The video followed Dr. Hrabowski around campus as he discussed what he learned in college. “College taught me… to think independently and to figure out what I really believed and what was important to me in life,” he said.

Dr. Hrabowski also counseled students who are unfamiliar with postsecondary education to visit a college campus and see themselves there. “I want you to believe in yourself,” he encouraged. “Nothing is more important than your belief in yourself.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5cpDhW6BbY?list=UU0dAep4HWFF4bYEIvKjI5GA]

Janet Rutledge, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, was elected to the Council of Graduate Schools Board of Directors this week. The Council of Graduate School (CGS) is the only national organization dedicated to advancing graduate education and research and serves as a voice for the graduate dean community.

“I am honored to join the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools,” Rutledge said. “UMBC has participated in several of the CGS best practices projects such as the Ph.D. Completion Project, the Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion, and the TIAA-CREF Enhancing Student Financial Education project.  I look forward to working with other graduate leaders and stakeholders to support graduate education and, by extension, our society as a whole.”

Rutledge will begin serving on the CGS board in January. She has been  the vice provost and dean of The Graduate School at UMBC since 2009 and serves on multiple boards, including the Board of Trustees at her undergraduate alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Advisory Committee to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. program. Rutledge was also appointed to her second term on the GRE Board, where she is the chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

Name: Laquazia Bell

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Independent Can

Major(s)/Minor(s): Mathematics; Acturarial Track

Expected Graduation Year: 2016

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, research, or service-learning opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

As the lithography technical intern at Independent Can my first project is to find the main causes to Lost Time on their 6-unit press. Currently I have found all issues, narrowed the list to 3 main issues to focus on, determined their root causes, and now I am brainstorming and researching on solutions to eliminate or minimize Lost Time.

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I live in an area that is home to many industrial companies. I looked through Google Maps to search the companies in my immediate area since I am limited by my mode of transportation. I narrowed the companies down to ones I'd be interested in and visited their web pages or searched through various job search engines to see if they had any job postings. On independent cans website I found the posting for the internship I now have and applied. To prepare for my interview I was unaware of the mock interview I could have gotten through the school. Instead to prepare I used resources another company I applied with, Accountemps, had online that gave advice on how to prepare for interviews. It was incredibly helpful and made me feel and look a bit more prepared and competent during my interview.

Which of the following resources did you use to find your current experience?

Career Center, UMBCworks

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

The open atmosphere. It is my first position in a professional setting and I appreciate that at Independent Can. I am able to wean myself into the business instead of being thrust into it.

What have you gained from your experience that you could not have gained from another opportunity?

Time to build myself. Right now I am tasked to come up with solutions to the issues that I have found, I have a deadline but I am given plenty of room to think, everyone makes me feel comfortable enough to ask the questions I need answered in order for me to come to conclusions, regardless how tedious my questioning.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

If you can, take the time to ask the questions you need to get your job done right. It's an internship and we're supposed to be learning so when we start our careers we're prepared.

Please provide a short quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / the internship placement process.

Living in a how-its-made episode everyday while learning the basics for my future career.

On Tuesday, November 11th through Friday, November 14th the Women's Center will be closing at 5pm. Please plan accordingly!

Hours will resume as normal beginning the week of November 17th.

On Tuesday, November 4, The New York Times published an op-ed written by Mathematics Professor Manil Suri that urges India’s government to see discrimination as both an economic and moral problem.

In the column, Suri writes about Apple CEO Tim Cook’s coming-out essay in Bloomberg Businessweek and an unidentified 32-year-old engineer for the Indian software company Infosys, who as Suri writes, “faces a much bleaker future,” than Cook. Cook’s essay established him as the first openly gay C.E.O. of a Fortune 500 company. “The announcement generated considerable optimism that with his influence and visibility he would be a force for far-reaching advocacy in years to come,” Suri wrote. The 32-year-old Indian man was arrested under Section 377 of India’s penal code, which makes homosexual conduct punishable by prison.

“If India wants to become a true global powerhouse, its government should begin to see discrimination as an economic problem, as well as a moral one,” Suri writes. “Mr. Cook has characterized writing his essay as laying a brick for justice. Now we need political leaders bold enough to lay the rest of the path, so that millions of others like him can normalize their lives and explore their full potential.”

To read the full column titled “Exposing the ‘Bagalore Techie,'” click here.