The PROMISE AGEP will be represented at the annual conference for the National Postdoctoral Association on Friday, March 13. The conference will run from March 13-15, and will be held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), downtown, in the Southern Management Corporation’s Campus Center, (SMC CC) https://www.umaryland.edu/campuscenter/. This is the same location that hosted our PROMISE Summer Success Institute and anniversary celebration in 2013.

PROMISE AGEP will be discussed in a panel session, Institutional Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowships: Growing Your Own Faculty Pipeline, on Friday, March 13, 1:45 PM, SMC CC, Room 351. PROMISE Director, Dr. Renetta Tull will be one of the speakers. Discussions will include the PROMISE Postdoctoral Program, and UMBC’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity.

Websites:

Listed on MinorityPostdoc.org: http://www.minoritypostdoc.org/view/event-2015-NPA.html

NPA Website: http://www.npacommunity.org/?2015AMFriWorkshops

NPA Agenda site: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/images/stories/Documents/AnnualMeetings/2015AnnualMeeting/NPA-2015-Annual-Meeting-Agenda-at-a-Glance-for-Web-02-20-2015.pdf

Postdocs from the University System of Maryland can register to attend the conference at a discount. Some postdoctoral affairs offices are also sponsoring waivers to attend.  Please email Dr. Renetta Tull, rtull@umbc.edu, with the subject “NPA Conference” if you are interested in attending. The deadline for registering online is Feb. 27, 2015; please email Dr. Tull by 12 noon on Feb. 27th to be included in the list of postdocs from Maryland.

Eric Dyer, associate professor of Visual Arts, has been featured in the February 20 Huffington Post, “Artist Transforms Zoetropes from Retro Visuals to the Stuff of Fine Art.” The article, which called Dyer “the modern master of the zoetrope,” contains several embedded videos of Dyer’s artworks, many of which are now on display in New York exhibitions. Read the complete article here.

Here at UMBC, we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of spring; spring means mild temperatures, longer afternoons, outdoorsy fun, and, of course, spring break.

For most, this much needed respite from school is chance to take a mini-vacation, but for our amazing students, spring break is an opportunity to give back to the community through week-long service engagement trips. This year UMBC is offering four different Alternative Spring Break trips, and they all could use your support.

Please consider funding these wonderful opportunities.

Homelessness (led by students Markya Reed and Megan Lynch): Participants in this ASB trip will learn about the experience and challenges of homelessness, and reflect on approaches to addressing the issue through public policy and community action. Participants will work with local organizations and people in Baltimore experiencing homelessness.

Click here to donate.

Public Health (led by students Poulomi Banerjee and Monsuru ‘Neyo’ Adekoya): Working with free clinics and other health-focused nonprofit organizations, participants will learn about the state of health care in Maryland, social factors that can affect health, and populations that suffer from health disparities. Through reflection and conversation, the participants will consider approaches to making positive change in this area.

Click here to donate.

Intellectual and Physical Disabilities/ARC (led by student Simin Hossain): Participants will spend time each day at the ARC of Carroll County (which serves people with intellectual and physical disabilities), developing relationships with clients, learning about the population, and dispelling stereotypes and stigma.

Click here to donate.

Alternative Healthcare /Gesundheit! Institute (led by students Tina Nassehi and Lisa Dang): During spring break, students will interact with patients as they learn about the Patch Adams’ medical model–the belief that laughter, joy, and creativity are an integral part of the healing process. Students will also study the Institute’s approach to social justice and lend a hand in maintaining the sprawling 300-acre campus.

Click here to donate.

UMBC welcomed the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a regional grant-writing workshop on February 20, 2015. The workshop, conducted by the NEH’s Division of Research Programs, was sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS); and the Office of the Vice President for Research. 

Faculty participants from UMBC and seven area colleges and universities learned about NEH grant and fellowship programs, and special initiatives. The Maryland Humanities Council also spoke about its grant opportunities. A “mock” evaluation panel, led by UMBC NEH Fellows Kate Brown (History), Thomas Field (MLLI), and Anna Shields (MLLI), discussed the NEH proposal review process. Grant application-writing strategies were also shared. 

"The Dresher Center was pleased to welcome the NEH to campus,” noted director Jessica Berman. “Workshops like these give a shot in the arm to researchers, who then begin to consider how their work fits into national priorities and initiatives. The workshop also showcased the strengths of UMBC faculty work in the humanities.”

With an annual program budget of $108 million, the NEH awards grants to individuals and groups of humanities researchers at universities, museums, libraries and archives, and other cultural and educational organizations. These highly competitive grants, which are evaluated by scholars and other experts in their field, have an average award rate of between seven and ten per cent per year. If denied, NEH encourages applicants to re-submit.

The Endowment also supports public programs and special initiatives, like the new “Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square,” which seeks to bring humanities scholarship to public attention in new, significant ways. The NEH’s Office of Digital Humanities provides grants to projects that integrate new technologies in humanities research, as well as those that study digital culture from a humanistic perspective. 

NEH-funded research projects often cross the disciplinary boundaries between the arts, humanities, and social sciences. At UMBC, NEH fellowships and grants have been awarded to CAHSS faculty in the departments of Africana Studies; English; Geography and Environmental Systems; History; Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication; Political Science, Sociology-Anthropology, Theatre, and Visual Arts. 

For information on NEH programs, contact Rachel Brubaker, Assistant Director for Grants and Program Development, Dresher Center for the Humanities: rbruba1@umbc.edu. 

Photo (from left to right): Anna Shields, MLLI; Tom Field, MLLI; and Kate Brown, History