The grace of a ballerina. The poise of an equestrian rider. The flexibility of a gymnast.

Those are the qualities baton twirlers like Stasi Kowalewski ’10 need to have, according to Stasi’s mother Mardel Kowalewski ‘81. And Stasi, who is the world and national two-baton champion, possesses not only those traits but also a desire to learn.

“You need to have time and patience for this sport,” Stasi said. “You need to want it bad enough to learn it. It still takes me a long time to perfect my routines.”

Stasi, who regularly performs at UMBC men’s basketball games, has been twirling since age seven. She picked up the sport as an alternative to soccer, a game in which she naturally excelled. Always wanting a challenge, Stasi decided to give twirling a try instead. Her mother Mardel, both a former twirler and coach, supported Stasi’s decision.

“Being a former coach, I have the opportunity to help Stasi as both a mother and a coach. But learning when to be a coach and when to be a mom is important,” Mardel said. “Sometimes she just needs me to be her mom.”

Stasi took to twirling immediately and her once-a-week practices at age seven turned into 40 hours a week in the gym today, when she’s not in school. Her normal routine consists of stretching, working on “tricks” and running routines. When she’s not twirling, she works as a coach, providing individualized support to young twirlers. Her rigorous schedule and continuous dedication have resulted in her winning the title of World and National Two-Baton Champion not once – but three times, receiving awards in 2008, 2006 and 2005. She’s performed both in individual and group settings, winning awards throughout categories.

But twirling has its setbacks. Stasi has dislocated her knee three times and has literally lost her teeth in the gym. She once caught the baton and the momentum of the catch forced her hand directly to her mouth.

“I was standing there with my teeth in my hand,” Stasi said. “I was hysterical. It was one of the scariest things that ever happened to me.”

“I never pushed Stasi,” said Mardel. “But I always told her when you’re done, you’re done. She just kept on going.”

The continuous practice, recovery from injuries and love for the sport has only enforced Stasi’s dedication to perform – that and that fact that most twirlers “hang up their shoes” at the early age of 25. But both Stasi and Mardel have twirling plans for the future.

“One of the things we’re looking to establish is a scholarship for twirling,” said Mardel. “We need to get the sport out there.”

Stasi hopes to eventually pursue a law degree. She’s currently working on her bachelor’s in political science and American studies. When it comes to studies at UMBC, both Stasi and Mardel are in agreement.

“UMBC is the best kept secret in Maryland,” said Mardel. “It’s a public school with a private feel. You have to be smart to go to UMBC.”

“I came to UMBC because I wanted a challenge,” said Stasi. “You get what you want out of this school.”

But she also hopes to continue her work as a coach.

“Every twirler’s dream is to coach,” said Stasi. “I would love to pass on my knowledge and someday teach a national title holder.”

Stasi’s immediate plans for the future include twirling for the Washington Mystics and a AAA baseball team. She will also be competing with the seven-time reigning world championship team (the Dynamics) in the 2009 twirling competition in Belgium.

Originally posted February 2009

Confused about how an American democracy works? You are not alone.
A new Web site – www.USDemocrazy.net – designed by Economist magazine cartoonist Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, artist-in-residence at UMBC, aims to demystify and explore America’s crazy 50-state democracy in a fun and engaging way.
Behind the scenes, recent alumnus Jamie Nola ’08, visual arts, spent the last year turning Kal’s black and white drawings into a colorful, interactive web experience, where talking fish discuss the economy and banners promising “crazy factoids” and “political mumbo-jumbo” are all the norm.
“It’s really cool,” said Nola, who joined UMBC’s Imaging Research Center as a student intern in the fall of 2007 and who now works there full time. “It’s exciting to see it up and getting some attention.”
An Interactive Way of Teaching
Designed and hand-drawn by Kal for the IRC, USDemocrazy.net was built and researched by an interdisciplinary team of UMBC students, including visual arts, web design and social sciences majors.
The site features in-depth portraits of all 50 states through exclusive Kal animations, offbeat trivia and factoids and local color from experts in each state. An animated “Uncle Sam” explains idiosyncrasies of America’s democratic system, such as the Electoral College. On the USDemocrazy.net blog, Kal, along with students and faculty from UMBC, will follow America’s electoral process through the presidential race and into the next administration.
On-the-job Training
For Nola, whose future interest lies in computer game programming, Kal’s project was a chance to hit the ground running. He took a course in web interactivity in spring 2007, and was recommended for an IRC internship thanks to his quick understanding of the web animation program Flash.
Under the tutelage of former IRC worker and UMBC alumna Bonnie Crawford-Kotula ’08, M.F.A., Nola learned how to turn Kal’s drawings into the back-end code that would allow for animation and interaction on the front end of the site. He also got plenty of first-hand experience at working with clients.
“It has been a great experience,” said Nola. “We went through so many prototypes. I really learned a lot over the last 13 or 14 months.
The interactive site is compiling first-hand portraits of each state from local experts in history, politics, journalism and humor through its “Crazy Talk” state survey. Click here to take the survey. A true work in progress, the site changes often as Nola receives updates and new features from the site researchers.
“They’re still gathering information,” he said. “We’ve got 32 states done, and 18 to go. There’s been a crazy push over the last month to get as much done before the election as possible. It’s been pretty exciting.”
Visit USDemocrazy.net to view Kal’s Mission Statement video.
Originally posted October 2008

Confused about how an American democracy works? You are not alone.

A new Web site – www.USDemocrazy.net – designed by Economist magazine cartoonist Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, artist-in-residence at UMBC, aims to demystify and explore America’s crazy 50-state democracy in a fun and engaging way.

Behind the scenes, recent alumnus Jamie Nola ’08, visual arts, spent the last year turning Kal’s black and white drawings into a colorful, interactive web experience, where talking fish discuss the economy and banners promising “crazy factoids” and “political mumbo-jumbo” are all the norm.

“It’s really cool,” said Nola, who joined UMBC’s Imaging Research Center as a student intern in the fall of 2007 and who now works there full time. “It’s exciting to see it up and getting some attention.”

An Interactive Way of Teaching

Designed and hand-drawn by Kal for the IRC, USDemocrazy.net was built and researched by an interdisciplinary team of UMBC students, including visual arts, web design and social sciences majors.

The site features in-depth portraits of all 50 states through exclusive Kal animations, offbeat trivia and factoids and local color from experts in each state. An animated “Uncle Sam” explains idiosyncrasies of America’s democratic system, such as the Electoral College. On the USDemocrazy.net blog, Kal, along with students and faculty from UMBC, will follow America’s electoral process through the presidential race and into the next administration.

On-the-job Training

For Nola, whose future interest lies in computer game programming, Kal’s project was a chance to hit the ground running. He took a course in web interactivity in spring 2007, and was recommended for an IRC internship thanks to his quick understanding of the web animation program Flash.

Under the tutelage of former IRC worker and UMBC alumna Bonnie Crawford-Kotula ’08, M.F.A., Nola learned how to turn Kal’s drawings into the back-end code that would allow for animation and interaction on the front end of the site. He also got plenty of first-hand experience at working with clients.

“It has been a great experience,” said Nola. “We went through so many prototypes. I really learned a lot over the last 13 or 14 months.

The interactive site is compiling first-hand portraits of each state from local experts in history, politics, journalism and humor through its “Crazy Talk” state survey. Click here to take the survey. A true work in progress, the site changes often as Nola receives updates and new features from the site researchers.

“They’re still gathering information,” he said. “We’ve got 32 states done, and 18 to go. There’s been a crazy push over the last month to get as much done before the election as possible. It’s been pretty exciting.”

Visit USDemocrazy.net to view Kal’s Mission Statement video.
Originally posted October 2008

“But Mom, when am I going to use all this math stuff anyway?”
For parents, it’s a frequent refrain from kids of all ages, and sometimes in the age of spreadsheets and computer desktop calculators, it’s a question that’s as tough to answer as sample problems from the math section of the SAT.
But don’t say that to Kimball Martin ’99, who has turned his inquisitive nature and love of challenges into a robust career as an assistant professor of mathematics specializing in number theory.
“Math is not about numbers, but about ideas and problem solving,” he said. “Doing math helps you learn how to think and solve problems in general. As all of us have to deal with problems or make decisions constantly, I believe mathematicians constantly use their mathematical experience in daily life.”
“Two of my friends have at some point run their own construction businesses,” said Martin. “The first was an engineer, and was quite good at math, but the other was not so strong. The first one told me about how he used trigonometry all the time, to figure out things like how many steps and what size they would need, or how long they should cut beams for the roof, and it was very easy and efficient.
“The other friend said they climb up on the roof and measure how long the beams should be, or experiment to see how many steps are needed, and as a result it took him and his crew much longer to finish their job. I believe having some proficiency in mathematics often comes up in surprising ways down the road. After all, life is full of surprises.”
Martin, a former Goldwater Fellow, was known for always pushing onward to the next challenge during his time at UMBC. A native of Mechanicsburg, Penn., he took college courses while still in high school and consistently surprised his UMBC professors with his desire to take and excel in advanced level courses. He went on to get his Ph.D. from Cal Tech, did his post-doc work at Columbia University and is now an assistant professor of math at the University of Oklahoma.
Martin specializes in the study of prime numbers – numbers such as 2, 5, 7 and 13, which are divisible only by one and themselves. “They’re a fundamental building block of arithmetic. There’s no apparent pattern to them. Somehow primes occur seemingly randomly but they also display statistical patterns.”
Martin initially wanted to be a visual art and computer science major as a freshman, but then settled into a double major in computer science and math. “By my junior year, I began to realize that most of the things I liked in computer science were the math aspects of it,” he said.
He interned at the National Security Agency for a summer, and was encouraged by the support and mentorship he received from the math department. “The math department here was small so I got to interact a lot with faculty. I spent most of my days here in the department, made a lot of friends there and in the dorms and apartments.”
To Martin, mathematics is a discipline that combines elements of art and science. While a math career may not be for everyone, to Martin there are certain traits essential for success in the field.
“You need curiosity, creativity and courage to be a mathematician,” he said. “Curiosity is first because mathematics is about understanding and discovering new things. Creativity, which is something that seems very mystical to me, is what allows us to see the new in things. Finally, courage is needed because math is not always easy. In fact, the interesting math is almost never easy.”
Martin recalls a particular homework problem from his post-doc days, which was assigned by his mentor, adjunct faculty member John Dillon. “Once you started, your formulas just started getting worse and worse, and you couldn’t see any way out of this hole you were getting yourself into. One of the students the class it was due said he couldn’t get it, he just wound up with these horrific equations, and Dillon said ‘Be brave. You have to be brave. If you just keep going, you’ll get the answer in the end.’ And he was right. I encounter and struggle with this sort of thing all the time in research.”
Martin is quick to point out that “A Beautiful Mind”-style stereotypes of the brilliant mathematician with poor social skills isn’t the reality. “Most of us are relatively normal with a slight tendency towards thoughtfulness,” said Martin. “Plus I like to play jokes,” he said. “I once hid live crabs in someone’s office. I had accomplices, though. I didn’t act alone.”
So what is the answer for the teenager who doubts that he or she will ever use this stuff?
According to Martin, math is like any other subject: you get out what you put in.
“Beyond basic arithmetic and algebra, most people probably won’t use what they learn in the textbooks after school. However, most college students don’t use the contents of their courses in their subsequent jobs either. Nevertheless, during the process of going through the course and learning the material and doing the assignments, I firmly believe you learn much more than what’s in the book. Furthermore, you often do use the content of a course in later courses in school, whose value is not to be underestimated.
Martin closed his interview with wise words for students of any subject. “If you treat one class as a waste of your time, then your subsequent classes will also be a waste of time, because you won’t be able receive what your teachers have to offer.”
– Chip Rose
Originally posted July 2008

“But Mom, when am I going to use all this math stuff anyway?”

For parents, it’s a frequent refrain from kids of all ages, and sometimes in the age of spreadsheets and computer desktop calculators, it’s a question that’s as tough to answer as sample problems from the math section of the SAT.

But don’t say that to Kimball Martin ’99, who has turned his inquisitive nature and love of challenges into a robust career as an assistant professor of mathematics specializing in number theory.

“Math is not about numbers, but about ideas and problem solving,” he said. “Doing math helps you learn how to think and solve problems in general. As all of us have to deal with problems or make decisions constantly, I believe mathematicians constantly use their mathematical experience in daily life.”

“Two of my friends have at some point run their own construction businesses,” said Martin. “The first was an engineer, and was quite good at math, but the other was not so strong. The first one told me about how he used trigonometry all the time, to figure out things like how many steps and what size they would need, or how long they should cut beams for the roof, and it was very easy and efficient.

“The other friend said they climb up on the roof and measure how long the beams should be, or experiment to see how many steps are needed, and as a result it took him and his crew much longer to finish their job. I believe having some proficiency in mathematics often comes up in surprising ways down the road. After all, life is full of surprises.”

Martin, a former Goldwater Fellow, was known for always pushing onward to the next challenge during his time at UMBC. A native of Mechanicsburg, Penn., he took college courses while still in high school and consistently surprised his UMBC professors with his desire to take and excel in advanced level courses. He went on to get his Ph.D. from Cal Tech, did his post-doc work at Columbia University and is now an assistant professor of math at the University of Oklahoma.

Martin specializes in the study of prime numbers – numbers such as 2, 5, 7 and 13, which are divisible only by one and themselves. “They’re a fundamental building block of arithmetic. There’s no apparent pattern to them. Somehow primes occur seemingly randomly but they also display statistical patterns.”

Martin initially wanted to be a visual art and computer science major as a freshman, but then settled into a double major in computer science and math. “By my junior year, I began to realize that most of the things I liked in computer science were the math aspects of it,” he said.

He interned at the National Security Agency for a summer, and was encouraged by the support and mentorship he received from the math department. “The math department here was small so I got to interact a lot with faculty. I spent most of my days here in the department, made a lot of friends there and in the dorms and apartments.”

To Martin, mathematics is a discipline that combines elements of art and science. While a math career may not be for everyone, to Martin there are certain traits essential for success in the field.

“You need curiosity, creativity and courage to be a mathematician,” he said. “Curiosity is first because mathematics is about understanding and discovering new things. Creativity, which is something that seems very mystical to me, is what allows us to see the new in things. Finally, courage is needed because math is not always easy. In fact, the interesting math is almost never easy.”

Martin recalls a particular homework problem from his post-doc days, which was assigned by his mentor, adjunct faculty member John Dillon. “Once you started, your formulas just started getting worse and worse, and you couldn’t see any way out of this hole you were getting yourself into. One of the students the class it was due said he couldn’t get it, he just wound up with these horrific equations, and Dillon said ‘Be brave. You have to be brave. If you just keep going, you’ll get the answer in the end.’ And he was right. I encounter and struggle with this sort of thing all the time in research.”

Martin is quick to point out that “A Beautiful Mind”-style stereotypes of the brilliant mathematician with poor social skills isn’t the reality. “Most of us are relatively normal with a slight tendency towards thoughtfulness,” said Martin. “Plus I like to play jokes,” he said. “I once hid live crabs in someone’s office. I had accomplices, though. I didn’t act alone.”

So what is the answer for the teenager who doubts that he or she will ever use this stuff?

According to Martin, math is like any other subject: you get out what you put in.

“Beyond basic arithmetic and algebra, most people probably won’t use what they learn in the textbooks after school. However, most college students don’t use the contents of their courses in their subsequent jobs either. Nevertheless, during the process of going through the course and learning the material and doing the assignments, I firmly believe you learn much more than what’s in the book. Furthermore, you often do use the content of a course in later courses in school, whose value is not to be underestimated.

Martin closed his interview with wise words for students of any subject. “If you treat one class as a waste of your time, then your subsequent classes will also be a waste of time, because you won’t be able receive what your teachers have to offer.”

– Chip Rose
Originally posted July 2008

In many ways, Kelly Kwedar ’98, visual and performing arts (photography), leads a double life. A clinical practice supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, by day, Kwedar manages a staff of forty doctors and twenty other hospital workers who take patients through the cancer treatment process.
By night, she is known to her friends in the Gotham Girls Roller Derby as “Lil Red Terror,” goddess of jamming, blocking, and dishing out pain in the rink.
“Roller derby has been my most amazing experience in New York. I’ve made the most amazing friends. I was never an athlete, but I like to put on some skates and go real fast and knock people over,” said the part-time photographer. “Who woulda thought?”
Artsy Beginnings
As a photography major at UMBC, Kwedar stayed extremely involved during her four years on campus. She worked as a phone operator in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and was a “huge newspaper nerd,” serving as both the arts and opinions editor for the UMBC newspaper, The Retriever Weekly.
Kwedar was also very involved in the photography department at UMBC. She frequently organized her own photography shows and feminist performance art pieces in the halls of the Fine Arts building, and – like so many UMBC students – took her studies very seriously.
“I did the whole insane college kid thing: taking eighteen credits and staying up until five in the morning way too often.”
After graduation, Kwedar packed up her camera and moved to New York, where she worked as a studio manager of a company that created murals for restaurants and fancy homes. After 9/11 however, the market for her artists’ opulent murals slowed, so Kwedar decided it was time for a more stable career.
“An Amazing Place to Work”
Through a friendly connection, she found her career as a clinical practice supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she now manages several outpatient clinics within the hospital. As a manager, Kwedar works to make these clinics function more efficiently through staff development to improve the overall patient experience.
“I really love it. It’s an amazing place to work,” she said. “It’s like seeing little miracles every day. Cancer touches people in so many ways, like seeing their families, everyone who works here just cares a lot, and it shows in their work. It’s super intense, but it’s really rewarding at the same time.”
The Derby Discovery
Then there’s the “Lil Red Terror” side of Kwedar.
After reading about the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, she debated for a month whether or not to try it out. After she met the founder of the league, and the members of the team, she knew it was the perfect sport for her.
“My roller derby personality is tough and kind of crazy,” said Kwedar, who captains the Brooklyn Bombshells. “I always wear little shorts underneath my skirt that say something funny, so after I score a bunch of points or something, I’ll flash the audience.”
Kwedar was one of the original members of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, playing in their first game in 2004. Since then, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has expanded to almost twenty teams nationally, and other leagues have formed in Canada and Ireland. The New York travel team is composed of players from the four base teams: Bronx Gridlock, Queens of Pain, Manhattan Mayhem, and Brooklyn Bombshells, which Kwedar calls her own. The travel team won the East Coast regionals last year, and headed to Austin, Tex., to play the top four nationally ranked teams.
Kwedar’s injuries are also something for the record books, but she wears them as badges of honor. She has suffered black eyes, countless bruises, and a hemorrhaged retina, which left her literally seeing red. She even had to wear an eye patch for about four months.
NYC Girl
As a Brooklyn resident and roller derby queen, Kwedar stays true to her UMBC roots in her lifestyle and in her hobbies. Kwedar is staying artsy, selling her photography on the popular www.etsy.com.
“There’s art everywhere around here, and I appreciate it a lot, even if I’m not doing it as my day job,” she said. “You think you can move to New York and just become a famous artist. The reality of that is a lot different, especially if you go out to bars and clubs every night, which is really easy to do. You really have to be pretty smooth to make it happen, and that’s just not me. I enjoy doing it for fun.”
As an artist, she finds her current home constantly inspiring.
“There’s such diversity in New York, and I think UMBC was a good starting point for that. There was everything you could ever imagine there. Every race, every ethnicity, every group is here,” she said. “I live in Brooklyn now, and I love it. I don’t think I’m ever going to leave. I just love the feeling of it. Most Tuesday nights I’m just at home goofing off on the internet, but I could be at 10 different bars, a burlesque show, or going to see a band. The same is true for roller derby. It’s the gamut of every kind of woman you could imagine, and they all play roller derby, and it’s so much fun.”
– Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted May 2008

In many ways, Kelly Kwedar ’98, visual and performing arts (photography), leads a double life. A clinical practice supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, by day, Kwedar manages a staff of forty doctors and twenty other hospital workers who take patients through the cancer treatment process.

By night, she is known to her friends in the Gotham Girls Roller Derby as “Lil Red Terror,” goddess of jamming, blocking, and dishing out pain in the rink.

“Roller derby has been my most amazing experience in New York. I’ve made the most amazing friends. I was never an athlete, but I like to put on some skates and go real fast and knock people over,” said the part-time photographer. “Who woulda thought?”

Artsy Beginnings

As a photography major at UMBC, Kwedar stayed extremely involved during her four years on campus. She worked as a phone operator in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and was a “huge newspaper nerd,” serving as both the arts and opinions editor for the UMBC newspaper, The Retriever Weekly.

Kwedar was also very involved in the photography department at UMBC. She frequently organized her own photography shows and feminist performance art pieces in the halls of the Fine Arts building, and – like so many UMBC students – took her studies very seriously.

“I did the whole insane college kid thing: taking eighteen credits and staying up until five in the morning way too often.”

After graduation, Kwedar packed up her camera and moved to New York, where she worked as a studio manager of a company that created murals for restaurants and fancy homes. After 9/11 however, the market for her artists’ opulent murals slowed, so Kwedar decided it was time for a more stable career.

“An Amazing Place to Work”

Through a friendly connection, she found her career as a clinical practice supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she now manages several outpatient clinics within the hospital. As a manager, Kwedar works to make these clinics function more efficiently through staff development to improve the overall patient experience.

“I really love it. It’s an amazing place to work,” she said. “It’s like seeing little miracles every day. Cancer touches people in so many ways, like seeing their families, everyone who works here just cares a lot, and it shows in their work. It’s super intense, but it’s really rewarding at the same time.”

The Derby Discovery

Then there’s the “Lil Red Terror” side of Kwedar.

After reading about the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, she debated for a month whether or not to try it out. After she met the founder of the league, and the members of the team, she knew it was the perfect sport for her.

“My roller derby personality is tough and kind of crazy,” said Kwedar, who captains the Brooklyn Bombshells. “I always wear little shorts underneath my skirt that say something funny, so after I score a bunch of points or something, I’ll flash the audience.”

Kwedar was one of the original members of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, playing in their first game in 2004. Since then, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has expanded to almost twenty teams nationally, and other leagues have formed in Canada and Ireland. The New York travel team is composed of players from the four base teams: Bronx Gridlock, Queens of Pain, Manhattan Mayhem, and Brooklyn Bombshells, which Kwedar calls her own. The travel team won the East Coast regionals last year, and headed to Austin, Tex., to play the top four nationally ranked teams.

Kwedar’s injuries are also something for the record books, but she wears them as badges of honor. She has suffered black eyes, countless bruises, and a hemorrhaged retina, which left her literally seeing red. She even had to wear an eye patch for about four months.

NYC Girl

As a Brooklyn resident and roller derby queen, Kwedar stays true to her UMBC roots in her lifestyle and in her hobbies. Kwedar is staying artsy, selling her photography on the popular www.etsy.com.

“There’s art everywhere around here, and I appreciate it a lot, even if I’m not doing it as my day job,” she said. “You think you can move to New York and just become a famous artist. The reality of that is a lot different, especially if you go out to bars and clubs every night, which is really easy to do. You really have to be pretty smooth to make it happen, and that’s just not me. I enjoy doing it for fun.”

As an artist, she finds her current home constantly inspiring.

“There’s such diversity in New York, and I think UMBC was a good starting point for that. There was everything you could ever imagine there. Every race, every ethnicity, every group is here,” she said. “I live in Brooklyn now, and I love it. I don’t think I’m ever going to leave. I just love the feeling of it. Most Tuesday nights I’m just at home goofing off on the internet, but I could be at 10 different bars, a burlesque show, or going to see a band. The same is true for roller derby. It’s the gamut of every kind of woman you could imagine, and they all play roller derby, and it’s so much fun.”

– Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted May 2008

During John Goedeke’s first year on the UMBC basketball team, the players lost all but five games. The year was 1975, and all of the players were freshmen and sophomores.
“UMBC wasn’t even ten years old, but it was a challenge and an opportunity, and I welcomed that,” said Goedeke ’79, economics, who had turned down recruiters from big name basketball schools like Ohio State and the University of Maryland, College Park, for a spot on a fledgling team with coaches he really admired.
Over his college years, however, the team made an amazing turn. By the time his senior year rolled around, the Retrievers had advanced to the final eight in NCAA Division II, the university’s first NCAA appearance.
In the wake of UMBC’s recent success in the basketball world, Goedeke is especially proud of his alma mater.
“It’s so great to hear UMBC and NCAA tournament in the same sentence,” said Goedeke, senior vice president of commercial services at Provident Bank. “Randy Monroe has done a tremendous job, and the players that they have… you have to give them all the credit. I couldn’t say anything to diminish their accomplishments. We’re all so proud.”
Then and Now
As a member of UMBC’s first championship basketball team, Goedeke saw how athletic success built school spirit. “The biggest thing was in the stands. By our senior year, people were really coming out,” he said. “Having that success was very gratifying. It was a tremendous sense of accomplishment.”
“We also didn’t have the alumni support like UMBC does now,” he said, reflecting on the crowd that packed the RAC Arena to watch UMBC beat Hartford for the America East title this past March and the more than 500 fans who traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, to cheer the team on at the NCAA’s.
After graduation, the academic All-American was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. Although he didn’t make the final cut, he got the chance of a lifetime – to play professional basketball for Team Talbot, a Division I team in England.
“It was such a great experience,” he said. After a year in the UK, Goedeke headed back to Charm City with his wife, Jan, to start his business career at Provident, where he has spent 28 years. After a few years in the workforce, he earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins.
As a local UMBC alumnus, Goedeke likes to stay involved in campus activities. He continues to support Retriever athletics and is a member of the Alumni Campaign Cabinet.
“I’m always happy to come back,” said Goedeke, whose son, Kevin, plays defense for the UMBC men’s lacrosse team.
As the father of a student athlete, he can see the positive impact sports can have over a lifetime.
“Sports teaches you very important life lessons,” he said. “You learn to work with others, and you learn to work through difficult times. You learn how to deal with adversity, you learn how to deal with success, and you learn how to deal with a lot of different people.”
Where does Goedeke plan to be next fall when the UMBC basketball season starts up again? You should be able to find him in the RAC, cheering on his Retrievers.
– Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted April 2008

During John Goedeke’s first year on the UMBC basketball team, the players lost all but five games. The year was 1975, and all of the players were freshmen and sophomores.

“UMBC wasn’t even ten years old, but it was a challenge and an opportunity, and I welcomed that,” said Goedeke ’79, economics, who had turned down recruiters from big name basketball schools like Ohio State and the University of Maryland, College Park, for a spot on a fledgling team with coaches he really admired.

Over his college years, however, the team made an amazing turn. By the time his senior year rolled around, the Retrievers had advanced to the final eight in NCAA Division II, the university’s first NCAA appearance.

In the wake of UMBC’s recent success in the basketball world, Goedeke is especially proud of his alma mater.

“It’s so great to hear UMBC and NCAA tournament in the same sentence,” said Goedeke, senior vice president of commercial services at Provident Bank. “Randy Monroe has done a tremendous job, and the players that they have… you have to give them all the credit. I couldn’t say anything to diminish their accomplishments. We’re all so proud.”

Then and Now

As a member of UMBC’s first championship basketball team, Goedeke saw how athletic success built school spirit. “The biggest thing was in the stands. By our senior year, people were really coming out,” he said. “Having that success was very gratifying. It was a tremendous sense of accomplishment.”

“We also didn’t have the alumni support like UMBC does now,” he said, reflecting on the crowd that packed the RAC Arena to watch UMBC beat Hartford for the America East title this past March and the more than 500 fans who traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, to cheer the team on at the NCAA’s.

After graduation, the academic All-American was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. Although he didn’t make the final cut, he got the chance of a lifetime – to play professional basketball for Team Talbot, a Division I team in England.

“It was such a great experience,” he said. After a year in the UK, Goedeke headed back to Charm City with his wife, Jan, to start his business career at Provident, where he has spent 28 years. After a few years in the workforce, he earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins.

As a local UMBC alumnus, Goedeke likes to stay involved in campus activities. He continues to support Retriever athletics and is a member of the Alumni Campaign Cabinet.

“I’m always happy to come back,” said Goedeke, whose son, Kevin, plays defense for the UMBC men’s lacrosse team.

As the father of a student athlete, he can see the positive impact sports can have over a lifetime.

“Sports teaches you very important life lessons,” he said. “You learn to work with others, and you learn to work through difficult times. You learn how to deal with adversity, you learn how to deal with success, and you learn how to deal with a lot of different people.”

Where does Goedeke plan to be next fall when the UMBC basketball season starts up again? You should be able to find him in the RAC, cheering on his Retrievers.

– Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted April 2008

When many people have some extra time to spare, they might think about collecting coins, painting model airplanes, or even trying to write the great American novel.
When Loren Siebert ’93, computer science, took up a hobby, though, he decided to learn one of the hardest languages around – Arabic.
The first UMBC graduate to earn the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, Siebert recently developed a software, LinguaStep, that will be used to aid in instruction of the Arabic language programs at over 30 different universities. Indeed, this San Francisco resident has made a very grand entrance into the world of software engineering.
A Model Student
As a high school student, Loren swam with the Retriever Aquatic Club. He also completed some computer science research with a faculty member at UMBC, thus making early ties with the school.
“To go to UMBC just seemed like a natural extension,” he said. “When I got to UMBC, I knew I was going to be doing computer science, so all that was left was finding other stuff to do.”
Aside from being an excellent student, Siebert competed on the swim team, and worked with the Shriver Center’s Choice Program at UMBC, which provides tutoring and mentoring for at-risk children.
The Big Success
Upon Siebert’s graduation in 1993, he was awarded the competitive Marshall Scholarship to complete his graduate studies in the U.K. Loren earned his master’s in computer science at the University of Manchester and did research on technology policy at the London School of Economics. His master’s research earned him a mention in The Economist and in New Scientist in the same week.
“All of a sudden I went from being a 23-year-old doing computer science research to having all these people in the world wanting to talk to me about how interesting my work was,” he said. “It had a very commercial aspect to it.”
And that’s exactly where his education took him. As a software engineer and entrepreneur for more than a dozen years, Siebert has helped develop a variety of software and web sites, including Quote.com, a site that tracks world financial markets.
The LinguaStep Evolution
After breaking his leg while training for a triathalon, Siebert decided he needed a new hobby to sink his teeth into. He always had an affinity for languages, so he decided that would be a natural route to take. He enrolled at UC Berkeley in 2005 to study the famously difficult language.
“If I’m going to learn a language, I want to learn one of the hard ones,” said Siebert, who said he was, at first, overwhelmed by the language, which shares only 15 characters with English.
He had been researching different techniques used in learning languages, and so developed a software to help himself study. The result was LinguaStep, which focuses on helping students accumulate and retain a large vocabulary, but not waste time re-learning already familiar words. Similar to flash cards, students using LinguaStep can learn at their own pace, and test their knowledge of vocabulary as they need it. As students prove they have learned certain words, the software removes those words from the testing cycle.
Within a year, Siebert received an offer from UC Berkeley to teach an Arabic class, however he left after two semesters to work full time on LinguaStep. The software officially launched in fall 2007, and already more than 30 universities have contacted Siebert with interest in using his software in their Arabic language programs. He is currently planning on designing LinguaStep for other languages – including Mandarin, Korean and Japanese – to address a wider population.
“I want to see how far I can take it,” he said. “I’m a really curious person, and I think that’s something that was instilled in me at UMBC. I’ll always have a constant desire to learn and explore new ideas.”
– Melissa Gilden ’10
Originally posted March 2008