Jeremiah Sawyer

Role at the UMBC Career Center: Coordinator of Internships & Employment

 Q: Where have you earned your college degrees?

A: UMBC 

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

A: I did PSYC w/ a PSYC of the workplace certificate.

I chose my major based on my natural skills, abilities and interests. Though… I did originally start our wanting to study Ancient History.

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: It’s amusing to be on the internship team as a staff member since I did do an internship with them (Kerry & Christine) while a student. I searched around UMBCworks and applied to a few things, but got my own internship by applying directly to Discovery Communications. It was hard for me to find things that matched my interests (Human Resources), but it has improved since then.

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

A: “Desire is when you do what you want, will is when you can do what you do not want.”

Q: Why should students visit the Career Center?

A: You should come to the Career Center to get started with what you are doing. Not everyone is looking for their career or internship right now, and that is okay. Many times we can help you start looking for part-time/on-campus positions, or connect you to an employer that comes on campus, and/or etc. If you just want to come by to ask us questions, we would be happy to answer them.

Q: What is your favorite aspect about UMBC?

A: I like the diversity of the students and the way the University supports most of their efforts and energies in to making UMBC even better than it is. Also, URCAD is a really awesome day for everyone; if you haven't been, you should go.

Q: What is one item on your bucket list?

A: I'd like to go backpacking in Peru one day....

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

A: The Mall. I've been there a million times, but I always find something new or fun to do.

Want to connect with Jeremiah 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/

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The second annual Critical Social Justice campaign will be held February 16th-20th, 2015! This year’s theme is “Creating Brave Spaces,” inspired by the essay “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces” by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens.

CSJ 2015 keynote speaker Franchesca Ramsey

Our keynote speaker will be comedian and social justice blogger Franchesca Ramsey (a.k.a. Chescaleigh), who’s perhaps best known for her viral parody video on racial microaggressions “Sh*t White Girls Say…To Black Girls.” Franchesca Ramsey’s keynote lecture “Your Powerful Online Voice: Social Media for Social Change” will be Tuesday, February 17th at 7:30pm in the UC Ballroom.

Several other programs will be held throughout the week which will support interdisciplinary learning and active engagement with social justice, including:

• CSJ 101 roundtable - Mon. 2/16, 12-1pm in Commons 329
• Invisible Privilege (Made Visible) activity & discussion - Tues. 2/17, 1-3pm on Main Street (event sponsored by: Mosaic Center)
• Women’s Center Occupies Main Street interactive exhibit & activities - Wed. 2/18, 11-2pm on Main Street (event sponsored by: Women’s Center)
• Social Justice Pedagogy: Tensions, Triggers & Teachable Moments faculty panel discussion - Wed. 2/18, 3-4pm in Sherman B-wing 220 (event sponsored by: Women’s Center)
• CSJ Reflection discussion - Thurs. 2/19, 3-4pm in the Mosaic Center
• Making Queer Spaces Safe Spaces roundtable - Thurs. 2/19, 7:30-9pm in the Women’s Center
• Feminist Art Gallery - Mon. 2/16 through Fri. 2/27 in the Commons Mezzanine Gallery

CSJ aims to support ongoing engagement with social justice across campus and we encourage all members of the UMBC community to get involved. If your department or organization is planning an event for that week that reflects the mission of CSJ, please fill out this form so we can contact you to find out more.

More details and events will be announced leading up to CSJ 2015, so like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and use the hashtag #CSJ2015 to keep up-to-date with the latest news!

Critical Social Justice is coordinated by the Women’s Center with Student Life’s Mosaic Center. 

A collaborative authorship post from Bria Hamlet and Jess Myers

Jess:
You guessed it! It’s that time of the year when the Women’s Center staff crushes your Halloween costume dreams and makes you feel guilty about your costume decisions. Sexist! Racist! Cultural appropriation! We know, we’re just no fun… but someone’s gotta do it.

A Halloween costume that represented Jess’ dreams of becoming the first female baseball player in Major League Baseball.

But in all seriousness, this is an important conversation…. one that I wish I would have had with thoughtful intersectional feminists back in my growing up days. I didn’t know what cultural appropriation was in 3rd grade… or if I’m being honest, in college. Halloween costumes I regret include dressing as a Harem Girl and a nagging wife (ugh, just writing those words breaks my women’s center director heart) among others. I feel guilty about these choices and up until now, I’ve done my best to keep these secrets to myself but somewhere along the way these memories have been shared with Women’s Center staff members and together we’ve walked down memory lane of costumes of Halloween past. We’ve used these conversations as an opportunity for us to hold up the mirror for ourselves and others. We are not exempt from histories of making harmful choices in our Halloween gear. By allowing ourselves to look into the mirror of racism, sexism, and cultural appropriation, we hope to diffuse the guilt and defensive that often comes from having these conversations related to Halloween costumes of choice so we can all dig a bit deeper into that critical thought and dialogue.

Plus… what better way to share some of our childhood photos from Halloweens of the 1980s and 90s!

 * * * * *

Bria:
I was an angel, a princess, and a pink Power Ranger in pursuit of candy. Queen Amidala and Mulan searched for the most haunting home decor while Cleopatra and Tinkerbell prepared for horror movie marathons with friends. It all started out so harmless.

Yoo-Jin takes on the “tweeter” side of being a pirate!

I have never taken the time to reflect on how the intent of celebrating Halloween changes from childhood to adulthood. Historically, All Hallows’ Eve has been about terrifying confrontations with the dead, but these days I have been aghast at the overpriced sexism on Party City’s walls. For just $49.99, you can please the patriarchy and unleash your inner sexist all in one night!

Halloween has become a night for adults to indulge in repressed fantasies through costume. I am cringing as I recall the year I decided to costume as Playboy Bunny (before I could even legally be one). I now believe that if this industry wasn’t so hellbent on supplying women with only “sexy” options for Halloween, then women everywhere could proudly say they wanted to dress like that, not that they were left optionless. It’s bad enough that women are oversexualized everyday, and this ‘tradition’ reinforces the idea that any effort put into appearing sexy is to please men. And thus, we welcome you to the Sexy Halloween Costume Industry!

Megan (on the left) with her Wonder Woman sister.

I chose my own costumes and wore them happily. My only regret is the lack of thought I put into the message I sent to the rest of the world. While I hoped my sexy schoolgirl costume screamed “I am poking fun at my all-girl secondary education and embracing my sexuality all at one time!,” I know that was not the case. Truly feminist costumes should leave you feeling respected, empowered, and happy. Although I am still struggling to settle on a costume idea, I am pleased to have the awesome resources below for some feminist costuming inspiration! Check them out!

* * * * *

What is cultural appropriation?

On Appropriation vs Appreciation
Costume Fails from @Chescaleigh
What Not to Wear on Halloween… a Stuff Mom Never Told You Podcast

Amelia’s love for cats started early on….

Daniel  as Flick, the blue ant!

Get Creative!

Feminist Halloween Costumes – a Post from Feministing with so many other cool links
Women in History Halloween Costume Ideas
5 Feminist Halloween Costumes… a video from Stuff Mom Never Told You

Get your Activism On!

Halloween Liberation Kit
We’re a culture, not a costume
How to tell your friend they’re Halloween costume is racist

Oh hey RAs! A Halloween Bulletin Board at your finger tips!

UMBC Quantum Computation Seminar

Quantum Probabilistic Logic Programming

Radhakrishnan Balu
Army Research Laboratory

2:30-4:00pm, Tuesday, 28 October 2014, ITE 325B

We describe a logic programming language that supports Horn clauses, random variables, and covariance matrices to express and solve problems in probabilistic logic. The Horn clauses of the language wrap random variables and matrices to express probability distributions and statistical correlations, a powerful way to capture relationship between identical distributions that are not independent. A salient feature of the language is a mechanism to implement statistical ensembles and to solve the underlying SAT instances of probabilistic predicates using quantum mechanical machinery. We exploit the fact that classical random variables have quantum decompositions to build the quantum mechanical observables. We establish the semantics of the language in a rigorous fashion by considering an existing probabilistic logic language called PRISM with classical probability measures defined on the Herbrand base and extend it to the case of quantum probability. In the classical case H-interpretations form the sample space and probability measures defined on them lead to consistent definition of probabilities for well formed formulae. In the quantum analogue probability amplitudes are attached to H-interpretations facilitating the model generations and verifications via quantum mechanical superpositions and entanglements. The well formed formulae of the language can be cast as quantum mechanical observables and thus providing an elegant interpretation for their probabilities. We discuss several examples to combine statistical ensembles and predicates of first order logic to reason with situations involving uncertainty.Further studies include extension of the semantics to temporal logic constructs using quantum dynamic evolutions.

Radhakrishnan Balu is a computational scientist with a research focus on application of quantum mechanics to computation, communications, Chemistry, Physics, and biology. He has been working at the Army Research Lab since 2007 and uses D-wave system, a quantum annealer, and state-of-the-art quantum mechanics based software leveraging the high performance computing infrastructure for research. He has over 20 publications, including peer reviewed journal papers. He has five degrees in science and engineering, with a Ph.D in computational chemistry from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, an M.S in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S in computer science from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Organizer: Prof. Samuel Lomonaco, Sorry, you need javascript to view this email address.

Name: Valeriya Nakshun

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: The Rosen Group

Major(s)/Minor(s): Media and Communication Studies

Expected Graduation Year: June 2016

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, research, or service-learning opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

I had my internship over the summer at the Rosen Group, which is a company that produces the "American Made Show," a wholesale art/trade show. I was hired at the beginning of the fall to work part-time as an Exhibits Coordinator. My day-to-day responsibilities include printing exhibitor applications, looking through their works of art whether it be ceramics, jewelry, fiber, glass, or 2-dimensional art. I put everything together, carefully reviewing the applications to make sure they really are American-made, and prep the applications for final review. I'm half of a two-person team in the Exhibitor Services department, which handles all exhibitor-related issues including payments, answering questions, assigning booths, and mailing out contracts among other things.

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I actually found it on my own via the internships.com website. I received a positive response on my resume from the owner of the company so she sent me an email with her phone number to contact her. I did and we set up the interview and I was hired on the spot.

Which of the following resources did you use to find your current experience?

On my own online.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

I love the fact that I work with artists. It keeps me sane. I look at art every single day when looking through applications, and at the end of the day, I know that the company I work for helps artists sell their work and display it to a much larger audience. My minor is Art History and Museum Studies, and I plan to go to grad school later on for Curatorial or Museum Studies, so this experience will open up a lot of doors in the art world for me.

What have you gained from your experience that you could not have gained from another opportunity?

Not only do I get to work with artists, but I work with artists all around the United States and Canada. It's great exposure. Another thing I gained is experience with different marketing and database software. We utilize a lot of different websites and software where I work. I work with software called InfusionSoft, a website called A2Z, and an application called FileMaker Pro. It's really great that I have experience working with all these technologies in one area, so it makes me a lot more employable in the future.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

I would say to look everywhere. Use UMBCWorks but also look online. Google art organizations and see which ones are looking for interns, volunteers, or employees. If you have a particular place where you want to intern or work, contact the business directly and ask if anything is available. Also, make sure you have at least the general knowledge to do well in the field.

Please provide a short quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / the internship placement process.

I like going to work and feeling like my work is valued, and that I'm part of a show that helps artists exhibit their work and make a living.