Kim Casimbon ’14 and Arielle Dolegui ’13, psychology, will present at the Universities at Shady Grove’s 6th Annual BioMedical Science Day: Into the Future-Research to Reality on Thursday, November 20, 2014 at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, MD. This event is presented by USG’s Committee on Collaboration, Interprofessional and Interdisciplinary Education Strategies.

Amanda Knapp, assistant vice provost for academic standards and policy administration, was profiled in The Baltimore Sun for her hobby as a dirt-bike racer.

Knapp recently started racing competitively and received her first sponsorship. In the article, Knapp encouraged more women to get involved in the sport and compared riding to applying for college. “Registering for a race which can be scary is much like applying to college and accepting admission,” she said. “You can’t earn a degree if you can’t get yourself started, which can be the hardest part.”

Click here to read “Columbia mom empowers women through motorcycle racing.”

South Korean Ferry boat “Sewol” sinks while en route to Inchon, in April.

The future appears very bleak for disgraced ferry-boat Captain, Lee Joon-seok.

After surviving the tragic sinking of the large ferry-boat “Sewol” in April, Cpt. Joon-seok was soon arrested and incarcerated by South Korean authorities.

Charged with “homicide through gross negligence”, Cpt. Joon-seok must now answer for his misdeeds.

He allegedly instructed passengers to remain in their cabins before HE abandoned ship–an act which would leave the Captain responsible for the deaths of about 300 high-school students, staff, and teachers. On October 27th, Korean prosecutors announced they will seek to sentence Joon-seok to death for his alleged crimes.

There is currently a moratorium on use of the death penalty… but that may soon change.

In recent years, the conviction of particularly heinous South Korean criminals has sparked calls to end the moratorium and recommence capital execution.

The world will wait with bated breath, to see if Captain Lee Joon-seok’s trial will finally capsize South Korea’s 17-year-old moratorium on capital punishment. 

On Wednesday, October 29, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released a report on black voter turnout and the 2014 midterm elections. The report was co-authored by Tyson King-Meadows, Chair of the Africana Studies Department and Associate Professor of Political Science, and Andra Gillespie, Associate Professor of Political Science and Interim Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Emory University.

The report determined that black voters are a critical component of the electorate in 17 competitive gubernatorial and Senate races across the country. It also found that black voter participation declines in midterm elections, and “assuming a black vote share identical to 2010, the 2014 midterm election cycle will be a challenging year for Democrats, even with overwhelming African‐American support.”

In conducting research for the report, King-Meadows and Gillespie analyzed national and state‐specific registration and voting patterns, black‐white differences in participation and in candidate preference, and the dynamics of inter‐racial coalitions needed to secure Democratic victories. To read the full report, click here.

King-Meadows and Gillespie’s report received considerable press coverage, including the Washington Post, The Hill and Christian Science Monitor. For a complete list of coverage, click below:

Even with ‘mobilized’ black voters, Democrats could struggle in South (Christian Science Monitor)
Democrats needs black voters on Election Day. But they need white Southerners even more. (Washington Post)
The Party’s Over: Black Voters Must Turn Out for Themselves (BET)
Dems pin hopes on black vote (The Hill)
Voting Impact: Black Turnout and 2014 Midterms Findings Released (Black Enterprise)
African-American Turn-out Up in Early Voting (Breitbart)
Will the black vote matter in 2014? (Sun Sentinel)
A Look at How Black Voters Affected the Election Results (Atlanta Black Star) 

Daniel Strain, a science writer at Maryland Sea Grant, which is part of the University of Maryland and based in College Park, interviewed Dr. Christopher Shuman regarding the Antarctic Peninsula changes and how that relates to other recent changes elsewhere in Antarctica and Greenland and what that means for the Chesapeake Bay. The article can be found here.

Baltimore County Public Schools TV recently profiled UMBC’s partnership with Arbutus Middle School (AMS), featuring student teaching interns from UMBC and tutors in the Arbutus Achievers program. AMS is a professional development school (PDS) in the UMBC PDS Network, which allows student teachers to complete yearlong Education Internships at the school.

Shriver Peaceworker Fellow Mark Zachar ’17 M.A., teaching, and Elizabeth Forney ’14, English, were highlighted in the video for their student teaching experiences at AMS. Forney is now a first-year teacher at AMS and credits her internship with preparing her for a career. “The transition from being an intern to a teacher here at the same school… definitely made it easier,” she said. Michael Guarraia ’07 M.A., teaching, was also included in the video in his position as the AMS science department chair.

Ciara Saunders ’17, social work and health administration and public policy, spoke about the Arbutus Achievers program and the impact one on one tutoring has on the students at AMS. The Arbutus Achievers Program is coordinated by Maryland-DC Campus Compact Americorps VISTA member Nick Ramundo through the Shriver Center.

Michelle Feeney, principal of AMS, applauded the relationship between UMBC and AMS, saying, “As we provide opportunities for collaboration, our teachers have a partnership with UMBC and they model that collaboration for our students.”

UMBC is featured 11:40-14:46.

[vimeo 109847539 w=500 h=281]

BCPS News 2014-15 SHOW#4 10-24-14 from Baltimore County Public Schools on Vimeo

Dustin Eby

Role at the UMBC Career Center: Graphic Design, Web Development, Photography, Data Management, Technology

 Q: Where have you earned your college degrees?

A: I got my B.S. in Digital Media from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

Q: What program(s) did you study? How did you choose your major?

A: Growing up I was always drawing, creating, and interested in figuring out how things worked. I took art class every year and two television production classes in high school.
I started my college career wanting to do 3D animation and special effects, but became much more interested in the graphic design and programming aspects of web design and user interface development.

Q: Tell me about the job and internship process when you were in college. Were you able to find job/internship positions that were related to your major or your career interests?

A: Drexel is a co-op school, so everyone had to do co-op to graduate. If your major was a 4-year program (like mine), your sophomore year consisted of 6-months classes and 6-months on co-op work experience, then junior year was a full year of class. I also took an internship position the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, which I found through a friend of my father's. (Networking is key.)

Q: What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

A: "Never stop learning."

Since graduating from undergrad, I have kept my skills current by taking classes through UMBC, UMUC, and Teamtreehouse.com and attended D2WC (Designer, Developer and Workflow Conference) and edUi Conference.

Q: Why should students visit the Career Center?

A: I visited my Career Center in college only when I had to in order to get credit for my Co-op, but not when I was graduating and looking for a full-time job. That was a mistake. Looking back and knowing what I know now after having worked in the Career Center at UMBC for years, is that I should have started earlier to look for a post graduation job, and sought advice from the Career Center. I should have learned the art of networking, and learned to research companies coming to the Career Fair before attending.

Q: What is your favorite aspect about UMBC?

A: Coming from a university in a large city, I got the sense that everyone fended for themselves. When I started at UMBC, I was pleasantly surprised by how supportive the students were to each other - from holding doors open for someone, to making sure each other have safe transportation to and from social events, to random students offering to help me when I am outside replacing marketing posters in our poster holders.

And just about everyone I have met that works at UMBC has a real drive and commitment to student success, and the betterment of the University.

Q: What is one item on your bucket list?

A: Visit Hawaii.

Q: What is one aspect of the DC/Baltimore area that you often explore?

A: The various festivals that happen every year: Artscape, Fells Point Fun Festival, Maryland Renaissance Festival (www.rennfest.com), 34th St. Lights, etc.

Want to connect with Dustin or any of our great Career Center team? Call our office at 410-455-2216 or check out our contact us page here: http://careers.umbc.edu/aboutus/