A modern university such as UMBC thrives on excellence in teaching and innovation in research.

We all know good teaching when it touches our lives and the lives of those close to us. But research poses difficulties in definition and assessment. The work done in UMBC’s laboratories and libraries often takes years to touch the lives of everyday citizens. How do we approach it?

As the UMBC Magazine team applied the finishing touches to this issue, I noticed that all three of our main features in the Winter 2011 edition touch on the role of research in the university.

Our story by Anthony Lane on Yonathan Zohar and his research on fish farming at the Columbus Center in downtown Baltimore is the sort of effort that most readily comes to mind when we think of academic work’s intersection with the larger world. Zohar and his colleagues in UMBC’s Department of Marine Biotechnology are confronting the global problem of depleted oceans with a combination of biological research and the development of new technologies that reproduce breeding environments. It’s research that may reshape our future.

Research can also bring the past much closer to our present. Scott McLemee’s article on associate professor of history Anne Rubin not only lays out the scholarly excellence of her research on the Civil War, but also her position as one of the pioneers in what’s now known as the “digital humanities.” Rubin’s work uses many of the possibilities of the Internet – including videos and interactive maps – to not only make her research on America’s greatest calamity more vivid, but also bring it to a new generation of scholars and students.

Our cover story for this issue examines dance at UMBC, and some might wonder just how dance is research. But at UMBC, there’s already an event each year that explicitly links academic research to creative endeavors such as choreography and performance. Known as the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (or URCAD), it celebrates undergraduate research (the best of which is published in the annual UMBC Review) and the work of students who pursue the arts with rigor and talent.

This year’s URCAD is Wednesday, April 27, 2011. UMBC’s president Freeman A. Hrabowski, III says that it “is one of the best academic events of the UMBC year because it reflects the strength of our academic program, including the strong relationships between faculty and students, the rigor of research here, and the broad enthusiasm for, and talent in, the creative arts on our campus.” Check out the schedule of events at www.umbc.edu/undergrad_ed/research/URCAD/index.html.

— Richard Byrne ’86

SUPER CAMPAIGN

The high achievement and affordability of UMBC makes the university an attractive option for high school students. But a university built on innovation is always looking to do the job better.

Enter a creative team led by UMBC associate director of marketing Erika Ferrin, Creative Services designer Erin Ouslander ’03 and marketing director Ed Neenan. Together, they created a new advertising campaign depicting high-flying UMBC students in the humanities and social sciences as superheroes using both their brainpower and their desire to enact positive changes in their own lives and the lives of others. The campaign used images and lettering familiar to fans of graphic novels to tell the stories of students including Naomi Jackson ’11, Curtis Schickner ’12, Stefanie Mavronis ’12 and Kimberly Browning ’13 (pictured, left to right, above).

Market research led Ferrin to narratives such as the Twilight and Harry Potter books and films where “smart was considered cool” and in which “normal kids use extraordinary powers to change the world.” The campaign appeals “to an upcoming generation of students coming to UMBC ready to change the world. We want them to know: We’re ready for you.”

The campaign is already helping to attract those super students to UMBC. And it’s also been recognized for its excellence by the university’s peers. The Superheroes campaign won the 2011 gold medal from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s Second District – which covers the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

— Richard Byrne ’86

R. SARGENT SHRIVER, 1915-2011

As UMBC Magazine was in its final stages of editing this issue, we received the sad news that R. Sargent Shriver had passed away.

Shriver’s career as an inspiring and innovative leader was a vibrant model of selfless public service. Many who do not follow politics know of his role – in collaboration with his late wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver – in founding the Special Olympics. The list of his accomplishments as a politician and a diplomat is daunting and included key elements of the “War on Poverty”: the Peace Corps, Head Start, Job Corps, VISTA and Legal Services for the Poor. Shriver was also a vice-presidential candidate in 1972.

Shriver had a special connection with UMBC. UMBC’s Shriver Center, founded in 1993, is named after him and the late Mrs. Shriver. He helped craft the Center’s original mission statement and put together its first national advisory board. The Shriver Peaceworker Program and the Shriver Living Learning Community in Erickson Hall also loom large in Shriver’s campus legacy. In a joint statement, UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, and Shriver Center founder John Martello stated it simply on behalf of the UMBC community: “The Shrivers were our supporters and our friends.”

In his 2004 biography, Sarge, Scott Stossel observed a key similarity between Shriver and John F. Kennedy, the president with whom he achieved so much of note: “[T]he two men shared a great gift: the ability to expand the horizons of the possible, to change our sense of what we can accomplish as individuals and as a nation.”

— Richard Byrne ’86

BREAKING GROUND

The bright sunshine on Friday, September 17 perfectly reflected the mood on campus on a landmark day in UMBC’s history.

On that afternoon, elected officials, leaders of the University System of Maryland and key university philanthropists joined with a broad cross-section of the campus community to break ground on a much-anticipated $170 million Performing Arts and Humanities Building.

The ceremony demonstrated the strength of the bridges that the university has built with local and state government, which helped secure funding for the project. “I’ve never been as happy to see a giant hole in the ground, giant mounds of dirt, and big noisy machines as I have been this summer,” quipped John Jeffries, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

But much of the ceremony was devoted to strong affirmations of the importance of arts and humanities on UMBC’s campus and in society at large.

University System of Maryland Chancellor William Kirwan observed that “we have an obligation to make sure our graduates have both the skill they need to compete in the workplace and the cultural and intellectual underpinning necessary for an enlightened and progressive society. This is an obligation UMBC has clearly embraced.”

The building will be constructed in two phases. The first phase – which will open in Fall 2012 – will include the departments of English and theatre, new offices for the James T. and Virginia M. Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Humanities Scholars Program and the Linehan Artist Scholars Program and two theaters: a 275-seat main theater and a 100-seat black box theater.

The second phase, which will break ground in the future, will include new dance and concert halls, and a new home for the departments of music, dance, philosophy and ancient studies. The building will be the second LEED Silver-certified building on campus, joining a new addition to the Patapsco Residence Hall.

“We’re celebrating the beginning of a new chapter for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. “The new Performing Arts and Humanities Building is a true investment in the talents, skills, creativity, ingenuity and education of our people. Its ‘green’ design will help develop a more sustainable environment, and in these tough economic times, its construction will provide much-needed jobs for our hardworking families. Together, we can continue to nurture our students’ talents and gifts while providing them with the tools they need to build a better future.”

In concluding the ceremony, UMBC’s president Freeman A. Hrabowski, III observed that “the arts and humanities really are the soul of our society and the soul of this campus. We teach people how to live… and the values they need in a society – when it’s going well and when it’s not going well. The reason [our elected officials] can say let’s support this is that they understand that in the worst of times, we need to remember what it means to be human.”

— Richard Byrne ’86

In 1999, Giuliano Celenza ’03, sociology, led the UMBC men’s soccer team to its first NCAA tournament. Eleven years later, Levi Houapeu ’11 has done the same thing (and more), leading the 2010 men’s soccer squad to UMBC’s first tourney win at Princeton before suffering a shootout loss at William & Mary. The professional soccer world beckoned Celenza – who is now in his 11th year with the Baltimore Blast – and Houapeu was drafted by the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. These two Retriever soccer standouts recently sat down to talk UMBC and the beautiful game.

What’s it like to make it to the NCAA tournament?

Giuliano Celenza: Back then we were in the Northeast Conference, and we didn’t have that automatic bid. We played in the play-in game. We had to travel to Lafayette to play. We won that game in a shootout to move on. [Then] we had to play the No. 1 team in the country…. We were up 3-1 [on Duke] with 37 minutes left in the game, and we lost 4-3 in overtime. I think making it to the tournament is something I will definitely reflect on my entire life.

Levi Houapeu: As a player, I wanted to complete a certain goal, which was to win the conference and make it to the [tournament]. At the beginning of the season, we faced so much adversity. It’s a credit to the coaches and the players that we were able to overcome it, and once October came, that’s when everything starting clicking, and then we started calling it destiny.

Has soccer’s increased national visibility and the growth of Major League Soccer helped schools like UMBC?

Celenza: Soccer has become really big. That’s good for colleges because you don’t have to go out of the country to recruit good players. They’re here in the States. Houapeu: As a young kid, your dream is to become a professional soccer player. The MLS is pretty much a goal because you want to play for one of the best teams in the world.

Celenza: Back then I think it was tough to get drafted, I think they only had six rounds. My goal was just to play professional soccer, whether it be indoor or outdoor. I was able to pursue my dreams. It’s been a good run for me. To be able to do it in your home state, where you were born and raised, is something phenomenal. I definitely cherish that, and I wouldn’t change it.

What will getting to the tournament and actually winning a game do for the school?

Celenza: It can do a lot. It goes to showing the people in the soccer world that UMBC is capable of beating a No. 10 seed in Princeton. Winning in the first round of the tournament is big; it’s big for the school. All of the soccer alumni see it, and they cherish that, knowing: “Hey, my alma mater! They’re up there! They can play!”

Houapeu: UMBC is one of the up-and-coming schools in the country. UMBC is becoming known [in athletics] as well. If you look at the swimming team, the soccer team, the lacrosse team – there are many sports here that are growing [in stature]. It shows the school spirit as well. If you look at the [men’s soccer] game that was played on national TV, you could see the support from the student body.

Have you ever seen the other play, and how would he do on your UMBC team?

Houapeu: I’ve seen the 1999 highlights, and I saw the Blast on TV. Giuliano would be the best [on this team]. He’d help us a lot. He was really quick with the ball, and his ability to finish in front of the goal was amazing. He’s a tremendous player.

Celenza: Levi’s a great player. Very dangerous on the ball, probably one of the best dribblers I’ve ever seen. Feisty little guy. Obviously, we’re both tiny so we have to be feisty. He’s a good finisher. If he keeps his head and works like he’s been working and puts his mind to it, I think the sky’s the limit for him He definitely would have helped our team. He can help any team.

— Jeff Seidel ’85

Looking for an off-campus room to rent for Spring 2011. Email me at tbash1@umbc.edu or call me at 202-469-2385 if you're still searching for a roommate.