Dear Retrievers,

What do you remember about your first day of class at UMBC? Were you excited – or perhaps a little nervous – about a particular class? Did you get lost trying to locate your classroom? Or, maybe you were the one helping classmates find their way?

I remember my first day of class at UMBC almost perfectly – because it just happened. Although I’ve worked here for more than a dozen years, enjoying the wit and expertise of many professor friends in an informal way, only recently did I make the decision to take on the role of Retriever student for the first time. The class: Korean 101. So, what was it like, you ask?

As excited as I am to be a student again, I must admit I was scared when I opened a textbook filled with an entirely new alphabet. But, the moment I walked into class and saw the welcoming smile of my teacher, Dr. Krippes, my fears drained away. As we introduced ourselves, I learned this was a class full of students from all study areas, united in their interest of a new culture, and just as nervous as I was.

As we began learning consonant sounds and characters in the Hangul alphabet, I thought of something Dr. Krippes said at the start of class: “I want you to make a lot of mistakes.” (Here, we all laughed tentatively.) “That is how we learn.” (Well, okay then.)

There’s a reason UMBC is recognized again and again for its teaching. Not only are our professors whip smart – obviously – they’re also generous and warm. You’ll see evidence of this throughout this issue, from professors working to better understand the opioid epidemic, to our capstone mechanical engineering class, where students experience the ups and downs of designing for real clients. And, I’m sure you have memories of your own.

Now, everyone enjoys donning a new outfit for the start of school, and UMBC Magazine is no exception. In honor of the new semester, we hope you’ll like our updated look and some new treats in print, and our expanded presence online including more video, Q&As, and perspective pieces. If you’re inspired by memories of your first day of school, we invite you to share them at magazine@umbc.edu. I’ll be sharing my thoughts throughout the semester in the Perspectives section.

— Jenny O’Grady
Editor, UMBC Magazine

Our alumni are making headlines…let’s see what they’ve been up to this week!

Kavita Krishnaswamy ’07, mathematics and computer science, a current Ph.D. candidate at UMBC, has earned research funding through a Microsoft Fellowship and the Google Lime Scholarship, in addition to her grants from the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Krishnaswamy, who is paralyzed from the neck down due to spinal muscular atrophy and attends classes using a Beam telepresence robot, has focused her doctoral research on using robotics to aid people with disabilities and improve access.

Henrietta Akintoye ’07, biochemistry and molecular biology, has joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Reliant Medical Group in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dr. Akintoye completed her OB/GYN residency at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City, and completed her medical degree at the Morehouse School of Medicine.

MaBelle Fomundam ’15, biological sciences and theatre, starred as Margaret in the play Vacation, written by Johns Hopkins University student Michael Feder and produced by the Tentative Digital Theatre Company, a student group that puts on performances in unconventional venues across the JHU area. Vacation tells the story of Margaret and Jerome, a couple who must face their grief over a lost child while packing for a trip.

Prachi Kochar ’17, psychology, spoke to WYPR’s On the Record with Sheilah Kast about the importance of diversity in comic books ahead of Baltimore Comic-Con. A former student staffer at the Women’s Center, Kochar has written on the subject of representation in comics before; you can check that post out here.

Got news to share with us? Submit a Class Note today!

Facilities IT and Energy Coordinator

Full-time (Exempt, Regular)

Closing Date: October 13, 2017

Office of Facilities and Planning

Join us for an evening with Roxane Gay on Thursday, October 5th, 7pm in the WVC Ballrooms. Roxane Gay is an author and cultural critic whose writing garners international acclaim for its reflective, no-holds-barred exploration of feminism and social criticism. With a deft eye on modern culture, she brilliantly critiques its ebb and flow with both wit and ferocity. The author of Bad Feminist and Difficult Women says the moment she realized that she would “never want to write about fatness” was the same moment she knew this was the book she needed to write. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

Gay is a contributing op-ed writer for The New York Times, was the co-editor of PANK, and formerly was the non-fiction editor at The Rumpus. Her writing has also appeared in McSweeney’s, The Nation and many other publications. She recently became the first black woman to ever write for Marvel, writing a comic series in the Black Panther universe called World of Wakanda.

Gay often speaks of living with contradictions: growing up a daughter of middle-class Haitian immigrants, and not fitting into the narrative of blackness. She talks about being a feminist. And explains why she identifies as a lesbian even though she is still attracted to men. During her talk, Gay will be reading from her most recent book, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body. Gay will trace her complicated relationship with her weight back to being a victim of sexual assault as a child and the pervasiveness of fat phobia in our society.

This program is co-sponsored by the Center for Student Diversity and the Department of English. For questions, email diversityworks@towson.edu.

Seven weeks. Forty-nine days. 1,176 hours. No matter how you look at it, the UMBC Women’s Basketball season is right around the corner. The Retrievers will open up their season against the Fordham Rams on November 10 in New York. With the start of another season on the horizon, emotions are high, expectations are set and the possibilities are endless.

Last season, the Retrievers finished with a record of 15-16. The team demands excellence, and finishing one game below the .500 mark might seem like a huge disappointment, but their 10-6 conference record gave them the No. 3 overall seed in the America East playoffs.

Usually, the No. 3 seed would be awarded with home court advantage for the first round of playoffs, but that all changed with last season. The 2016-17 season was the first time that all of the America East women’s games were played at a neutral site, located in Portland, Maine. The top six teams were given a spot to contend for the conference championship, and the first team the Retrievers had to beat were the Hartford Hawks. The two games these teams played against each other earlier in the season, the decisions were split with both teams taking home a victory. Hartford had come into the first round game with a conference record of 7-9, so the Retrievers were the favorite in this matchup, but ended up falling a bit short against the Hawks. Hartford knocked the Retrievers out of the playoffs, but ended up losing in the next round to the America East defending champions, the Albany Great Danes.

With every loss comes an opportunity to learn, and the Retrievers are poised to have an outstanding upcoming season. Senior guard Carly Harris shared her interpretation of the team’s goals for the year:

“Winning the conference and making the NCAA tournament has always been a long term goal of ours. Right now, we have a young team and we are just focused on progressing every day, and building our team chemistry as we continue to learn the system.”

The Women’s team lost four contributors to graduation at the end of last season. Taylor McCarley and Pandora Wilson were the leaders of the team who both averaged double digit points per game, Amanda Hagaman was a huge contributor at forward who provided at both ends of the court, and Emily Russo contributed greatly in her four years here as a team leader. Replacing these girls was not easy, but Head Coach Phil Stern knows what it takes to build a strong lineup.

With multiple roster spots available, the coaching staff worked extremely hard to bring in talented freshmen that would be able to fill in the missing pieces to this puzzle. This year’s recruiting class features six athletes from talented areas all across the east coast, who are ready to make an immediate impact on the program.

“Our freshmen class is awesome, they will be impacting our team right from the first tip-off,” said Harris.

Losing four veteran players is always tough, but the Retrievers’ roster has five seniors this year who have certainly been around the game long enough to know exactly how to lead these rookies to compete for a conference title.

Players to watch this year for the Retrievers include Laura Castaldo, a senior who averaged over 11 points per game last year and also made the America East All-Conference Third Team. Lookout for Tyler Moore, who has the potential to breakout in a major way on her sophomore campaign. She started in 27 games last year and contributed over 8 points and 4 rebounds a game, and was able to add 28 assists and 29 steals to her freshmen year resume.

Finally, sophomore political science major, Lucrezia Costa, will look to have a huge impact on the Retrievers upcoming season. Costa led team Italy to a sixth place finish at the International Basketball Federation U20 European Championships over the summer. The forward is known for being an impacter on both ends of the court, and her talents were showcased in the tournament against Latvia where she finished with a combination of ten points and three rebounds.

With a young team returning, any kind of veteran leadership can go a long way when it comes to developing players. Losing two unbelievable players, like McCarley and Wilson, is never easy for any program. Luckily, UMBC has hired McCarley to come back to campus in a role as Graduate Assistant Coach. She will be able to show this team, who has unbelievable potential, exactly what needs to be done in order to dominate the America East.  

These seven weeks could not go by faster, as everyone is excited to see what the UMBC Women’s basketball team has in store for this season.