Do you have an interest in Becoming a Nonprofit Leader or Social Entrepreneur?
Are you ready to intern within a Nonprofit or Social Venture this Fall?
If yes, apply to the Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change.
The Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change prepares UMBC students for the rigors and rewards of entrepreneurship and social innovation. This program places highly-motivated students from diverse backgrounds in mentored internships to better prepare them to launch nonprofit or social ventures. Students get training and experience to empower them to become the next generation of social entrepreneurs–working largely in the not-for-profit world, developing and delivering innovative solutions to some of our region’s most urgent social problems.
Internships last one semester (15 weeks) and students will work, on average, 8 to 10 hours per week. Students receive a stipend of $1,500 toward their compensation. In addition to the internship, students engage in projects and activities that further expose them to the social entrepreneurial mindset.
Why Participate?
- Earn a competitive stipend of $1,500
- Gain valuable experience in your career field by interning 120 hours over the course of the semester (8-10 hours per week)
- Be exposed to the knowledge, skills, and mindset required to successfully launch and manage a nonprofit/social venture
- Develop a network of contacts in the nonprofit community for future references and opportunities
- Apply classroom knowledge in a realistic work environment and apply lessons learned in the workplace to academic coursework
TO APPLY:
Interested students are asked to submit a Resume and a Cover Letter answering the following questions:
Discuss your interest in both entrepreneurship and this intern program. What has been your entrepreneurial involvement thus far such as coursework, seminars, etc. (if applicable)? What type of nonprofit would you like to intern for and why?
Your resume and cover letter can be submitted via UMBCworks position 9317235
(ideal application method) or e-mailed to:
Christine Routzahn
Director
UMBC Career Center, UMBC
routzahn@umbc.edu
DEADLINE THURSDAY 7/23
]]>My name is Camille Blackford and I am a senior cultural anthropology major and Korean minor here at UMBC. I am also a part of the Humanities Scholars Program, and I am expecting to graduate Spring 2021. The title of my research project is “An Ethnography on the Happiness of UMBC Students During the Corona Virus Pandemic”.
Describe your project:
With this project I want to examine how the happiness of UMBC students has been impacted by the corona virus pandemic. Additionally, I want to examine what social and cultural resources (i.e. family, friends, student services, unemployment, etc.) students have to draw on that have positively and/or negatively impacted their happiness in the midst of the pandemic.
Who is your mentor(s) for your project?
My mentors for my project are Dr. Sarah Chard and Dr. Bambi Chapin from the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy. I met Dr. Chard when she was my professor for my anthropological theory course, and I met Dr. Chapin when I took her anthropology/Asian studies course on South Asia. I chose them as my mentors because I felt like I really learned a lot when I took their courses and I learned more about myself as an anthropology major. I feel like they will be able to guide me throughout this process and help me find my voice as an anthropologist.
How did you become interested in this project?
I became interested in this project after I was sent home early from my semester abroad in Bhutan. I was interested in Bhutan and going to Bhutan since my senior year of high school when, one morning, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning News with my mom and they did a segment on Bhutan. During this segment they talked about the idea of “Gross National Happiness” and how the Bhutanese government decided to prioritize the happiness of its citizens over things like GDP. Ever since I learned about Gross National Happiness I fell in love with Bhutan, and last semester I had the opportunity to study abroad there. Unfortunately, due to the corona virus, I was sent home early. I became interested in this research during this period of time where I was on my way back home and then during my self-quarantine that followed afterward (which actually wound up coinciding with the quarantine order for everyone). Everything in my life was changing and this made me wonder how other students at UMBC have been impacted by the virus as well.
What has been the hardest part about your research/what was the most unexpected thing about being a researcher?
The hardest part about my research, so far, has mainly been just fleshing it out and developing it. This is my first time doing an independent research project like this on my own and it can be very intimidating, but I am taking it step by step and trying not to get too overwhelmed. The other hard part has been the fact that the campus itself has been shut down because of the corona virus. This means that instead of doing participant observation in-person on campus, I will have to do it via social media through things like Facebook groups, etc. This also means that I will have to conduct interviews via my computer instead of in-person and applications like WebEx have not been working on my laptop.
What has been the most rewarding part?
The most rewarding part of this research will be being able to hear other students’ stories and experiences and getting to hear how other people my age have been handling everything that has been going on. The other rewarding part is that this research could provide insight into how students cope with times of uncertainty like this. I have never experienced anything like this in my life, and this is the case for most of the other students as well. Hopefully, this research will be able to show the different ways in which people cope/deal with something like this in which their whole world is turned upside down.
How will you disseminate your research?
I will present this research at URCAD in April.
What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
My advice to other students getting involved in research is that even though the whole idea of starting an independent research project can seem very intimidating, you just have to believe in yourself and your abilities and take a leap of faith. Find something you are passionate about and reach out to your professors, they are there to help you and they have experienced what it is like to do a research project for the first time and will probably have some very valuable advice. Lastly, trust yourself, believe in yourself and don’t give up, even when it gets hard or you get frustrated.
What are your career goals?
I am currently in the process of applying for a Fulbright research award and I hope to be able to do a comparative study at a university in South Korea. This means that I want to do a similar research project in South Korea and compare my findings from a university in South Korea to my findings from UMBC. After this, or if I don’t get the research award, I plan on applying to graduate school and continuing to study anthropology.
]]>This post is written by Sofia Encarnacion, a Diversity & Inclusion Peer at the Mosaic Center. Sofia is a rising junior Economics and Mathematics major. In her spare time, she likes to play Animal Crossing. She also finally watched Avatar the Last Airbender.
Paris is Burning is a 1990 documentary that explores drag ball culture and centers predominantly trans & gay people of color. The director, Jennie Livingston- a White cis lesbian woman- received multiple Academy awards for her work. The documentary’s trans, gay, people of color subjects remained in poverty and many had AIDs-related deaths. When I first watched the documentary a year ago, I felt attracted to and disappointed by the stories told. The glamour and opulence of the balls were a huge focus while the abandonment, homelessness, poverty, disease, and death had an “it is what it is” tone to it.
I’ve had a few conversations within my social circles about Paris Is Burning. Some regard it as a monumental piece of media for queer culture, others have never heard of it. The latter group was unfamiliar with a lot of drag culture in general, with the exception of RuPaul’s Drag Race. But both groups of people are familiar with terms like “tea” “werk,” "reading,” and “throwing shade” which all originate from drag ball culture. However, these are not the only examples of queer POC culture being popularized without recognition.
Madonna’s hit song “Vogue” and the dancing associated with it was directly inspired by the vogue dancers and choreographers from the Harlem ballroom scene. Many Black and Latinxartists and entertainers throughout history were queer, but that is often unacknowledged or erased. For historical figures, there wasn’t common usage of a term that identified bisexual or trans people, so historians also have difficulty determining the identities of people who are suspected to not be cishet.
I’m a 20-year-old bisexual, cis, Latina trying my best to navigate a wealth of history that continues to go unnoticed. After taking a few GWST classes - one of them being Queer Representation in Film and TV (GWST 321) - I still don’t know nearly enough about the impact of Black and Latinx queer content on American culture. How can I celebrate that Moonlight received recognition while knowing that the struggle and pain depicted is not at all fictional? I want these depictions to be realistic, but also include moments of queer POC joy and celebration. Depictions in media that appreciate instead of appropriate. How can I embrace the cultural importance of Paris is Burning while knowing that a White cis woman profitted off of Black and Brown trans lives in the process?
Despite the problematic aspects of the documentary, I still highly recommend people watch Paris Is Burning. It captures the essence of drag ball culture and the struggles many of the participants faced in a way that is easily accessible. It also shows the origin of slang still used today. If you’ve enjoyed RuPaul’s Drag Race, it is almost imperative to watch Paris Is Burning to understand the history of drag before studio executive directors became involved. Drag balls have historically been by and for trans and gay people of color, which is why some of RuPaul’s rules and statements have been criticized for being harmful. For a while, RuPaul’s show was the only mainstream representation of drag ball culture, but now there are other forms of drag ball culture entertainment that are more inclusive and nuanced (such as FX’s Pose).
Although it wouldn’t be enough to just watch Paris is Burning or Pose. I would highly recommend reading and viewing other perspectives to understand the complexities of queer POC culture in general. I’ve listed some courses, readings, and films that are recommended by us, the Diversity and Inclusion staff, for this purpose. If you have other reading or viewing recommendations, please include them in the comment section!
UMBC Courses:
GWST 100: Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies
GWST 321: Queer Representation in Film and TV
GWST 348: Black, Queer, and Feminist Film
Readings:
Is Paris Burning? From Black Looks by bell hooks
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
Μaking Things Perfectly Queer:What Makes Queerness Most? By Alexander Doty
Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric By Maddison Moore
Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility (Critical Anthologies in Art and Culture) By: Reina Gossett
Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic Imagination By Sheila L. Cavanagh
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
Films/Documentaries:
Paris Is Burning (1990)
Celluloid Closet (1995) (is also a book)
A Place in the Middle (2015)
Transagenda (2015)
“Passing” (2016)
Kiki (2017)
Happy Birthday, Marsha! (2018)
Disclosure (2020)
Trainings:
SafeZone LGBTQ+ Allyship Development Training
AFST 206/HIST 218: Introduction to African-American History: A Survey
ANTH 211: Cultural Anthropology
AFST 275: The Criminal Justice Process and Black Americans
ENGL/AFST 360: Studies in Black Fiction
GWST 322/MLL 322/AFST 347: Gender, Race and Media
GWST 327/AFST 354/HIST 323: African American Women’s History
HAPP 390/AFST 390: American Health Care System and the Black Community
HIST 322/AFST 353: African American History Since 1865
HIST 449 - 01: From Black Power to Black Lives Matter: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Post-Civil Rights Period
PSYC 255/SOWK255/AFST 255: Psychology of the Black Experience in the United States
SOCY 204: Diversity and Pluralism
SOCY 310: Social Stratification and Inequality
SOCY 321: Race and Ethnic Relations
SOCY 394: Race, Social Inequality and Institutional Structure
First Year Seminar: 102 – 25: Social Justice Dialogues