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Retrievers!! We want YOU to take on the Online Leadership Challenge, which starts TODAY! Navigate the different paths to leadership, practice articulating your journey as a leader, and engage in meaningful discussions with other UMBC students. 

Challenge questions will be posted on the Campus Life Instagram (@umbccampuslife) and myUMBC page every Tuesday and Thursday until August 13th. The student who accumulates the most points throughout the challenge will receive a $50 UMBC Bookstore gift card! The Online Leadership Challenge is dedicated to helping students reflect on the intersection of academics, personal experiences & campus involvement to answer the question: What is a leader? And what does leadership look like?

To access the Challenge Guidelines, see attached. Day 1 Challenge Questions will be posted soon, so make sure to follow the Campus Life Instagram (@umbccampuslife) and Campus Life myUMBC page to participate as a challenger! Who knows? Maybe you'll win the prize, or better yet, discover the leader in YOU! For questions contact Coordinator for Leadership, Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon at bgutierrez@umbc.edu

Keren Herrán is an Individualized Study major with a focus on

“Global Health Considering Environmental Factors”, who will graduate in 2021.

Affiliations:

URA Scholar

Meyerhoff Scholar

Honors College

France-Merrick Scholar

LSAMP Scholar

UMBC Esperanza Scholar

UMBC Zainab Damji Scholar

LaMont Toliver Alumni Memorial Scholar

Title of your research project: Analysis of Mental Well-being of Environmental Migrants in Maryland 

Describe your project:

I aim to identify and assess the mental health consequences that adult environmental migrants experience as a result of their relocation to Maryland. By doing so, I hope to inform health professionals, researchers, and policymakers within Maryland of the psychological state of environmental migrants within our population and how we can best serve their unique mental health needs.

Who is your mentor(s) for your project? Why did you choose them?

My mentor for this research project is Dr. Dawn Biehler, Associate Professor within the Geography and Environmental Systems department. I chose to pursue this investigation under the guidance of Dr. Biehler because she has extensive experience in analyzing the various subfields that intersect within my project    (human geography, environmental justice, and public health) and because she has been an incredible adviser and role model for me during my academic career at UMBC. I have so much to learn from her!

How did you become interested in this project?

I became interested in this project upon meeting with Dr. Biehler the fall of my sophomore year, the fall of 2018, when I met with her to share my public health interests. I expressed to Dr. Biehler that as an aspiring researcher, I wanted to focus my efforts on projects that benefited minority populations, especially Latinos. Dr. Biehler encouraged me to consider how advancing knowledge to solve international health concerns can be done without having to even leave the Baltimore region, given that this area has a wealth of diversity of migrants and refugees. She noted that within Maryland, the topic of analyzing the health consequences faced by individuals who relocate here due to natural disasters, environmental degradation, or climate change, was understudied. She proposed that I consider evaluating how the health conditions of this specific subgroup of migrants change as a result of their migration journey to Maryland and adjustment to a new culture.

This project proposal resonated deeply with my conviction to serve marginalized and underserved communities. Conducting this study is also very personal to me since my family is from Puerto Rico and El Salvador, two regions that have both been hit hard by environmental phenomenon and disasters. After Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 hurricane, hit Puerto Rico in fall 2017, the U.S Census Bureau estimated that 97,000 Puerto Ricans left the island and migrated to the continental United States. Of these thousands of Puerto Ricans, how many suffered a disruption of medical therapies because of their relocation? How many experienced inaccess to their usual medications along their journey? How many faced mental health consequences, such as survivor’s guilt, after their relocation? 

For El Salvador, the nation’s ongoing environmental catastrophe of extreme droughts on the Pacific Coast is increasingly exacerbated by climate change and hotter weather patterns. Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast agrarian communities (the “Dry Corridor” region) are also experiencing this crisis. According to the World Food Program, residents of the Dry Corridor report that recent failed crop seasons have been the worst they have ever seen in the past 35 years. As a result, it is no surprise that the emigration from these counties augmented by 500% between 2010-2015 as more and more farmers have been unable to continue to sustain their livelihood and have decided to migrate in order to escape malnutrition and poverty.  What health consequences do these migrants experience as a result of their environmental migration? Are their needs met by their new host communities despite potential lack of citizen status? Do language barriers pose a threat to the health of this already vulnerable group?

What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher? 

Although I am currently in the initial stages of my research, I can foresee that it will be difficult to recruit migrants to participate in this interview study and share their experiences with me. Migrants are a vulnerable group in society and can be legitimately distrusting of researchers due to disrespect they have been shown by academics in the past. Furthermore, now that I have narrowed my research question to be an evaluation specifically of how environmental migrant’s mental health changes after migration, I also predict that discussing certain painful memories may cause potential participants to decline wanting to participate in interviews. Thankfully however, the funding UMBC has awarded me via the URA Scholars Program will allow me to purchase gifts as a token of appreciation and thanks that I can use as an incentive for migrants to participate in my study. 

What has been the most rewarding part?

Thus far, conducting preliminary interviews with UMBC college students who are environmental migrants has been incredibly rewarding. I am inspired by my peers’ resilience and optimism despite the mental health challenges they have faced due to their environmental migration journeys. 

How will you disseminate your research?

I will be presenting my research both at URCAD and the INDS Capstone Presentation conference. I hope to submit my presentation to other conferences as well and I aspire to publish my results in an academic journal. 

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research? 

I would advise other students who are considering getting involved in research to identify professors on campus whose work they find interesting. Chances are that even if you are not sure what project idea you want to pursue, if your interests align with those of your mentor, they can help point you in the right direction and get you started! 

What are your career goals?

I aspire to ultimately enroll in a public health doctoral program that will equip me with the added training and credentials necessary to work in international settings alongside health workers, designing creative programs that mitigate health issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Organizations such as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, CARE International, John Snow Inc., ISGlobal, and Jhpiego are all research-based nonprofit institutions I could see myself working in. 

On May 25, 2020 George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis at the hands of the police, and the event reignited both a national conversation and one at UMBC, about police brutality, the over-incarceration of African-Americans, and the denial of equality and opportunity in the workplace, housing, politics, healthcare, and in particular, education. 

The staff of Undergraduate Research and Prestigious Scholarships wants to affirm our support for and solidarity with our Black students, faculty, and staff at UMBC and beyond. We condemn the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbery, and Freddie Gray, along with the countless other Black lives that have been taken. We stand in opposition to systemic racism and consciously work to be inclusive of black, brown, queer, women, first-generation, immigrants, disabled, and other underrepresented communities in our programs and opportunities. Those of us who benefit from white privilege commit to doing the work to practice anti-racism and foster inclusivity and diversity in our researchers, speakers, recruitment and outreach, and our language. We will continue to work on these issues with faculty who mentor students, and provide resources to ensure the equal treatment of students of color in our research and scholarship programs. 

We will work to promote a culture of inclusivity in our department. We will be critically engaged with the campus community as we move forward to create real change in this moment and beyond. We are grateful for Dr. Hrabowski and his leadership during these transformative times. We stand by the statement issued by USM leadership and Dr. Hrabowski and take these values as our own. Black Lives Matter. 

YOU ARE (UR) Undergraduate Research!

ur.umbc.edu

By SARAH HANSEN

In mid-March, UMBC faculty members converted from in-person classes to remote instruction in a matter of days. With virtually zero lead time and, for many, little experience with online teaching, the switch took a heroic effort. However, instructors are well aware that students will be expecting more come fall.

Faculty members are also expecting much more of themselves, and they have demonstrated it by showing up in droves for a variety of programs offered through UMBC’s Faculty Development Center (FDC), Division of Information Technology (DoIT), and the colleges and academic departments. Since May, more than half of all faculty have participated in training activities associated with online teaching, not including the faculty members serving as mentors and instructors for these trainings. 

Each of the three UMBC colleges has taken its own approach to getting faculty members ready, but common threads run through all of their initiatives. 

“I think anybody’s goal, in any sort of class, is to provide the highest-quality, most optimal experience to our students,” says Jamie Gurganus, associate director of engineering education initiatives in the College of Engineering and IT (COEIT).

Translating teaching instincts online

Of course, providing a high-quality educational experience in an online environment looks different than it does in an in-person class. That means reimagining class activities, assignments, and assessments. Perhaps especially, it means thinking deliberately about how to build community across space and time.

“These are all things that our faculty are good at face-to-face, because that’s what they’re experienced with,” says John Stolle-McAllister, associate dean for student success and curricular affairs in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS), “but they’re trying to take their good teaching instincts and experience and put that into a new format, which is more than just learning some tech tools. It’s thinking about what makes sense online.”

The challenges to effective online teaching also differ drastically from discipline to discipline. Kathleen Hoffman is associate dean for faculty advancement in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (CNMS). “Recognizing that every course has different needs, I wanted to create a flexible program so that the faculty could take advantage of it from many different perspectives,” she shares.  

A quick PIVOT

These three college leads—Gurganus, Stolle-McAllister, and Hoffman—have collaborated with colleagues in their own units, DoIT, and the FDC to create summer training that will help faculty give their students “safe, thriving online environments” for their courses in the fall, as Gurganus describes it.  

All of the colleges’ efforts hinge on the Planning Instructional Variety for Online Teaching (PIVOT) program developed by DoIT staff. This program comes in several flavors. A starter pack of five, one-hour webinars focuses on the basics of how to design an online course and the tools available at UMBC. It has already been offered twice and will be offered once more before the semester begins. Two different two-week PIVOT+ programs, one tailored for CAHSS faculty (offered twice) and another for COEIT and CNMS, are more comprehensive. By the end of the PIVOT+ program, faculty members will already have done much of the work to prepare an online course.

“All of these initiatives focus on teaching faculty effective practices for teaching online and showing them how to create student-centered learning experiences,” says Sherri Braxton, senior director of instructional technology, and one of the leads organizing the offerings. “Through a program like PIVOT, faculty contribute to a growing community in which they can share their experiences designing courses and teaching online,” she adds. In addition to PIVOT, DoIT is also offering a number of tool-specific trainings this summer. 

Sherri Braxton, senior director of instructional technology, leads the instructional technology team at UMBC that conceived of and implemented the PIVOT program.

In addition to DoIT programs, the FDC has also been busy this summer. Their programming is usually concentrated during the academic year, but not anymore. FDC staff, led by associate vice provost for faculty affairs and director Linda Hodges, have been offering at least weekly programs through the Center. Their workshops create opportunities for faculty to discuss best pedagogical practices for online instruction, including ideas for building community and motivating students online.

Boot camp

In addition to PIVOT and PIVOT+, CNMS has created affinity groups for instructors of large classes, one for lab classes, and one for adjunct faculty members, who may have different concerns. “The affinity groups facilitate a grassroots effort to support the faculty in these particularly challenging aspects of online teaching,” Hoffman says. “And they’re off and running.” Faculty peer mentors who are already well-versed in online teaching lead the affinity groups.

CNMS full-time faculty who participate in 10 hours of UMBC-offered training for online instruction will be considered CNMS Fellows in Online Instruction and receive a Hrabowski Award, which comes with a small stipend.

Rather than group faculty by class format, CAHSS faculty expressed the desire to be grouped by subject area. These cohorts will meet outside the formal PIVOT+ programming to provide additional support and accountability. All CAHSS faculty can earn a Hrabowski Award by participating in PIVOT+ and developing a blueprint for an online class.

“Some of the departments got really excited about supporting each other in this and doing it as a boot camp,” Stolle-McAllister says. “The demand was tremendous. They really wanted to get into, ‘How do I apply and practice this? What does it mean for my class?’”

COEIT is offering a menu of discipline-specific workshops in addition to PIVOT+. Gurganus’s committee selected the topics based on a survey of faculty members’ needs. In order to earn the Hrabowski Award, COEIT faculty must participate in PIVOT+, attend three additional workshops of their choice, and upload an online lesson to a forum for feedback.

An interesting COEIT twist is that Undergraduate Teaching Fellows will also be involved in the work. These rising UMBC juniors and seniors will participate in the workshops and offer feedback on the uploaded lessons. “Students bring a really important perspective,” Gurganus says. “In the end, we’re doing all of this for them.”

By the numbers

Offering tons of programming is one thing. Faculty members must also participate with the sincere desire to improve their teaching practice. The good news is that the UMBC community is rising to the occasion, from the most experienced online educators offering their willing support to colleagues, to the uninitiated dipping their toes in the online teaching world for the first time—and working hard to swim in the deep end.

Based on data from PIVOT sessions that have already occurred, “Conservatively, I’d estimate about 400 participants in various iterations of PIVOT to date,” says John Fritz, associate vice president for instructional technology and new media. “Given that UMBC has 538 full-time and 292 part-time faculty, I am so impressed by how many faculty are investing their time and energy in re-thinking and re-designing their courses for this upcoming year.”

The FDC has seen similar participation levels for their programs: 277 faculty participated in programs focused on strategies for effective online instruction, and nearly one-third of those faculty members attended three or more sessions.

Opening minds

And all this is happening during the summer, when faculty members typically focus on making strong progress in their research programs. “They want to do a good job for our students, so a lot of them are just putting that aside for this summer,” Stolle-McAllister says. “I’m not surprised, but so impressed that so many of our faculty are taking advantage of this. It just reminds me how many people we have here who care a lot about what they’re doing.”

Gurganus agrees. “We really are coming together as a community from all of the disciplines,” she says. “The instructors truly care. They want the students to succeed.”

It’s a challenging, but also exciting, time. Beyond reconsidering lessons and online tools, faculty are also thinking about how to be deliberate and thoughtful about helping students learn the best they can. They’re also learning themselves how to be even more open, flexible, and compassionate, in order to support students who are experiencing a wide range of realities during the pandemic. These shifts in mindset and approach could reverberate long after the pandemic, Gurganus argues.

“I think that this process is going to lead to more open-mindedness. Even when we get back to in-person, face-to-face classes, faculty are going to say, you know what? These issues are important in any context, and I should keep them at the forefront of my thoughts.”

Learn more about how UMBC is preparing for the unique fall semester ahead by deliberately creating community in online spaces and planning for a hybrid model of course delivery.

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