On Thursday, September 13 at 8:00 p.m. in the Fine Arts Recital Hall, clarinetist Richard Spece and pianist Nancy Beith join forces to present a program featuring:

• Five Bagatelles, Op. 23, by Gerald Finzi
• Concertino by Giuseppe Tartini (arranged by Gordon Jacob)
• Clarinet Sonata No. 1, Op. 120, by Johannes Brahms
• Duo Concertant pour Clarinette et Piano by Darius Milhaud

Richard Spece regularly performs on modern and historical clarinets around the country and has several recordings available on Crystal Records. He has been a featured performer on the Smithsonian Recital Series in Washington, D.C., Music in the Mansion Series at the Strathmore in Maryland, Alexander Paley Festival in Virginia, Mozart Society of California Chamber Music Series, the Instituto de la Cultura Festival in Mexico, Cascade Music Festival, Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival, Garth Newel Chamber Festival, the Embassy Series in Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art Chamber Series, and the Festival of Sacred Music in New York City. His teachers included Stan Stanford, William McColl, James Campbell, Alfred Prinz, and Howard Klug. Mr. Spece is a Selmer Concert Artist.

Nancy Beith has been on the music faculty at UMBC since 1980, serving as academic advisor for the department, pianist for both the Camerata and Opera Workshop, and coordinator of the class piano program. She taught for many years in the Preparatory Division of Hood College in Frederick. As a collaborative pianist, Ms. Beith has worked with many area musicians in recital and chamber performances. She has adjudicated piano competitions for Maryland State Music Teachers Association and has been pianist for the International Trombone Workshop in Nashville. Currently she is a pianist for Holy Family Catholic Community in Middletown, Maryland, and the Maryland State Boychoir in Baltimore. Ms. Beith received degrees from Syracuse University and the Peabody Institute. She also studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Westminster Choir College in Princeton.

$7 general admission, $3 seniors, free for students, free with a UMBC ID. Tickets will be available at the door. Presented by the Department of Music.

Eric Zeemering, assistant professor of public policy at UMBC, has been named this year’s recipient of both the Clarence Stone Young Scholar Award and the Norton Long Developing Scholar Award from the Urban section of the American Political Science Association, in recognition of his scholarship, teaching and public service. Zeemering’s work focuses on public management, intergovernmental relations and urban policy. His research has appeared in journals including Public Administration Review and Urban Affairs Review.

Social Movements and the New State: The Fate of Pro-Democracy Organizations When Democracy Is Won, from Stanford University Press, is the latest book by Brian K. Grodsky, associate professor of political science at UMBC. Reviewers have called it “exceptionally rich” and “theoretically innovative.” The book description reads:

The world’s democracies cheered as the social movements of the Arab Spring ended the reigns of longstanding dictators and ushered in the possibility of democracy. Yet these unique transitions also fit into a broader pattern of democratic breakthroughs around the globe, where political leaders emerge from the pro-democracy movement that helped affect change. In Social Movements and the New State, Brian Grodsky examines the relationships between new political elites and the civil society organizations that brought them to power in three culturally and geographically disparate countries—Poland, South Africa, and Georgia.This book argues that the identities and personal networks developed during the struggle provide “movement activists” with opportunities to influence minor issues, but that new and differing institutional pressures create schisms on broader policy that can turn prior bonds into a liability rather than an asset. Drawing on media analyses and more than 150 elite interviews, Grodsky offers a rare empirical assessment of the degree to which social movement organizations shape activists’ beliefs and actions over the long term.

Chuck Milligan, former executive director of The Hilltop Institute at UMBC and current Maryland Medicaid director, just published a featured post on blog Health Affairs titled, “Expanding Medicaid: The Smart Decision For Maryland.”

The post cites Hilltop’s analysis to explain the economic benefit that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will provide to states and why these findings support Maryland’s decision to expand Medicaid and fully implement the ACA. It also directs readers Hilltop’s Maryland Health Care Reform Simulation reports (1, 2).

Health Affairs is a leading health policy journal and this post illustrates how Hilltop’s work is directly informing U.S. health policy.

SPECIAL SATURDAY SESSION: Success Seminar on Funding & Fellowships, with special emphasis on the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Application.

“How to Fund Your Graduate Education”

Speakers: PROMISE Alumni, Dr. Frances D. Carter-Johnson and Dr. Patricia Ordóñez Rozo 

Dr. Carter-Johnson is a graduate of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy and currently serves as a STEM Policy Analyst at Westat.  Dr. Carter-Johnson has degrees in Public Policy, Applied Physics, Pure Physics, and Mechanical Engineering from UMBC, Georgia Tech, and Spelman College. She has received fellowships from NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), SREB, GAANN, and GEM. As of September 2012, Dr. Carter-Johnson will be joining the Teaching and Learning Laboratory at MIT.

Dr. Ordóñez Rozo is a graduate of UMBC’s Department of Computer Science. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras. Dr. Ordóñez Rozo has degrees in Hispanic and Italian Studies, and Computer Science.  She has taught several classes at UMBC and was a Technical Trainer for UMBC’s Training Centers, focusing on JAVA Computer Programming Certifications and curriculum development. Dr. Ordóñez Rozo was a NSF Graduate Research Fellow, and has won fellowships from Xerox, Verizon, and UMBC.

Dr. Carter-Johnson and Dr.  Ordóñez Rozo were PROMISE Peer Mentors and have collectively been invited speakers on this topic at the National Science Foundation’s HBCU-UP national conference, the American Association for the Advancement in Science’s  Emerging Researchers Network national Conference, Harvard, UMBC, and MIT. This fall, Dr. Ordóñez Rozo will also present this topic in Puerto Rico. Our speakers’ work was presented at the “Understanding Interventions” national conference in 2012. To date, at least 10 of their mentees who have taken their workshops have won the prestigious NSF GRFP Fellowship, or other award, for a total of approximately $1 million of fellowship money! 

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Public Policy Building, Room 206

SESSION 1: “Funding Your Graduate Education.” 

10:00 AM -12:00 PM — SEMINAR (General Public)

This seminar will include general information about funding for graduate school. Information regarding a variety of fellowships will be shared. Most of the content will focus on funding that is available in the U.S. for students in STEM fields.  Many of these fellowship opportunities are sponsored by the U.S. government, and are therefore reserved for U.S. students. There will be a small amount of information available to international students and students in the Humanities and Education, but in addition to talking about general fellowships, a primary focus of this seminar will be the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP).  The NSF GRFP Fellowship covers STEM fields, including social and behavioral sciences, e.g., Psychology, STEM Education, Public Policy.)

Breakfast will be served.

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SESSION 2: “Starting Your Application”

12:00 PM – 3:00 PM — NSF Fastlane session (By reservation/appointment only)

To join this session, you must reserve your space in the comments below before September 7, and you must bring your laptop.  This session is for those who are making the commitment to submit the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship application. Participation in this session requires participation in SESSION 1. This session will take you through the process of logging onto the Fastlane, NSF’s online application submission website, and the presenters will assist you with the early stages of preparing your essays and documents for the fellowship application.

List of fields: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12599/nsf12599.htm#appendix.

Applicants for the GRFP must meet the following criteria:

• During the senior year of an undergraduate program
• After completing their undergraduate program but prior to entering graduate school
• During the first year of graduate school
• Prior to completing the Fall term of the second year of a full-time graduate program.

Lunch will be served at SESSION 2.

[Both undergraduates and graduate students may attend SESSION 1 and SESSION 2.]

Other NSF GRFP recipients are invited to join these session to provide advice. The original MyUMBC discussion with funding information can be found here:
http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/discussions/113

To Attend, PLEASE RSVP:

• Students at UMBC should login to MyUMBC and click “I can Attend” here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/12946.
• Students from other campuses may RSVP by writing your name, discipline, and school in the comments below.
• Students from underrepresented groups in STEM, LSAMP, AGEP, ERC, other US government sponsored programs, e.g., McNair, Trio, NIH, etc.  are especially invited to attend as participating in a seminar about the NSF GRFP fits into the missions of various government agencies with regard to increasing diversity in STEM.

This program is sponsored by PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), and The Graduate School at UMBC.

Related articles

• Funding for Graduate School (gradschool360.wordpress.com)
• Annual PROMISE Summer Success Institute: August 17-18, 2012 @ UMBC & The Hotel at Arundel Preserve (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• Learn more about graduate school: July 18, 2012 (gradschool360.wordpress.com)

Related video

Watch Dr. Frances Carter-Johnson and Dr. Ordóñez Rozo as they present an interactive workshop on funding at MIT, Summer 2012:  http://video.mit.edu/watch/msrp-fellowship-preparation-dr-francis-carter-and-dr-patricia-ordonez-11766/ (Start video at 3:39.) You may use this video as a resource before and after the September 15, 2012 workshop.