Faculty who plan to use clickers for instruction during the ​​Fall 2017 semester will need to have device order(s) submitted to the Bookstore no later than Monday, April 24. This deadline allows the Bookstore to shop national wholesalers early for used books and items, prepare for buyback, avoid sending back to publishers leftover stock that will be reused next semester, and notify faculty of any availability problems. "University policy dictates that summer and fall 2017 textbook adoptions should by submitted by April 24 to permit compliance with the USM Board of Regents policy".

There are three options for submitting your request(s):

1. Online System

2. Email

3. Paper Form

Please refer to the Bookstore's site for more information and instructions applicable to each these options. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UMBC bookstore at textbook@umbc.edu or 410-455-2699.

To learn more about the clickers:

• visit our Clicker FAQ page
  

• open an  RT Ticket  for any technical issues

• New York Times
• Wall Street Journal
• Washington Post

Superfoods are nutrient powerhouses that pack large doses of antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals that are good for your heart and your overall health.  

Check out our featured superfood recipe each week!

1 John 3: 1 (NIV) - “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

“A cross that changes everything
And a love that sets the captives free
A hope that resurrected me
And the power of God
For all who believe”
(Your Cross Changes Everything by Matt Redman)

Who are we? We are children of God! Who we thought we were before Christ is swallowed up in our new identity as sons and daughters of God. Our identity is no longer defined by our past, traumatic event, what we can accomplish, life circumstances, our fears, what others may think of us…the list can go on.

As children of God, the love that the Father has lavished on us defines who we are. We are loved! We know that we are loved when we consider what Jesus has done on the cross for us. He chose to love us and reveal His love for us even when we didn’t know Him.

Let’s begin this week by asking the Father to fill our hearts with His great love!

Spend some time praying this prayer based on Ephesians 3:16-19

I pray that out of your glorious riches
you may strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith.
And I pray that being rooted and established in love, I may have power,
together with all the Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-
that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Amen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkZkeyu6a3k

-DP

A weekly round-up curated by Women’s Center staff member, Michael Jalloh Jamboria

In the spirit of my friend, who gave us the glorious name ‘Slaying on the Weekly’, every week I will be bringing you some interesting, funny or thought-provoking content from the internet! Be sure to join us next week for more and continue to slay!

Thank you for joining us this past Women’s History Month! March may be over but the celebration never stops in the Women’s Center. Join us in celebrating women, their lives, their stories and their resistance.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  “Every 107 seconds, someone in America is sexually assaulted. Approximately 4/5 of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.  Survivors of sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.”  The Women’s Center is dedicated to programming centered around sexual assault awareness. Be sure to check out the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Calendar. 

Take Back the Night is coming up! Here’s what you need to know about Take Back the Night!!

There has been a lot of Twitter buzz about black and brown girls missing from DC and Baltimore. What’s that about? Learn more by checking out The Rise in Human Trafficking in the State of Maryland.

Wait!! Did you hear that 2020 US census won’t have questions related to sexual orientation nor gender identity? I did. Read more on this Huffington Post article.

What the Heck is the Clothesline Project?? Find out on Thursday April 6th from 10-4pm on Mainstreet. Can’t wait until then, be sure to check out the official Clothesline Project Website.  Starting Monday April 3rd, through April 6th, the Women’s Center will have Clothesline Project t-shirts available for survivors of sexual assault to participate in the Project. Just in case you needed the reminder, the Women’s Center will always serve as a home away from home for those who need a safe space to exist. We’ve got your back!

This month can be particularly triggering for survivors of sexual assault or violence. Stop by the Women’s Center if you need to chat and be sure to check out some of these resources related to self-care during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

• Teen Vogue: 6 Self-Care Tips For Sexual Assault Survivors
• RAINN: Self-Care After Trauma
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline:  5 Powerful Self-Care Tips for Abuse and Trauma Survivors

Who ever you are, what ever your story, we are here to listen. We see you. You are home. You belong. You matter. See you next week!

As the ensemble Musica Spira, featuring UMBC affiliate artist and keyboardist Paula Maust and soprano Grace Srinivasan, steps onto the stage in Linehan Concert Hall on Wednesday, April 5, audience members will be treated to the sounds of a new custom-built harpsichord.

A keyboard instrument most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the harpsichord superficially resembles the piano. Its sound, however, is distinctive and more delicate, produced by plectrums that pluck its strings as the keys are depressed, rather than by hammers striking strings, as with a piano. The instrument is also visually remarkable. Harpsichords were often exquisitely painted and designed with elaborate ornamentation, and UMBC’s new acquisition is no exception.

The harpsichord is one of a number of instruments obtained by the department of music through the construction of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, and has been designed and hand-built by Owen Daly, a maker of historically-informed harpsichords and clavichords in Salem, Oregon, since the late 1970s. Daly explains:

UMBC’s new instrument is closely modeled upon a harpsichord by Pierre Donzelague, made in Lyon, France, in 1711. The 1711 Donzelague is one of the earliest known harpsichords made with the five-octave range that later became standard for large French harpsichords, rather than representing the enlargement of an earlier instrument with a smaller range.
 
The elaborate ‘wedding-cake’ rose in the soundboard, and the extravagant floral soundboard painting were both closely modeled on those elements in the original Donzelague by Berkeley artist Janine Johnson.
 
As was the case with harpsichords in their original period, the plectra are made from the shafts of feathers, in this case those of wild Canada geese, and the wire is a newly-developed material based closely upon the metallurgy of surviving samples of original wire.

Musica Spira’s program will feature music by a variety of Baroque composers, including Henry Purcell (1659–1695), George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729), Peter Philips (1560/61–1628), Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1705–1755), and Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757).

Keyboardist Paula Maust shares:

The harpsichord is modeled on a French instrument, so a substantial portion of the music on the program is French. The Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre suite for solo harpsichord is from 1687, and we know that the composer was still giving recitals in Paris into the 1720s, so she may have played this music on a similar instrument. This suite is all about subtlety, nuance, and ‘good taste,’ and the new harpsichord works quite well for these pieces.
 
The Bourgeois cantata was written in 1708, so it is a close contemporary of the instrument UMBC’s new harpsichord was modeled on.
 
I’ve also chosen some later French pieces for solo harpsichord by Royer to demonstrate the instrument’s capacity for bombastic, loud, and virtuosic works (as a contrast to the Jacquet de la Guerre suite).
 
Each piece on the program was chosen to highlight the instrument’s various capabilities, for example to be loud and percussive, soft and sustained, to clearly showcase rapid passage work, and to produce and support lyric melodies.

Musica Spira performs in Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall on Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. (see additional event information).

Header image: The harpsichord’s painted soundboard and intricate woodwork. Both photos by Willie Santiago, concert coordinator.

The UMBC Office of the Vice President continued to deny this past week that the head of its office is, in fact, a goat, despite recent allegations which say otherwise.

The accusations began after Academic Affairs recent hiring of Vice President Harold Duncaster this March after the tragic death of former Vice President Daniel Lowenthal, who sadly was killed in a violent wool knitting accident last September. The hiring, initially lauded by the student body, was than mired in confusion following several attempts at background checks and failed public appearances by Duncaster. 

At the prompting of several members of the UMBC SGA and professors from the department of economics, the office of the vice president released only a brief statement. “Duncaster has taken leave to his West Virginia home due to a family emergency, he may be reached through the office for all necessary communications,” said assistant vice president Janice Wilkins. 

Attempted background investigations by The Retriever staff only yielded an unfinished LinkedIn page listing a Harold Duncaster at UMBC with a seemingly humorous goat headed profile picture. Public records also show no person named Harold Duncaster who lived in West Virginia or Maryland in the last 56 years, however livestock and game records list a Harold Duncaster from 2010 until three months ago. Additionally, upon calling the number listed at the page, editorial staff were connected to an American Goat corporation farm called Earl’s in rural West Virginia.

When asked about the goat farm, Academic Affairs member Sally Kuze said insistently, “Goats? Why are you interviewing me about goats? There are no goats at UMBC, we run a clean and orderly university… There are no goats at UMBC!”

After a second call to Earl’s goat farm asking for a Harold Duncaster, staff members were told he was “sold” recently to an anonymous buyer in Catonsville, Maryland. 

“Harold yeah,” said a man who would only identify himself as Earl. “Some guy in a suit bought the goat off me last month, wouldn’t tell me why.” When asked for clarification, however, on Harold’s goat-hood, Earl became increasingly angry and remarked, “I said he was a goat! Leave me alone!”

Further attempts for comment have been denied.

Though apparently on leave and potentially headed by an animal, the office of vice president for Academic Affairs is still keeping to work hours and everyday business. Recent visitors to their officers have reported several high pitched screams directed at staff and guests and have been reportedly seen person’s exiting with frayed, almost chewed, clothing and files. Interns passing through the office have reported an increased amount of thick, white, furry hair being shed in the halls, however no sightings of any person, or goat, named Harold Duncaster have occurred. Additionally, several high profile directives over the past few days have allocated funding for the UMBC department of wildlife and agriculture, a department which does not currently exist yet whose main expenditure seems to by grass and shrubbery sent to Duncaster’s office.

The office of the dean refused repeated requests for comment, eventually stating, “He’s not a goat! I don’t understand why you guys won’t get this! He just comes from a farm and is a bit unorthodox in his management and choice of food. He’s not a goat!”

The post University continues to deny having goat vice president appeared first on The Retriever.