Over the next six months, UMBC will be transitioning to a new software system, Kuali, to significantly improve the process of proposal submission and several other critical extramural related activities for our faculty and department administrators.

Kuali is an enterprise-wide, cradle-to-grave, electronic system that is the result of the partnership between the Kuali Foundation and a community of R1 institutions, including the University of Maryland Baltimore and College Park.  The system was designed by Universities for Universities.

Easing the burden of extramural funding submissions, Kuali provides tools to assist in collaboration, budget and compliance approvals. The system provides the UMBC community an electronic approval and submission process, and eliminates the requirement to create Federal Agency form packages. The Kuali System submits automatically to System-to-System Grants.Gov. The system also has compliance tracking, for example, COI financial disclosures tied directly to proposals, awards and IRB. 

Hebrews 12:28-29 - “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”

“I’ll never forget one such personal experience with God years ago when I was new to the ministry. I was praying alone before a Tuesday evening service. At that time, the church was housed in a little rundown building, and I knew we would have fewer than ten people attending that night’s prayer meeting. I had been praying that God would draw more people to the church and increase the enthusiasm of the congregation. As I prayed, the Spirit worked. He went right to my core and seemed to say, “The main problem is not the lack of people and their spiritual immaturity. You’re the one who needs to be changed first. You’re lacking in compassion for the people, and you do not love them the way I want you to. In your insecurity, you’re just trying to get through another meeting.” Talk about fire! Talk about penetration! That wasn’t easy to hear. I ended up on my face before God. I had come to ask God to help me with all of the people problems of the church, and instead his fire penetrated to my problem. When the Spirit works in our lives, he keeps us away from superficial excuses and the blame games we like to play. Fire burns away the false and leads us to the truth.”

Today pray asking the Lord come like a consuming fire, and lead you into deeper truth.

- GK

We attend school for different reasons — or, more likely, a combination of reasons. When we go “back to school” later, those reasons often multiply or change.

This fall, I did the latter. After years of considering it, I finally decided to sign up as a non-degree-seeking student at UMBC. My goal: to take Introduction to Korean. My reasons: Many. (More on that later.)

Now, a few weeks into it, I am proud of what I’ve learned. Here’s the gist so far:

• I have learned an entirely new alphabet, with new shapes and sounds unlike my own. (There are multiple marks for the “kuh” sound! I love it!)
• I have readjusted my expectations for how much work I’ll need to do to keep up. (News alert: it’s waaaay more than I thought.)
• I have gained a huge respect for my fellow classmates. (UMBC students are smart, kind, and friendly…who’da thunk?)
• I have an entirely new-found respect for working students. (Honestly, how do you do it? No, really.)

My first weeks in class were devoted to learning Hangul, an objectively beautiful alphabet. Not since my original stint in college have I forced myself to memorize new sounds and concepts in such a way…and this was just the beginning! Thankfully, my teacher is funny, kind, and perceptive. As I mentioned in my Letter From the Editor in the fall issue, she told us from the start this wouldn’t be easy, but that we would all learn from the mistakes we made along the way. How can you not love that?

With the alphabet firmly in my brain, I am now able to pronounce words by sight, and even use a dictionary. And we’re moving into learning simple conversation. Which brings me to that original question of WHY we go back to school in the first place.

I have always been wild about school. Growing up on a remote farm, I craved the community of my classroom. In college, and later grad school, I loved meeting people from different parts of the world, with different ideas from mine, and honing the skills that would help me land my first job at a community newspaper.

Today, I go to school to find those same wonderful things — but there’s one much more personal reason. I go because my sons are Korean-born, and I want to help them learn the beginnings of the language. When we go visit Seoul together, I want to be able to find my way around the city a bit, and use the dictionary properly, and be able to say more than a simple “hello” and “thank you.” (Though, those get you pretty darned far.)

To be able to do that here, at UMBC, a place I love so dearly, is simply priceless. Stay tuned as a wander through the rest of the semester…

— Jenny O’Grady
Editor, UMBC Magazine

Who inspired YOU most as a student at UMBC? We asked, and you answered! #UMBCwow

“Ilsa Lottes pulled me into Sociology, and Leslie Morgan convinced me to pursue a Ph.D. Both women were amazing mentors! So many great professors…a lot of fun was had in Rudy Storch’s Latin classes and I find myself still referring back to Jay Freyman’s word roots class.”

— Connie Krach Pierson ’90, economics, M.A. ’92, sociology

“Professor Schaller. He not only pushed me harder than any other professor, but he intensified my interest in politics and government. I still can’t believe he gave a quiz on my 21st birthday though. I’m pretty sure I aced it.”

– Sarah Candell Clifford ’10, political science

“Marjorie Herman, inspired me to go into the music profession. I ended up as a board certified music therapist. She was Margy Kleiman then in the early ’70s. This was before UMBC even had a music major. I majored in psych but took a lot of music courses …”

– Elizabeth Gardiner Myers ’75, psychology

“Dr. Jodi Kelber was such an important part of my UMBC life. I learned so much about evaluating life through critical lenses from her, but I learned just as much about leading an authentic and ethical life. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without her generous guidance and loving spirit.”

– Sarah Pevner ’08, English

“Almost every professor has been an inspiration… Narrowing it down to just one? Improbable. I was an Ancient Studies major, and it was the department as a whole which inspired me to push harder in my studies.”

– Deirdre Lohrmann ’16, ancient studies

“Sally Shivnan who taught me how to really tell a story with the written word in any medium. Christopher Corbett who taught generations of journalists the importance of chasing a story with a moral compass in hand, whom I think of whenever I read a really great piece of investigative journalism. Jason Loviglio who honed the lens through which his students view popular culture and politics and media, and whose course should be a requirement for every freshman. Christoph Irmscher who was my mentor and who taught me by example how to build consensus among peers which is a skill I rely on daily in my corporate career. I wouldn’t trade the UMBC professors I had for anything, not for admission to any other university in the world. I loved every minute in their classrooms and have such a deep-abiding nostalgia for my entire learning experience at UMBC.”

– Brett McKenzie Wood ’04, English

“Dr. Lumpkin who taught Thermodynamics around 94 or so. Sadly she passed after giving birth to her daughter. She truly exemplified a professor that cared about her students learning the material and having understanding. Dr. Lumpkin solidified my understanding of it taking a village sometimes to be successful. Because of her not giving up on me or allowing me to give up on myself and studying Chem. E., I make it a point to put the same into others that cross my path.”

– Gwen Blackwell ’97, chemical engineering

“Jason Rhodes. He was only an adjunct but he changed my way of thinking back in 2011 and I still remember what a great experience his class was. He taught me that for anything to change, it takes time, energy, and effort. I’m forever grateful for how he opened up my perspective on the outside world.”

– Jerrica Stanley ’14, psychology

“I loved my boss, Frank Tyminski, when I worked in Chem Prep. He was smart, dedicated to his students, and knew how to give us tough love. I used to go back to visit every few months when I was in grad school and could call him up any time I had a chemistry question. Frank was definitely one of the biggest influences in my college career.”

– Aimee Iannacci ’05, biological sciences and psychology

“Dr. Stephen Freeland was one of the professors who played an important role in my undergrad journey. He taught us how to bring disciplines together to maximize the results and taught us so much about effective skills and behaviors! No need to say the astrobiology class he taught was a great experience and the energy and effort he put toward teaching us was honorable.”

– Melorin Shahri ’17, biological sciences

“Dr. Osman Güler introduced me to operations research. He’s tough but fair, and always wants to make sure you truly get the concepts. When I was applying to grad schools, he pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of, as he did with his courses.”

–  Emily Conley ’14, mathematics

“Ed Orser took over when Joel Jons left the American Studies Dept. to go to the U of New Mexico. Joel Jones recruited me into American Studies and Ed Orser took the reins and opened my mind to the concept of intellectual synthesis, taking disparate parts of society and beginning t understand the interplay of various disciplines on the realities of the world.”

– Jerry Kerr ’71, American studies

“Dr. JoAnn Argersinger. She was my advisor and helped to guide me through my years as a history major. She was a fascinating lecturer and I still use things she taught me as I teach my students!”

– Sheila Reed Magin ’88, history

“It is a tie for me.

• Dr. John Starr who was my fraternity (Lambda Chi Alpha) academic advisor and guided me to pursue IFSM when I had little to no understanding of what the future could be in IT.
• Dr. Scott Rickard who asked me, an undergrad, to register for a joint undergrad/grad school class (Policy Science 615) on Leadership. He stoked the fire inside of me to go onto graduate school.

Thanks UMBC #UMBCwow”

– Bill Glover ’90, information systems

“Dr. Andrea Kalfoglou taught me in the HAPP/SOCY Qualitative Research Methods course in 2009. It was life changing and showed me research comes in many forms. Thanks to UMBC, I use what I learned in my BA and MA programs in my job as a healthcare market researcher every single day. :)”

– Mary Faith James ’10, health administration and policy, M.A. ’12, sociology

“Dr. Michelle Stefano in American Studies. When I first signed up for her class, I just wanted to fulfill a requirement. I had no interest in the subject whatsoever, but she had so much passion that she made me care about and love the work we did in class. It ended up being one my favorite classes, and I ended up taking another class with her. She has so much passion that she can make anyone care about her topic. She is clearly in it for all the right reasons and she taught me that as long as you do what you love, you’ll be alright.”

– Hesham Hassanein ’16, political science

“Jim Thomas. Enough said.”

– Jen Joanna (Muston) ’04, American studies

Patrick Rife ’10, visual arts

As an undergraduate student of art history at UMBC, Patrick Rife ’10, visual arts, paid homage to obsolescent technology by building a sculpture out of 9,000 vinyl records. Today, as the co-founder of Baltimore-based Pixilated, Rife spends his days figuring out the key to staying on the cutting edge of a technology that calls to another throwback technology – photo booths.

If you’ve been to a major party in Baltimore in the last few years, you’ve probably seen the heavy rotation of guests posing in front of one of Pixilated’s trademark photo boxes. But Rife’s team has moved far beyond where it started in 2012, with a team of three. The Pixilated of today consists of 36 full and part-time employees with 24 booths working family and sporting events, festivals, conferences and corporate meetings in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, as well as installing permanent, wall-mounted kiosks in businesses.

In short, Pixilated has left its mom-and-pop one-photo-booth rivals in the dust.

Rife and his partner, Nicolas China, started Pixilated after Rife was inspired by a watching wedding guests jumping in front of a professional photographer and acting crazy. This was Rife’s first exposure to the concept of an “open air” photo booth and occurred before the proliferation of digital photography. Years later, he remarked on it to a friend who’d had a similar experience and they realized the business potential given the digital technology then available.

Within a year after graduating from UMBC, Rife went from a low-wage job transporting high-end art pieces around the country to starting Pixilated. With his first child on the way, Rife, who is also a musician, said he viewed Pixilated as a small side business that “would buy me a little more time to make my next record.”

While there was a nascent photo booth industry at the time, Pixilated planned to improve on existing models.

“The original concept of Pixilated was to do something … that was a little more sculptural and with a sexier silhouette, instead of a traditional booth and to take higher quality photos, produce really high quality prints, and make an experience of it,” Rife explains. To heighten the experience element, they added themed props and green screens, and more recently, “GIF booths,” with stop motion photography that allow customers to take home a short animation of their memories.

After about two years serving weddings and other private functions, Rife was ready to take it to a higher level – bigger events such as trade shows, expos and state fairs. Since then, Pixilated has successfully marketed their services to large corporations, setting up photo booths for Under Armour at the Chicago Marathon, and traveling with Sony Records and Pandora, among others. They’ve also become incredibly savvy at marketing and brand engagement.

Pixilated photo booth customers become stars, posing with or wearing company logos and brandishing products, then posting the slick, ad-like images of themselves on social media. The client company’s exposure and recognition multiplies. Pixilated’s logo also appears in every shot. Everyone wins.

Next up, Rife foresees the business becoming more “nimble” with the proprietary software they’re launching, using the cloud for file sharing and social media integration.

“The industry has been going pretty heavily for four years now…but when it comes to bigger companies doing brand engagement, there aren’t a ton in the Baltimore market,” Rife reflects. “At the moment it’s still a little bit of an arms race to see who can build the exceptional technology and combine that with business development.”

— Cait James ’01

Henge

After a sculpture titled, Forum, by Thomas Sayre

Outside the glass wall
That separates us
From the cold and below,

Covered with an icing
Of melting snow,
Are the half arches

Formed of earth-colored stone
Placed so no two can
Connect, an almost row

Of almost arches
Among the broken gray
Of stunted columns left

As if to the wind on some acropolis;
A henge whose shadows
Rotate across the grass,

Slant across squares of paving
To remind us
That time is told

By the movement of suns,
By melting ice,
The shattered rock

Of a ruined forum which
The Gods in their irony
Destroyed, and now preserve

As warning, a monument
To vanishings

Michael Fallon, senior lecturer in English, was inspired to write this poem about Thomas Sayre’s 2014 sculpture, Forum, while gazing upon it from the Dresher Center for the Humanities’ second-floor conference room. Fallon’s fourth book of poems, House of Forgotten Names, will be published by Salmon Press of Ireland in late 2017 or early 2018. He has taught at UMBC for 30 years.