Are you ReADY?

Facilities Management and Residential Life are excited to announce the launch of our new customer request portal ReADY for faculty, staff, and students to report maintenance issues and to request services, effective Wednesday, June 22, 2022.

ReADY is a user-friendly application which runs on all smart phones, tablets, and computers.

ReADY allows all campus users to request services, using an easy-to-follow system of tiles and dropdown selections. Based upon your affiliation as a faculty/staff, commuter student, or residential student, you will see a customized set of tiles to report issues and request services for buildings, grounds, roadways, and other infrastructure.

Access ReADY via this link using your UMBC email and password:

https://umbc.assetworks.cloud/ready

Customers will receive email notifications and be able to monitor status of requests by clicking on Process or Notifications in ReADY. 

For current AiM Users, ReADY replaces the AiM work order request process. The AiM interface for requests will be disabled at 5 pm on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

A ReADY user guide and additional information is available on Facilities Management’s website:

https://fm.umbc.edu/work-request/

Accessibility and Disability Services works in strong partnership with Facilities Management and will be updating their Work Control information - though the on-the-go process for calling in a condition remains 410-455-2550 from any phone.  Campus faculty and staff are encouraged to bookmark the site to assist with prompt repair resolution.  

As always with Accessibility & Disability Services - please report accessibility concerns at any time via our online form linked here.

A photo of a toolbelt with a hammer and wrench accompanies this post.

Thinking of Study Abroad? Fund for Education Abroad Apps Open Soon!

If you're thinking about a study abroad program for the coming academic year, the Fund for Education Abroad scholarship can help you reach your goal! 

Applications for this scholarship open on July 1. Any undergraduate student who is a US citizen or permanent resident is eligible to apply, and the funds can be applied to any study abroad program that's eligible for UMBC credit. The deadline to submit your application is July 15. You can learn more about the FEA scholarship in this myUMBC post from Global Studies! 

Fall 2022 Advising Still Available!

Are you a current student who still needs advising and registration clearance for Fall 2022? It's not too late! Make an appointment with Dr. Oyen for your clearance - learn more on our website. 

New students who are starting their first semester at UMBC this fall will have an opportunity to register for classes at their orientation session this summer! 

Asian Studies Office Summer Hours

The Asian Studies office (Fine Arts 548) is open 8:30am-1:30pm, Mon-Thurs, this summer. We will be working remotely in July, but are available any time via email. 

We'll be in person again in August. If you are on campus prior to the start of class, feel free to stop by and say hello! 

Danyelle Ireland, Associate Director of the Center for Women in Technology, and Research Assistant Professor in the Engineering and Computing Education Program, UMBC

Despite various efforts to encourage more women to study STEM fields in college, the percentage of engineering bachelor’s degrees earned by women in the United States hasn’t increased much in the 21st century. Specifically, it has risen from 18% in 1998 to 22% in 2018.

Of all the fields in STEM – or science, technology, engineering and mathematics – the engineering workforce has the lowest proportion of women, at 14%.

That low participation matters for several reasons. Women are not only being left out of some of the highest-paying jobs in STEM, but companies are losing out as well. Research shows that gender-diverse teams make better business decisions than teams that are all-male.

So why aren’t women going into engineering? And what, if anything, can be done to help women who decide to study engineering stay the course? The Society of Women Engineers reports that over 32% of female STEM majors switch to another major. Research shows this rate is typically higher than the rate at which men leave engineering. Of those women who leave the engineering profession, 30% cite the workplace environment as the reason, the society reports. A 2017 study of over 5,000 women who earned bachelor’s degrees in engineering found that 10% never entered the field and 27% left the profession.

Colleges intervene

These are all issues I’ve been researching as associate director of the Center for Women in Technology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, or UMBC. In 2018, several colleagues and I found that computing and engineering students who are supported by the center graduate within four years at a rate of 61.2% – a than students who are not supported by the center. The center supports students through scholarships and extensive academic and social support; in the 2021-22 academic year, 73% of students supported were women. And recently two alumnae of the center – one in 2019 and one in 2022 – have become Fulbright Scholars.

The program at UMBC is by no means the only campus-based program in the nation that supports female students in their plans to enter engineering and computer science – two areas in which women are persistently underrepresented. Through my research, I have discovered that there are more than two dozen such programs or initiatives at colleges and universities throughout the nation. They include, for example, the Women in Engineering Program at University of Delaware, the Women in Science and Engineering program at North Carolina State University and the Advancing Women in Engineering program at the University of Pennsylvania.

To better understand the necessity of such programs, consider the abundance of research that has found women who study STEM report “chilly” and “negative” experiences in the classroom and on campus. This includes being subjected to gender-based harassment and a “perception that women are unable to ‘do science.’” Colleges also have long struggled with how to help women see themselves as part of the scientific community.

Proven strategies

It doesn’t have to be that way. Research shows that when female engineering students are mentored by female peers, they feel less anxious about their ability, have more positive academic experiences and are more likely to stick with STEM as a major. Peer-based tutoring has also been shown to help students get their grades up.

With support from an approximately $233,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, I have also been looking at what kinds of academic experiences and supports help female engineering students stay the course.

Based on my analysis of 356 female engineering students at UMBC from 2007 to 2016, what follows are preliminary findings from my National Science Foundation research:

1. High school math and grades make a difference

Starting college in a higher level of college math and having a higher high school GPA both help. Specifically, starting college at a higher level of college math – such as Advanced Calculus or Differential Equations – increases the likelihood of graduating with an engineering degree within five years by 8% over those who start at lower levels of college math. Having a higher high school GPA increases the likelihood even more.

To boost the number of women who earn engineering degrees, educators must help girls get on track at the high school level. This means establishing a strong record of success in their high school math and science courses.

2. Gateway engineering courses matter

By “gateway” courses, I mean classes that are required to officially declare the engineering major and that faculty identified as critical for success. In other words, classes that make or break an engineer. This would include courses such as Principles of Digital Design in computer engineering, Statics in mechanical engineering and Chemical Process Thermodynamics in chemical engineering.

I found that women who took more gateway engineering courses were less likely to leave their intended engineering major.

3. Freshman and sophomore years in college are critical

For those who eventually left engineering, making it through the first four semesters is critical. Among women students who left engineering, 59% – or about three out of five – did so during the first four semesters.

This points toward the need for colleges and universities to provide very deliberate academic and social supports – such as tutoring and mentoring – for female engineering students at the very start of their college careers.

If only 1 in 5 bachelor’s degrees in engineering are awarded to women, it may take these efforts and more to get the number anywhere close to being on par with the proportion that are awarded to men.

Danyelle Tauryce Ireland, Associate Director of the Center for Women in Technology and Research Assistant Professor in the Engineering and Computing Education Program, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Port Discovery Children’s Museum, one of the top Children’s Museum in the United States and a top cultural institution in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, is seeking a skilled and motivated individual be our full-time Facilities Technician. The Museum provides experiences that ignite imagination, inspire learning, and nurture growth through play.

General Summary of the Job:

National Take Your Dog to Work Day might officially only be celebrated on the Friday after Father’s Day, but for Sergeant Jamie Cheatem of the UMBC Police Department, it’s every day. Coming up on their three-year anniversary this September (and a happy belated third birthday to Chip from June 23), Sgt. Cheatem and Chip, UMBC’s comfort dog, have quickly become an inseparable duo both on the job and at home.

As a comfort dog, Chip comes along to offer support when requested by individuals in emergency situations, help alleviate stress during finals and other trying high-pressure situations, and attend various campus events. We sat down with Sgt. Cheatem (and tried to sit down with Chip but the pull of lunch smells were just too strong) to hear what it’s really like bringing your dog to work as part of your job description.

Q: How do you and Chip handle your work-life balance?

A: It was a struggle at first because you never really leave work when your work is home with you. And we had to get acclimated to each other. Chip likes to ride in the front at work and when we’re at home, she goes in the back. We get home and she still wants to play and go visit because that’s part of her job on campus, but she has had to learn that it’s time to relax. 

Q: What’s it been like for your family to have Chip join? I know your 10-year-old son, in particular, is a big part of her life.

A: My son is her biggest fan and so is my wife. We come home and you’d think Chip would still follow me around. No, she leaves me immediately. Especially during COVID, Chip really became Jamison’s study buddy and they’re inseparable when we’re at home.

Q: Okay, so we’ve established once you’re home, you do not exist. Harsh, Chip. Moving along…what’s a typical work day like for you both?

A: We get up early, I make our lunches and pack our work bags, and head to the office. As soon as we’re here, we do our first walk of the day around campus and do some training, including off-leash training. And yes, she does get to chase squirrels. After that, I do my work while she runs up and down the hallway and reminds everyone she’s here. She loves to wait for the copy machine to go off so she can grab and shred anything that gets printed. I hear a lot of “Stop, Chip! No, Chip! Come back!” And then a few more walks throughout the day.

Q: How many steps would you say you both get in each day?

A: By noon, we’re between 9-10,000 steps. By the end of the day, I usually average about 17-18,000 steps. 

(Author’s note- I was proud of the 0.91 mile walk I did to and from the police station to conduct this interview…)

Q: Like all of us, I have to assume Chip hits that 2 p.m. wall. What treat gets her through the rest of the day? 

A: Peanut butter-infused wafer chips. It doesn’t last long because it’s Chip, but she chews/inhales it immediately. 

Q: What’s the best part about working with Chip?

A:  I think it’s the joy she brings. As a police officer, no one is running to you to say, “Hey! How are you doing?” But anywhere I go on this campus with Chip, everybody from the staff to the President’s Office to students are flagging me down to yell, “It’s Chip!” Even our own officers are on the floor every day playing with Chip. It’s been really great to see that people now correlate this [police] uniform with her. She really has acted as a bridge between us and our campus community. 

Q: It’s easy for people to forget that Chip is more than just a cute face. (She glared at me here; I think she knows I meant to say “the cutest face.”) We brought her to campus to do a job and be a comfort dog. Have you seen her fulfilling that purpose?

A: She has absolutely done her job in diffusing high-pressure situations and providing comfort when we’re called in to help. There have been instances where just resting her head in someone’s lap has calmed an individual down. You really get to see the wonder of dogs. I see it every day, but it never gets old. 

Q: Do you ever find it distracting to work with Chip?

A: Never. I’ve been in this business for 25 years and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had. I can walk across the campus and hear, “There’s Chip! Sergeant Cheatem, come back!” I’ve had students yell out a fourth-story window for us to wait (and we did). It has really made me think that anyone I need to work with or interact with that I wouldn’t normally, would be more inclined to help because Chip is that bridge. 

Q: What’s the hardest part about working with Chip?

A: We can’t get to every event people want us to and that is the hardest thing. We jump around all over the place so we can try to make as much as possible work. 

Q: In your professional opinion, would every workplace benefit from having a dog on site? And can I get it in writing to take back to my own supervisors?

A: Absolutely. 

And now you have it in writing. You’re welcome, Retrievers!