The PNC Scholars/Fellows Program is available for UMBC graduate and undergraduate students and awards can be applied as academic scholarships or “seed funding” for an entrepreneurial venture.  Deadline for applying is February 24, 2017.

The PNC Scholars/Fellows Program provides awards up to $3,000 to outstanding UMBC students interested in becoming an entrepreneur. The scholarship will be awarded for the 2016 - 2017 academic year. The awards will be used as academic scholarships (up to $1,000), or as “seed funding” (up to $2,000) to launch new ventures or community based social entrepreneurship projects.  

CRITERIA:

·         Submit a 1-2 page personal statement about their interest in entrepreneurship.  The statement should:

·         Describe the impact an academic scholarship will have on their future as an entrepreneur or social innovator or

·         Describe how the award money will be used as “seed funding” to launch a new venture, or “seed funding” to launch a community based social entrepreneurship project.  Submit a preliminary budget outlining anticipated expenses.

·         Submit an updated resume

·         Have a minimum GPA of 3.0

To apply, download the form below. Send the completed form, a personal statement, your resume, and a budget outline for applying for seed funding via e-mail by February 24th to:

Vivian Armor, Director

UMBC Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship

armor@umbc.edu

SHERMAN BLDG, ROOM 471

John 10:1-11 (NLT) - “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won‘t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don‘t know his voice.“ Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn‘t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief‘s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.”

Psalm 23 takes on its fullest meaning in light of John 10 where we learn that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. He is our shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture. Furthermore, he is a wonderful shepherd. He doesn’t come behind us and drive us with the shepherd’s rod to lead us. He goes ahead of us and leads us with just the sound of His voice. How can we practically live a whole, satisfying, and abundant life? It’s as simple as recognizing, listening too, and following the voice of Jesus in our lives. In this world there are so many competing influences that seek to rob us of the abundant life in Christ. The more we grow in awareness of His voice in our own lives, the more we will be able to help others do the same. May the voice of our shepherd be louder than any other voice, for every child of God is a sheep in His pasture that can and does hear His voice.

1) Spend some time praying that you would become more sensitive to the voice of Jesus in your life. Pray that your response would be to trust, yield, and follow the voice of Jesus that leads us away from all that is harmful and into all that is good.
2) For encouragement, watch the full video about “An english shepherd” - https://vimeo.com/66940018

-CR

UMBC celebrated a banner year in 2016. In thousands of ways, big and small, this golden anniversary has been full of moments to remember for the university community.

Here are twelve top highlights:

Retrievers in Rio — When an ESPN reporter asked Cleopatra Borel ‘02, interdisciplinary studies, what qualifying for the shot put finals at the 2016 Olympic Games meant to her, she responded simply, “Everything.” Borel represented Trinidad and Tobago at her fourth Olympic Games and finished seventh on the global stage. Mohamed Hussein ‘14, mechanical engineering, a current master’s student in engineering management, represented Egypt in the 200 meter individual medley, competing head to head with Ryan Lochte.

Earlier in the year, UMBC swimming and diving standout Emily Escobedo ’17, psychology, finished in the top 10 in the 200m breaststroke at the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials after winning bronze in the 200 meter breaststroke at the NCAA finals and becoming the first Retriever to earn All-American status in the pool.

Researchers of Distinction — Michael Summers, Robert E. Meyerhoff Chair for Excellence in Research and Mentoring and University Distinguished Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, became the first UMBC faculty member to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can receive. Summers was recognized both for his groundbreaking work on the HIV-1 retrovirus and his longstanding commitment to training the next generation of leading scientists, from high school through postdoctoral levels.

Kate Brown, professor of history, was named a 2016 Carnegie Fellow for research on the long-term health consequences of nuclear disaster. “I’m hopeful that this fellowship will help bring greater visibility and support to the high-level scholarship that exists in the humanities and social sciences,” said Brown.

Goldwater Scholars — Andreas Seas ‘17, Naomi Mburu ‘18, and Daniel Ocasio ‘17,  all chemical engineering majors, received the highly selective and prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Ocasio shared, “As a first generation college student, I feel extremely fortunate to be pursuing higher education, let alone a career in scientific research. To me, earning the Goldwater Scholarship is recognition of all those who made it possible for me to further my academic development.”

Leader in Education — UMBC partnered with Baltimore City Public Schools and the Northrop Grumman Foundation on a $1.6 million initiative to support Baltimore students, teachers, and communities. Meanwhile, Shalonda Holt ‘07, biological sciences, was named 2016 Washington Post Teacher of the Year and Howard County Teacher of the Year, and Corey Carter ’08, biological sciences, ’10 M.A.T., was named 2016 Baltimore County Teacher of the Year.

CAREER Awards — Matt Pelton, assistant professor of physics, and Helena Mentis, assistant professor of information systems, both received the prominent National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Pelton explores how nanoparticles act in liquids to understand how mechanical energy flows at the nanometer scale. Mentis focuses on surgical telemedicine, exploring how surgeons can use gesture-based tools to share expert knowledge in the operating room.

NASA Collaborations — NASA renewed its support for the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute—a joint venture of UMBC; the University of Maryland, College Park; and American University—for up to $20 million over the next five years. This follows the 2015 renewal of UMBC’s Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) partnership with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, for up to $46 million over five years.

Virtual Reality Lab — UMBC’s PI² Immersive Hybrid Reality Lab opened, giving students and faculty the ability to interact with data in a more visual way, and reducing the distance between researchers and the information they work with, whether they are studying wind farms or blood flow in the human body.

Tech Boom — UMBC faculty won four new Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) awards to develop their ideas into commercial applications. This brings the university’s total MII awards to $2.4 million, one of the highest levels in the state.

Faculty Diversity — A two-part Marketplace radio series highlighted UMBC’s initiatives to train, hire, support, and retain a diverse faculty, shining a spotlight on UMBC postdoctoral fellow Keisha Allen, education, and her experience transitioning from graduate student to faculty member, supported by faculty mentors.

Record Alumni Support — A record number of alumni donated to UMBC in this calendar year. Retriever alumni contributed more than 500 gifts to student scholarships and over 1,300 gifts to the University’s Greatest Need Fund alone.

Golden Anniversary — Thousands of Retrievers came together as a community—alumni, faculty, staff, and students from all five decades of UMBC history—to celebrate the remarkable story of UMBC at a 50th anniversary weekend festival.

High Honors — U.S. News again honored UMBC as a national leader in innovation and teaching and a top global university. Times Higher Education named UMBC one of the world’s best universities for teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook, and one of the top young universities worldwide for the fifth consecutive year. In its annual Best Colleges guide, Princeton Review wrote:

Arguably the “best public college in Maryland,” UMBC is an “extremely diverse school” that manages to maintain a “small community feel.” And from the moment you set foot on campus it’s evident that the university is focused on “providing exceptional education and research opportunities for students.”

To hear the latest UMBC news as it happens in 2017, follow UMBC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat (@UMBClife), and UMBC News, and sign up to receive the UMBC News “Top Stories of the Week” email.

Images: All photos are by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC unless otherwise noted.

Recently, I’ve been buoying myself in this onslaught of political shitstorming by listening to a self-care playlist. The playlist is chock full of all of the songs that help me get by when it’s hard to navigate the world and ones that I can sing very loudly.

One song that I gravitate towards lately is the Talking Heads’s “This Must Be The Place.”

Click here for text version of This Must Be The Place lyrics.

This song has a lot of meaning for me. It’s the song that my dad serenaded my mother with at their wedding. “This Must Be The Place” is the crucible of my parents’ love, so it’s sort of the thing that formed me. It’s a song I sing to myself when I want to cry and when I want to smile and when I want to scream. I sang it with my dad through a vocal harmonizer as we welcomed 2017 (and threw 2016 into the fire pit). I think my mom cried a bit, but I couldn’t see because I was crying.

Coming back to work at the Women’s Center, I am, yet again, thinking about this song’s resonance and its meaning and its magic.

The Women’s Center is home for me. It is a beacon when trauma strikes and when justice is sought. The Women’s Center simultaneously grounds us and lifts us up—like any good home does. It is a place of love, warmth, truth, and hope. A place so rare and crucial right now.

It would be an understatement to say I am happy to be back at UMBC and at the Women’s Center. I am elated, I am at peace, I am confident. This space, this place—the Women’s Center—fulfills the promises of feminist, queer, radical social justice theories by providing a home for me and all the other community members who occupy its world.

As the Special Projects Coordinator (a title Jess lovingly made for me), I am diving back into the constantly evolving environment of the Women’s Center. Over the semester I will be collaborating alongside staff and interns to enhance programming, expand social media outreach efforts, and design marketing initiatives. In short, doing everything I love to do for an organization I love.

I am so thankful to be back home at the Women’s Center and at UMBC. I am beyond ecstatic to join a team that inspires me everyday, and that I care about so deeply. I am enlivened by the opportunity to continue working with a mission centered on intersectional feminism and critical social justice.

Home, is where I want to be

But I guess I’m already there

I come home, she lifted up her wings

I guess that this must be the place.

Rare opportunity to join the marketing team for one of the leading Children's Museums in the nation as a Communications and Marketing Coordinator. Join Port Discovery Children's Museum in downtown Baltimore and assist with marketing, communications and outreach in a fast-paced, rewarding environment. Help tell the story of how Port Discovery educates and enriches the lives of children and families by helping children learn through playing.

The Women's Center is excited to announce that the Returning Women Students Scholarships Application for 2017-2018 is now available. The deadline for submission is Friday, March 31, 2017.

This common application enables eligible students to apply for more than one of the Returning Women Students Scholarships using the same application. The four available scholarships are:

• Charlotte W. Newcombe Scholarship & The UMBC Scholarship for Mature Students
• AEGON Scholarship
• The Richard & Roselyn Bryson Neville Memorial Fund for Returning Women Scholarship
• The Rosalie Tydings Business and Professional Women’s Scholarship

All undergraduate students over the age of 25 and with at least 60 credits may be eligible. You must be completing your first undergraduate degree. Each scholarship has additional eligibility requirements which can be found on the common application instructions. 

The application is attached to this announcement. Please be sure to read over the eligibility requirements before applying. 

If you have any questions concerning the application process or the scholars program requirements, please contact the Women's Center director, Jess Myers, at womens.center@umbc.edu. 

We will also be hosting 2 information sessions related to the application process and scholars program requirements. The information sessions will be held in the Women's Center on Wednesday, February 22nd from 12-12:45pm OR Thursday, March 16th from 4-4:45pm. Each year, applicants submit applications with errors that often impact their consideration for a scholarship. We highly encourage all applicants to attend an info session before submitting their application. 

Applications are due Friday, March 31, 2017

Each of the courses in the First-Year Seminar (FYS) program is unique in its own way, but what is shared is the:

• small cohort experience. You, along with your faculty member and class participants, study a topic in a dynamic, small-group environment.
• focus on learning by sharing knowledge and experience through writing, discussions, and presentations…key skills your faculty and employers require.
• connection with faculty that can only happen in smaller classroom settings. They will get to know you well and can recommend you for all kinds of opportunities.

Classes offered for this Spring 2017 semester:

FYS 101: First Year Seminars
meets Arts and Humanities (AH) requirements

• Truth and Technology: Relationships and Happiness in a Technological World
• Discussing Classics
• Creating Stories about Times of Change
• EnGENDERing Popular Culture
• Shakespeare At The Movies
• An Introduction to Food Systems

FYS 101Y: First Year Seminars
meets Arts and Humanities (AH) requirements

• Turning to One Another: Beliefs and Behaviors
• Defining and Pursuing Prosperity

• Poverty Amidst Plenty: The Economics of American Poverty
• Debating America: Ideology and Language in Politics
• Diversity, Ethics and Social Justice in Schooling
• Social Issues in Business
• The Information Diet?

• American Orientalism