A reflection from Jess Myers, Women’s Center director 

Last weekend, I finally decided I would go to the Women’s March on Washington.

I’ve been to marches in the past. I drove 18 hours from Baltimore to Ft. Benning, Georgia in my early 20s for the School of Americas protest with a van load of Mercy nuns and my best friend. Attending college in Washington, D.C. during the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and the start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars had me popping on the Metro often enough to join an anti-war rally. My favorite Pride parades have been the ones I’ve walked in rather than watched from the sidelines. In Baltimore, I’ve marched for justice, for Trayvon Martin and Freddie Gray, for Black Lives.

But, never have I marched for and with women for a platform dedicated to women’s rights.

A few weeks ago, I was in a room with several UMBC faculty members as they recalled their memories of past women’s marches. As they shared their experiences, it was evident that being in a space with thousands of other women advocating for women’s rights was a powerful moment for them. While each of the individuals who shared their stories have committed their lives to activism and feminism, those marches still held a unique and powerful place in their hearts. In fact, what was particularly striking was how they spoke about their experiences in relationship to those who were with them – their mothers, their daughters, their friends.

I want to be in relationship with other women and I’ve decided that going to this Saturday’s march is just one way I can do that. I recognize that it’s a privilege to put aside my reservations about going (really, for anyone going to the march, please read this important blog by Brittany Oliver and the other resources she’s provided at the end of her post) and I will continue to sift through the messiness and be in conversations with others about what I can do to always do better by paying attention to and learning from others.

Just as importantly, I want the momentum and energy to continue after the march, especially for those who are new to the movement, new to activism, new to seeing things that are unfair and unjust. I want us to stay loud. To stay critical. To stay visible and demand what is right, what is necessary. I want you to volunteer. I want you to keep learning and growing. I want you to find your activism (if you haven’t already) and make a difference. I want all those things for myself as well.

I want to be on a journey with others who are dedicated to ending gender inequality and living the values of social justice. The march will be a moment in time and I’m so glad I have a space like the Women’s Center to welcome others to join me once Saturday is over.

Three years ago this month, the Women’s Center unveiled a new logo – the Wye Oak Tree. This logo was intended to better represent our mission, values, and priorities, which are similar to that of the vision and principles of the Women’s March on Washington. In sharing our mission, I hope it serves as a reminder to you that the Women’s Center at UMBC works daily to advocate for and advance the rights of women and marginalized people. You are invited to join us in our work today and every day.

The Women’s Center at UMBC advances gender equity from an intersectional feminist perspective through co-curricular programming, support services, and advocacy for marginalized individuals and communities. We prioritize critical social justice as our community value, with a deliberate focus on women, gender, anti-racism, and feminism.

All are welcome as long as they respect women. Their experiences. Their stories. Their potential.

Whether you march or not, on this day and every day, in and through the work the Women’s Center does, we support you, we believe you, we see you.

Our Guiding Principles

• We will encourage authentic dialogues among students, faculty, and staff to facilitate consciousness-raising, transformative learning, and self-determination.
• We will embody our commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and social justice in our operation, staffing, and programming.
• We will operate from a holistic and non-hierarchical anti-violence framework.
• We will challenge the barriers that reinforce inequity and oppression impacting our university and broader communities.
• We will cultivate women’s empowerment, involvement, and leadership in all aspects of university life.

And don’t forget:
If you’re going to the march, be sure to register!
Check out these recent podcasts from Stuff Mom Never Told You and Call Your Girlfriend for more on the history of women’s marches and details about this Saturday’s march organizers.
Stop by the Women’s Center this Friday from 11am-2pm to rally together and be in community and conversation with others – plus make a rally sign (while supplies last).

Coalfire Announces Acquisition of Cybersecurity Leader, Veris Group

Huntress Wins ConnectWise IT Nation Partner’s Choice Award!

Huntress wins prestigious award at this year’s largest MSP industry conference, ConnectWise IT Nation, for industry-leading Managed Detection & Response service.

Today, Huntress Labs announced it was awarded one of seven prestigious awards at this year’s ConnectWise IT Nation 2016 event in Orlando, before an audience of over 2,000 partner attendees and 150 sponsors.

The Best Newcomer award recognizes the organization generating the most attention at IT Nation as a first-time sponsor. Partners in attendance voted between 42 first-time sponsors which included cyber security vendors such as AlienVault, Cylance, CYBERShark, and WatchGuard.

“We are thrilled to congratulate Huntress on winning the Best Newcomer Partners’ Choice Award at IT Nation 2016. The community was impressed by their innovation and attention to the channel and I’m sure we will see much more of them in the future.”

Want to learn more about why we’re seeing such explosive growth? Give Huntress a try by registering for a 21 day free trial!

ABOUT HUNTRESS LABS

Huntress provides Managed Service Providers (MSPs) a way to outsource cyber threat hunting for a fraction of the cost of in-house cybersecurity experts. We deploy within seconds through your Remote Monitoring and Management software, hunt down infections which slip past your antivirus/firewalls, and create remediation tickets (not alerts) directly in your service boards (most often ConnectWise). With automated breach detection, MSPs can quickly prevent hackers from spreading throughout their customers networks which reduces malware related labor costs. Huntress also enables MSPs to proactively resolve infections rather than reactively respond to end user help desk calls. With this capability, our partners report they continually outperform their competition when it comes to cybersecurity.

ABOUT CONNECTWISE

ConnectWise transforms how technology solution providers successfully build, manage, and grow their businesses. Our award-winning set of software solutions provide a fully integrated, seamless experience to companies in more than 50 countries, giving them the ability to increase their productivity, efficiency, and profitability. When combined with our relentless commitment to innovation, powerful network of ideas and experts, unparalleled passion for our users, and more than 30 years of experience, ConnectWise software solutions deliver the support companies want at each step of their business journey. For more information, visitwww.ConnectWise.com.

Coverys Announces Acquisition of Med-IQ

Coverys reaffirms its commitment to the improvement of patient care with the acquisition of Med-IQ, a leader in continuing medical education and healthcare improvement

Boston, MA – November 2, 2016 – Coverys announced today the acquisition of Med-IQ, a globally recognized leader in medical education and healthcare quality improvement. Med-IQ provides certified educational courses for clinicians; offers a suite of educational services to hospitals, academic medical centers, and medical societies; and delivers healthcare system– based quality improvement, education, and training. The transaction was finalized on October 31, 2016.
ABOUT COVERYS
ABOUT MED-IQ
Media Contacts:

Med-IQ is an award-winning company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company was built on the core strategy of improving patient care through the development and dissemination of proprietary clinical content, education, tools, and resources that facilitate positive change in healthcare provider knowledge and behavior.

"Coverys is proud to welcome Med-IQ into our growing platform of educational resources for providers and healthcare organizations," said Gregg Hanson, CEO and president of Coverys. "As a leader in the medical education industry, Med-IQ's body of work has been recognized for achieving improvement in healthcare professional performance, quality of care, and patient outcomes—accomplishments that align with the Coverys commitment to deliver better solutions for better outcomes to our policyholders as well as the broader healthcare enterprise."

This acquisition affords Med-IQ's core medical education division the opportunity to continue to provide relevant and essential clinical education across a broad range of therapeutic areas to current Med-IQ clients while expanding its global clinician reach and participation. As part of Coverys, Med-IQ's Learning Solutions division will expand its portfolio of educational services that can be offered to hospitals and medical societies by partnering with ELM Exchange, Inc., and MRM Group, LLC, two Coverys educational companies that offer risk management and patient safety content—a natural complement to Med-IQ's clinical offerings. Med-IQ's Quality Improvement Institute will also continue to provide best-in-class solutions to support healthcare systems striving to incorporate quality improvement into their standard processes to reduce risk and improve care. Med-IQ, ELM Exchange, and MRM Group will operate independent of the Coverys underwriting companies.

"We are excited to join the Coverys organization and to be part of the Coverys education group. Med-IQ has established itself as a principal stakeholder in the global medical education business, and we believe that this alignment gives us the opportunity to expand our important

work by providing relevant and actionable solutions to all members of the patient care team, hospitals, health systems, and medical societies and associations," said Scott Weber, CEO and co-founder of Med-IQ.

Med-IQ's world-class collaboration partners, extensive industry relationships, diversified revenue base, and expertise in clinical content development across multiple therapeutic areas complement the strengths of Coverys' existing education companies, ELM Exchange and MRM Group. Together, these organizations create a solid foundation for improving quality patient care through use of education and quality improvement best practices.

Coverys (www.coverys.com) is a leading provider of medical professional liability insurance for physicians, hospitals, dentists, podiatrists, and advanced practice providers. Coverys gets consistent recognition for its superior financial performance by inclusion in the Ward's 50 for the past seven years. Coverys emphasizes proactive risk mitigation and patient safety programs that help clients anticipate, identify, and manage risk to reduce errors and improve outcomes.

Med-IQ, one of the most respected providers of continuing medical education (CME), inspires healthcare professionals through award-winning activities that deliver sophisticated outcomes- based educational designs with measurable results in professional competence and performance.

As a leader in the CME industry, Med-IQ has delivered many performance improvement and quality improvement initiatives that focus on continuous, data-driven education and performance reviews. These initiatives have demonstrated positive changes in healthcare professional performance, quality of care, and patient outcomes for which they have received national recognition.

Coverys media contact: Loren LeVasseur, 617.946.8665 Med-IQ media contact: Adam Glazer, 610.363.5863

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1 Corinthians 1.18, 27 (NIV) - “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

“So now I took a deep breath, and shouted, ‘Who do you worship?’ …I shouted back through a wall of jeers. ‘I know what you worship… music. And the bands you worship don’t even love you. In fact, they hate you. I know what you worship. Vodka…’ ‘Yes, vodka,’ many screamed back, holding up their bottles in a drunken salute to me.
[...]
‘I worship the One who made all the beautiful mountains around your city. The One who created the beautiful forests in Siberia. He created a world with clean air and good food. He wanted a good life for all his children. But we have turned our backs on him and say that we want to create our own system… we say, God is only for old women. And so we create a world full of hatred and suffering and, because of this, sickness and death has entered the world.

‘But this Father God is not weak. He’s strong and he’s powerful and he loves us. And he was not willing to leave us without hope. So he asked his son, Jesus, if he’d be willing to show us the way back to this good and loving Father.’” (David Pierce, Rock Priest, p. 17)

What does it mean to be strong for God? It means being willing to be weak in the eyes of this world, to allow God’s power to be made evident through your weakness. Be immersed in God’s love, God’s strong love. People may think that you are “weak” but shout with your life that “God is strong!”

-JP