the Office for Academic & Pre-Professional Advising has openings available for summer Orientation Advisors! As an advisor, you would attend Orientation sessions where you would meet with students one-on-one to plan out and register for classes. No previous experience is required, and we will provide all training necessary!

Besides compensation, this is an excellent opportunity to gain professional and interpersonal experience. Depending on your field, your time as a student may not open you up to many client-facing interactions, and this is a pathway to gaining that experience. If you are considering a career in academia, meanwhile, advising experience is highly sought-after in faculty openings.

• Graduate students are eligible to be compensated at the rate of $100 per all-day session and $50 per evening session.

More details are provided in the application attached, which is due HERE by May 1, 2020. We will also be hosting a number of informational sessions for those who may be interested:

• Wednesday, March 11, 12-1 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)
• Thursday, March 26, 12-1 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)
• Monday, April 6, 12-1 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)
• Thursday, April 16, 4:30-5:30 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)

Finally, if you are a graduate student with an existing assistantship, you will be required to submit a “Request for Additional Employment” along with your application by the same date. Please note the form must be signed by your Graduate Program Coordinator/Director and Dr. Jeffrey Halverson before submission. The forms can be found HERE.

Please let me know if I can provide any additional assistance!

With best regards,

Laszlo Korossy, Ph.D.

korossy1@umbc.edu

The Office for Academic & Pre-Professional Advising has openings available for summer Orientation Advisors! As an advisor, you would attend Orientation sessions where you would meet with students one-on-one to plan out and register for classes. No previous experience is required, and we will provide all training necessary!

Besides compensation, this is a rare chance for part-time faculty to gain advising experience – highly sought-after in faculty openings – as well as to interact with students outside of the classroom. As a faculty member myself, I can absolutely say that my teaching effectiveness has been augmented by my advising experience. For full-time faculty, meanwhile, this is the absolute earliest point at which you can begin to engage with your department’s incoming students: to give them the best possible head start in their studies (and to make your own future advising appointments easier!).

• Both full-time and part-time faculty are eligible to be compensated at the rate of $100 per all-day session and $50 per evening session; full-time faculty are compensated through a budget transfer to their departments.
• Staff are not eligible for monetary compensation; this is, nonetheless, an excellent opportunity for professional development.

More details are provided in the application attached, which is due HERE by May 1, 2020. We will also be hosting a number of informational sessions for those who may be interested:

• Wednesday, March 11, 12-1 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)
• Thursday, March 26, 12-1 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)
• Monday, April 6, 12-1 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)
• Thursday, April 16, 4:30-5:30 PM at Sherman Hall 220 (B-Wing, 2nd Floor)

Please let me know if I can provide any additional assistance!

With best regards,

Laszlo Korossy, Ph.D.

korossy1@umbc.edu

by Christine Mallinson, Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture and Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship, UMBC

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

Why do Americans say “bay-zle” and the English say “baa-zle”? – Sly M., age 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts

A person’s voice is like their fingerprint. Everyone talks differently, and everyone’s voice is unique.

Some of these linguistic differences are because of how our individual bodies are shaped, especially the size of our vocal cords and tracts.

Our families, our friends and other people in our communities also influence how we talk. I study language, literacy and culture, and I’ve found that how we use language – including accents – is a way of showing who we are.

Why we have accents

We develop different accents because of whom we interact with and where we grow up.

An accent is how a person sounds. Kids who grow up in Australia develop Australian accents. Kids who grow up in England develop British accents. And kids who grow up in the United States develop American accents. Everyone has an accent.

When we pick up on another person’s accent, it means we are identifying clues in their pronunciation that tell us something about who they are. These differences can be as small as a single sound, but we often spot them right away.

For example, in the U.S., the word “basil” is pronounced “bay-zle.” But in England, it is pronounced “baa-zle,” like the word “dazzle.” In the U.S., “schedule” is pronounced with a “sk” sound at the beginning, but in England, it’s pronounced with a “sh” sound.

There are also spelling differences, like “theatre” in England versus “theater” in the U.S., and word differences, like “aubergine” in England versus “eggplant” in the U.S.

Across the country

There are also linguistic differences within countries. Not all people from England sound the same, and the same goes for people from the U.S.

In my own research, I study differences in English spoken in the U.S. In the Great Smoky Mountains, you might hear the word “fire” pronounced like “far,” and “tire” pronounced like “tar.” In the U.S. South, the words “bide” and “ride” tend to sound more like “bad” and “rad.”

And in the city of Baltimore, you might hear some African American residents pronounce “dog” as “dug,” and “frog” as “frug.”

Even in a globally connected world, where it is easier to meet people from other countries than ever before, the way we talk still represents who we are.

So be proud of your vocal fingerprint. A kaleidoscope of languages and accents helps make our world a culturally rich and exciting place.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Christine Mallinson, Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture and Director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Header Image: Depending on where you’re from, you say words like ‘basil’ a specific way. Leonie Broekstra/Shutterstock.com

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

Applications are now open!

Coronavirus 2019
(COVID-19)

UMBC is committed to keeping our community safe, healthy, and informed. Please check this page for updated information on COVID-19 (formerly known as the 2019-nCoV coronavirus). Please call University Health Services (UHS) at 410-455-2542 if you need medical assistance or have questions/concerns.

• UMBC Status and Travel Information
• Background
• Campus Communications
• What UMBC is Doing
• Information for People Who Have Recently Traveled to China
• Information for People with Underlying Health Conditions or Who Take Medicines that Suppress Their Immune System
• Prevention Steps
• USM Chancellor Letter

UMBC Status

There are no confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Maryland or within the UMBC community reported by the State of Maryland or the Baltimore County Health Department. If this situation changes, we will share the latest updates on this page. UHS is in contact with the Baltimore County Health Department regarding responding to the threat and will continue to consult when the need arises.

Travel Information

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new travel guidance and UMBC is updating its recommendations accordingly. The CDC identifies three levels of travel advisories: Warning Level 3 (avoid all non-essential travel); Alert Level 2 (practice enhanced precautions); and Watch Level 1 (practice usual precautions).

There are currently four countries with Warning Level 3 advisories for COVID-19: China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran. Due to these elevated advisories, UMBC students are not permitted to travel to these countries on university business at this time. We also strongly discourage faculty and staff business travel to these countries while the elevated advisories are in effect.

UMBC will suspend student travel to any other country that is elevated to a Warning Level 3 advisory by the CDC. We are closely monitoring the situation in Japan (Level 2) and students studying abroad in countries with an Alert Level 2 should be prepared to return to the U.S. should circumstances change.

Decisions to suspend a program and instructions on next steps will be communicated directly to impacted students and their designated emergency contacts. Students planning to travel abroad in the summer or fall will also receive further communication from the Office of International Education Services. Faculty and staff members with questions about international travel should contact David Di Maria, Associate Vice Provost for International Education, at 410-455-2624 or dimaria@umbc.edu.

For more information on the COVID-19 please visit UHS website