Dr. Talithia Williams, tenured Mathematics Professor at Harvey Mudd College in California, and former AGEP scholar at Rice University is now an ACE Fellow at UMBC. The ACE Fellowship program trains faculty for future higher education leadership at the level of dean, provost, and president. When Dr. Williams was a graduate student, she was a guest of PROMISE and taught a statistics seminar for the PROMISE SSI in the early 2000’s. Dr. Williams will be involved with some of our PROMISE events. Keep an eye out for her upcoming sessions. In the meanwhile, click on the video below – take a look at her TED Talk here, which has more than 1 million hits:

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Update: Dec. 10, 2016

Dr. Williams will be the keynote speaker for the 2016 PROMISE Research Symposium at the University of Maryland College Park, Feb. 12, 2016.

More about Dr. Williams: 

• Harvey Mudd Mathematics Department of Mathematics:  https://www.math.hmc.edu/~twilliams/
• TED: https://www.ted.com/speakers/talithia_williams
• Rice Alumna Profile, George R. Brown School of Engineering:   http://engineering.rice.edu/SpotlightContent.aspx?id=8589936342
• In Forbes – Article by Dr. Maria Klawe, feature: Dr. Talithia Williams: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mariaklawe/2015/10/07/increasing-education-opportunities-for-minorities-in-stem/

Today marks a milestone in PROMISE. All of the participants who were featured in the production of the “What is PROMISE” video from the 2007 Summer Success Institute (SSI) have successfully defended their doctoral dissertations! Robert Holder, UMBC PROMISE Peer Mentor, Computer Science, has been working full-time while pursuing his PhD, and today, he defended, rounding out our group of featured students.

The original video from 2007 is here, Robert is #8:

The participants, in order are:

1. Patti Ordóñez
2. Alexis Williams
3. Sylvester Mosley
4. Adrienne Starks
5. Angela McRae
6. Janet Awokoya
7. Tommie Piggee
8. Robert Holder
9. Trudy Smith
10. Frances Carter-Johnson

Where are they now?

Dr. Patti Ordóñez (UMBC, Computer Science) is now a professor and computer scientist at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. She now has her own students, grants, and research program. Dr. Alexis Y. Williams (UMCP, Human Development) teaches in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and is a postdoctoral researcher in College Park’s Teaching and Learning Transformation Center (her TLTC profile page can be found here: http://www.tltc.umd.edu/staff/alexis-y-williams.) Dr. Sylvester Mosley (UMBC, Chemistry and Biochemistry) is a Consumer Safety Officer at the FDA. After Dr. Adrienne Starks (UMBC, Biological Sciences) finished a postdoc at the NIH, she continued working with a non-Profit, Equity Matters, which focuses on promoting health equity in policies. Dr. Angela McRae (UMCP, Educational Psychology) is now a professor at Catholic University of America where she is the STEM Education Coordinator. Dr. Janet Awokoya (UMCP, Curriculum and Instruction) went for the dream and moved to Ghana to be a technical consultant for a non-profit after being a Sr. Researcher at the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute at the United Negro College Fund. Her work has been published by the Harvard Educational Review; read about the research here. Following a postdoc at Quillen College of Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology Center, East Tennessee State University, Dr. Tommie Piggee (UMBC, Gerontology) is now a gerontologist and health & wellness consultant in Little Rock.

Credit: Robert Holder’s LinkedIn page.

Robert Holder (UMBC, Computer Science), who hails from the same department as Patti (above) worked at Johns Hopkins Physics Lab for many years before working at ClearEdge IT Solutions. Dr. Trudy (Smith) Amin (UMB, Pharmaceutical Sciences) is a chemist employed by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Frances Carter-Johnson finished a postdoc at MIT and became an American Association for the Advancement of Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the NIH. Her AAAS blog post can be found here. Frances and Patti also return to UMBC annually to give seminars on the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. To date their mentees have won more than $10 Million in fellowship money.

PROMISE has students within and outside of STEM fields who are making contributions to STEM (see the ASEE published paper here.) Many of the people who were on the conceptual design team for this initial video, while students back in 2007, have since finished their PhDs as well. Dr. Jocelyn Reader (UMB, Human Genetics) is now a Research Associate at the University of Maryland Baltimore in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Dr. Calvin Williams (UMB, MD/PhD Immunology) finished a residency with the Jefferson Medical College/Christiana Care Medical System and is a fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Charles Glover (UMCP, Math) is Associate Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Dr. Shanna Smith (UMCP, English) is a Frederick Douglass Teaching Scholar at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Victor Ayala finished a postdoc at the National Cancer Institute and is now a scientist at Advanced BioScience Laboratories. Dr. Tina Ligon (UMCP, History) is an Archivist at the National Archives and teaches at Howard Community College. Dr. Stacey Williams finished a postdoc with the FDA and is now a professor at Notre Dame University of Maryland. Some of the people here, and others in the first video are also featured in the “PROMISE in One Word” video below, also filmed during the 2007 SSI at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, MD.

Congratulations to all of our PROMISE students and alumni. We look forward to continuing to celebrate with you. Save the date for SSI 2016, August 20, 2016 at the Hotel at Arundel Preserve! Congratulations also to all of the faculty, family members, and kudos to the PROMISE Dissertation House Coach, Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale, who worked with nearly everyone listed in this post.

So pleased to be at the successful PhD dissertation defense of Robert Holder @UMBC CompSci #ThinkBigDiversity pic.twitter.com/ovblMKWhUI

— Renetta G. Tull (@Renetta_Tull) December 9, 2015

The Winter Dissertation House is coming to UMBC (January 19-22, 2016). Graduate students who plan to participate should follow the application procedures on the application webpage for the Dissertation House (below).

Open application period: December 8, 2015– January 6, 2016 

(Please note that there are only 12 to 15 slots for this event, consider applying early) 

Applications received after January 6, 2016 will be considered for the DH waiting list. More information about the DissertationHouse: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/about/

• The Dissertation House runs from 9 AM – 5PM, for four days, Tuesday, January 19 through Friday, January 22.
• Students must plan to attend the full session, for each of the 4 days. 
• Daily schedule includes 2 mini-lectures, and 5 hours of writing per day.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and a snack will be served daily.
• The Dissertation House is free for UMBC’s graduate students.
• There are 15 to 18 spaces available for the Dissertation House. 
• Details regarding eligibility can be found on the application page of the website for the Dissertation House.

Read about The Dissertation House in UMBC’s Alumni Magazine: Byrne, R.  (2011, Fall) “The Write Stuff”, UMBC Magazine. p. 12

Please login to MyUMBC (http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/36837), click “I can attend” below, *AND* follow the application procedures on the main website for the Dissertation House: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/

Dissertation House Application Procedures
Both the on-campus setting and the retreat setting provide Dissertation House participants with productive and rewarding scholastic engagement.  Students who participate in this program will spend each day thinking, writing, and sharing ideas about their doctoral dissertations.  Students will learn effective time-management skills; learn how to set small manageable goals, and will meet with a dissertation coach in one-on-one consultations to discuss and address obstacles that might prevent them completing their degrees.

The Dissertation House period can span either a Tuesday – Friday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m., non-residential) or a Friday – Sunday weekend (includes evening sessions) commitment to focus on the doctoral dissertation.  The Dissertation House activities focus on areas where students typically have difficulty: conceptualizing a topic, writing a literature review, transitioning from a proposal to a dissertation, analyzing data, writing the last chapter, and editing.
Students may apply to attend the next Dissertation House during open application enrollment, by submitting two parts of an application.

PART I:

I. Submit a brief description (maximum 2 pages, font size 11-12 point 1 inch margins) that describes the project that you wish to accomplish during the Dissertation Houseperiod.  Applications will neither be reviewed nor accepted outside of the application enrollment period.

PART II:

II. Please use the following guidelines  for the application:

(1) Summary of the project, including research question(s), data or texts, and method

(2) Amount completed on the project to date

(3) Any obstacles that you are encountering that hinder completion of the dissertation.

(4) Include the following header information with the description:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone numbers (home, office, and fax)
• E-mail address
• Academic Program and Year in the program

Dates/Location: January 19 to 22th (Tuesday – Friday), 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Dissertation House will be held in COMM 329 (for Dissertation House) and COMM 332 (for one-on-one sessions).

Application Enrollment Period: Application can be submitted within a designated 2-week period, usually scheduled 1-2 months prior to the next Dissertation House session.  Email applications to promisestaff@gmail.com.  Please use the words “Dissertation House” in the subject line of your email.

Selection Process: Eighteen participants will be selected for participation in the Dissertation House.  The following applicants will have priority:  (1) Applicants who plan to finish the Ph.D. within the next 6 months; (2) Individuals who are working on dissertations and theses rather than a proposal; (3) Applicants who submit earliest; and (4) Individuals who appear most able to benefit from the services offered at the Dissertation House.

If your application is accepted, you will receive an acceptance notice via email and additional details about the Dissertation House.  All students, including those who have not applied or those who are not selected, have the option to participate in the next online challenge, a virtual version of the Dissertation House: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/winter-2016-challenge/