Linda Dusman, professor and chair of music, has been named the Bearman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship for 2020 – 2023. This role is designed to recognize and support a faculty member with an interest in entrepreneurship, outstanding teaching skills, and a strong record of scholarship in entrepreneurial studies or a field related to entrepreneurship.

The three-year appointment will enable Dusman to further her work with EnCue, an audience engagement app she co-designed for use during classical music performance. EnCue is intended to be used by the audience on tablets or smartphones in real time during performances, especially symphony orchestra concerts.  It helps listeners understand and more fully appreciate the music, thereby deepening the experience. EnCue was co-developed by Eric Smallwood, former assistant professor of visual arts, and received support from UMBC and the Maryland Innovation Initiative.

“Linda Dusman’s work exemplifies entrepreneurship in the arts,” says Scott Casper, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “Through EnCue, Linda translates classical music for broader audiences in ways that enrich the listening experience.”

Audience experiences around the world

“The thing I’m most excited about,” says Dusman, “is that Bearman support will enable me to try to answer the questions I started asking ten years ago, which are: Can people learn about music in real time during concerts, and if they do learn, does that make a difference? Does it enhance their engagement of the experience? Does it make it more likely for them to want to return?”

“Now I’m going to be able to actually work with an educational psychologist — Linda Baker, recently retired professor of psychology here at UMBC — to test that hypothesis,” Dusman explains. “I’ll also be able to travel to orchestras that are engaged with this process, to see how audiences respond in different parts of the world.”

Last fall, Dusman was asked to speak at a conference in Berlin at the German Orchestra Days (Deutsche Orchestertag) about real-time education using mobile technologies. There, she described how EnCue has been used by orchestras in locations as diverse as Baltimore, Winnipeg, London, and Augusta, Georgia.

“I want to better understand EnCue’s impact in diverse geographic regions with diverse audiences,” says Dusman. “Obviously, audiences in London are very different than audiences in Augusta, Georgia, yet they’re listening to the same music played by symphony orchestras. How does that impact the engagement of the audience, and what does the live classical music experience mean for them?”

The Bearman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship was established by The Herbert Bearman Foundation to acknowledge and honor the contributions of Arlene Bearman, who taught in UMBC’s administrative and managerial sciences program for many years.

Featured Image: Linda Dusman. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

The UMBC Career Center is partnering with the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS) to co-sponsor the third annual CAHSS Careers Conference on Thursday, March 5 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the UC Ballroom. Join us for an evening of getting to know the value of your unique degree and the resources your college and Career Center have to offer you.

The agenda will include:

• Stories from successful CAHSS alumni
• Employer panel discussing the benefits of your degree in the workplace
• Opportunities to connect with fellow CAHSS students
• Heavy hors d'oeuvres and dessert

Registration is required for this event. Please click here to reserve your spot. Students of all arts, humanities, and social science disciplines are encouraged to attend. Please be aware that because this is a catered event, we must charge a no-show fee to those who cancel less than a week in advance.

If you have questions or need accommodations, please contact Kacie Lawrence, Associate Director of Internships & Employment, at klawrence@umbc.edu.

Linda Dusman, professor and chair of music, has been named the Bearman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship for 2020 – 2023. This role is designed to recognize and support a faculty member with an interest in entrepreneurship, outstanding teaching skills, and a strong record of scholarship in entrepreneurial studies or a field related to entrepreneurship.

The three-year appointment will enable Dusman to further her work with EnCue, an audience engagement app she co-designed for use during classical music performance

Congratulations to Dr. Dusman! 

Dear All: Thank you to those of you who voted! 

Your newly elected board will be in touch shortly with news of spring programming.

AAAFSC Board (Spring 2020-Spring 2022):

Chair: Tamara Bhalla

Vice-Chair: Jiaqi (Jackey) Gong

Secretary: Fan Yang

Members at large: Aditya Desai, Soonhee Lee, Shuyan Sun

The puzzle piece art that hangs in the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, made by the Humanities Scholars, was reportedly vandalized between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 29. 

Rachel Brubaker, who works for the Dresher Center, was the one who found the scene, starting with a golden gift bag and an envelope resting on the doorknob of the Humanities Scholars office. Brubaker texted her coworker, Courtney Hobson.

When Hobson came into work not long after, she contacted Professor Timothy Phin, the Humanities Scholar Director and when he arrived, and they noticed the powder blue permanent marker scrawled across 18 of the puzzle pieces that hang on the wall outside the Dresher Center. Hobson then phoned the police, who confiscated the bag. 

Inside the bag was literature, which UMBC Police Chief Paul Dillon described as “envelopes with writing, [a] prayer type booklet [referencing The Calix Society], Achievement in Scouting from the State of MD Award, [and a] Bag from Our Lady’s Center in Ellicott City.” On the side of the bag was a “resume of sorts,” Hobson said. 

Dillon states that there were no threats in the vandalism, only broken phrases, like “nothing to see here carry on -9/11,” “I was here,” “We are us.” 

Scrawled on the wall was another message: a large arrow pointed from “STEVE No SUCH AGENCY… yet.” to “HIRE ME PLEASE, [a personal email address] Linehan ‘2000 Shriver + RPCV Jamaica.”

Phin points out that “STEVE” may be referring to Stephen Bradley, who is the Director of Linehan Artist Scholars Program and cites his worry. “If someone is scrawling Steve’s name in the middle of the night, I mean, that’s concerning,” said Phin. According to Hobson, one of her coworkers discussed “No SUCH AGENCY” as being a reference to the popular conspiracy theory about the NSA not existing.

“I don’t necessarily think this is a malicious thing, it more so seemed like he was looking for a job [or] they are in need of help,” Hobson said. 

The personal email address belonged to a student who graduated as a Linehan Scholar in 2000. Their online presence shared personal information and specific phrases that were also included in the vandalism, according to Hobson. The police have not confirmed that this student is a suspect. 

Though the security cameras in the PAHB do not reach that area of the hallway, the police have stated that they do have a suspect. The police have not released the official police report to The Retriever and Dillon says they have no plans to change the security in the building. 

“We relied on the cameras to try and help us, but the cameras are only at the entrances and then one or two hallways. We’re kind of back here and no one can see anything that’s going on here. If stuff like this happens again, the cameras aren’t going to pick up anything,” said Hobson.

Hobson remembers last year when Brubaker’s purse was stolen. Brubaker had only stepped out for a moment to use the restroom, leaving her purse in the cabinet. When she returned, her purse, which held her house keys, wallet and car keys, was gone. 

“They tried to read the [security] video here, at the door, but I don’t think they were able to come up with anything conclusive,” said Brubaker. “It’s a shame, the police come and they take a report, and they do what they can, but I never saw my purse again, and it took an awful lot of work to get new [credit card] accounts and even getting paid here, getting back on direct deposit.”

After this, and some more petty theft occurred, Hobson said she felt that her office was in a vulnerable placement, a place that the public often confuses for a main PAHB office. However, both Brubaker and Hobson expressed that there was no simple solution to these kinds of issues, and mentioned that the Dresher Center was adamantly against students feeling surveilled. 

“I disagree with us as an office getting a Nest camera or a Ring camera, but as a building, the fact that you only have cameras in those places, and this building was designed with blind spots, I think about if there was an emergency situation, I’m sitting out here in the open,” said Hobson. 

And, Brubaker notes, there is an element of vulnerability for professors coming in early in the morning. “We don’t want drones or roving eyes on us but certainly, I’m here at 7:30 in the morning, so I’m one of the first people in the building and it’s usually pretty deserted. I feel fine coming in, I don’t feel like I’ve ever had an issue but things happen,” she said. “We want to be welcoming, but I don’t know if there really is a good solution. It’s an inconvenience, but it’s a small one. In terms of [the vandalism], it’s not the sort of the thing that you feel physically threatened by, although you don’t know! It’s just sort of disturbing because it’s disturbed, and it’s a violation of people’s space and artwork.”

Students who are in the building after 11 p.m. are permitted to stay, but no students are allowed to enter after then. But, Hobson points out, students could potentially sleep in the building if they enter early enough. 

 The tradition of the Humanities Scholars decorating large puzzle pieces began in Fall of 2014, when Ana Oskoz was the director of the program. Since then, students who are a part of the Scholars program have been required to create the puzzle piece in their image and present the pieces and then hang them on the wall. Four years later, when they graduate, the students receive their pieces to revisit the perspective of their freshman year. 

“They provide a time capsule, a reflection of you, as you are then… your personality and interests,” said Phin. “[The vandalized pieces] are forever ruined. We were heartbroken.”

Dillon states that the suspect may have mental health problems, while Phin conjectured that the person of interest could have been “off,” possibly drinking or on drugs. “This is the first time anything like this has happened. We’ve never had any problems with the puzzle pieces,” said Phin. 

He says he plans to speak with each of the Scholars to decide where to go from here. Many have expressed that they feel “violated” by the event.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect people-first language.

Facilities Management and the Office of Accessibility and Disability Services hosted a review of their ongoing plans to renovate campus facilities to make them more accessible to students with disabilities on Feb. 5. Campus planner Celso Guitian and Student Disability Services Campus Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator Stephanie Lazarus presented an overview of these efforts, which include making more restrooms ADA-compliant, retrofitting older buildings such as Sherman Hall and addressing the broken Fine Arts elevators. Students have long made the elevators in Fine Arts the subject of mockery, with UMBC’s Facebook meme group posting memes that lampoon its frequent breakdowns and the perceived apathy of facilities.

The presentation attempted to provide a measure of transparency to efforts in campus planning, which include making renovations of Sherman Hall, the Meyerhoff Chemistry Building and the Retriever Activities Center. Guitian also emphasized the importance of making sure restrooms are ADA-compliant: “As of last year, we have 249 ADA-compliant restrooms on campus.” In order to be qualified as an ADA-compliant restroom, toilets and stalls must be designed in a way to allow enough space for wheelchair access, and must comply with specified toilet heights. Newer buildings will also have the benefit of being constructed with ADA standards applied from the outset.

The presentation’s section on the elevators in Fine Arts discussed the challenges of fixing the old elevators. John Zahor, director of Operations and Management for Facilities, said, “Back when these elevators were built, circuit boards and solid state were all the rage. Now everything’s a chip and this old technology is falling apart.” Due to the frequency of failures from the Fine Arts elevator, classes and meetings have been removed from the fifth floor as there is no other elevator that services that floor. Facilities intends to begin replacing the Fine Arts elevator in the summer of 2020.

Students with disabilities that attended this meeting voiced their criticisms about the strategy and implementation of the accessibility plan. During the presentation, former SGA Senator and psychology, anthropology and social work major Olubunmi Ayodele asked, “Why wasn’t there a plan prior to getting to this point?” Another point of contention was that the language of the presentation focused around meeting compliance standards and did not adequately aim for being inclusive of students with disabilities. The long-term renovation also generated controversy, as students who need present accommodations felt unserved by these efforts.

Further criticisms included the lack of permanent signage indicating accessible routes. Ayodele said, “It’s very taxing to walk around the whole entire campus, especially with a physical disability. I don’t understand why [after] four or five months there still isn’t signage.” Students also stated that reporting outages and failures were too cumbersome for students to navigate.

While the event has made clear the plans to make the university campus more accessible, many students with disabilities feel like these measures are insufficient and unsatisfying. These students feel like the university should be doing more to help them meet their academic goals, but how helpful these plans will be to a student with a disability currently on campus remains to be seen. For Ayodele, “It isn’t just about meeting compliance standards. It’s about feeling like a normal student on campus.”