Award-Winning Designer to Lead Hundreds of Middle School Girls, Parents,
in Day of Hands-on, High-Tech Fun: Computer Mania Day, May 6

If there’s one sure way to get more girls interested in
technology careers, just show them how computers help design some of the
world’s most glamorous clothes.

Cynthia Rowley, one of America’s most honored fashion designers, will
show hundreds of middle school girls, parents and teachers from across
Maryland how high technology helps create high fashion clothes worn by
supermodels as she headlines Computer Mania Day at UMBC on Saturday, May 6.

Rowley, whose signature designs are found in Cynthia Rowley boutiques,
better department stores and specialty stores across the U.S. and globe,
has won multiple awards from The Council of Fashion Designers of
America. Her creations have been featured in Vogue, Elle, Glamour,
Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times. She is also the co-author of a
best-selling series of books on personal and home style and an entrepreneur.

Computer Mania Day is an annual day of free, hands-on, high-tech, fun
activities for adults and kids sponsored by UMBC’s Center for Women and
Information Technology (CWIT). The half-day event helps to get girls
interested in technology and computing careers while helping parents and
teachers sharpen their own computer skills. While boys are welcome, the
focus is on girls because of their continuing under-representation in
science, technology, engineering and math.

Research shows that the information technology (IT) gender gap opens as
early as the middle school years, when girls are most image-conscious
and do not want to be labeled as “geeks” or “nerds.” Girls also make up
only 14 percent of Advanced Placement students in computer science, a
key to success in IT-related fields at the college level.

At Computer Mania Day, kids will get the chance to meet Rowley and
participate in workshops led by positive female role models from UMBC
along with business, government and education leaders.

Girls’ events highlights include “Hardware Rocks,” “Google of Opportunities,” digital art and imaging, and the physics of do-it-yourself hot air balloons. Adult workshop highlights include how to prepare your kids for college, “Computers 101,” and “Cyber Safety: Keeping Your Child Protected Online.” All attendees will have the chance to win great giveaways like the HP iPAQ, Dell USB Memory Key and Cisco Routers.

EVENT DETAILS:
Saturday, May 6, 2006.
9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Check-in at
UC Ballroom, UMBC. FREE lunch included for students. All adult and student attendees MUST register ahead of time online at www.computer-mania.info. To sign up or for more information, visit www.computer-mania.info or call 410-455-8433.

A Hot Location for Collaboration

 

bwtech@UMBC , the university’s on-campus research and technology park, is maturing into a hot location for research.

This week, the park announced a multimillion dollar investment from the commercial real estate market at a time when the number of UMBC faculty, students and alumni working with the park’s tenant companies and organizations has grown to nearly 200 .

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has agreed to move its Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center to bwtech@UMBC. The move will bring to campus more than 60 scientists and support staff who monitor the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the health of the region’s water supply, rivers and streams.

The USGS news comes as technology transfer and workforce development connections collaboration between UMBC, the research park and its nearby business incubator, techcenter@UMBC, areon the rise. Thirty-six UMBC faculty members collaborate on research and development with tenant companies. One hundred students are employed part-time or as interns and 54 alumni work or partner with the UMBC family of on-campus companies.

Research collaboration with UMBC’s core of water and environmental science expertise was the key factor in the USGS decision. The USGS has a longtime research partnership with UMBC’s Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE) and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as the U.S. Forest Service and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.

“Like many of my colleagues, I have worked with USGS or used their data for decades,” said Andy Miller, associate professor of geography and environmental systems. “In my view they are the premier science agency in the federal government.”

“This move gives the citizens of Maryland a unique, new resource in higher education as USGS scientists will work shoulder-to-shoulder with UMBC professors,” said Claire Welty, director of CUERE. “UMBC science and engineering students will receive an outstanding education that combines classroom training with hands-on research experience by simply walking across the street.”

According to Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation, bwtech@UMBC’s growth depends on both human capital and bricks and mortar. “The entire UMBC community is buying into the value of the park, which makes us much more attractive to the market,” said Hemmerly.

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), one of the region’s largest suburban office companies, will build the USGS building, to be located at 5522 Research Park Drive. Ground breaking is slated for summer, and the completed facility is expected to open in spring 2007.

(3/14/06)

 

 

 

 

 

COPT to Develop Tech Park’s 3rd Building; Research Collaboration Drives Move of 60 Experts on Region’s Water, Environment

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) announced today that it has signed an agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that will relocate the USGS Maryland-Delaware-DC Water Science Center to a new facility at bwtech@UMBC, the University’s on-campus research and technology park. Ground breaking is slated for summer, and the completed facility is expected to open in spring 2007 to more than 60 USGS scientists and support staff. The move is intended to strengthen collaborative work with UMBC and U.S. Forest Service scientists who monitor the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the health of the region’s water supply, rivers and streams.

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), one of the region’s largest suburban office companies, is partnering with the UMBC Research Park Corporation to deliver the park’s next building. The one-story, 23,500 square-foot facility will be located at 5522 Research Park Drive. The total construction cost of the project is projected to be approximately $4,236,000. COPT’s plans include the opportunity to develop a second building of 110,000 square feet in a four-story multi-tenanted facility with specialized space for technology companies.

Research collaboration with UMBC’s core of water and environmental science expertise was the key factor in the USGS decision to move its Center to bwtech@UMBC from its previous location in White Marsh. The USGS has a longtime research partnership with UMBC’s Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, Center for Urban and Environmental Research and Education (CUERE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the U.S. Forest Service and the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.

James M. Gerhart, Director of the USGS MD-DE-DC Water Science Center, said, "By co-locating on the UMBC campus and becoming part of the university research community, we expect to strengthen our existing collaboration with UMBC on water-related science. We’ll have easier access to student employees, labs, scientific instruments, and university researchers. The university will benefit from having USGS water science experts nearby to teach classes, work with student interns and lead field trips. All in all, I am confident that the move of USGS to UMBC will be a win-win situation.”

For UMBC environmental researchers, the move strengthens an already close relationship. “Like many of my colleagues, I have worked with USGS or used their data for decades,” said Andy Miller, professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at UMBC. “In my view they are the premier science agency in the federal government.”

“This move gives the citizens of Maryland a unique, new resource in higher education as USGS scientists will work shoulder-to-shoulder with UMBC professors,” said Claire Welty, director of CUERE at UMBC. “UMBC science and engineering students will receive an outstanding education that combines classroom training with hands-on research experience by simply walking across the street,” said Welty.

UMBC’s formal connection with USGS goes back to 1997, the beginning of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), a National Science Foundation-funded Long-Term Ecological Research Project whose field headquarters are located on the UMBC campus. BES, which was renewed for another 6-year term in 2004, makes Baltimore’s streams, rivers and water quality among the most highly monitored in the country thanks in large part to an extensive network of USGS equipment and personnel.

bwtech@UMBC was Maryland's first university research park and is the only research and development park in Baltimore County. The 41-acre park's first building, completed in 2001, is occupied by RWD Technologies. A second building, completed in 2004, is fully leased.

“We are very pleased to be selected as the developer to assist UMBC with their plans to expand the research park, but more importantly to have the opportunity to create a relationship with one of our local institutions.” said Randall M. Griffin, President and CEO of COPT.

The news from bwtech@UMBC comes as technology transfer and workforce development connections between UMBC, the research park and its nearby business incubator, techcenter@UMBC, are on the rise. Thirty-six UMBC faculty members collaborate on research and development with tenant companies. One hundred students are employed part-time or as interns and 54 alumni work or partner with the UMBC family of on-campus companies.

According to Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation, the University is just as excited about the growth in human capital as it is about bricks and mortar. “The entire UMBC community is buying into the value of the park, which makes us much more attractive to the market,” said Hemmerly.

The COPT investment follows on the heels of the Dec. 23, 2005 sale of bwtech@UMBC’s first two buildings for $22.5 million to Merritt Properties, another top player in the Baltimore/Washington commercial real estate market. Merritt’s purchase from former developer Grosvenor included 123,000 square feet occupied by tenants including RWD Technologies, Invoke Systems, BD Metrics Inc. and the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center.

About The U.S. Geological Survey:
The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the nation's largest natural-science agency and has served the U.S. and the world for 126 years. The USGS provides reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect the nation’s quality of life. The USGS Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center is one of many regional USGS science centers across the country.

About the USGS Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center:
The USGS Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Water Science Center collects basic data and conducts scientific investigations on the region’s streams, springs, lakes, coastal bays and underground aquifer systems. USGS data on streamflow, ground-water levels, and water chemistry are used to define the quantity and quality of the region's water resources. Data on water use and consumption are also collected to determine human impact on the resource. Hydrologic research studies use these and other data to understand the vulnerability of water resources to over-use and contamination, and to learn how to preserve the resources in a sustainable manner for aquatic life and future human generations. Most of this work is done in cooperation with other federal, state and local government agencies, universities, and research centers.

About COPT:
Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on the ownership, management, leasing, acquisition and development of suburban office properties primarily in select Mid-Atlantic submarkets. The Company is among the largest owners of suburban office properties in the Greater Washington, DC region. COPT currently owns 182 office properties totaling 14.6 million rentable square feet, which includes 18 properties totaling 885,000 square feet held through joint ventures. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OFC. More information on Corporate Office Properties Trust can be found at www.copt.com.

About bwtech@UMBC:
bwtech@UMBC is a 41-acre research and technology community at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). bwtech@UMBC has a total development capacity of up to 330,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. The USGS building will be the third of five planned state-of-the-art buildings containing over 300,000 square feet of office and wet lab space. The park’s 62,000 square-foot first building has been leased by the information technology firm RWD Technologies since 2001. The second building, a 60,000-square-foot multi-tenant building, is fully leased with tenants including The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, software maker BD Metrics Inc., healthcare communications and technology firm Physicians Practice, Inc., the Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC, the engineering/design firm Edwards & Kelcey, and UMBC’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship.

UMBC began planning for a new research and technology park in the early 1990s, based on the success of other U.S. parks and the vision of the late Michael Hooker, UMBC president from 1986-1992. To date, UMBC’s research park and technology incubator have received public and private sector funding from the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore, Baltimore County, the U.S. Department of Commerce, The Abell Foundation, and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO.) bwtech@UMBC is part of Baltimore County's Southwest Enterprise Zone, making companies moving to the park eligible for credits on real property and income taxes, as well as credits for job creation.

One Career Choice Gets Better
Every 10.9 Seconds

 

Every 10.9 seconds another American turns 60, and by 2030, one in every five Americans will be over the age of 65. To prepare leaders to meet the needs of the growing baby boom population, UMBC’s Erickson School of Aging Studies will launch an undergraduate major in Management of Aging Services this fall. It is the first program in the nation to integrate management science, public policy and the study of human aging.

As U.S. demographics change, so do the demands on the workforce, creating career opportunities in such diverse areas as finance, healthcare, marketing and product design, social services, and public advocacy.

“When today’s students hear the word ‘aging,’ they should think of the diverse and plentiful career choices they’ll have when they graduate,” said J. Kevin Eckert, dean of the Erickson School. “The multidisciplinary curriculum that the management in aging services major provides will give students the edge in a rapidly changing workplace.”

The Management of Aging Services major will include intensive individual advising, generous merit-based scholarships, internships and service learning opportunities, career counseling and job placement, in addition to courses taught by some of the nation’s leading researchers in the field, including UMBC professors in public policy, aging and health services. In addition, all declared Management of Aging Studies majors will be eligible for $1000 of financial assistance for fall 2006.

The Erickson School of Aging Studies at UMBC was established in April 2004 with a $5 million commitment from John Erickson, founder and CEO of Erickson, the Baltimore-based developer of residential communities for middle-income people over 62. The School’s goal is to educate leaders and build new knowledge to improve society for mid-life and older adults. In addition to the new bachelor’s degree, the School offers a graduate certificate as well as executive education courses.

For more information, visit www.erickson.umbc.edu.

 

2/27/06

 

 

 

 

 

Strengthening History Education

 

UMBC’s Center for History Education recently received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History Grant Program to invigorate the teaching of history in elementary, middle and high schools. This is the fourth grant the Center has received from the Department of Education.

Over the next three years, the Center will collaborate with Baltimore County Public Schools to enable 30 elementary, middle and high school teachers of American history to become Master Teachers. Program partners also include the Maryland State Archives and the Maryland Historical Society. Participants will work with teams of historians, resource teachers and archivists to increase their own knowledge, develop effective strategies for teaching history and acquire new historical materials for their students.

Teachers will attend Summer Institutes and school-year workshops taught by UMBC’s distinguished history faculty on such topics as the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement. John Jeffries, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and a professor of history, and Kriste Lindenmeyer, associate professor and chair of history, will be among the faculty at the 2006 Summer Institute.

“The UMBC history department has a long tradition of providing support to teachers of history at all levels, and the Center was born of this commitment,” said Daniel Ritschel, associate professor of history and director of the Center for History Education. “We seek not only to help teachers strengthen their knowledge of history, but also to develop instructional techniques best suited for the history classroom.”

The Center collaborates UMBC’s Martha Ross Center for Oral History (MRCOH) to offer teachers and students opportunities to study community history and create their own oral history projects. Barry Lanman, MRCOH director, has worked with teachers to develop local history projects at schools in Arbutus, Dundalk, Glen Burnie, Halethorpe, Lutherville and Timonium, among others.

The Center also is a resource for educators throughout Maryland and beyond: an online library of lesson plans, created by program participants, can be accessed by teachers across the country. In addition, the Center is planning a conference to bring together prominent educators, policy makers and foundations to discuss access to quality education and suggest policies to strengthen history education.

(2/20/06)

 

 

 

 

 

Recognizing Outstanding Alumni

 

UMBC celebrated its success in forging leaders in a wide array of fields at the February 8 Alumni Awards ceremony in Annapolis.

2006 Outstanding Alumna in Engineering and Information Technology

Donna Stevenson, 1987 Information Systems

As head of Early Morning Software, Stevenson is one of only a few minority women CEOs of an IT company in the country. She remains an active volunteer at UMBC, most notably as a member of the Center for Women and Information Technology Advisory Board and a mentor-in-residence for the ACTiVATE program, which promotes entrepreneurship among women.

2006 Outstanding Alumnus in Humanities

Steven Eidelman, 1973 American Studies

After serving for three decades as an advocate for people with disabilities – most recently as national executive director of The Arc of the United States – Eidelman last fall was named the University of Delaware’s first Robert Edelsohn Chair in Disabilities Studies, as well as a Senior Fellow at the university’s Center for Disabilities Studies. In his new position, Eidelman also develops leadership training programs for government and not-for-profit managers who support people with disabilities.

2006 Outstanding Alumna in Natural and Mathematical Sciences

Diane Auer Jones, 1988 M.S. Applied Molecular Biology

In addition to a successful career as an entrepreneur, government policy maker and administrator at Princeton University, in November Jones was appointed Deputy Associate Director for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. She also has served as an active member of the UMBC Research Park Corporation’s Board of Directors for the past eleven years.

2006 Outstanding Alumna in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Lisa L. Dickerson, 1978 Political Science

Prior to her appointment as the first African-American female Administrator for the Maryland Transit Administration in 2005, Dickerson served as assistant secretary for equity and economic empowerment at the Maryland Department of Transportation, and before that garnered successes working as a Congressional fellow in Washington and serving as vice president of a national telecommunications firm. During his time in office, President George H.W. Bush also appointed Dickerson to the prestigious Committee for Small Business and the Republican Council of 100.

2006 Outstanding Alumnus in Visual and Performing Arts

Billy Kemp, 1995 Visual and Performing Arts – Music

An accomplished multi-instrumentalist and producer, Kemp received three nominations from the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) in 2004 including best producer. In 2003 Kemp produced Grammy-nominated and Wammy award-winning singer Debi Smith. He has acted as composer for the regional Emmy award-winning Maryland Public Television series, “Outdoors Maryland” since 1997 and served as adjunct faculty at UMBC since 1996.

2006 Distinguished Service Award

Michael L. Oster, 1974 Economics

As chairman of the UMBC Economics Advisory Board since its inception in 2001, Oster has helped shape the council’s objectives, facilitate scholarships and internships for students and created many valuable connections for the University. An accomplished banking executive, Oster joined BB&T in 1999 as a regional president and became Maryland group president in 2001. His time and talents also benefit the boards of a number of worthy organizations, many of them in his home, Carroll County. He currently also serves as chairman of the Maryland Bankers Association.

Visionary Leadership Award

The Alumni Association Executive Board will present this special award to the Reginald F. Lewis Event Committee (Kisha Matthews ’03, Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, James Wiggins ’75, Gary Brooks ’79, Michael Sterling ’85, Juan Holcomb ’81, Devin Walker ’89 and Crystal Watkins ’95) in recognition of their achievement in advancing the mission of the Alumni Association.

For more information about the UMBC Alumni Association awards, as well as alumni news and events, visit Retriever Net online at http://retrievernet.umbc.edu.

(2/9/06)

 

 

 

 

A Destination for Art and Culture

 

With its strong emphasis on exhibitions, outreach, public programming and scholarly research publications focused on contemporary art and cultural issues, UMBC’s Center for Art and Visual Culture (CAVC) fills a unique niche within the mid-Atlantic region.

CAVC’s exhibitions were recently recognized by both national and regional media. Washington Post reviewer Jessica Dawson called “Blur of the Otherworldly,” CAVC’s fall 2005 exhibition, “an ambitious group show….,” while locally, Baltimore magazine named CAVC the metropolitan area’s Best Contemporary Art Gallery. Said Baltimore: “UMBC’s Center for Art and Visual Culture mounts cutting edge exhibitions infused with aesthetic bravado, intellectual heft and cultural significance. (Recent shows) have turned the center into a budding contemporary art powerhouse.” (“Blur of the Otherworldly” is also part of a feature on art and the paranormal in the February issue of Art in America.)

In addition, the American Association of Museums awarded CAVC a First Prize in its Publication Design Competition, Exhibitions category, for “White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art.” The traveling exhibition, organized by CAVC, has been profiled by news organizations such as ABC “World News Tonight,” Newsweek and National Public Radio.

Since 1992, CAVC has actively pursued the organization of exhibitions that contain the aesthetic, theoretical and educational potential to reach both a national and international audience. CAVC Director Symmes Gardner said, “David Yager, our executive director and founder, and I have worked together to build CAVC through the years. It’s been a fantastic experience because we’ve had a lot of time to maneuver and try out new things.” CAVC staff includes Curator Maurice Berger, a fellow at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics of the New School for Social Research in New York.

CAVC has traveled its exhibition projects to a broad spectrum of museums, professional non-profit galleries and universities in the U.S. and abroad. It also coordinates an internship program for UMBC undergraduate and graduate students, and collaborates with schools, museums and non-profit organizations to produce educational programs for children and adults in the city and suburbs.

On Thursday, February 2 from 5 to 7 p.m., CAVC will host an opening reception for “What Sound Does a Color Make?,” a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by Independent Curators International that explores the fusion of vision and sound in electronic media. At 6 p.m., Kathleen Forde, curator of “What Sound Does a Color Make?” will discuss the exhibition.

The Center for Art and Visual Culture is just one of the reasons UMBC is a destination for art and culture. For a calendar of upcoming arts and humanities events at UMBC, visit www.umbc.edu/arts.

(1/30/06)

 

 

 

 

Learning from New Zealand Public Policy

 

On January 18, leaders in public policy from across the U.S. will convene at UMBC for a one-day forum, “What Did We Learn Over There? Public Policy in New Zealand Through American Eyes.” Hosted by the University’s Center for Health Program Development and Management (CHPDM), the event will bring together for the first time individuals who studied in New Zealand as Ian Axford Fellows in Public Policy. The Axford Fellows program was established by the New Zealand Government in partnership with the private sector to give outstanding American professionals opportunities to study, travel and gain practical knowledge of economic, social and political reforms and management of the government sector.

Eight former Ian Axford Fellows will give presentations, and the program will be placed in context with remarks by Robert Reischauer, President of the Urban Institute and former chair of the Ian Axford Fellowships selection committee; Annette Dixon, the World Bank’s Director of Strategy and Operations for Europe and Central Asia Region; and Peter Watson, CEO of the Dwight Group and current chair of the Axford selection committee. UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski and CHPDM Executive Director Chuck Milligan will speak, and faculty and students will also attend.

John O’Brien, CHPDM’s director of acute care policy and an Ian Axford Fellow in 2005, was inspired to bring former Fellows together to foster an ongoing dialogue about policy issues. “My six months in New Zealand allowed me to think broadly about how health care delivery systems work, and to question my own assumptions of how systems can and should work,” he said.

Though dwarfed by the United States in size and population, New Zealand faces many of the same issues that confront this country. Health care, the environment, taxes, ethnic diversity and education are but a few of the topics that past Axford Fellows have investigated. “One of the benefits of studying New Zealand is that the relationships across seemingly disparate topics are more apparent than in a large country like the United States,” said O’Brien. “Discussion among forum participants is likely to generate fresh insights and novel approaches that otherwise might not be considered.”

CHPDM is dedicated to improving the health and social outcomes of vulnerable populations through research, analysis and evaluations on behalf of government agencies and foundations. Formed in 1994 in a unique collaboration with the Maryland Medicaid program, the Center is actively engaged in the academic and research programs at UMBC, and partners with other University centers and departments on research initiatives, forums and symposia related to federal and state health policy. As a member of the University community, the Center offers research and employment opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and currently employs eight UMBC alumni.

For more information on CHPDM, visit www.chpdm.org.

(1/10/06)

 

 

 

 

Each year, the UMBC Alumni Association presents awards to honor alumni for their professional and personal achievements and service to the University.  Learn more about our past award winners.

Outstanding Alumna
Natural & Mathematical Sciences
Diane Auer Jones ’88, M.S. Applied Molecular Biology
In addition to a successful career as an entrepreneur, government policy maker and administrator at Princeton University, in November Jones was appointed Deputy Associate Director for the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. She also has served as an active member of the UMBC Research Park Corporation’s board of directors for the past eleven years.
Outstanding Alumnus
Humanities
Steven Eidelman ’73, American Studies
After serving for three decades as an advocate for people with disabilities – most recently as national executive director of The Arc of the United States – Eidelman last fall was named the University of Delaware’s first Robert Edelsohn Chair in Disabilities Studies, as well as a Senior Fellow at the university’s Center for Disabilities Studies. In his new position, Eidelman also develops leadership training programs for government and not-for-profit managers who support people with disabilities.
Outstanding Alumnus
Visual & Performing Arts
Billy Kemp ’95, Visual and Performing Arts – Music
An accomplished multi-instrumentalist and producer, Kemp received three nominations from the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) in 2004 including best producer. In 2003 Kemp produced Grammy-nominated and Wammy award-winning singer Debi Smith. He has been the composer for the regional Emmy award-winning Maryland Public Television series, “Outdoors Maryland,” since 1997. He has been adjunct faculty at UMBC since 1996.
Outstanding Alumna
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Lisa L. Dickerson ’78, Political Science
Prior to her appointment as the first African-American female Administrator for the Maryland Transit Administration in 2005, Dickerson served as Assistant Secretary for Equity and Economic Empowerment at the Maryland Department of Transportation, and before that garnered successes working as a congressional fellow in Washington and serving as vice president of a national telecommunications firm. During his time in office, President George H.W. Bush also appointed Dickerson to the prestigious Committee for Small Business and the Republican Council of 100.
Outstanding Alumna
Engineering and Information Technology
Donna Stevenson ’87, Information Systems
As head of Early Morning Software, Stevenson is one of only a few minority women CEOs of an IT company in Maryland and the rest of the United States. She remains an active volunteer at UMBC, most notably as a member of the Center for Women and Information Technology advisory board and a mentor-in-residence for the ACTiVATE program, which promotes entrepreneurship among women.
Distinguished Service Award
Michael L. Oster ’74, Economics
As chairman of the UMBC Economics Advisory Board since its inception in 2001, Oster has helped shape the council’s objectives, facilitate scholarships and internships for students and created many valuable connections for the University. An accomplished banking executive, Oster joined BB&T in 1999 as a regional president and became Maryland Group President in 2001. His time and talents also benefit the boards of a number of worthy organizations, many of them in his home, Carroll County.
Visionary Leadership Award
The Alumni Association Executive Board will present this special award to the Reginald F. Lewis Event Committee in recognition of their achievement in advancing the mission of the Alumni Association. The committee members are:
Kisha Matthews ’03
Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88
Devin Walker ’89
James Wiggins ’75
Gary Brooks ’79
Michael Sterling ’85
Juan Holcomb ’81
Crystal Watkins ’95