As we send this year’s group of Alternative Spring Breakers off on their service learning trips, we thought we’d take the time to spotlight one of the wonderful people who donated to ASB.  Kirsten Brinlee, program manager for the Baltimore Collegetown Network and friend of UMBC, tells us about how she decided to give, and why the cause is so close to her heart. 

What is your relationship to UMBC, and how did you become involved with us?

When I first moved to Maryland in 2012, I was working for Johns Hopkins University in service-learning, and one of my job responsibilities was to serve on the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement conference. In 2013, UMBC served as the host institution. I would attend planning meetings and many of my first colleagues and friends were from the staff at UMBC. In 2014, I made the transition to my current role as Program Manager at Baltimore Collegetown Network, where I collaborate with 14 institutions, including UMBC.

Can you share a favorite memory from your time here?

Being a member of the 2013 Service-Learning and Civic Engagement conference is one of my top memories at UMBC. I remember being so impressed by the passion and values-focused keynote address given by Dr. Freeman Hrabowski.

What made you decide to give to Alternative Spring Break, specifically?

My first exposure to Alternative Spring Break was when I worked at the University of North Texas’ Center for Leadership and Service. I had never experienced ASBs at my undergraduate institution, but in my work at UNT, our office managed all of the ASBs for the university. I went on my first ASB to St. Louis and we worked with youth. It was one of my most memorable experiences from UNT. When I moved to Baltimore, I was attracted to my position at JHU because it included ASB management. What I loved about JHU’s program was that they were all locally focused. It helped me learn about my community and realize that meaningful service doesn’t have to take place far away from your own community, and in fact it’s more sustainable and impactful to work with your own community.

For this specific ask, one of my Collegetown LeaderShape students reached out to let me know she was participating in an ASB program at UMBC. Collegetown LeaderShape asks students to identify their passions, create a vision, and impact their communities. An ASB is a direct way for students to get involved in service and their community and I want to support those initiatives.

How do you hope your support will impact students?

I hope that my support demonstrates how I continue to live my own values around service and meaningfully engaging with the community.

Why do you think it’s important to give back?

It’s important to give back because it was other people’s generosity and kindness that created opportunities for me. I want to be able to pay forward the experiences I’ve been able to have for another generation.

Much like the weekend, Moderate (Code Yellow) air quality conditions persisted throughout the day across the Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states (top left). The worst Air Quality Indices (AQIs) were reported in the southern portion of California's San Joaquin Valley, reaching Code Red, Unhealthy levels. Widespread agriculture fires continued to burn today across the central/southeast United States (top right). Observed from space, the MODIS instrument, on-board the Terra satellite, measured slightly elevated aerosol optical depth (AOD) in this fire-laden region (particularly north Mississippi), as well as a few pockets of light smoke (bottom left and right).

On Wednesday, March 9, from 11:30am - 1:30pm, DoIT’s Instructional Technology team sponsored Techfest in the University Center (rooms UC 310, UC 312, and the UC Lounge) to bring the campus community together and present ways that technology can both support and improve the efficiency of day-to-day activities.

Students, faculty, and staff were all welcome and encouraged to attend. The event was a huge success, and we'd like to thank everyone who participated. 

We'd especially like to thank all of the vendors who both donated raffle items and attended the event.  All raffle winners have been contacted; congratulations to those of you who won items ranging from $20 Starbucks gift cards to headphones and webcams.

We can't thank all of our workshop presenters enough; their willingness to share their knowledge with our community is greatly appreciated. Our workshop presenters were as follows:

Caroline Bodnar, Career Center

Brad Boyle, DoIT

Lin DasSarma, DoIT Student Worker

Emily Duan, DoIT Student Worker

Mariann Hawken, DoIT

Kate Phelps, Career Center

Ken Schreihofer, Student Affairs

Jack Suess, UMBC CIO

Collin Sullivan, DoIT Student Worker

Finally, we want to thank the student worker on our Instructional Technology team, Collin Sullivan, for spearheading the planning and implementation of TechFest, and we look forward to bringing you another TechFest event in the future!

Penny Rheingans, professor of computer science and electrical engineering and director of UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT), has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Computing Research Association (CRA).

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with leaders from both academia and industry to improve the national climate for computing progress by influencing national computing research and education policy,” says Rheingans.

She was one of ten people voted on by CRA member organizations to fill four academic openings for the CRA Board of Directors. Rheingans will serve in this role for three years, beginning in July 2016.

“I look forward to being able to advocate for practical research to address societal needs, educational foundations to build capacity for innovation, and increased diversity to strengthen our research community,” she says.

CWIT works to develop programs that increase the interest, representation, and retention of women in technology and engineering programs. As the director of CWIT, Rheingans oversees the scholars program for undergraduate students who are committed to increasing gender diversity within technology fields.

The CRA is composed of more than 220 groups across academia, government, and industry in North America. The goal of the CRA is to enhance innovation by supporting collaboration to strengthen research and advanced education in computing.

For more information about CRA, visit their website.

Image: Penny Rheingans talks with a student during a CWIT event. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

UMBC is featured in the Baltimore Sun‘s latest education section as a leading university in breaking down barriers traditional in discipline-based liberal arts education. CAHSS Dean Scott Casper highlights UMBC’s strengths in liberal arts and interdisciplinary education in the article and advocates for the value in studying both STEM and liberal arts subjects.

“The two areas of education are inseparable. The skills and knowledge gained through classes in arts and humanities transcends the choice of major,” explains Casper. “Strong liberal arts education is at the core of UMBC, emphasized and valued across all disciplines and embodied in the almost two years of general education requirements. No matter what students major in, they still need to communicate well, write well, and think creatively about the challenges they’ll face in the future.”

Dean Casper also notes that UMBC has changed some of its institutional teaching practices to reflect what students will confront when they enter the workforce after graduation. The emphasis has been placed more on seminar style courses that promote interaction and collaboration as opposed to lecture-based teaching.

“For the rest of their lives, they will not be in large halls listening to someone lecture,” he explains. “We’re more mindful now of how our students learn and how well they learn.”

Read the full article “Ask Margit: Overcoming barriers and bottlenecks in focused-based education” in the Baltimore Sun. 

Images: English classroom in UMBC’s Performing Arts & Humanities Building and portrait of Dean Scott Casper. Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.