Decriminalizing (and Re-Humanizing) the ‘Squeegee Kid’
Sydney Fryer
Mentor: Dena Aufseeser, Geography and Environmental Systems
Squeegee Kids are young people between the ages of 10-25 that clean windshields in Baltimore city for a small fee. Their informal but infamous work has been seen as entrepreneurial, hazardous, or criminal over the years. This project uses discourse analysis to analyze and understand the dangerous rhetoric often used to describe these young people and the historical racism that has led to this rhetoric. It also seeks to allow these young people a chance to redefine themselves through a series of interviews. This is all in the hope that, through a more humanizing approach to understanding these ‘Squeegee Kids’, their work, and the reason for it, there can be a more humane discussion around their place in Baltimore city.
This work was funded, in part, through an Undergraduate Research Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
https://umbc.voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/17403608
Visit URCAD now through Sunday:
URCAD.umbc.edu
]]>“Flexing” Anything But Muscles: An Analysis Of Social Media Trends And Conspicuous Consumption
Fatimah Shaalan
Mentor: Liz Stanwyck, Mathematics and Statistics
In this era, there is an ever-growing importance for both consumers and brands to understand social media’s influence on conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous consumption often comes in the form of purchasing luxury goods to elevate social-class status or represent a social identity. Today’s internet-users are constantly being bombarded with advertisements. Internet trends pertaining to products and brands often serve as unintentional advertisements driven by consumers. Such advertisements are likely to increase conspicuous consumption. I discuss previous research to better understand how users perceive online advertisements and how brands approach online advertising. These formal online advertisements tend to occur from “social media influencers” or directly on websites. Then I discuss results of a regression analysis of the influence of popular culture on randomly selected companies from Twitter “trending topics”.
URCAD.umbc.edu
Now through Sunday!
]]>How are power dynamics and the safety of actors navigated in a healthy way when performing intimate scenes? Caitlyn Hooper analyzes the impact of intimacy direction in theater and its impact on power dynamics. The 22nd volume of the UMBC Review: Journal of Undergraduate Research premieres today! Download your electronic copy here:
https://ur.umbc.edu/umbc-review/
And be sure to check out Caitlyn's URCAD presentation on this topic, now through Sunday, April 25th: URCAD.umbc.edu
]]>Event Title: Uprooting and Seeding: Intergenerational Experiences of Living as Asians and Asian-Americans
Join us for a discussion of Minari and Asian American representation!
Dear AAAFSC Members, Allies, and Students:
Please join us on May 3 from 4-5pm, for our final AAAFSC event of the semester; while we will be closing out the semester, we’ll also be celebrating the beginning of AAPI heritage month.
At this event, we’ll be discussing representations of Asian Americans in popular culture, with a particular focus on the recent, award-winning film, Minari. Minari is currently streaming on a variety of platforms. However, if you are unable to watch the film before the event, please consider joining us anyway.
We are hoping to close out this semester by creating a space for an open, free-flowing discussion. We want this meeting to be a space that will allow us to reflect on our ethnic heritage and racial identity as a way to reclaim our strength and resilience and to resist systems of oppression and hate. We also hope to share with each other the complexities of Asian American lives and our day-to-day experiences.
While allies are warmly welcomed to this event, we ask that if you choose to attend, you are mindful of taking a step back and making space for our Asian and Asian American members to discuss and share their experiences first.
We hope to see you there!
Many thanks,
The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla (chair), Aditya Desai (member at large), Soonhee Lee (member at large), Shuyan Sun, (member at large),Christopher Tong (member at large), Fan Yang (secretary)
p.s. There is no required reading or even viewing for the event, but here are a few articles that might be helpful to situating our discussion:
‘Minari’ wins best foreign-language film, but not without controversy. The New York Times, Feb 28, 2021 by Maya Salam and Robert Ito
‘Minari’ is about immigrants who speak Korean. That doesn’t make it ‘foreign.’ Viet Thanh Nguyen, Dec 24, 2020
My “Minari”: On Asian American Immigrant Cinema, LA Review of Books, February 10, 2021 by Hanna Amaris Roh
ONLINE MEETING INFO:
Join us for a discussion of Minari and Asian American representation! Hosted by Tamara Bhalla https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m388f28dae1487b4b8ce67632b9cffbae Monday, May 3, 2021 4:00 pm | 1 hour | (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Meeting number: 120 311 5132 Password: MpK6jZMgq22 Join by video system Dial 1203115132@umbc.webex.com You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number. Join by phone +1-202-860-2110 United States Toll (Washington D.C.) Access code: 120 311 5132
We were struck by the powerful message that I3B, our campus friends and partners, shared earlier this week. In the wake of yesterday’s verdict of accountability coupled by yet another incident of police brutality that took the life of a young Black girl, we sit with the sanctity of I3B’s invitation to take ”a moment to pause and breathe.”
We affirm I3B’s intentions and will not be offering a community healing space at this time, but will support their efforts to be available to UMBC community members needing spaces to connect with others. Many of our community members may be feeling a wide range of emotions with yesterday’s verdict. The burden and impacts of racial trauma from police brutality and white supremacy have deep roots that cannot be healed in the case of one verdict. With this in our heart and mind, Women’s Center professional staff are holding open office care and support hours next week. Community members are always invited to reach out to us to set up meetings to connect outside of these designated times by emailing womenscenter@umbc.edu or calling 410-455-2714. Additionally, we invite self-identified Women of Color to join us at the upcoming Women of Color Collective meetingthis Friday at 1:30pm.
Open Office Care and Support Hours:
Jess: Friday, April 23rd, 11am-12pm at https://umbc.webex.com/meet/jessm
Amelia: Wednesday, April 28th, 11am-2pm https://umbc.webex.com/meet/meman1
Bri: Thursday, April 29th, 12-2:pm at meet.google.com/wga-pjuf-act
A verdict was reached. We pause. We breathe. And, our work continues. We must continue to actively call out, disrupt and change the ways racism and oppression shows up in our spaces and communities to include our campus. During this time, we invite aspiring allies (including ourselves) to recommit to practices of anti-racism and disrupting anti-Blackness. We’re re-sharing the blog post (Learning to be anti-racist: Calling IN white people and non-Black people of color) that our assistant director, Amelia, wrote last summer as a reminder and call to action to our white community members as well as non-Black people of color. We’re also re-sharing our Black Lives Matter Endlessly post from last summer as a reminder to stay present to the power of truth-telling. We must turn towards the radical truth of our privileges and our complicity and our responsibility.
There is work yet to be done and we commit, as ever, to being in it with you.
With Solidarity and Hope,
The Women’s Center staff
To access I3B’s full message, visit their myUMBC page.
https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m257179aef1261f8debe3c7c9909ef97a
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2021
12:00 pm | 1 hour | (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Meeting number: 120 790 6323
Password: URCAD2021
You can see Klaudine's keynote here:
https://urcad.umbc.edu/guest-speaker-klaudine-wakasa/
Read Klaudine's bio here:
https://urcad.umbc.edu/speaker/
URCAD.umbc.edu
We see you. Your hard work and dedication to your academics does not go unnoticed. There are a variety of ways we recognize academic achievement at UMBC. This includes the Dean’s List, honor societies, the Honors College Medallion, and merit scholarships in your field. Read below to discover how your success in the classroom may be celebrated.
Academic Honors based on Semester Grades
The academic honor available to the largest number of UMBC students is completely automatic. Full-time students who achieve certain semester grade point averages receive a notation on their permanent UMBC transcripts as follows:
Semester Academic Honors = 3.50 and up
Dean’s List Honors = 3.75 and up
President’s List Honors = 4.00
The beauty of this recognition is that you get a chance at it every fall and spring semester. It is definitely a morale boost also and resume-worthy when you see one of these notations on your transcript. It places you among the most successful students at UMBC in a given semester.
Honor Societies-Multi-disciplinary
Honor societies may be identified by Greek letters, but they are not fraternities or sororities in the usual sense of “Greek life” on campus. Based on your academic performance at UMBC, you may be invited to join one or more of these organizations. You do not apply for membership. The most active honor societies on campus are:
Phi Beta Kappa: The big Kahuna of American scholarly honor societies, PBK was founded at the College of William and Mary back in 1776 (a big year for the American colonies!). To win a Phi Beta Kappa key, a student has to achieve very high grades in a course of study that includes courses across the liberal arts well beyond minimum general education requirements for a degree. A faculty committee here at UMBC evaluates potential selectees for Phi Beta Kappa honors. UMBC’s faculty and staff who were PBK members from their undergraduate days had to demonstrate the breadth and rigor of our academic program to establish a chapter of this prestigious honor society in 1998. This is one invitation you will definitely want to accept if offered.
Phi Kappa Phi: Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi honors high-achieving students in all disciplines, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The UMB-UMBC chapter was installed at UMBC in 2010 and is hard at work at creating campus presence. Phi Kappa Phi’s motto is “Let the love of learning rule humanity.”
Golden Key International Honor Society: Golden Key membership is extended to high-achieving students in all disciplines. The national and international organizations offer a large program of scholarships and awards open to members as well as regional and national conferences. UMBC’s award-winning chapter of Golden Key is well known for its extensive community service commitments, such as hosting an annual Halloween party for children at Villa Maria Children’s Center. A tutoring program at Arbutus Middle School is another project recently launched.
Tau Sigma National Honor Society: Founded in 1999 at Auburn University, Tau Sigma recognizes and supports talented transfer students at four-year universities. This society does require students who believe they meet the criteria to apply for membership. Membership is available to transfer students who achieve high-grade averages during their first full-time semester of enrollment at UMBC. The UMBC chapter was created in 2007.
Graduation Honors
Honors are based upon coursework taken throughout a student’s entire undergraduate academic career at UMBC. To be eligible for Honors, students must have earned at least 60 graded credits at UMBC (excluding Pass/Fail and Audit grades) with a GPA as follows:
Summa cum laude (“With highest honor”): Students graduating with a GPA between 3.95 and 4.0.
Magna cum laude (“With high honor”): Students graduating with a GPA between 3.75 and 3.9499.
Cum laude (“With honor”): Students graduating with a GPA between 3.5 and 3.7499.
Visit the Registrar’s website for how graduation honors in calculated.
Academic Recognition for Varsity Athletes
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and other external organizations sponsor a variety of awards recognizing the academic achievements of varsity athletes. UMBC athletes and whole teams regularly receive recognition for maintaining high academic standards despite demanding athletic schedules. Also, UMBC sponsors a chapter of the National College Athlete Honor Society.
Academic Merit Scholarships
The great bulk of academic merit scholarships at UMBC are awarded to students at the time they are admitted to UMBC. However, there are some opportunities for students enrolled at UMBC to compete for scholarships based primarily on academic achievement, sometimes in combination with service and need. For example, UMBC sponsors a small scholarship for returning women students. The UMBC Alumni Association also sponsors scholarships for continuing students. The Honors College and the Ancient Studies Department have some study abroad scholarships. The UMBC Theatre Department provides modest scholarships to majors based on academic performance and service. An extensive listing of such scholarships is available.
These scholarships are as much a way for UMBC to recognize top students as they are a means of financial support. Applying for merit scholarships at UMBC is therefore very worthwhile, even if the amounts involved are modest. These scholarships come and go, so be sure to do careful research.
]]>’08 B.S. Financial Economics, Minor: Gender and Women's Studies, UMBC
’10 M.Sc. Gender Development and Globalisation, London School of Economics
Klaudine is a Strategy Advisor who has spent her professional career working with government, multilateral/bilateral organisations, and private sectors across the African continent – first as an Advisor within KPMG’s International Development Advisory Service; later as a Strategy Consultant with Dalberg Global Development Advisors; and currently as the Regional lead for the Government of Canada’s effort to build Clean Technology ecosystems in Africa, and for the United Kingdom’s goal of mainstreaming a ‘Green Economy’ approach into its work in Africa.
Africa has an opportunity to lay solid foundations for future Green Economies. Klaudine’s interest is in understanding which approaches and interventions African countries can adopt. Her expertise has been best applied when working in roles that allow her to engage in mutually beneficial conversations between Africa and the world. Klaudine’s work has contributed to projects for organisations such as the African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, USAID, the MasterCard Foundation, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and The Department for International Development (DFID), just to name a few.
At UMBC, Klaudine earned her undergraduate degree in Financial Economics with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies, and a Certificate in Accounting (2008). She was a Judicial Board Justice, Resident Assistant, Classic Upward Bound Tutor/Counselor, UMBC Ambassador, Peer Tutor, Conversation Partner, a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society, a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and an active member of the Africa Students Association. Klaudine credits UMBC for nurturing her diverse interest in interdisciplinary thinking and particularly her tutelage under Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye, which influenced her worldview, even to this day. In 2010, Klaudine completed her M.Sc. in Development and Globalisation at the London School of Economics, Gender Institute.