We need your help! The Fall 2014 issue of UMBC Magazine will explore the history – and the future course – of UMBC Athletics. We need YOU – alumni at UMBC – to help us tell that story with photos of your time as a student athlete or even as a fan of Retriever sports.

Editors at UMBC Magazine will select the best photos to appear in the forthcoming issue. Please email photos to retrievernet@umbc.edu. (And please scan them at the highest resolution possible.) You can also share your stories and photos on Facebook or Twitter using #houseofgrit.

Baltimore has been practically giddy in the wake of the Orioles’ first round playoff win, which ushers the team into the Championship Series and one step closer to the World Series. And as the O’s get ready to take on the Kansas City Royals, we’d like to take a moment to highlight two UMBC alums who have also recently made the Orioles-related news.

Sergeant First Class Michael Zambito ’99, geography, was honored in Oriole Park’s Salute to Military Service during Game 1 of the Orioles playoffs last Thursday. The Salute is sponsored by the O’s and Bank of America and honors local service men and women for their service and sacrifice. Zambito attended UMBC on the GI Bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Ai9A0j4eQ

And Lauren Hall ’10, psychology and sociology; ’14 M.A., sociology, has been making the social media rounds with her clever parody of Lorde’s “Royals.” As the video steadily climbs towards 75,000 views, Hall is understandably overwhelmed by the enthusiastic reception. “I think it’s kind of funny,” Hall said in a WBALTV interview, “I wasn’t expecting the response that I got.” Hall is currently a University of Maryland research analyst.

And if any of you folks are on Twitter, keep an eye on #wewontstop. Let’s keep it trending all the way to a World Series win.

UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies has received a grant for well over one million dollars from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to research Adult Day Services (ADS). The research project, “Adult Day Services: Cultural Contexts and Programming Effects,” will focus on understanding the ways that ADS programming affects clients.

More than 250,000 clients and family caregivers participate in more than 4,500 adult day centers across the country today. Adult Day Services provides a place for adults who need assistance during the day so they are able to continue living at home. By researching daily life in ADS, the Center for Aging Studies plans to inform service providers, consumers, policymakers, and health care professionals of the benefits and concerns that affect the quality of life and care in ADS.

Robert Rubinstein, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Center of Aging Studies, is the primary investigator on the grant. Dr. Rubinstein will lead a research team that has extensive experience in aging research and represents the anthropology, sociology, psychology and gerontology disciplines and reflects the center’s interdisciplinary approach. The team includes Center for Aging Studies Associate Director Ann Christine Frankowski, researcher Mary Nemec, and researcher and project coordinator Gina Hrybyk. The researchers will conduct extensive personal interviews with ADS clients, family members and friends, directors, and staff and volunteers at facilities throughout Maryland to more fully understand the ADS experience.

On October 9, Talking Points Memo (TPM) published a story analyzing the recent controversial College Board decision to release a revised framework on the way AP U.S. history is taught. Since the decision was released two years ago, it has drawn backlash from many who call the new framework unpatriotic and revisionist.

Scott Casper, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of History, was quoted extensively in the story and commented on recent shifts in American history education. Casper, who edits the “Textbooks and Teaching” section of the Journal of American History, said the debate isn’t exactly new. He said the new framework reflects a shift in teaching history in that more colleges and high schools are emphasizing “historical thinking skills.” He also noted there’s been a shift in topics covered, including incorporating the stories of women, African-Americans and immigrants to a greater extent.

Commenting on the concept of revisionist history, Casper said: “Those who criticize the teaching of what they call revisionist history are certainly part of a long tradition because every time we learn more about the past, we are revising our understanding of the past,” he said. “So in a sense, history is always revisionist.”

To read the full article, click here.