Education Professor of Practice Joan Shin has received the 2013 Ben Warren International House Trust Prize for her book Teaching Young Learners English (National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning, 2013). Shin coauthored the book with JoAnn Crandall, Professor Emerita and former Director of the Language, Literacy and Culture Ph.D. program.

The prestigious award is given annually to the author or authors of the most outstanding work in the field of language teacher education. The Ben Warren International House Trust was created as a memorial to the work and life of Ben Warren, who was a leader in developing the world’s leading language teaching organization.

Shin’s book was published last year. It teaches English as a foreign language to young children and presents practical suggestions and best practices for teachers to engage young learners.

The award was announced in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday, February 8. You can read more about the announcement here. You can also find more information on Shin’s book series with National Geographic Learning here.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and we want to take a moment to tell you, our UMBC alumni, how much we <3 you! You are a huge part of what makes UMBC such a great place, and we couldn't be happier to be here working for you. Since we weren't able to get a Valentine for each and every one of you, we thought we might show our love by reminding you of some of the great alumni perks you're eligible for: Awesome Discounts: We’re all trying to save a little money, so be sure to take advantage of the great discounts we’ve found for you on things like insurance, car rentals and tuition. Find out more.

Handy Campus Resources: Need a new book to read? Come visit the library. Want to get in shape? Stop by the RAC. Thinking about changing jobs? Check in with the Career Services Center. Those great campus resources you enjoyed as a student are still here for you when you need them. Get all the details.

Interesting Publications: There’s always something going on at UMBC, and we’re bringing you the news through our magazine, blogs and websites. Read on.

An article published February 9 in The Daily Beast titled “What Military Base Shootings Reveal about the Mental Health Debate” examines if better mental health screening can prevent future tragedies from occurring.

Psychology Associate Professor Jason Schiffman was interviewed for the story and is currently a staff member at Maryland’s Center for Excellence on Early Intervention for Serious Mental Illness. In the article, he argues early treatment for people experiencing symptoms of psychosis and schizophrenia can help prevent them from causing harm to themselves or others.

“Studies show one in 5 people in their early phases of psychosis will have a suicide attempt, which is a really high number,” Schiffman said. He is working with his team of researchers to identify young people with psychosis in order to help them get on a path towards leading a life they want to live.

“They may not have the full symptoms of psychosis, such as delusions, or beliefs held onto tenaciously despite evidence to the contrary. They may not be hearing voices or believe the FBI has planted a microchip in their tooth,” Schiffman explains. “But a lot of times people who eventually develop psychosis have anxiety symptoms early on. They suffer from distress that they can’t exactly explain.”

In the article, Schiffman also points to other countries such as Norway and Australia which dedicate money and resources to reducing stigma associated with mental illness.

“In Norway, mental health concerns are not considered something you have to hide or something that makes you a bad person,” said Schiffman. “In Australia, they approach young people from a community-oriented perspective. Mental health centers are kind of like YMCAs, where young people are playing pool, talking, not stigmatized into hiding who they are.”

You can read the full article in The Daily Beast here.

I'll be danged if I can find it but someone tweeted to @CodePen the other day something like: "Is it worth it for me to go PRO? Or are you going to up and shut down one day like so many startups do?" It was a hard question to answer, and not because I'm not sure what the answer is.

It was hard because saying something like "Don't worry, we aren't going away" is a weak and lame answer. Like I looked up how to respond in Corporate Social Media for Dummies!

So instead of a lame answer, I made a note to write up my feelings on the matter. This is that attempt.

CodePen isn't a fly-by-night operation. My plan is to build a business by building and maintaining a good product that is useful to people - and do right by those people.

There will be bugs. We'll screw up sometimes. But we'll always be working toward a better product and a better business. One that the Archiveteam doesn't need to worry about.

I know the only way to prove this is by proving it over time, so day by day we'll be doing that. But I can tell you this isn't some new revelation for me. Over many years I've focused the things I work on. I've stopped working on so many projects and have avoided picking up any new ones. I outsource as much as I can. Long-term work on a just a few things is what feels right to me. I wrote on The Pastry Box "Mediocre ideas, showing up, and persistence."

Don’t get distracted by some other idea and prance away to that tomorrow. Keep doing it until you’ve done everything you set out to do and everyone and their mom knows it.

Persistence is kinda my thing.

You're excited about it now, but what happens when the passion fades and you get bored of a project? Historically that tends to not happen to me for the things I work on that I care deeply about. But I suppose it could, in which case I would take care that the project is in good shape to be sustained with minimal effort and otherwise in good hands.

What if you sell it? There are no plans for that and I can't see it happening anytime soon. It could happen someday though, and my top priority would be ensuring a healthy future for it. I have been a part of an acquisition before with Wufoo and now, many years later, Wufoo is still going strong.

I was compelled to finally write this as I read Protecting Against Link Rot While Embracing the Future by Tim Murtaugh on A List Apart. Tim lays out a plan to keep embedded code demos healthy in the event that CodePen were to go away. He is 100% right and I'm glad A List Apart is approaching things in that smart future-proof way. It was just weird to read about the theoretical demise of my own project when I feel so strongly about it's own future-proof-ness. So here we are =).

Sticking Around is a post from CSS-Tricks

The following on-campus positions have been posted within the past week to UMBCworks. Login to your account (via the link in the Jobs & Internships topic in myUMBC) and find details and application instructions as well as hundreds of other job postings!

9263738 - TSC Student Consultant - UMBC Division of Information Technology