Public universities have a tradition of commitment to social responsibility. The UMBC community has taken a giant leap forward in addressing social challenges through a new movement called BreakingGround which debuted in Fall 2012. UMBC Student Government Association President Kaylesh Ramu ’13, political science, and David Hoffman, assistant director of student life for civic agency, are at the forefront of this effort to empower campus stakeholders to tackle issues that matter to them through innovative courses and co-curricular programs.

Where did the idea for BreakingGround originate?

Hoffman: UMBC has been participating for eight or ten years in national conversations about how to take the next big leap in civic engagement—helping students to see themselves as initiators and problemsolvers, not just voters and volunteers.

Ramu: BreakingGround is UMBC’s way of saying we have a strong commitment to civic engagement across campus. In the past, you saw different pockets of it here and there, but BreakingGround is a way we’re connecting everyone.

Hoffman: Democratic engagement is part of UMBC’s DNA. We’ve really been responsible for advancing the argument, nationally, that what happens on campus matters as much to students’ development as what happens in communities beyond the campus. So here at UMBC you don’t go and have a wonderful service placement with the Shriver Center, but then come back to a campus that views you as a customer. You’re a co-creator of this community.

How does this philosophy shape how students see themselves and what they can accomplish?

Ramu: As a student I never thought I would be working with administration on an $800,000 budget. Most times it’s easier to just leave students out of processes like budgeting, but in a community like ours you have so many administrators who really value giving students that opportunity and who enable reciprocal learning to happen. They recognize that one person can’t solve all our problems. It’s perspectives from across our community coming together into a greater conversation that makes change happen.

Hoffman: Part of what we hope alumni will take with them when they leave UMBC is an ability to see the people around them as full human beings, with unique skills and ambitions, and not just their social roles.

How has BreakingGround resonated with the UMBC community?

Hoffman: Part of what has amazed me about this process is how intuitive it is for so many people at UMBC. When the provost talks about UMBC as a scholarly community, I think this is what he’s talking about—a community of human beings who want to make a difference together finding ways to apply their intellects and their talents and their passions to contribute to the common good.

Ramu: I’ve seen students do amazing things here and that gives me the sense of confidence that public service is not really about your age, it’s about your determination.

Why should other universities move to boost campus-wide civic engagement?

Hoffman: Most colleges and universities are preparing students to vote and to volunteer. At UMBC we’re preparing them to innovate, to see possibilities and solve problems. That implies a very different set of skills and a very different orientation to themselves. This reflects growing consensus, articulated by the U.S. Department of Education, that this is exactly what universities need to be doing.

Ramu: I worry about colleges that don’t have this type of component, where students are running through, just taking online courses, and they miss out on other kinds of learning. If higher education is not preparing them to engage in their communities, when do they learn that? My experience with civic engagement at UMBC is part of why I feel so connected to this community. I’m going to be a proud alum.

— Dinah Winnick

Learn more about BreakingGround at umbcbreakingground.wordpress.com.

SMART WINS

Aki Thomas, acting head coach of UMBC men’s basketball team, is a cool customer at courtside. He exudes calming reassurance in team huddles, and he’s more likely to remove his glasses and stare than bark at a referee after a bad call.

Thomas became head coach in October – less than a month before the season opener – after the resignation of Randy Monroe. He has been coaching and recruiting at UMBC since 2007, after a playing career that included time at the University of Colorado and Howard University, as well as a stint playing professional basketball in Venezuela.

“I’ve been developing my own coaching philosophy for almost nine years,” Thomas says. Stylistically, he favors an up-tempo game. “I like to try to speed things up on the defensive end,” he says. “Look for opportunities in transition.”

Thomas’ approach to recruiting also fits in well with UMBC’s reputation as a school where student-athletes play hard and study hard. “The number one thing I look for in a player is intelligence,” he says. “Book smarts and what we call basketball IQ. I want them at a very high intelligence level. Because I think smart wins.”

Beneath the cool exterior, however, Thomas possesses a fierce desire to win. At a key moment in a home game against New Hampshire, the head coach reminded his players that “nobody’s hungrier than we are right now.”

The hungry Retrievers responded by seizing control of the game and cruising to a 68-57 victory.

— Richard Byrne ’86

TOURNEY TESTED

After an extraordinary run of games at the end of the season, the 2012 UMBC men’s soccer team emerged not only with an America East championship, but also a first-round victory on penalty kicks in the NCAA men’s soccer tournament against Old Dominion University.

The team’s exit from the tourney was also extraordinary: a loss on penalty kicks against the nation’s fifth-ranked team and defending NCAA men’s soccer champions, the University of North Carolina (UNC), on the Tarheels’ home field.

It was the team’s second appearance in the NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup in the last three years.

“We’re so proud of the achievements of men’s soccer team and coach Pete Caringi,” said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, who observed that academic achievements have also been a hallmark of the university’s men’s soccer program.

Indeed, the day after their first round NCAA victory over Old Dominion, the men’s soccer team was also recognized with a 2011-2012 College Team Academic Award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), given to 221 men’s programs in America with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher. (The university’s women’s soccer team also was recognized with the same award, and UMBC was one of 150 programs in which both its men’s and women’s programs received the NSCAA award.)

The 2012 Retrievers sealed an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a victory over the University of New Hampshire in the America East championship game, held on November 10 at Retriever Soccer Park.

— Richard Byrne ’86

THE GALLERY NEXT DOOR

Each night when professor of political science Carolyn Forestiere returns to her Catonsville home, she finds a little bit of UMBC waiting on the walls – and often some fellow art lovers, too.

Opening an art gallery in one’s living room isn’t for everybody. But for Forestiere and her husband, Asher, throwing open their doors a few nights a week as the David Mikow Art Gallery (named after Asher’s father) made perfect sense.

“We thought: What’s the purpose of filling a house with art and not sharing it?” she says above the hubbub of a December opening reception for “Images in Print” – a selection of colorful monoprints and lithographs by university alumni and students, curated by visual art professors Irene Chan and Calvin Custen.

At one end of the room, Heather Brown ’13 explains how she created “Isadora II,” a lively monoprint inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. She rolled the paint, dashed it with solvents and the tips of various tools, she explains, “and then prayed it would turn out.”

At the other end of the room, Elizabeth Guidara ’11, political science, tells passersby about a series of prints featuring world dictators and their supposed lovers. Carving multiple layers of linoleum so they line up to allow for vibrant four-color printing is “a mix of science and luck,” she says.

As the evening rushes on, the guest book fills with names from UMBC, the neighborhood and beyond.

“When we moved to Catonsville, we wanted to make this our community,” says Forestiere. “And we have. This is something we’ve done together.”

Learn more about upcoming shows at The David Mikow Art Gallery here…

— Jenny O’Grady

SINGING SOFTLY

Nelson Emokpae ’03, psychology (a.k.a. Nelly’s Echo), has toured hundreds of colleges and universities over the past two years, but he has not yet performed at his alma mater.

Along with releasing his third record, Emokpae says that a concert at UMBC is on his “to do” list for 2013. But 2012 held its own magic for the alumnus when he was featured on NBC’s hit musical performance show The Voice.

Emokpae made waves nationally when Christina Aguilera selected him to be on her team mere seconds into his rendition of Bill Withers’ 1971 hit “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and he says that the coaching sessions he received from Aguilera during his run on the show were one of the highlights of the experience. Emokpae observes that Aguilera is “a normal person with the same fears and insecurities everyone has,” and her guidance “lent me a hand to help me with my journey.”

Despite his elimination on a subsequent episode after a one-on-one showdown with fellow contestant De’Borah, Emokpae feels immense gratitude for his national TV experience. The Voice, he enthuses, was “an episode in my life movie.”

Emokpae’s life movie has been anything but uneventful – even before The Voice. He fled his native Nigeria with most of his immediate family because of political unrest when he was only fifteen. They settled in Baltimore where they were eventually reunited with his father, Roland, who had been wrongfully imprisoned in Nigeria.

Although music had always been an integral part of his life (one favorite childhood pastime was setting his poetry to music), Emokpae majored in psychology at UMBC. Yet he also observes “your path picks you,” and his constant presence in the university’s music department – strumming his guitar and jamming with friends – exposed him to the music of the Maryland Camarata, led at that time by Aya Ueda.

Emokpae introduced himself and asked for an audition, and despite not having any previous formal vocal training, his natural ability secured him a spot with the group for the rest of his time at UMBC – an experience that offered him the chance to learn to sight-read music and sing lead in an ensemble. The latter experience in particular, says Emokpae, “really makes you grow up as a vocalist.”

After obtaining a doctorate in physical therapy, Emokpae kept making music as he also made a living as a physical therapist. But at the age of 30, he was persuaded to quit his day job and devote himself fully to his music career.

“I decided I didn’t want to be that old man on his front porch wondering ‘What if?’” explains Emokpae.

The national exposure that The Voice gave Nelly’s Echo means that Emokpae’s life movie promises to be even more interesting in years to come. Among his ambitions include winning a Grammy (“Not for the sake of validation,” he says, “but for affirmation that the voice for the soft-spoken can be heard in this sometimes very noisy world.”) and using any success to build infrastructure in the two areas in which he has worked: health care and music.

“I’d like to build hospitals and music venues in impoverished cities around the world, starting with Africa,” Emokpae says. He also believes that music venues are equally important: “These can be places in communities where young people can find hope.”

Watch Nelson Emokpae ’03, psychology, on an episode of The Voice…

– Sara Barker

The Ancient Studies department will hold a reunion luncheon featuring Greek foods at the Albin O. Kuhn Library (7th floor) on April 6 from noon to 3 p.m. A number of founding faculty will be present, including Walt Sherwin, Rudy Storch, and Carolyn Koehler. Jay Freyman, who is retiring this summer, will also be there.Please visit http://www.umbc.edu/blogs/ancs/events/ for more information.

WHEN: Saturday, April 6, 2013, noon – 3 p.m.
WHERE:  Albin O. Kuhn Library- 7th Floor, UMBC, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250
COST: $30 per person for non-students; $25 per person for current UMBC students. If you would like to sponsor a UMBC student for this luncheon please note that on your registration form.
RSVP: Visit http://www.umbc.edu/blogs/ancs/events/ to download the registration form. All reservations must be received by March 22, 2013.