STEMconnector’s STEM Higher Education Council recently released Advancing a Jobs-Driven Economy, a book that explores partnerships between educational institutions, businesses, and non-profits.

The book highlights UMBC’s partnerships with corporations, government agencies and laboratories, and other colleges and universities as ways to support student learning and enrich the academic environment. It also praises UMBC’s innovations in course redesign, including more group learning and hands-on work to address real-world problems as evidence-based ways to encourage student success.

In the preface of the book, President Hrabowski states, “We must ensure that we are effectively connecting students with internships, jobs, and careers… We argue that quality is not measured by how many students you weed out, but by setting a high standard and then supporting your students so they can attain and surpass that standard.”

Click here to read more about Advancing a Jobs-Driven Economy.

With spring right around the corner (fingers crossed), we hope that you’ll shake off the winter lazies with us at the RAC.

The UMBC athletic/recreation department offers a special discounted rate to all alumni who want to use the facilities at the newly-renovated Retriever Activities Center. Amenities include exercise equipment, weight room, indoor track, pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, locker rooms, and group fitness classes. The alumni rate for membership is $250 per year, with 6 month, 3 month and 1 month rates available.

Click HERE to download the membership application and HERE for the 2015 Spring recreation and group fitness schedule.

Sign-up to Volunteer for URCAD Monday, April 20 - Thursday, April 23, 2015. Whether you have an hour or a day to give, we can use your help for a variety of tasks.

Please complete the form at the website provided below and direct any questions regarding volunteering to Janet McGlynn at mcglynn@umbc.edu.

by Craig Berger

Undergraduate and graduate students engaged in research related to Asia and the environment are invited to submit posters and papers for presentation at the first in a series of annual conferences.  

Today it is impossible to think seriously about the challenges of sustainable development and the environment without understanding the local and global environmental footprint of rapid economic growth in Asia—and the Asian response. At the same time, Asian Studies students increasingly require familiarity with the scientific, cultural and political dimensions of environmental crises and sustainable development.

With the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, Bard College is sponsoring an annual student research conference, providing a venue for students to present undergraduate, masters and PhD level research at the intersection of these critical issues. The conference seeks to shed critical light on how we all might live sustainably—or not—in a 2050 world with three billion more people, limited resources, a thickening blanket of carbon dioxide heating the planet, and a global economic development process increasingly defined by Asian models and leadership.

The conference will be held on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, which is easily accessible by train from New York City. Registration is $30, and housing and meals will be provided for student participants. Meals are included for non-student registrants. The conference will begin at 4 PM on Thursday, April 16, and end at 9 PM on Friday, April 17. 

To submit a paper for a panel, or a proposal for a poster presentation, please send a one paragraph abstract to Env-Asia@bard.edu. Undergraduate students must also include a letter of support from a professor.