First Impressions

The first phase of UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building is already teeming with students and faculty eager to study, teach, work and create in the brand-new space.

Yet the campus celebration of the new building – scheduled for Wednesday, September 19 – will be an occasion for the university and the general public to experience the Performing Arts and Humanities Building in an event-packed day of discussion, debate and entertainment.

The day kicks off at 2 p.m. when Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley joins UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, to officially cut the ribbon on building’s first phase and to break ground for the building’s second phase, set to open in 2014.

The ceremonies will be followed at 3 p.m. by an Arts and Humanities Festival held outside at the new building. The festival will feature music and readings by UMBC student groups and community artists, highlighted by a performance by UMBC alumnus Lafayette Gilchrist ’92, Africana studies. The festival will last until 6:30 p.m., with delicious and diverse cuisine provided by some of the area’s best food trucks.

And as the festival continues outside, the Performing Arts and Humanities Building’s 275-seat proscenium theatre will be the site of “New Space” – a dynamic panel discussion co-hosted by UMBC and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. (3:30 p.m.)

Moderated by WYPR’s Tom Hall, “New Space” will allow prominent UMBC scholars and local artists to reveal the physical, conceptual and virtual spaces that motivate their work and explore how new spaces inspire them to think, create and engage in expected and unexpected ways.

Tours of the new building will be given between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by an Inaugural Lecture presented by The Humanities Forum in the proscenium theatre.  Pauline Yu, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, will speak on the topic: “The Humanities, Without Apology.”

The first phase of Performing Arts and Humanities Building is the new home of UMBC’s theatre and English departments, along with the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Linehan Artist Scholars Program and the Humanities Scholars Program.

The building was designed not only to be aesthetically pleasing, but to advance key elements in teaching, research and creative endeavor at UMBC. The Performing Arts and Humanities Building is also projected to incorporate enough sustainable design strategies to be designated as a LEED Silver project – including a white roof to reduce the structure’s “heat island” effect and a system that harvests rainwater for irrigation.

While the fences and cranes have moved from the front of the building, the work site at the north edge of campus won’t be closing down anytime soon. Construction has already begun on phase two of the building, which will open in fall 2014 and provide a new home for the departments of dance, music, philosophy and ancient studies, as well as a 350 seat concert hall and a 120 seat dance studio.

Go here to learn more about the Performing Arts and Humanities Building or to view the full details for the Grand Opening Celebration.

(9/12/12)

Luke 9:28-36 (NIV)

28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Reflection:

If we read verse 35 in light of Isaiah 42:1-16, we suddenly see and sense what the disciples may have recollected in that moment. The Son is the Servant! It would have been a whole new perspective on Jesus.

Who is Jesus to you today? What/who has captured your attention, your gaze, your listening heart? May we once again see Jesus as our mighty warrior, our savior, our God and walk in His light today…a fully awake walk with the Lord (vs.32).

Response:

May we put aside all of our preconceptions about Jesus so we may encounter His awe-inspiring reality again. He is the true King of glory, the one who will return one day in all of His power and majesty. Let’s bow down before the King and worship Him. He is the Lord and there is no else like Him in all creation.

October 19, 2012 at 11 am in ITE 456

Presented by the Department of Information Systems, UMBC

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Abstract

It is widely recognized that the nation requires a Learning Health System (LHS) to provide higher quality, safer, and more affordable health care. An LHS is one that can routinely and securely aggregate data from disparate sources, convert the data to knowledge, and disseminate that knowledge, in actionable forms, to everyone who can benefit from it. Achieving a Learning Health System at national scale requires solution of a wide array of technology and policy problems and, as such, is the consummate challenge in health informatics. This presentation will describe the LHS, why it is vital to our future, the specific problems that must be addressed, and a pathway through which the nation might achieve an LHS.

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Short Bio

His appointment at Michigan follows 8 years of work for the federal government, prior to which Dr. Friedman served for 26 years as a university faculty member and administrator.

Most recently, Dr. Friedman held executive positions at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. From 2007 to 2009 he was Deputy National Coordinator and from 2009 to 2011 he was ONC's Chief Scientific Officer. While at ONC, Friedman oversaw a diverse portfolio of nationwide activities that included development of a "learning health system", health IT research and workforce development programs, evaluation of ONC's programs, clinical decision support, and international cooperation for eHealth. He was the lead author of the first national health IT strategic plan which was released in June of 2008.

From 2003 to 2006 Dr. Friedman was Senior Scholar at the National Library of Medicine where he oversaw NLM's training and bioinformatics grant portfolios, and played a prominent role in developing the National Centers for Biomedical Computing. From 2006 to 2007, he served as an Associate Director and Chief Information Officer of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Prior to his work in the government, from 1996 to 2003, Dr. Friedman was Professor, Associate Vice Chancellor for Biomedical Informatics, and Founding Director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh. In these roles he functioned as Chief Information Officer of the university's schools of the health sciences and directed the Pittsburgh program for Integrated Advanced Information Systems (IAIMS). He also served for many years in a range of faculty and administrative roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He directed UNC's Office of Educational Development and served as Assistant Dean for Medical Education and Medical Informatics.

Dr. Friedman is an elected fellow and past president of the American College of Medical Informatics, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. He was the Founding Chair of the Group on Information Resources of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

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PLEASE JOIN US FOR A RECEPTION IN ITE 456 IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING !!! HOSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

MICROSOFT KICKS OFF THE APP CHALLENGE AT UMBC

Students actively enrolled at an accredited educational institution that grants high-school or college/university or equivalent degrees including home schools between September 5^th 2012 and Oct 26^th 2012 can submit up to 3 Windows 8 applications to become eligible for $25 gift certificate. Students (up to 3 in a team) are required to work with an MSP to envision, build and submit an App to the Windows Store.

Join your campus Microsoft Student Partner at The App Challenge Kickoff on Friday, September 14^th during 12-1pm in ITE 459 for details on the challenge and how to sign up. 

Kickoff Facebook Event

Sign up for competition