Please join us for the second event for the series of “Go Live” success seminars on “Financial Literacy.” Mrs. Lori Jankalski (Executive Vice President CCCS of MD & DE, Inc.) be talking to us about credit scores, credit reports, and consumer debt.

Venue: UMBC Commons 331

(RSVP, UMBC students: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/27279

Students from other schools may RSVP in the comment section for this post, or by sending email to promisestaff@gmail.com)

 

If you cannot attend in person, we plan to host a live webcast of the event. Here is the link:

http://goo.gl/lHsDb9

Speaker: Lori Jankalski

Since 2008, Lori Jankalski is the Executive Vice President of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Maryland and Delaware, Inc., (CCCS) a 501 (c) (3) non-profit credit and housing counseling organization that was founded in 1966.CCCS’s missionis to stabilize communities by creating hope and promoting economic self-sufficiency to individuals and families through financial education and counseling.CCCS provides services nationwide.

Lori retired in 2008 from Equifax Credit Information Services Inc., a national credit reporting agency after 40 years in various management positions. At the time of her retirement Lori was the Senior Executive Director of Credit Marketing Services and Analytics. Lori is a graduate of the College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD. Lori is a lifelong resident of Maryland and currently resides with her family in Sparks, MD.

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ABOUT THE FINANCIAL LITERACY SERIES:

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has been selected to participate in an “Enhancing Student Financial Education” project for 2013-2015. Chosen as one of 15 awardees in a national competition, UMBC received a grant from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), a non-profit organization (www.cgsnet.org) dedicated to advancing graduate education and research. Funded by a grant from TIAA-CREF, a leading financial services organization, CGS will develop models for providing financial education resources that help undergraduate and graduate students manage their money and hone their financial and debt management skills.   

GoLIVE! Seminars: UMBC will develop “Go Live” seminars that will showcase financial literacy resources on a new, interactive website. The online topics and segments will be coupled with “live” seminars that will be held throughout the year. Seminar topics include: Graduate Funding, Improving Credit Ratings, Financial Transitions, Life-long, Financial Planning, Budgets, and more. 

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This seminar is co-sponsored by CGS. 

PROMISE AGEP – University System of Maryland: We have been on a journey and you have been given an assignment. In Atlanta, at this past weekend’s SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, UMBC’s President Hrabowski told you that you are pioneers, and that your academic contributions will set the groundwork for generations to come. Dr. Sandra Murray from the University of Pittsburgh (full professor, Department of Cell Biology) told you to “Fantasize! Focus! Know what shoes you will wear when you win your Nobel Prize.” As you climb, Dr. Orlando Taylor reminded you to remember to include people from all races and backgrounds so that you don’t become the new models of marginalization. You are going to fly. You are going to conquer. Picture it!

Tell us who you are. Introduce yourself. Tell us your SREB experience, and your dream. Here is a guide.

1. Name.

Write “Dr. _____” if you already have your PhD., and “Future Dr. _____” if it is forthcoming

2. School, position (e.g., graduate student, PhD candidate, Postdoc), department

3. Your SREB experience

4. Your contribution to STEM and to your field at large (current and future … dream!)

5. Fast forward to 2034 – Your vision of your achievements as a professor and beyond

Grad students and postdocs from schools around Maryland with Dr. Tull and UMBC’s President, Dr. Hrabowski

PROMISE AGEP – University System of Maryland: We have been on a journey and you have been given an assignment. In Atlanta, at this past weekend’s SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, UMBC’s President Hrabowski told you that you are pioneers, and that your academic contributions will set the groundwork for generations to come. Dr. Sandra Murray from the University of Pittsburgh (full professor, Department of Cell Biology) told you to “Fantasize! Focus! Know what shoes you will wear when you win your Nobel Prize.” As you climb, Dr. Orlando Taylor reminded you to remember to include people from all races and backgrounds so that you don’t become the new models of marginalization. You are going to fly. You are going to conquer. Picture it!

Tell us who you are. Introduce yourself. Tell us your SREB experience, and your dream. Here is a guide.

1. Name.

Write “Dr. _____” if you already have your PhD., and “Future Dr. _____” if it is forthcoming

2. School, position (e.g., graduate student, PhD candidate, Postdoc), department

3. Your SREB experience

4. Your contribution to STEM and to your field at large (current and future … dream!)

5. Fast forward to 2034 – Your vision of your achievements as a professor and beyond

Grad students and postdocs from schools around Maryland with Dr. Tull and UMBC’s President, Dr. Hrabowski

Why is a cemetery a good place to write a story? Why, because there are so many plots there! 

In addition to looking up terrible Halloween jokes, Special Collections has decided to get into the spirit of Halloween by sharing selections from our various collections that are filled with magic, the supernatural, and horror. Graduate Assistant Jessi Deane went through four of our different collections and pulled out her personal favorites to share with all of you! The best part—all of these selections are available for you to come and look at yourselves! 

GENERAL/RARE BOOKS COLLECTION

The History of Witchcraft and Demonology by Montague Summers

Written in 1926, Summers claims that this history of the supernatural spans too far across time and too far across the globe to accurately portray all of it. However, by choosing to focus on just Europe, he is able to examine two or three specific aspects of witchcraft and demonology. One of the things that stood out the most of me about Summers’ history was his argument that “it is quite impossible to appreciate and understand the true lives of [men and women]…unless we have some realization of the part that Witchcraft played in those ages” (ix). Although Summers certainly doesn’t try to claim that his findings are particularly historical or scientific,any fan of the supernatural and the occult should definitely come and check this out!

Famous Curses by Elliot O’Donnell

Not long after Montague Summers wrote his history of witchcraft, O’Donnell published a collection of famous curses that were supposedly cast around the world. One of these is the “Screaming Skulls of Calgarth,” which is quite similar to one of those urban legends that Jessi heard so often as a kid. Now, the real question is, are these tales of real curses? Or are they simply ghost stories told to children to keep them up at night? You may have to decide that for yourself. 

Bibliotheca Curiosa. A Treatise of Magic Incantations of Christianus Pazig edited by Edmund Goldsmid

Written in 1700, and translated in 1886 for an English audience, this little book traces the power of words in magic. Where do incantations come from? Why are they worded the way that they are? What powers do those words have? Or, perhaps, could it be that some of these “incantations” don’t have meaning simply because the words that they are made up of don’t have any meaning? These are all important questions that this little book attempts to answer. 

ROSENFELD COLLECTION

WerewolveSS by Jerry and Sharon Ahern

In 1944, Nazi leaders Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels outlined a plan called the “Werwolf,” which would place a guerrilla resistance force behind the Allied lines as they moved through Germany. When combining this with the popular historical interpretation of Hitler as an “occult groupie,” I’m sure you can guess where Jerry and Sharon Ahern went with this book! (Hint: Avid watchers of the hit HBO drama True Blood have definitely seen this before!)  A story of terror and suspense, WerewolveSS is definitely worth a read! 

The Howling by Gary Brandner

In the spirit of Halloween, be sure to check out another terrifying piece of werewolf literature! Following traumatic events in their lives, Karyn and Roy Beatty decide to move from the grimy city of Los Angles to the secluded mountain town of Drago. Although the town and its inhabitants seem friendly enough, it soon becomes apparent that something sinister is happening behind the scenes. The 1981 film The Howling is based on this blood curdling novel. 

The Tomb and other Tales by H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft, the author of the bone-chilling novel The Call of Cthulhu and Other Dark Tales, wrote The Tomb in 1917, making it the first piece of literature written by him in his adult life. Published in the March 1922 issue of The Vagrant, The Tomb and Other Tales consists of seventeen different short stories, early “novels”, and fragments by the master of horror fiction himself.  Jessi’s favorites are the fragments, specifically “Azathoth”; ranging from just one paragraph to only two or three pages, they were found in Lovecraft’s papers and were never expanded into short stories of their own. 

THE ARNOLD/HOWARD COLLECTION

Ghosts and Haunted Houses of Maryland by Trish Gallagher

Do you love haunted houses and stories of ghosts, ghouls, and spirits? Do you live in Maryland? Well, according to Trish Gallagher, you’re in luck! Claiming that our home state is “alive” with ghosts and other creepy hauntings, Gallagher records the stories of Maryland’s twenty-five most haunted sites. Although this may be Jessi’s own interest in Baltimore’s Confederate women shining through, but her personal favorite is the story of “The Hauntings at the Surratt House”. Mary Surratt, one of the alleged co-conspirators of the Lincoln assassination, is said to have begun haunting her family’s home following her execution in 1865. The best part about this book? All of these haunted sites and houses can be visited!

COMIC BOOK COLLECTION

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight

Published by Dark Horse Comics from 2007 to 2011, this particular comic series follows the canonical continuation of the popular television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The comics themselves start on year after the series finale, picking up the stories of our favorite characters right where we left them. True to the original in every way, Season Eight (and later Season Nine) was produced by Joss Whedon and utilized many of the same writers from the Whedon-verse. 

This is an annual event. We have been hosting the Fall Harvest Dinner since 2003. This event is free for all graduate students and postdocs who attend an institution within the University System of Maryland (USM), and who support the mission of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP. The mission of PROMISE is to increase the numbers and diversity of STEM faculty by supporting and training underrepresented minority graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM disciplines.

We will sponsor a bus for this activity. The bus will leave from UMBC, and can make a stop at BWI airport if that is convenient. To take the bus, send email to PROMISEstaff@gmail.com with the subject “Bus to Fall Harvest 2014.” Indicate BWI or UMBC for pick-up and droffoff. Provide your name, email, and a cell number.  Details for the pick-up and drop-off times will be posted in the comments section.

Additional information for this event will be posted in the comment section below. If you have questions, please post them below.

This is an annual event. We have been hosting the Fall Harvest Dinner since 2003. This event is free for all graduate students and postdocs who attend an institution within the University System of Maryland (USM), and who support the mission of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP. The mission of PROMISE is to increase the numbers and diversity of STEM faculty by supporting and training underrepresented minority graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM disciplines.

We will sponsor a bus for this activity. The bus will leave from UMBC, and can make a stop at BWI airport if that is convenient. To take the bus, send email to PROMISEstaff@gmail.com with the subject “Bus to Fall Harvest 2014.” Indicate BWI or UMBC for pick-up and droffoff. Provide your name, email, and a cell number.  Details for the pick-up and drop-off times will be posted in the comments section.

Additional information for this event will be posted in the comment section below. If you have questions, please post them below.

Explore the culture and history of East Baltimore!  See a slice of urban life from the 70’s!  Has much changed?  Take a look and see for yourself – now available online:  Elinor Cahn photographs.

UMBC students, faculty, and staff now have access to this digital collection of renowned Baltimore photographer Elinor B. Cahn (born 1925). Over eighty of Cahn’s photographic prints from the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project are currently available in UMBC's Digital Collections.  The digitized prints available online demonstrate Cahn’s thoughtful views of religious and secular ceremonial processions, residents in multigenerational family homes, and other aspects of daily life.

The East Baltimore Photography Project began as part of MICA Professor Linda Rich’s social documentary course in 1976 and expanded as a four-year grant endeavor among Rich, Cahn, and Cahn’s classmate Joan Netherwood. The photographers documented neighborhoods in transition, capturing East Baltimoreans’ pride and proactive measures to improve basic services.  The images provide insightful perspectives into East Baltimoreans’ diverse houses of worship, commemorative parades, family-owned establishments, row homes, and private lives.  The East Baltimore Photography Project produced over ten thousand images, many of which were exhibited throughout the region and published in the book, Neighborhood: A State of Mind, available in our Arnold Collection of Maryland history and in the general  Library stacks.  

In addition to the Cahn’s East Baltimore Documentary Photography project, Special Collections holds Cahn’s full archives. Cahn’s collection includes images of Baltimore’s Greek community, Asklipios, Greece, the Vietnam memorial, cemeteries, a Baltimore soup kitchen, and photographs of Maine.

UMBC's Special Collections is open to the public from Monday through Friday 1-4 pm, with extended Thursday evening hours until 8 pm. We are also open by appointment. Access the digital collection of Cahn images here.

This post was written by Jen Wachtel

Dear Graduate Students at UMBC,

As part of the National Science Foundation grant supporting PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP, University of Maryland College Park faculty members are conducting a multi-campus survey study of how graduate students are supported by their programs in pursuit of their career goals.  To participate, please go to the following website. We recommend using a stable internet connection and using the same device to begin and finish participation.

Survey Link: https://umdsurvey.umd.edu/SE/?SID=SV_0oBN4RIqKfg4K8d

Incentives: Survey completion incentives include the option to enter drawings for Amazon gift cards in several denominations (be sure to enter via a link on the final page of the survey).

·  Those who completed the survey by  October 13, 2014, had a chance to win one $500 Amazon card

·  Those who complete the survey by October 20, 2014 may enter to win one $100 Amazon card (one winner per campus; those who do not win will continue to be eligible for all subsequent drawings).

·  Those who complete the survey by October 24, 2014 may enter to win one $50 Amazon card per campus (one winner per campus; this will be the final drawing).

Participants will agree to our consent form and take an online survey that takes 20 minutes to complete. Questions will focus on the perspectives you have adopted, and the actions that you have taken to pursue your career goals. We will also ask about aspects of your department environment, and your field/discipline that influence your career choice.

The data used for this study will only be reported in aggregate, so your name and identity will never appear in any reports that result from the project. The study will, however, help our research more broadly understand how graduate students develop their career aspirations and what departments, faculty, and external agencies can do to support them.

Please contact the PROMISE: Maryland's AGEP Research Team with any questions or concerns: promisestudymd@gmail.com

Best regards,

Renetta Tull

Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development & Postdoctoral Affairs