Professor of Physics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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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!

Things you should know:

February is Black History Month! Join us in celebrating the lives, activism and labor of African-American and Black activists, scholars and thinkers this month. Need some resources to expand your knowledge of black feminism? Check out Melissa Harris-Perry’s Black Feminism Syllabus and stop by the Women’s Center’s lending library to check out all of our awesome books!

Article of the Week:

Upworthy came out with an amazing guide for new activists. Be sure to check out 5 invaluable tips on how to resist from a first-time activist.

Continue to make time for taking care of yourself. I know that is easier said than done. If you’re struggling with balancing being an activist and the feeling overwhelmed, check out Mashable’s article on what to do when you’re so overwhelmed, you can’t move.

UMBC Happenings:

The Women’s Center is continually dedicated to support throughout this semester and beyond. February is full of events and programs, all of which are geared towards expanding our knowledge and understanding of feminism and social justice. Join us for our first Roundtable discussion, What Now? UMBC Police Meet & Greet and Money 201: Basic Investing Program.

Woman of the Week: 

During Black History Month, Slaying on the Weekly will be featuring inspiring, innovative or groundbreaking black women. This week’s Woman of the Week is Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, aka Michelle Obama. As a lawyer, activist, mother and the coolest First Lady ever, we thought it would be best to have Michelle as our first Woman of the Week. Thanks for being so cool, Mrs. Obama!!

The Women’s Center staff members at staff training over winter break. We’re ready for a great semester!

Isaiah 43:16-21 (NIV) - “This is what the Lord says-he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.’”

The people who were really listening to these words of Isaiah would hear that he was remembering the miraculous Exodus of God’s people through the Red Sea in the days of Moses. However, the main verbs that govern the tense of verse 16 are in the present tense - he who makes a way or leads a way through the sea. Isaiah is not just calling to mind the past Exodus - he is also prophesying that the new and final Exodus is coming. And Jesus has come! God has turned everything right side up through Jesus, and continues today to provide His water to anyone who is thirsty and would come and drink from Him. Are you thirsty? Come and drink from Him. God’s fierce love brings His new things to and through His people, His witnesses. May the Spirit of God fill the church with His living water so that God’s salvation and love may overflow and spring forth new life!

-CH

A new iPhone app developed at UMBC is poised to change how students and teachers think about language in the classroom. Valuable Voices provides 12 ready-to-implement exercises for students and teachers to build linguistic awareness and English language skills.

Christine Mallinson, an associate professor of language, literacy, and culture (LLC), created the app with her longtime collaborator Anne Charity Hudley, an associate professor of linguistics at William & Mary. Aureanna Hakenson ’15, modern languages, linguistics, and intercultural communication, provided development assistance.

The app provides monthly exercises that can be adapted for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, as well as higher ed, in a range of content areas and disciplines. Examples of exercises include analyzing the language of poetry, Shakespearean innovations, and linguistic heritage. Teachers can follow instructions for how to incorporate each exercise into their lesson plans.

Valuable Voices also highlights the importance of linguistic diversity, showing teachers and students alike the rich variation within even a single language, such as English. From word choice to sentence structure, different populations may use the same language in different ways, reflecting different social networks, regions, age groups, life experiences, and the ongoing evolution of language.

“Students don’t leave their language patterns at the door when they get to their classroom—any classroom, from English to biology,” says Mallinson. “This project really exemplifies applied research. With this app, teachers have tools at their disposal and can incorporate their own language background and those of their students. As a result, students are more engaged, and this is really applicable across all fields.”

Hakenson, who minored in computer science and now works as a cyber threat and intelligence analyst, built the app to share the positive impact linguistic awarness can have on students and educators.

“The goal was to make something that would be both interesting and easy to use,” explains Hakenson. “I also know that linguistics isn’t a very widely understood discipline, so being able to share that with students and teachers and possibly help to inspire a student to take in interest in linguistics is really exciting.”

Mallinson has showcased Valuable Voices on the national stage and its visibility continues to grow. She presented the app at the “Language and Educational Justice” symposium sponsored by the Linguistic Society for America and the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, held in January in Austin, Texas. On February 19, Valuable Voices will be featured at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston as part of the symposium “Leveraging Linguistics to Broaden Participation in STEM,” invited by the Linguistics and Language Science Section. Mallinson also presented Valuable Voices through a panel focused on linguistic diversity in education at the Maryland Language Science Center.

Since it launched, the free app has been well-received by educators, and downloaded nearly 200 times.

“Teachers and students thrive when they all have a deeper understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity, and this app is a natural extension of our efforts to bring that message into the classroom,” shares Mallinson.

“The value of using an app for this kind of project is that you’re presenting the new concepts to educators in a format that is not only familiar and convenient, but also fun,” adds Hakenson. “This means that the app format could be used across areas of study and with students of all ages, in addition to educators.”

Later this spring, Mallinson’s team will conduct a study with K-12 teachers who have used exercises from the app in their classrooms. Teachers who are interested in participating can contact Mallinson at mallinson@umbc.edu.

Update (2/10): Mallinson was featured in a Baltimore Sun article and video about language variations in Baltimore. “Language changes and develops for a lot of different reasons, and some of those are your social networks, your family networks, your mobility, residential patterns and migration,” Mallinson told the Sun. She is working to publish her research on Baltimore speech in the Journal of English Linguistics later this year.

Header image: Christine Mallinson uses the Valuable Voices app in her office. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

We’re excited to announce the 2^nd Annual AAMC Virtual Medical School Fair is taking place February 16, 2017 from 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST! The virtual fair is an opportunity for medical schools, advisors and potential applicants to interact with one another in a secure platform from a computer, tablet or mobile device.

In addition to the 48 medical schools (listed below) from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada participating, the AAMC and the National Association of Advisors to the Health Professions (NAAHP) will also have booths! 

You and your students can register for free: www.aamcvirtualevents.org

Fair participants will be able to:

·         Connect a LinkedIn profile to their fair profile

·         Upload resumes/CVs

·         Upload a profile photo

·         Save resources and videos from booths to their own personal “briefcase”

·         Link to each school’s MSAR profile from each school’s booth

·         Use a promo code for a discount on MSAR subscription and the Official Guide to Medical School Admissions so they can prep before the fair (code available after completed registration).

In 2016, nearly 12,000 people registered and over 6,000 attended the fair.

Participating Medical Schools by Geographic Region

Still deciding if dentistry or dental hygiene is right for you?

The 2017 ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event is the perfect opportunity to get the answers to many of your questions about dental school. 

This dynamic, interactive event is geared toward high school students, community college students, four-year college students and others interested in dentistry or dental hygiene.

View our current list of exhibitors.

Representatives from the American Dental Education Association Dental Hygiene Centralized Application Service (ADEA DHCAS^®) will also be available to discuss the multiple pathways to a career in dental hygiene.

If you haven't already, register for FREE today at adea.org/godental17.

Be sure to spread the word about this great event to your friends and classmates.

See you March 18 in Long Beach!

-The ADEA GoDental Team