its conductor for nearly two decades. In addition to conducting the UMBC Orchestra, Gerle also taught at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and the Mannes College of Music in New York.

In 1972, when the first concert was planned, UMBC’s music major was actually in jeopardy of being removed from the school by the Maryland Council on Higher Education. The council cited that there were other, similar programs offered by nearby University of Maryland institutions and therefore did not need to be repeated. Despite this threat, the UMBC Orchestra’s inaugural concert remained slated to take place on December 11, 1972. To read all of the details, be sure to check out the Retriever article in our Digital Collections (hint: take a look at pages 1 and 5)! Scores from several of the pieces played at this concert can be found in the collection, including Richard Wagner’s “Overture to Die Meistersinger,” Wagner’s only comic opera.

Robert Gerle was born in 1924 to Jewish Hungarian parents. According to a New York Times article [1] published in 1958, during World War II Gerle and 26 other Hungarian Jews were caught and arrested by a group of Soviet soldiers while they were hiding in the crawl space above a music professor’s house. The Soviet soldiers suspected them of being snipers. As Gerle was brought before the firing squad, the officer in charge noticed his violin case and demanded that he play a work by Tschaikovsky. A student of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and the Hungarian National Conservatory of Music, Gerle’s technique impressed the officer. He was convinced that Gerle was a musician, not a soldier. Gerle’s technique, which would be coined as “flawless” later in his career, supposedly saved not only his life, but the lives of the 26 other individuals with him.

When the war ended, Gerle began to play concert engagements in both New York and London, becoming best known for his performances of Back’s Chaconne for solo violin and Heinrich Biber’s violin sonatas. He and his wife, Marilyn Neely - also a UMBC professor - even won an Emmy for the video presentation of the complete Beethoven violin and piano sonatas.

The Gerle collection was transferred from College Park last year. It contains a wide variety of musical scores and compositions, ranging from full orchestral pieces to solo violin pieces. The collection contains not only classics such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, but also a host of lesser known treasures to explore. My personal favorite is Vivaldi’s Violin-Konzert, Ops. 3, No. 6. This score, just one of Gerle’s many personal marked scores, is available for you to come in and take a look at. Check out our finding aid for more information!

[1] MEYER BERGER. "About New York." New York Times (1923-Current File), Oct 20, 1958. http://search.proquest.com/docview/114511079?accountid=14577.

This post was written by Special Collections Graduate Assistant Jessi Deane. Thank you, Jessi!

NASA OSSI Online Career Week, a virtual career fair for students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). This exciting initiative is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and it will take place February 10-12.

The NASA OSSI Online Career Week will allow students to connect and engage live with NASA, top STEM employers and graduate programs across the country. Participants will learn about internship, fellowship and job opportunities in the public and private sectors. They will also be able to interact with representatives from highly ranked graduate programs and network with admissions officers.  There is no cost or travel associated with their participation in this event.

Is this for graduate students? YES! 

From the website: Who Should Attend?

• Undergraduate and graduate students looking for internship, scholarship, and fellowship opportunities at NASA.
• Undergraduate and graduate students looking for internships and jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at companies across the country.

To register, students should visit the following link: http://nasaossi.brazenconnect.com/

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This information has been brought to UMBC and all schools within the PROMISE AGEP by the Institute for Broadening Participation, http://pathwaystoscience.org/. This opportunity is open to students nationwide. Please participate!

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UMBC participates in the Council of Graduate Schools’ initiative for pathways into careers.

The Society for Invertebrate Pathology records contain documents relating to the founding of the society, society publications, papers and records belonging to society members, photographs, meeting and seminar materials, and interview recordings. The full finding aid is available online.

If you're interested in viewing the full collection, please contact Special Collections to set up an appointment at x52353 or speccoll@umbc.edu. We also hold open research hours on Monday through Friday, 1pm to 4pm, with additional hours from 4pm to 8pm Thursday nights.

Dear Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Members of the PROMISE Community,

We are in the process of developing a new program with collaborators, Tecnológico de Monterrey, in Monterrey, Mexico. We sent out an initial email to gauge interest in a new visiting professor program, and the response was overwhelming! We’re so glad to hear that you are interested in this opportunity as a pathway to your career.

We are working with Tec because of their interest in PROMISE, and our mutual values, which include dedication to teaching students, integrity, leadership, and community service.

The PROMISE AGEP is collaborating with Tec based on projects with the Latin and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the World Engineering Education Forum. Since Monterrey Tec has a variety of disciplines available, they are interested in considering candidates from all disciplines.

______________________________

General details, along with answers to questions that have been posed over the last two weeks.

• This is a residential program. While hybrid programs may be considered, participants are expected to spend time teaching in Mexico.
• The duration of the position can range from 1 semester to 2 years.
• The position would include a monthly stipend, housing and round-trip transportation from Maryland to Mexico.
• There are language and cultural opportunities available for you and members of your immediate family who would be joining you.

• English — http://www.itesm.mx/wps/wcm/connect/ITESM/Tecnologico+de+Monterrey/English
• Spanish — http://www.itesm.mx/wps/portal?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=

• Candidates must be an enrolled graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, alumnus, staff or faculty member at/from an institution within the University System of Maryland (USM): http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/
  • Candidates from UMBC  (based on our agreement with UMBC and the Council of Graduate Schools to broaden pathways to careers): Candidates from UMBC may be from any discipline, and all racial/ethnic backgrounds will be considered. U.S. citizenship is not required, but you must be able to teach in English.
  • Candidates from all other institutions within the USM: (based on the agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to broaden participation and increase diversity in STEM within the USM):
    • Candidates from other institutions within the USM must be in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics field, as listed in the NSF’s List of Supported Fields. This list can also be found below, in the comment section.
    • Candidates from other institutions within the USM must be U.S. citizens and members of groups that are underrepresented in STEM, per the NSF AGEP Program: African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders

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• The primary candidates will have a Ph.D. This program is being designed to provide  an on-ramp to the professoriate. There are positions that primarily involve teaching, and some that involve both teaching and research. You may apply if you will have a Ph.D. by the time of the placement.
  • Candidates from UMBC who have master’s degrees will be considered, but won’t have the title of “PROMISE Visiting Professor for Social Change.” These candidates will be referred to a Tec “teacher program” to teach high school students.
  • Candidates from all other USM institutions must have a Ph.D. in a STEM field.

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• All candidates must have some teaching experience, e.g., lecturing in the classroom at the college level, which include experiences through the PROMISE PROF-it program, as a Teaching Assistant, or as an instructor in a post-secondary institution.

——

• All candidates must be willing to teach with technology, and should have some experience with technology, e.g., classroom management software (Blackboard), social media.

______________________________

To apply for the program*

(Disclaimer: The project is still in a proposed state, and applications will be screened by PROMISE prior to being sent to Monterrey Tec. Tec is not under any obligation to choose any candidates. The deans of the colleges at Tec along with other relevant offices will make all final decisions. A cohort model that will allow candidates to travel and participate as a group is still under consideration.)

• 1) One page overview, with the following guidelines:
  • 1 inch margins
  • Title:
    • Line 1: 16 pt, bold, Times New Roman: Applicant: PROMISE Visiting Professor for Social Change
    • Line 2: 14 pt, italics, Times New Roman: Your full name, your degree, area of expertise
  • Skip two lines
  • Content (Skip one line between each section): 12 pt, Times New Roman; use the headings in bold below in your document.
    • Line 1: Courses that I have already taught (include level, e.g., high school, community college, undergraduate studies, graduate students, and approximations of class sizes)
    • Line 2: Courses that I can teach (be sure that you are choosing courses based on their offerings: http://www.itesm.mx/wps/wcm/connect/ITESM/Tecnologico+de+Monterrey/English/Academic+offerings/?cache=none
    • Line 3: Experiences with technology in the classroom:
    • Line 4: Research Interests:
    • Line 5: Statement about commitment to community service:

• 2) One page cover letter addressed to Dr. Renetta Tull, Director of the PROMISE AGEP, discussing why you want to be a professor, what you want to learn, and future plans for teaching in the U.S. [Note: The PROMISE AGEP is designed to increase the numbers of professors who will serve students in the U.S. Participation in this program is meant to provide a short-term, international, collaborative experience from which you can build a successful and satisfying faculty career in the U.S.]

• 3) Full, unabridged CV

All documents should be merged (based on the order above: 1) overview, 2) letter, 3) CV) and submitted as one PDF document, with the title: PROMISE-MONTERREY TEC-your name

Send the document to promisestaff@gmail.com, and cc’d to rtull@umbc.edu, with the subject: PROMISE Professors for Social Change. (Please do not add or subtract anything from this subject title. Emails submitted with other subject lines may not be considered.)

*All interested candidates are strongly encouraged to attend the (free) Professional Development Workshop on preparing for the professoriate at the PROMISE Research Symposium and Professional Development Conference on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, 1:30 – 3:30 PM, at the University of Maryland College, Park. Details and registration information can be found here: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/spring-2015-university-system-of-maryland-promise-agep-research-symposium-professional-development-conference-fri-feb-13-2015-um-college-park/. Candidates who have not previously met with Dr. Tull to discuss career interests, must do so before the application can be considered for the program. Application Deadline: The initial group of candidates will be sent to Tec on February 27, 2015.

To learn more about using TechSmith Relay:

• visit our TechSmith Relay FAQ page

• open anRT ticket for any technical issues

• view the schedule of training workshops on theDoIT group page

• contact the Instructional Technology Team with any questions or concerns