When it comes to spotting trends, Jamie Smith Hopkins ’98 is – appropriately – usually one step ahead of her competitors.
At 28 years old, Hopkins’ instinctive nose for news and willingness to complete months-long data studies have already propelled her to the top of her craft as a business reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Just last month, in addition to six other awards, the former UMBC valedictorian was named top journalist under the age of 30 by the National Association of Real Estate Editors.
And to think, much of Hopkins’ training came from her time as a staff reporter and editor for UMBC’s student newspaper, the Retriever.
“It was very good training,” said Hopkins, an English major with a minor in journalism, of her time on the editorial staff. “It was an interesting lesson into the First Amendment and the responsibilities that come with it.”
A Columbia native, Hopkins grew up with a slightly different path in mind – to become an animator for Disney. While taking classes during high school at Howard Community College, she started writing a comic strip called “Jamie’s World,” which chronicled the life of a college student.
Upon arriving at UMBC, however, Hopkins was drawn in by the Retriever and another lifelong love – writing. She met her future husband, Edward Hopkins ’96, interdisciplinary studies, while on the newspaper staff. During her tenure at UMBC, Hopkins also completed internships with Patuxent Publishing and the Baltimore Sun. She credits UMBC journalism instructor Christopher Corbett with helping her make the transition from student to professional writer.
“He was so very helpful all the way through,” she said. “He’d take frenzied calls at all hours saying ‘This happened! What are we going to do?’ He was always calm and talked us out of our tree.”
After graduating with highest honors, Hopkins spent a year in Iowa at the Ames Tribune. The following year, she began her career with the Baltimore Sun, starting off as an education reporter in the Howard County bureau. Over time, she moved into business writing, covering larger trend stories for the metro section. These days, her beat is the regional economy.
Hopkins’ experiences using computer-assisted reporting – which includes tracking data over long periods of time to determine trends – came in very handy following the release of the United States Census in 2000. Most recently she spent six months tracking home sales prices by zip code for a series of articles on trends in the regional housing market.
Ultimately, the research paid off. Not only did the series educate readers about the reasons for Baltimore’s housing boom, but they also won her national recognition in the form of awards from the NAREE (best overall individual entry, best serial in any medium and top journalist under the age of 30).
According to a story in the Sun, the national real estate group said Hopkins “provided riveting examples of flight from Washington to Baltimore in search of cheap housing.”
The news came as no surprise to Hopkins’ former teacher.
“The thing about Jamie was she was extremely mature and focused from the minute she came (to UMBC),” Corbett said. “She set a very high standard at the Retriever.”
Hopkins, of course, takes the recognition all in stride. As a young journalist, she knows she still has much ahead of her. However, even with her hectic daily schedule she makes time to come back to UMBC every so often.
“Whenever (Corbett) asks me to come back to speak to the students, I always do,” she said. “Because, I really do appreciate all he did for me.”
– Jenny O’Grady
Originally published June 2006

Katie Hirsch is one of the lucky few who manages to combine her passions with her job.
An animation and computer enthusiast since childhood, Hirsch has used her talent and enthusiasm for both fields in her career as a computer game developer, and, most recently, in her production of a short animated film about a hungry reptile.
Hirsch’s two-minute short, “Dragin’ On,” will premiere in this month’s Maryland Film Festival at Baltimore’s Charles Theatre.
“I was inspired to make the film because I wanted to create a made-up world with made-up rules,” said Hirsch, who graduated from UMBC in 2004 with dual degrees in visual arts (animation) and computer science.
Hirsch began the film during her final semester at UMBC. After graduating, Hirsch began working for Breakaway Games, an entertainment software company in Hunt Valley, Md. Beginning on the art side of the company, she modeled and added texturing graphics to gaming applications. She has since moved to the programming sector.
“I enjoy [programming] because every day there are new and different challenges and problems to solve,” she said.
She recognizes her training at UMBC for helping her to develop skills in coding and the use of specific art programs, but adds that learning how to think critically and solve problems has been very helpful as well. She credits many of her professors, especially her computer science advisor, Dr. Richard Chang, and her art professor Dan Bailey, with encouraging her to “push the envelope technically and creatively.”
Hirsch was very involved on campus as a student, setting records as a varsity pole vaulter while also working as a graphics lab assistant, volunteering with the Center for Women in Information Technology, and serving on the executive board for the Visual Arts Council of Majors. Additionally, she was one of the first four students to be named an IRC Fellow by the Imaging Research Center, and she was also nominated for the Computing Research Association’s Undergraduate Research Award.
As an alumna, Hirsch is still involved with UMBC. She has attended career panels and serves on the Chapter of Young Alumni steering committee, and she even set up a tour of her office for the Visual Arts Council of Majors. She wants to give something back to current students, explaining, “UMBC presented me with a lot of opportunities, and if I can’t contribute monetarily, I can at least contribute my time.”
She encourages undergrads to get as much experience in their field as possible before graduating, but to also enjoy their time at UMBC and take advantage of all of the options that are available.
With all of her experiences, Hirsch has been able to fuse her many interests in order to find a job that is perfect for her and still have time to create her short film. Centering on a rainbow-colored, “dragon-like critter” that spends his days eating colored pellets in the desert, Hirsch said “Dragin’ On” has given her the perfect imaginative outlet.
“You can create things that never existed before.”
– Jennifer Matthews ’07
Originally published May 2006

We’ve seen many images of the impact of Hurricane Katrina over the last six months: photographs of the hordes displaced from their New Orleans homes, video footage of the volunteers rebuilding, house by house.
But Cindy Dahlstrom McNitt sees another side of the damage. As a licensed clinical social worker from the small town of Slidell, La. – which sustained major damages, falling within the eye of the storm – she witnesses the emotional effects of the flooding on a daily basis.
“Since everyone here is experiencing some degree of stress, my clinical work is not confined to the office,” said McNitt, who graduated from UMBC in 1981 with a degree in psychology.
“More people are seeking help (wisely), but are frustrated by the limited help available to them,” due to the destruction of health providers’ offices, records – even suicides by practitioners, she said. “This only adds to the general sense of hopelessness that takes over at times.”
McNitt got her start in social work at UMBC. A native of Illinois, she originally chose UMBC because of the strong psychology program and to be close to her high school sweetheart, Tom, who was attending the Naval Academy at the time.
“While there, I took a social work class that really resonated with me,” she said. After college, she and Tom married and she earned her master’s in social work from the University of Illinois. McNitt spent several happy years working in the schools of Chicago’s suburbs while raising their first three children.
In 1995, just after the birth of her fourth child, the Navy transferred the family to New Orleans. McNitt quickly set up her private practice in the town of Slidell, which lost forty percent of its housing to Katrina, she said.
Despite the obvious troubles of the citizens of Slidell, McNitt stays positive in hopes she might help her neighbors. Since her home made it through the storm relatively unscathed, her family has opened the doors to a number of guests, including her older daughter’s family and a local contractor. McNitt’s office was “torpedoed,” however, so she has been working from home and taking to the streets to talk clients through their problems.
In addition to the issues that naturally arise from close-quartered living, loss of jobs and homes, and general disarray, McNitt has dealt with everything from suicides to peoples’ worries about “the next hurricane” to fears of falling branches.
“We’re all trying to assimilate something known locally as the ‘New Normal.’ This is one of the biggest challenges in this huge region of destruction and lost, but evidence of hope, too,” she said. “We’re not ‘all better’ yet, but with help, we can get there. This can be a pretty city again…maybe a new ‘New Normal!’”
– Jenny O’Grady
Originally published April 2006