Talk: Using Participatory Design and AI to Create Agency-increasing Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems

Dr. Stephanie Valencia, Univ. of Maryland
3-4pm ET Monday, November 18, 2024
ITE 406, UMBC and online

The Office of the Provost is currently seeking to fill a position as Special Assistant for Strategic Planning and Implementation. The Special Assistant will serve as a co-chair on UMBC’s strategic planning committee and work with the Provost and the strategic planning committee to help oversee the development and implementation of UMBC’s strategic plan. The special assistant will also serve as a liaison with faculty across UMBC and provide central guidance to coordinating academic College, Department, School, and Center strategic plans with the university strategic plan. This is a 50% effort position (academic year and Summer) to start in Spring 2024 (January 27, 2024) . Eligible candidates currently serve at the rank Associate/Full Professor or Senior/Principal Lecturer. 

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, CV, and two references to Terisa White (terisac@umbc.edu) by 5.00PM Monday December 2^nd.  For questions please contact the provost directly at mvandul1@umbc.edu.  

Meet David M. Williams, M.S. ’02, emergency health services (EHS) management, a scholar-practitioner of the “Science of Improvement,” and a co-author of Quality as an Organizational Strategy: Building a System of Improvement. With 25 years of experience in quality improvement, he has worked with leaders and teams worldwide to develop people’s abilities to make rigorous, results-driven improvements and adopt quality as an organizational strategy. Take it away, David!

Q: What’s one essential thing you’d want another Retriever to know about you?

A: I advise leaders worldwide to use the science of improvement to improve processes, products, and services. My experience in organizational systems began when I was a paramedic and got my master’s in EHS management at UMBC. My education led to me becoming an ambulance system expert and an internationally respected improvement advisor. I have a Ph.D. in organizational systems from Saybrook University. 

Q: What brought you to UMBC?

A: After I earned a B.S. in emergency medical services management from Springfield College, I was looking for a graduate program that would allow me to study from my home in Austin, Texas, while I worked full-time as a paramedic. I decided on UMBC because it had a unique virtual graduate program in EHS management that met all my criteria. 

Q: What do you love about your academic program?

A: As a student in the UMBC EHS program, I was introduced to literature and best practices that helped my professional development early in my career. The faculty comprised industry leaders, and their support and networks in the field helped me build my knowledge and skills. I credit my graduate work at UMBC as positioning me for career success.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d want someone to know about the support you find at UMBC?

A: I was a remote student in the early days of online degree programs. UMBC worked hard to create a robust academic learning experience. The faculty have served as lifelong mentors, and my peers made a community of learners nationwide and internationally.

Q: Who in the UMBC community has inspired you or supported you?

A: EHS adjunct faculty Mike Taigman has been a mentor and supporter since we first met in his class in the late ’90s. He was an expert paramedic and consultant. He encouraged me to publish my first paper and introduced me to the editor of an industry publication. He sponsored me to speak at my first national conference. He wrote a recommendation in support of my first leadership role as the chief quality officer of Austin EMS. He introduced me to healthcare improvement, which has been my career for more than 15 years. His mentorship and support have been a constant contribution to my career success. We still talk each week.

Images above: David Williams and Mike Taigman, UMBC EHS faculty, at the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) Annual Meeting.

Q: Tell us about your current job. What do you like most about it?

A: I am a self-employed advisor, teacher, and author—an internationally respected scholar-practitioner of the Science of Improvement. With 25 years of experience in quality improvement, I have worked with leaders and teams worldwide to develop people’s abilities to make rigorous, results-driven improvements and adopt quality as an organizational strategy. I also recently co-authored Quality as an Organizational Strategy: Building a System of Improvement. The book describes an approach to leading organizations based on W. Edwards Deming’s charge that leaders need a new theory of leadership and a strategy built on quality. The book defines quality as a strategy and describes a framework of five activities for leaders that can lead to both immediate results and long-term performance. 

Image right: Quality as an Organizational Strategy: Building a System of Improvement

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UMBC’s greatest strength is its people. When people meet Retrievers and hear about the passion they bring, the relationships they create, the ways they support each other, and the commitment they have to inclusive excellence, they truly get a sense of our community. That’s what “Meet a Retriever” is all about.

Learn more about how UMBC can help you achieve your goals.

Students will be able to pick up their stole or cord in the Campus Life Office (Commons 336) beginning on Wednesday December 11 through Wednesday, December 18 during normal business hours (Monday-Friday). There will be NO PICKUPS on Saturday December 14 or Sunday December 22. 

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Register: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Meet UMBC alumna Mary (Mendy) Nitsch who serves as Director for International Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of State for Maryland.  Ms. Nitsch will discuss how her graduate studies in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and teaching experiences in the US and abroad prepared her for state-level policy work.  In this virtual session, you'll have the opportunity to learn from Ms. Nitsch's experience and ask questions to get advice about a career in international public policy. Register for this session by completing the online form before 12:00 noon on 18 November.

Mary E. (Mendy) Nitsch is currently the Director of International Affairs (IA) in Maryland’s Office of the Secretary of State in Annapolis. She has worked in international relations through four gubernatorial administrations, including in the Maryland Department of Commerce, Office of International Investment and Trade (OIIT). Mendy previously taught English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) both domestically and abroad. She lived and worked overseas for a total of 8 years in Asia, Latin America, and Central Asia, including as a U.S. State Department English Language Fellow in the Dominican Republic. She holds a master’s degree in Instructional Systems Development (ISD)/Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from UMBC.

Free Registration

Free registration by completing this form.

About the UMBC TESOL Program

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) offers a master of arts (MA TESOL) and a four-course postbaccalaureate certificate (TESOL PBC) in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  Options are available for those seeking to teach any age group from children to adults in the United States or abroad, including Maryland P-12 teacher certification in ESOL.  Find out more at https://tesol.umbc.edu/learnmore.php

Join the RAC for Laps with Chip! 

The Fall 2024 NSF Virtual Grants Conference is open for registration! The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) will host the semi-annual event from December 9 – 12, 2024. This is an excellent opportunity to gain insights into NSF’s current issues, policies and procedures, and specific funding opportunities.

There is no cost to register and attend the Grants Conference. 

Register today!

The fall event will introduce the use of Zoom Events to host the conference. Zoom Events is an all-encompassing platform that offers individual session pages, a personalized attendee schedule, and profiles for networking. The days of registering for individual sessions are no more! Participants can save sessions they are interested in viewing to their schedule with the click of a button.   

Want to know more about the Grants Conference? Visit the conference page on the Policy Office Outreach website. Resources such as previous event recordings are also available. Those unable to attend the conference live can view recorded conference sessions on-demand shortly after the event on the Resource Center and our YouTube channel. 

If you have any logistical questions about this virtual conference, please contact: grants_conference@nsf.gov.