The Department of Gender + Women's Studies is thrilled to present this year’s Korenman event. E. Patrick Johnson's will perform selections from his 2009 play, Sweet Tea—The Play, based on his book, Sweet Tea. The play had its world premiere in April 2010 and had a month run to rave reviews. He won a Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best Solo Performance for the show. He has toured to over 80 college campuses from 2006 to the present.

RSVP to the event here: http://my.umbc.edu/events/20834

Professor Johnson’s performance will help us celebrate our Critical Sexuality Studies minor. Johnson’s work amplifies UMBC’s commitment to scholarly practice, and his performance continues our shared project of telling our stories as a model for civic engagement and social justice.

Professor Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. He is also an Artistic Fellow at the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia College, Chicago. A scholar, artist, and activist, Johnson has performed nationally and internationally and has published widely in the area of race, gender, sexuality and performance.

You can find out more about Johnson at his website:  http://epatrickjohnson.com/. For background readings and additional updates on the event, see the GWST website.

The GWST 7th annual Korenman lecture is co-sponsored by the Dresher Center for Humanities, the Office of the Provost and the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The NSF Award & Administration Guide has been released for awardsto be made on or after February 24, 2014. The link to the new guide is: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf14001/aag_index.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_179

Below is a list of the changes from NSF's web site:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf14001/aag_sigchanges.jsp

NSF 14-1 January 2014
AAG Summary of Changes

Chapter II.B.2.d(ii), Long-Term Absence of the PI/PD or co-PI/co-PD, has been revised to describe the steps that should occur in the event that the PI/PD or co-PI/co-PD will be temporarily working for NSF as an IPA (Intergovernmental Personnel Act employee) or VSEE (Visiting Scientist, Engineer or Educator).

Chapter II.E, Annual and Final Project Reports, has been amended to emphasize that annual and final project reports are not cumulative and should be written specifically for the most recently completed budget period, as well as add that reports should be submitted electronically in Research.gov.

Chapter III.C.2, Payment Policies, has been modified to state that, when completing a payment request, awardees must certify that all disbursements have been made or will be made within 3 days of the receipt of the payment for the purposes and conditions of the awards.

Chapter III.C.6, Grantee EFT Update, has been updated to make known that SAM will become the NSF system of record for organizational financial information as of October 1, 2014. Once a grant is awarded, failure to maintain current and complete financial information within SAM could prevent the awardee from receiving funds.

Chapter III.D.1, Final Unobligated Balance, has been revised to state that, based on final payment amounts submitted through the Award Cash Management Service (ACM$), the final unobligated balance will be computed by NSF and deobligated from the award amount.

Chapter III.D.4, Program Income, has been supplemented with information on program income reporting requirements.

Chapter III.E, Final Disbursement Reporting, has been modified to clarify procedures under ACM$. For any award listed on the ACM$ Payments screen, the awardee will enter the final payment amount in the Payment Amount Requested column. If final disbursements change by $1.00 or more from the amount at the award financial closeout, the awardee should submit an Adjustment to a Financially Closed Award through the ACM$ payment process. Awardees have the option of using ACM$ to designate awards for financial closeout prior to the scheduled close out date.

Chapter IV.A.6, Conflict of Interest Policies, has been updated to add language regarding awardee notification to NSF of situations where research will proceed without the imposition of conditions or restrictions when a Conflict of Interest exists.

Chapter V.B.8.a, Participant Support Costs, General, has been revised to add that, for colleges and universities, participant support costs may include fellowships, scholarships, and other forms of student aid; and to emphasize that indirect costs are not allowed on participant support costs.

Chapter V.C.3, Rental or Lease of Facilities or Special Purpose Equipment, has been updated to add that rental costs of facilities owned by the awardee or under common control by related parties may be limited to the actual cost of ownership as opposed to fair market rental value.

Chapter V.C.4, Relocation Costs, has been updated to add guidance regarding inclusion of visa costs.

Chapter V.D.1(ii)(b), Provisional Rate, has been added to define a provisional rate as a temporary rate established to permit funding and reporting of costs pending establishment of a final rate.

Chapter VI.A.1, Non-Discrimination Statutes, has been amended to include that Executive Order 13166 requires government agencies to take steps to provide meaningful access to its programs and activities to members of the public who are limited in their English proficiency (LEP).

Chapter VI.L, Environmental Compliance, has been added to affirm that, prior to making an award, NSF considers the anticipated environmental impacts associated with the activities described in the proposal. If, while performing the work required by the award, the awardee learns of any potential or actual unanticipated environmental impacts, the awardee shall immediately notify NSF of such impacts and cease all work anticipated to cause or causing such impacts until NSF has had a reasonable opportunity to assess the situation, comply with all relevant environmental laws, and provide further direction to the awardee.

Clarifications and Other Changes to the AAG

Exhibit I-1, Statutes, Executive Orders and Other Directives, has been updated to include other relevant statutes.

Chapter III.B, Definitions, has been modified to update definitions of Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) and Federal Financial Report History.

Chapter III.C, Payment Requirements, has been revised throughout to acknowledge implementation of ACM$.

Chapter III.C.4, Special Payment Awardees, has been amended to clarify that the cognizant NSF Grants and Agreements Officer is responsible for establishing the documentation requirements for special payment awardees.

Chapter III.E, Award Financial Reporting Requirements, has been changed to omit the section on Quarterly Disbursement Reporting – Federal Financial Report (FFR), submission of which is no longer necessary given the implementation of ACM$.

Chapter V.A, Basic Considerations, has been updated to clarify the awardee’s responsibilities for ensuring that all costs charged to NSF awards meet the requirements of the applicable cost principles, grant general terms and conditions, any other specific requirements of both the award notice and the applicable program solicitation, and their own internal policies and procedures. This part also has been updated to add language on establishing an advance agreement or understanding about charging an item of direct cost that might otherwise subsequently be disputed.

Chapter V.A.2.c, Post-Expiration Costs, has been revised to provide an example of a valid commitment made on or before the expiration date of the grant that may be liquidated subsequent to the expiration date. This part also explains that the grantee should not purchase items of equipment, computing devices, or restock materials and supplies in anticipation of grant expiration where there is little or no time left for such items to be utilized in the actual conduct of the research.

Chapter V.A.3.b, NSF Prior Approval Policy, has been amended to add that awardees should ensure that all costs are fully disclosed in the budget justification. Costs not specifically budgeted in an NSF award may be allowable provided that prior approval is not required, the costs are incurred consistently with the applicable cost principles and the grantee’s written policies and procedures, and proper documentation to explain and support the charge to the NSF award is maintained.

Chapter V.B.1.b, Fringe Benefits, has been updated to add that fringe benefits that are not accrued but are charged as direct costs and incurred under “pay as you go plans” may be subject to reasonableness determination where the benefits are earned under other work and charged to the last activity the employee was working on. This is of particular concern for large lump sum payments for leave, disability, pregnancy, or other employee fringe benefits.

Chapter V.B.6.a, Consultant Services, has been augmented to clarify that all consultant costs should be fully disclosed and explained in the accompanying budget justification.

Chapter V.C.4, Relocation Costs, has been supplemented to explain that relocation costs charged to an NSF award that were not included in the approved budget must be fully documented in the awardee’s records and be in accordance with the awardee’s established policies and procedures.

Chapter V.C.5.k, Meetings and Conferences, has been updated to add that gifts, souvenirs, t-shirts and other memorabilia are not typically considered allowable costs to an NSF grant.

Chapter V.D, Indirect Costs, has been revised to clarify that, where awardees receive limited NSF funding, the Foundation may elect to set award specific rates as opposed to a formal annual negotiated indirect cost rate agreement.

Chapter V.D.1.(ii)(a), Maximum Provisional Rate, has been modified to explain that a maximum provisional rate is both a billing and a ceiling rate. In no event may the grantee recover indirect costs in excess of the maximum provisional rate regardless of actual cost.

Chapter V.D.2, NSF Cognizant Organizations, has been updated to insert information on indirect cost rate proposal submission requirements.

Chapter VI.G.4, Passports and Visas, has been updated to include guidance on the allowability of visa costs. Restrictions concerning directly charging visa costs to an NSF award are described in GPG II.C.2.g.(vi)(f).

Nothing can kill your energy like a creative block. One day you’re confidently burning through your to-do list and listening to your favorite tunes, and out of nowhere, a problem comes along that leaves you stuck. I recently hit a pretty difficult block, but I was able to work through it and get inspired again by using a few simple strategies.

Simple is Hard

I’ve been meaning to redesign my personal site for the last few months, and this time around I wanted to create a logo to identify myself. I knew that I wanted to use my initials (NP) and include a visual cue alluding my profession in web design. I’m able to work pretty fast when it comes to websites, so I thought making a simple logo would be an easy task I could knock out in a few hours. Instead, it took me several weeks.

This is the 1-page site I designed. The logo took weeks, but the rest of the page only took a few hours.

I was planning on rebuilding my site in a day or two, but this one logo was killing my creative momentum. The essence of what I wanted to capture was in my head, but when it came time to draw in Illustrator, I just couldn’t fill in the details. The logo was an important component that I wanted to get right the first time, so rather than rush through it, I knew I would need to use all my best strategies for breaking a creative block. It wasn’t going to just come to me; I had to work for it.

Find Inspiration

When working through design blocks, one of the first things I like to do is find material that’s similar to what I want to make. If you’re not sure what you want to make, just try to find things you know you like. Dribbble and Pinterest are pretty great for finding inspiration.

Pinterest can be a great way to find design inspiration. Pin things you like and then come back to them later when you need help.

On Dribbble, I simply looked for logo designs that I really liked. One way to learn about a style is to emulate it yourself. You can learn a lot about what details make particular styles work for some logos and what details can be played with or ignored. If you like a designer’s style on Dribble, it’s worth visiting their profile and finding out who they follow. Often times this reveals a nice eclectic mix of source material that influences their own original work (and can influence yours).

Pinterest is a little bit more of a mixed bag because it’s not meant for designers specifically, but that can also be a strength. By searching for a style or a color, you can find cool movie posters, book covers, and artwork that can help get the creativity flowing. If you like something, pin it and come back to it when you need to be inspired. I admittedly haven’t pinned anything in awhile, but here’s my own design board for reference.

Behance and Forrst are two other popular sites that are great for finding fresh design work, and there are many more out there, so be sure to look around.

Critique and Collaborate

On Treehouse, Mat Helme recently released Logo Design Basics, so I decided to chat with him about my own logo design. I showed him a few of the concepts I’d drawn and then he put down a few more (he drew on a roll of masking tape, so I stuck them in my notes).

I filled about 4 more pages of ideas like this one.

The brain has a tendency to sidestep key details or idealize certain concepts when you want to make something work. Sometimes this is a good thing (which I’ll talk about later in this post), but talking to someone else about it forces you to articulate your thoughts out loud and put them through some logical rigor. It’s also extremely helpful to hear another person’s opinion.

From there, I came up with a few more ideas and narrowed it down to a few directions that I thought had potential. I decided to post these on Facebook to get opinions from people that I trust and then on reddit to get opinions from people that don’t know me.

These are four directions I liked the most later in the process. Ultimately it was a combination of two that lead to the final result.

Iterate and Repeat

I’m a big fan of iterating on ideas. When I’m designing websites, I like to create several different wireframes of the same page, just to make sure I’m exploring all the options. It’s tempting to go with the first thing that pops into your head, especially if it really feels like you nailed it. Always make at least a few more after that one though, because you never know what will come out of it. After you think you have some good directions, push each one a little bit more to make it the best possible version of that idea.

After getting feedback on Facebook and reddit, I tweaked each of my four concepts a little further. I posted my second pass to get more advice:

This is my second pass at the same four concepts, using the critique to make my adjustments.

One of my best friends has pretty good aesthetic sensibilities and he also knows me really well. He pointed out what he liked and didn’t like, and then made the suggestion of combining the upper left and bottom left into a more refined concept. I roughed out a few more iterations and ended up with my final design.

This is the final design I settled on. The P is a bit subtle, but it was personally more important to me that the N and the angle bracket be the most prominent elements.

This met my requirement of including a reference to my love for the web (the angle bracket) as well as subtly forming my initials.

Let It Marinate

It can be tempting to move quickly when you’re eager and excited about a project, but it’s helpful to build in rest periods between work time. This time shouldn’t be considered a luxury, so try your best to build it into project estimations. Dedicating some time to not working allows your mind to marinate in creative juices.

This is a big reason why Treehouse has a 4-day work week. Having every Friday off gives time to idly mull over things outside the context of work. When you step away from something, you tend to simplify and combine concepts, only retaining the most important parts. This isn’t always a good thing (as I mentioned previously), but often it’s a magical way to create something in its purest and most elegant form without compromise.

If you have any more suggestions for breaking a creative block and getting inspired, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

The post How to Break a Creative Block appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

You are also invited to visit the Women’s Center on Wednesday, November 20th to view the slideshow and reflect on these lives.

For more information, there will be a table at the Korenman Lecture.

Visit transgenderdor(dot)org to learn more.

Responding to reports of mass surveillance, engineers say they’ll make encryption standard in all Web traffic.

In response to the public outcry over mass Internet surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA), the engineers who develop the protocols that underpin the Internet are deep into an effort to encrypt all Web traffic, and expect to have a revamped system ready to roll out by the end of next year.