This is Ms. Constance (Connie) Throneberry of the Deep Suburban Western Area.  She predicts that she will quite easily win the URCAD selfie contest.

"I have hundreds of nearly-perfect selfies," averred Throneberry, who was interviewed while riding her bike on a treacherous mountain path. "I know that people like pictures of cats and pandas and all that, but my selfies are much more interesting."

Think you can beat Ms. Connie Throneberry?

Upload your original photos to FaceBook, Instagram and/or Twitter using #umbcURCAD for a chance to win one of four gift cards to the UMBC Bookstore!

Categories:

• Best Overall Selfie: Take a photo with a UMBC notable… (President Hrabowski, Provost Rous, Dean Cole…) or ??! … get creative!
• Best with Mentor
• Best “making of” VT presentation
• Best with Presentation

Post your photos by 12pm on Monday, May 4, 2020 for a chance to win a gift card to the UMBC Bookstore!

Samantha is a Linehan Artist Scholar. See her animated film, "Goop!" at URCAD Online starting this Wednesday!  URCAD.umbc.edu

Samantha Papastephanou
Mentor: Corrie Parks, Visual Arts

Abstract:

 Goop! is a fun thirty-second looping exploration of beats, shapes, and colors. The objective of this piece was to capture everything I thought made animation fun to watch: bright and deliberate color palettes, fluid movement, and visual rhythm. I’ve always found pieces of animation paired with music to be incredibly satisfying to watch when done right, and I wanted to try making one myself in the limited amount of time that I had. By creating a looping piece, I’ve made it easier for me to enjoy those key moments where the animation and the music match up perfectly. Not having a theme gave me the freedom to work intuitively and spontaneously with the music, which was chosen before starting the animation so I could carefully plan the visuals. I chose and edited a song titled “Cute Monsters” by Hani Koi because I thought it best complimented my vision of what I wanted my piece to look and sound like. Each frame was drawn by hand in Photoshop, and the limited color palettes were chosen with creating a specific visual effect in mind. Each palette had two “transition” colors that allowed it to connect with the palettes before and after.

In the absence of physical space to learn, create, and come together, the Women’s Center is taking Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) 2020 online. Each week during April, we will focus on a specific topic/theme as it relates to sexual violence awareness and prevention (see image below). Together, via out social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we can watch videos, read articles, and engage in other content for learning and skill-building.

Were you taking a break from social media last week? That’s great! But it doesn’t mean you have to miss anything. In addition to posting on social media throughout the month, at the end of each week, we’ll provide a round-up of all the content we shared along with some action items to consider doing.

We just wrapped up week three of SAAM and spent the last several days discussing the importance of believing and honoring survivors stories through the following content:

1. Have you heard of the Clothesline Project?  Every year students, faculty, and staff  make t-shirts describing their experience with relationship violence and sexual assault. Typically these t-shirts would be hung shoulder-to-shoulder on a clothesline for public viewing, as if the survivors are there themselves, telling us their stories. The Clothesline Project gives voice to the experiences of survivors, victims, family, and friends who have been affected by violence. This year, we are creating a virtual Clothesline Project as a way of continuing to honor survivors stories.  Submissions can be found on our social media.

2. Take Back The Night

Take Back the Night is an annual event that brings awareness to sexual violence and creates public space for survivors of sexual violence to share their stories. It’s something many of us look forward to every year as a time for community, strength, and healing. It would have been held on April 16th.  Although we couldn’t come together in person, we still wanted to honor the stories of survivors at UMBC. Watch this video to learn more.

3. Chanel Miller’s book “Know My Name”

Chanel Miller’s book is a powerful memoir of strength and survival. Read her words and honor her story, and the stories of all survivors. 

Important Take-Away:

→ Listen to Survivors stories. Without judgement and without questions.

→ Believe Survivors. No matter what they were wearing, what they were drinking, or what they did afterwards. Believe them. 

Now that you’ve got some good items in your tool kit, what will you do with them? Here’s some Action Items:

• Watch a movie or TV show centered on survivors’ experiences.  “The Hunting Ground” and “Unbelievable” are unflinching looks into the reality of the sexual assault crisis in the United States. “Nanette” and “Rape Jokes” are hilarious comedy specials that critique rape culture from a survivors perspective. 
• Listen to Chanel Millers “Give a Damn Speech”. Delivered at the Glamour Woman of the Year awards, her speech is an important reminder to not just believe survivors, but give a damn about them. The speech can be found here.
• Reflect on how you interact with the survivors in your life. Take what you’ve learned and implement it!

Follow the Women’s Center on myUMBC,  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for SAAM updates and information throughout the month of April. You can also stay up-to-date by following #UMBCsaam 

Throughout this time of distance learning, campus staff are still here and available for support. Do not hesitate to reach out for questions, concerns, or care.

On-Campus Resources Available for Virtual Support: 

• Counseling Center
• Office of Equity and Inclusion 
• University Health Services
• Women’s Center
• Visit Retriever Courage for a full list of campus resources and support to include resources for USG students, faculty, and staff 
• For up-to-date details on how to access these resources during this time of distance learning visit UMBC’s COVID-19 resources page.

To report a complaint of sexual misconduct or discrimination, please submit this online form. 

The UMBC Career Center is excited to spotlight Revature. Revature empowers businesses around the globe with best-in-class talent and technologies. Our people work on the most innovative, challenging, and rewarding software development projects for leading Fortune 500 companies, government organizations, and top systems integrators. We offer three distinct advantages that help put our clients—and our people—ahead in the market: a one-of-a-kind talent delivery program, unparalleled expertise, and better control of your talent pipeline. Learn more at https://revature.com/.

Revature will be hosting two virtual information sessions. Be sure to RSVP via the link provided in the post so that you can receive Zoom meeting information:

• May 13, 2020 - 12:00 Noon

Revature is currently seeking candidates for the following entry-level positions:

• 9315748 – Junior Software Developer
• 9315748 – Software Engineer
• 9315749 – Technology Consultant
  

Levi May, a member of Revature’s Mid-Atlantic recruiting team, shares his thoughts about the organization:

If you had to describe Revature in three words, what would they be?

Inclusive. Innovative. Trend-Setting.

What is the number one thing you look for in a new team member?

Team players who are eager to learn in-demand technical skills and comfortable with nationwide relocation.

What do you want people interested in working at Revature to know about the company?

We have a demand-driven business model, which enables us to produce entry-level tech talent who are job ready from day one post-training!

Why did you originally choose to work for Revature?

The Tech Revolution has shaken up the labor market, with many entry-level jobs out there requiring 2-3 years of hard-core technical skills. I saw Revature’s model as extremely attractive, in that it hires associates of ALL MAJORS (regardless of GPA) and is able to equip trainees with the experience needed in just a 10-12 week period. After learning this, I had to apply!

Do you have any examples or remember a specific time that you loved working with your team?

The team works hard and loves laughing! I know I’m making a difference and helping both career beginners and career changers!

If you remember anything specific, can you talk about your interviewing/hiring process when you started at Revature?

Applicants go through a multi-step screen process for general aptitude, technical skills background, and soft skills. Our screening process ultimately determines their training pathway at Revature!

When University of Maryland, Baltimore County students moved out of their dorms on March 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of them left behind more than just their housing: They also left behind the spaces on campus where they were used to doing their coursework and being productive. Even commuter students, barred from accessing study spaces on campus, like the Albin O. Kuhn Library, are now forced to acclimatize to spaces that are not necessarily suited to studying. 

It is a shift that has been difficult even for those students who did not have to make massive transitions. Hannah Bashar, a senior biology and art history double major, was already commuting from the off-campus apartment she shares with her mother this year. But she was used to staying on campus until 10 p.m. or later due to extracurricular activities, filling in the gaps in her day by studying and doing homework in various spaces around campus.

Bashar has a separate room in her house that she can use for studying; though it is hardly furnished, it does contain a desk, a chair, a printer and a window that looks out into her neighborhood. The room was designed to be a bedroom and contains a closet where she stores some clothes and other items, so, prior to UMBC’s campus being closed, it was mostly used as what she called “an overflow room.”

Despite how fortunate she feels to have a dedicated space in which to work, it is a far cry from her favorite UMBC study spots, such as the cubicles on the ground floor of the Math/Psychology Building, the cozy seating in the Women’s Center and the bright, airy atrium of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building. One of the biggest factors that made these spaces conducive to her productivity was her proximity to other people who were also working.

“My friends, sometimes, will get on a FaceTime call or a group video chat … to just simulate the sense of company and presence,” she explained. “That’s what I’ve been relying on to help keep me motivated a lot of the time.”

It has also been challenging for her to create a psychological divide between where she works and relaxes. “[The study room] is just the next room over from my bedroom. It’s hilarious how I started this year out as a commuter and now my commute is just incredibly short,” she said, explaining that she struggles to “get into a mindset of work” in a room so close to where she sleeps and spends her downtime.

A similar sentiment was echoed by sophomore Sofia Encarnación, an economics and mathematics double major, whose “commute” is even shorter than Bashar’s. After moving out of her dorm in Harbor Hall, she had to move in with her brother and his two roommates, sleeping on his couch and doing classwork on a table just a few feet away. She finds it hard to muster up motivation in that environment and has even begun to eat dinner on the couch rather than at the table to create a distinction between where she works and where she eats.

The inverse is true as well; she sometimes has trouble winding down at the end of the day. She remembered a particular day when she struggled to stop studying despite being ahead in her classes and not having anything due for days. “I don’t feel like I needed to do anything, but I needed to do something,” she explained. “I’m listening to music, I’m washing the dishes and trying to do something that’ll get my mind off of it, and I still felt like I had homework due or something.”

Still, despite how challenging it has been to sleep on a couch mere feet from where she works, staying with her brother is preferable to the other option she had. At her father’s apartment, she explained, “there wouldn’t have been any space to do any work … There’s really no place for a desk there or anything. There’s hardly a place to eat dinner.”

She is grateful to be able to spend time with her brother, as well, and appreciates that his roommates give her privacy, mostly staying in their rooms when she is working.

On the other hand, Samantha Fries, a graduate assistant and second-year master’s student studying applied sociology, has found that privacy is one of the greatest issues she has faced working from home. Fries did not live on campus prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but did do all of her work in a shared, on-campus office. 

“The transition to working from home has been chaotic at best,” she said. “My new workspace is in the living room of my apartment, which I share with my family, so there’s constant distraction, constant noise.” It has been hard for her to successfully complete her schoolwork in this setting. The advanced courses she is taking require much more focus than she is able to give them while surrounded by the clamor of pots and pans being used in the kitchen, her fiancé taking teleconferences in the bedroom and neighbors playing too-loud music that easily permeates the building’s thin walls.

Because she is an undergraduate advisor, the lack of privacy Fries has in her apartment is an even bigger issue than it would be if she were just a student; advising appointments are confidential, and while on campus, she conducts these meetings from a separate, private office distinct from her shared office. Since being home, she has been forced to find places where she is certain her meetings will not be overheard. Sometimes, she ends up conducting advising appointments on her balcony. At other times, she conducts them from her car, which she noted is the only place she does work that is completely devoid of distractions. Other students, still, have opted to be advised via email rather than by video call because they are not comfortable with virtual meetings.

This is made even more challenging by the fact that her workload as an advisor has increased as of late. “Lots of students are coming to their advisors, as they’re supposed to, to try to get in contact with resources and to talk about their class struggles and try to figure out what they can do to succeed,” she said.

As UMBC prepares to enter a now fully online summer semester, it is uncertain when students, staff and faculty will next be able to study in their favorite spots on campus, surrounded by their peers. But when they do, most will be grateful to return to the places in which they feel most motivated.