The American Association for the Advancement of Science has chosen UMBC to host a conference regarding the topics of religion and science; only five other universities across the country were selected to host this dialogue. Staff members of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion program will help lead on sessions that are aimed at STEM community members engaging with others of diverse backgrounds or communities.

Sarah Hansen, the communications manager for STEM in the Office of Institutional Advancement who focuses on the College of Natural and Mathematical Science, recalled how the university was chosen: “We put out an application and they ended up selecting us and five others.” She cites that one of the strengths of the application was UMBC’s history of inclusive excellence and the campus’ desire to serve diversity.

Dr. Bill LaCourse, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry who is also the dean of the college of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, explains how the AAAS forum will work throughout the two days it is scheduled to happen. “In the morning of March 25th in Flat Tuesdays, there will be an open area for students and faculty to come in freely and ask questions.”

Following that, a workshop in the afternoon will see experts from DoSER train STEM researchers on how to communicate science effectively to diverse communities. That evening four experts from different religious backgrounds will speak on their experience as scientists while practicing their faith. The following day, the Mar. 26, will involve more of the campus community speaking amongst each other to ensure that students and faculty can interact together.

Dr. Stephen Freeland, who is the director of the Individualized Study program and an associate professor of biology, uses vital statistics to explain why having this dialogue is so important, not only to those practicing of faith, but to the scientific community. “A majority of the American public self-identifies as religious in some way shape or form. If scientists don’t know how to work with that context sensitively, their science is not going to be effective.”

Student organizations, Meyerhoff Scholars and Graduate Fellows, STEM Living Learning Community, Mosaic Center, McNair Scholars, UMBC Hillel and the School of Public Policy are scheduled to be involved, while others may be added as the events approach.

LaCourse explained, “We bring up the conversation, but these groups will build on it in smaller groups.” The STEM communications manager also expressed her desire for more student organizations on campus to become involved on the second day of conversation to allow for more flow of dialogue to occur within the UMBC community.

Along with a time and space for open discussion, Hansen explains that when UMBC won their spot in the forum, they also received a grant to be presented to the winners of this contest, in which $1,000 will be presented to four winners to further promote their outreach efforts of engaging religious communities with science within the surrounding community outside of UMBC.

This meeting will help people to get to know others and their beliefs as religiously-practicing scientists. Dr. LaCourse emphasizes that this event is not about conversion, but rather people understanding each other. Dr. Freeland praises UMBC for doing so well during his time as a faculty member at the university, saying, “I’ve never felt in any way awkward about the fact that I am a Christian who teaches evolutionary biology.”

Hansen also presented the idea of the intersectionality of people’s identities through gender, race and other aspects that influence their life experiences and how the upcoming events will allow people to explore the intersectionality of their faith and their scientific discipline. The whole goal of the event is not any sort of academic debate, but rather, to give UMBC and its members a welcoming space to freely discuss their beliefs as scientists.

“Gather round!” the salesman shouted, “Gather round and hear me tell of the miracle of the century!”

His black beady eyes shone as he waved a grimy-gloved hand toward a large wooden crate. A large crowd had gathered around him by now, murmurs and speculations humming like a quiet group of bees. The man gave a crooked-tooth smile before continuing. “Man had finally gotten the upper hand on pestilence, on all things in this world that ail you!” the man called out. The people crowded closer among the man, eyes wide.

“Yes that’s right, we have found the cure! Y’see it’s all science,” the man bent down and took the lid off of the wooden crate, producing a small green-tinted glass bottle jingling with tiny capsules. “Yes, I said it’s science! Just think — influenza, the measles, the mumps —all cured! All cured with Mr. McGehey’s Miracle Pills!” The buzzing of the crowd began to grow louder.

“Now I know what you’re thinking — how is it possible for one tiny pill to solve all man’s ailments? I tell you it’s science! Mr. McGehey’s Miracle Pills contain a healthy mixture of vitamins and remedies approved by top chemists to do away with all of the common man’s illnesses and woes! And all for only fifty cents a bottle!”

The crowd cheered and began rummaging through their purses, grabbing out their fifty cents, and soon the salesman was swamped with slender fingers waving quarters. One by one, the salesman took their quarters, placing them in his suit pocket, and handed each customer a small green bottle of Mr. McGehey’s Miracle Pills.

As soon as the optimistic hands got a hold of their Mr. McGehey’s Miracle Pill bottle, they wasted no time in popping out the cork and dumping a slippery inky pill into their mouths. Once the crowd had dispersed, happily heading home with their Mr. McGehey’s Miracle Pill bottles and without a care in the world now that they had their cure, the salesman placed the lid back on the wooden crate and sat down, a bottle of Mr. McGehey’s Miracle Pills in his hand.  

Reaching into his briefcase, the salesman pulled out a small pack of round hard-candy and a jar of black writing ink. Quickly, he dunked the candy in the ink and set the fresh Mr. McGehey Miracle Pills out to dry.

This is an installment in The Retriever’s new creative writing section. If you would like to submit your creative writing or art for possible publication in The Retriever, please contact ceyda1@umbc.edu.

In recent years, Asian American writers and novels have gained rapid popularity in the U.S.: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “The Sympathizer” received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2016; Celeste Ng has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for both of her novels; Ken Kwan’s “Crazy Rich Asians“ and Jenny Han’s “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before“ have both been made into incredibly popular movies. Min Jin Lee, therefore, is in perfect company with her second novel, “Pachinko,” published in 2017.

“Pachinko“ tells the multi-generational epic of a Korean family, headed by strong but troubled matriarch, Sunja. In the 1930s, Sunja’s teenage affair with a mysterious and wealthy businessman in Japan leaves her shamed and pregnant with a bastard child. A kindly minister agrees to marry her and take on the child as his own. Together, they move to Japan, hoping for a richer life, but are instead met with intense discrimination and tragedy. 

Lee continues to follow the struggles of Sunja’s family as they attempt to piece together their lives as Christian Koreans in war-torn Japan. The family is repeatedly saved by the meddling of Sunja’s former lover, Hansu Koh, who secretly attempts to guarantee a successful life for his abandoned son. Eventually, the novel finds Sunja’s two sons working in pachinko parlors, becoming variously successful on the gambling addictions of others. Despite their successes, each son and their descendants continue to struggle with their troubled past and confused identities.

While “Pachinko” offers readers an intense and compelling family dynamic, something about the novel seemed lackluster. Lee’s prose is quite elegant, and she effectively pulls her readers into the minds of even the most minor characters. The novel starts off excitingly enough with Sunja’s tale but lost steam as Lee began telling the stories of those two or three generations down the line.

Additionally, the recycled storylines of Hansu Koh appearing out of thin air and the untimely death of multiple beloved family members quickly grew tiring over time. As characters began to experience these dilemmas for the fourth or fifth time, they grew more and more distasteful and disconnected to readers. Readers grow tired of anticipating these scenes repeatedly, often told with a painstakingly slow pace across several pages, while other more exciting scenes are given no more than a few brief paragraphs.

Lee seems to write under the assumption that her readers know little of the Korean-Japanese history, and her novel serves as a way to make that history more accessible to American readers. Unfortunately, for any readers even slightly familiar with this background, the novel seems to simply tell this information in an uninteresting way, lacking any sort of proper narrative beyond following the segmented strands of a family.

Lee works far too hard to bring in new predicaments to side characters. For example, the harelip and club foot plaguing Sunja’s father without ever being mentioned again, the quandary of a gay friend of the family and his relationship with his wife, and the troubled teenage step-daughter who falls into prostitution all complicate the story without adding much value. These almost interesting vignettes are overshadowed by the family’s other cyclical crises and lack depth as Lee seems to emphasize quantity of these storylines over quality.

Where other family sagas have succeeded, “Pachinko“ disappoints, relying far too heavily on a sweeping history of Japan and Korea than truly delving into a distinctive and unique family experience. Min Jin Lee offers an almost interesting account of the plight of Korean-Japanese immigrants but fails to reach the depth of other novelists. Readers interested in but unfamiliar with Korean-Japanese history may find this book of use to them, but others will likely be let down by a lack of any engaging narrative structure.

As reported by the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 86 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds with bachelor’s degrees (or higher) were employed in 2017. While this was a significant 8 percent lead on the average employment rate for young adults that year, Burning Glass Technologies and the Strada Institute for the Future of Work found that between 2000 and 2017, 43 percent of U.S. college graduates’ first post-graduation jobs did not require a degree. Jaison Abel and Richard Dietz of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York also claimed that in 2013, only 27.3 percent of college graduates were employed in a position fit for their major. This phenomenon, called “underemployment,” correlates to lower lifetime wages, fewer in-field prospects and a lower reported professional satisfaction.

Studies indicate that a student’s first job out of college can be pivotal to their career, and current students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County are vying to secure positions. While the recent university-sponsored career fair brought a crowd of its own, other students are forging paths independent of the university toward gainful employment.

“It’s really all networking now. I got experience, I also networked a lot during the work I did with the DoD and HP and Booz [Allen Hamilton],” says one computer science senior (due to the sensitive nature of his post-graduation plans, he asked that his name and specific company be kept out of this article). He attended Praxis Engineering’s “Let’s Just Talk” conference last Tuesday, after his current company’s Vice President personally extended him an invitation. “He invited me, and I invited a few of my computer science friends and my girlfriend, because she’s computer science, too,” he says. “I just help a lot of my friends find jobs now — networking goes both ways. I already accepted an offer for after I graduate, but it’s always good to keep networking and see what everyone else is doing in your field.”

However, the job prospects between STEM and humanities majors vary greatly. Humanities careers require different candidates, qualifications and work samples, and connecting with people can prove even more vital for these students, according to print media sophomore Lily Hsu. “I definitely need to bulk up my portfolio and social media presence, because that’s how future employers or customers will be able to see my work,” Hsu explains. She is considering a wide variety of careers, and looking at a variety of ways in which she can utilize her degree. “Maybe I’ll be a freelance artist or maybe I’ll work for a company, I don’t know. Most likely I’ll become an art teacher,” she says. “It’s definitely going to be hard … I’ll have to be actively looking and hustling for people to see and buy my work.”

With the recession over, newer graduates are fortunate to face an easier starting job climate than their older siblings did. Nonetheless, a fair amount of effort should be expected from students in all majors in the collective search for degree-fitting employment.

Stephanie Lazarus, the Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator and Accessibility Manager, and Celso Guitian, Campus Planner, co-ran a presentation about UMBC’s current and future accessibility issues and plans on Feb. 4. This has been an ongoing project since 1978.

The 2018 Facility Master Plan has multiple goals it will work towards, including one that will focus on removing barriers and create a “campus [that] is welcoming and accessible.” Back in 1978, the campus lacked many accessibility options in its design. Today, more options exist but the presenters cited a number of possible deficits. Current ongoing problems include difficult-to-use doorknobs, non-motorized doors, inaccessibility to different floors, unreliable elevators, signage for accessibility routes (and alternatives when elevators are not working) and remaining non-ADA compliant areas, such as bathrooms, drinking fountains, handrails, etc.

Items on the 2018 FMP agenda are creating new parking garages, new and expanded buildings, making the RAC, UMBC stadium, baseball and softball fields more accessible and refurbishing elevators in Sondheim and the AOK Library to improve their reliability.

Recently completed projects and upgrades are numerous; improved accessibility to campus parking and campus residencies, improved sidewalks and other paths, a new Apartment Community Center featuring disability-friendly meeting rooms, common space and laundry, as well as an accessible ramp to Sondheim and the Math/Psychology buildings, accessible West Hill Apartment units and roll-in showers in all accessible Erickson Hall units. As of its completion in Feb. 2018, the UMBC Event Center became a fully compliant building, adding accessible parking on Hilltop Circle and in Lot 28 as well as improved connectivity to the UMBC Stadium.

The UMBC campus now has over 230 ADA-compliant restrooms, 216 of which are in academic, administrative, campus support and non-residential buildings.

The Maryland Department of Disabilities’ Access Maryland Program is a major source of funding when it comes to making the campus more accessible to all. The program funding allows state agencies to remove barriers to accessibility, including public universities. In the past 12 years, UMBC has been allocated a sum of approximately $3,015,800. Downsides of the program are that it does not cover improvements under $2,500, now requires a minimum of 30% funding commitment from the university with its projects and recently gave only $750,000.

A new passenger elevator and bathroom in the Biological Sciences Building would cost a total of $636,000, of which the university would pay $250,000.

Even with financial assistance to help improve the campus for those with disabilities, such upgrades are costly. The inability to simultaneously improve the campus’ many needs results in the prioritization of tasks.

At the end of the presentation, they opened up the floor to attendees with suggestions for making the school more accessible.

One attendee suggested that the Fine Arts Building needed better wayfinding for those with disabilities. This included improved signage, lighting and route symbols to make accessibility routes easier to follow.

Several people talked about notification of elevator outages and fixes. People who are registered with Student Disability Services can be contacted as soon as possible when elevators become unusable for a period of time so that students may plan out alternative routes. Posting signs on elevators when they are out of use, passing along information about it and posting the temporary inconvenience online seems to be prompt; however, those with disabilities who are not registered with SDS are less likely to be made aware of the outage until they come across it.

“You see much clearer all the challenges that are inherent when you look at the accessibility maps that shows the routes and entrances and also pretty much clearly highlights where we still have serious deficiencies on our campus,” remarked Guitian.