The Walters Art Museum is accepting applicants for the Carol Bates Fellowship. In June 2018, the Walters will re-open One West Mount Vernon Place, the historic house that is part of the Walters campus. With the revitalization of One West, the Walters is taking a dynamic new approach to the presentation of art while preserving a building that is an architectural treasure all undertaken with the goal of enriching the visitor experience.

College is admittedly a fantastic opportunity for many different things such as meeting new people, expanding social horizons, and exploring interests. However it is arguable to say that the primary reason students choose to attend college is to receive an education that prepares them for a career.

The Career Center serves as a gateway for students eager to learn and hone their skills. However, its services are not well advertised to students. A fundamental flaw in the Career Center’s marketing to students is exemplified in the statement by Colin Brown, a newly enrolled freshman and history major. “I’ve really only heard people mention it and not much more than that so I don’t know if I am the best candidate [to talk to],” he said.

This statement may seem harmless, but it represents a flaw in something that should be a major part of secondary education. Why are representatives from the career center not seen, in force, educating new students about the services and resources they have available?

Transfer student and modern language and linguistics major Tori Koehl revealed that this problem is not one unique to UMBC. “All of my schools had career centers before this one. I’ve heard about them, I know they exist, but that’s about it,” she said, elaborating that the most she has really gotten from any of these departments are forms to help determine what she would like to study and pursue a career in.

Choosing a career path obviously requires much more than simply checking boxes to fit students into a career that they will often be tied to for their entire lives. Marcus Jordan, a senior chemistry major, said that the majority of career guidance he has gotten has come not from the Career Center, but from on-campus research advisors and other members of the chemistry department.

An anonymous undergraduate advisor in one of UMBC’s STEM departments supports this statement, stating that while the Career Center is a good resource for refining a curriculum vitae and practicing interviews, he advises that students looking for a job are better off going straight to a head hunter.

Despite the dozens of flyers that sit outside of the Career Center, they have no way of targeting students in specific fields other than weekly and biweekly handouts that go out to their appropriate colleges. This is something that the same advisor claims to have never seen come through.

The Career Center’s first priority should be to increase awareness within the student body that it serves. Marketing to freshman as well as transfer students will ensure that everybody coming to UMBC knows about the services offered.

By informing students about this hidden gem located on the second floor of the Math/Psych building as they come into UMBC, the Career Center will better prepare students for when they start looking for and applying to jobs. With improved advertising of the Center, students will be fully aware of where they can get career advice and will be better prepared to jump right into life after UMBC.

As it stands, the Career Center is not doing all it can to help students, but there is still hope for it to be the flourishing career resource center that students need it to be.

A follow-on “reduction to practice,” or implementation, challenge will ask participants to submit publication-quality data showing they can build functional human retina tissue. 

Winning Team

• Erin Lavik, ScD, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Steven Bernstein, MD, PhD, University of Maryland Medical School
• Adam Day, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Bryan Ibarra, University of Miami

The team’s idea is to build a retina by screen printing adult neural progenitor-derived retinal neurons in layers that mimic the structure of the human retina. The system is scalable and efficient which should enable the high reproducibility and increased throughput necessary for drug testing.

NEI NIH website: https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/goals-and-accomplishments/nei-research-initiatives/3-d-retina-organoid-challenge-3-d-roc/2017-ideation-challenge/2017-ideation-winner-and-honorable-mention

How to Get Started in Research Workshop, 10/4

Hosted by the Incomparable Dr. April Householder!

The UMBC Women’s Soccer team ended their non-conference schedule last Monday, and has a week of preparation for their first America East conference matchup of the season on Sunday, Sept. 24 against Albany. Coach Leslie Wray is entering her sixth season as Head Coach of the Retrievers and has a 2-4-3 conference record.

Women’s Soccer is undefeated in their final three non-conference games, beating Longwood, and tying St. Francis (Pa.) and Lehigh University. UMBC will be hosting games against Albany, Hartford, Vermont and New Hampshire this season, with road games in Maine, Binghamton, UMass Lowell and Stony Brook. The Retrievers currently sit in seventh place at the end of non-conference play, with only Maine and Albany sitting below them.

The America East Preseason Coaches’ Poll put UMBC in ninth place out of nine, with Hartford and Albany only a point apart at No. 1 and No. 2 for the most likely to win the conference title this season. With two conference games per week, and all the away games being at least 250 miles from Baltimore, the team will be tested in many ways.

UMBC finished the non-conference schedule with 10.9 shots per game with nine goals scored in nine games. Senior biology major Gabby Boehmer and freshmen Olivia Bronson, Christina Corbi and Elysia Paolillo have two goals each this season and will be looking to continue their scoring form once America East play begins.

Junior Leah Roth has played every game in goal so far this season, having a GAA of 1.01, in almost 900 minutes of action. The team will need her to have a good conference campaign to get into the America East tournament at the end of October.

The team finished their first conference game with a 3-1 loss against Albany on September 24. They will travel to Maine on Monday, Oct. 1 to continue their conference season.