DoIT is very pleased to announce that Eric Ludy has joined our Development Team.  Eric will be responsible for Application Development activities and the infamous ‘other duties as assigned.’

Eric brings a wealth of experience and is joining us from ORACLE where he served as a PeopleSoft Technical Consultant for the past 6 years.  Prior to ORACLE, Eric spent 5 years in Higher Education as a Senior PeopleSoft Developer and another 5 years as a Senior Technical Instructor for PeopleSoft (PSFT).  Eric received his M.S. in Hydrogeology form Miami University and his B.S. In Geosciences form Radford University.

Eric’s office will be located on our floor in room AD601.  I encourage you to walk over on Monday and welcome Eric to the BSG Team!

The Bookstore is gearing up for a GROOVY Back-to-School season!

In celebration for the upcoming 50^th, we are having some far-out events around the store!

The Bookstore is celebrating UMBC’s 50 years with a LOGO BOGO50 Sale on all eligible logo merchandise! When you purchase one logo item you will receive another of equal or lesser value 50% OFF! This offer begins on August 27^th and will run through September 3^rd. (Offer excludes diploma frames, books, gift cards, electronics, school supplies, clearance items, and previous purchases and may not be combined with any other current promotion running.)

Make sure to stop by True Bits Tech Center during our 3^rd annual Tech Week for some dy-no-mite deals on our already low education pricing on Apple and Dell products as well as some hip Apple swag!  Receive FREE wireless Beats headphones when you buy an eligible Mac or iPad Pro. Or receive a $200 Dell gift card when you purchase an eligible Dell! Tech Week begins August 26^th and runs through September 3^rd. Reserve online by September 19^th and receive an additional 2% OFF!

If you are on campus during New Student Move-in Day, the Yum Shoppe will be the scene! Be transported back in time with our “Turn Back the Clock Sale!” On August 27^th, from 10am to 5pm we will have outta sight pricing for eligible candy bars, chips and soda cans! 10 cent candy bars! 10 cent bags of chips! And 25 cent soda cans! (See cashier for eligible products. Limit 5 per customer. While supplies last!)

Don’t forget to grab your copy of this year’s New Student Book Experience, “Not In My Neighborhood” only $19.95! This book is boss!

Starting September 6^th the Bookstore will have NEW hours.  We will now be open 8:30am to 5pm Monday through Thursday and will maintain our Friday8:30am to 4pm hours. We will also remain closed on Saturday and Sunday.  Please see our website, bookstore.umbc.edu, for special weekend openings throughout the year.

The UMBC Bookstore is excited for a new semester and we hope to see you soon!

Dr. Susan Han and Dr. Bruce Herman, UMBC Counseling Center

Parents and students, welcome to UMBC!  College is a time for growth and parental support throughout the college experience is invaluable.  Parents not only experience the excitement and anxiety along with their sons and daughters, but can also provide support when students are confronted with new challenges.  Students who get involved in campus organizations, jobs and activities generally do better academically and are more likely to stay in school.  However, it is sometimes challenging to figure out how to find balance and manage time. As a parent, you can help prepare your child anticipate that they may face academic and social challenges as he or she moves from home and takes steps toward independence.  Stay alert for signs of distress and possible changes in mood or behavior, and throughout the year, ask questions and listen to how they are feeling.  In addition, encourage them to use resources on campus.

One great free resource available at the Counseling Center is the Mind Spa, a tranquil oasis that is replete with tools to help students relax, improve memory and concentration, increase awareness of emotional states, and learn to regulate stress and anxiety.  It is a space equipped for practice of mindfulness, meditation, relaxation, and overall self-care.  Practice of mindfulness and meditation have important physical and mental health benefits such as increased concentration, awareness, and regulation of emotions.  Studies show that these practices have positive short and long-term effects on the brain.  Specific resources that we offer include but are not limited to: a massage chair, biofeedback programs, meditation cushions, hot tea, aromatherapy, light therapy, self-help library, and guided breathing/relaxation exercises.  Students have access to the Mind Spa Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:00pm.  Students can walk-in or call ahead (410-455-2472) to reserve the space or specific resource.

The Counseling Center is a free and confidential resource at UMBC that provides short-term individual counseling, group therapy, referral assistance and psychiatric consultation for a wide variety of concerns.  Some students talk to their counselors about their struggles to adjust to UMBC, while others seek treatment for mood and/or anxiety disorders.  Counseling Center staff also provide drop-in workshops called “Skills 4 Success” which help students learn strategies to improve time management, procrastination difficulties, test anxiety and stress management.  In addition, parents can utilize the Just In Case app (counseling.umbc.edu/familyjustincase) for resources, tips and information about mental health.  At any time, parents can reach out to the Counseling Center for consultation regarding how they can best support their son or daughter. Further information about the Center is available at our website or you can call 410-555-2472 to speak with a counselor.

Transform a Farmers Market Food Cart into a Restaurant
—With Steve Chu ’12, economics, Nikhil Yesupriya’13, biology and English and Ephrem Abebe’13, information systems

It all began during Spring Break 2010. Steve Chu, Nikhil Yesupriya, and Ephrem Abebe were building low-income houses for Habitat for Humanity. As they worked together, they discovered they had a shared passion for making, and eating, good food.

“Cook nights” followed when the three men came back to UMBC. The trio played with ingredients and dishes from every conceivable culture.

“UMBC is such an incredibly diverse community, and we had a great time with our friends cooking all the different things they ate growing up,” Yesupriya recalls.

Chu adds that the nights also taught them “about the power of bringing people together over great food. And, over time, we realized: ‘Hey, we want to keep going with this in the real world!’”

After graduation, Chu followed his lifelong interest in cooking and restaurants to stints in local kitchens like Petit Louis. A year later, when Abebe and Yesupriya completed their degrees, he pitched them the idea of going into the food business.

A few years of hard work, and the love of food that fueled cook nights now delights customers at Ekiben – the sleek and funky 10-seat restaurant the UMBC alums opened in March in Fells Point. How did they do it?

Step 1: Follow the Fun

Finding partners who can share the joy as well as the labor was an important first step.

“Any kind of business startup is going to be hard work,” says Abebe. “But working with Nikhil and Steve was also definitely going to be fun. So I was in.”

Together, they settled on a menu of pan-Asian comfort food using impeccably fresh, locally sourced ingredients. The name Ekiben – bento box-style takeaway meals popular with Japanese train travelers – also struck a chord. The food needed to be as fun as the business.

Step 2: Be Flexible

The trio dreamed of a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They also looked into buying a food truck. Not ready for an $80,000 investment, they started smaller still.

“We bought a hotdog cart off eBay,” says Chu. “Something I would say is a definite ‘don’t do.’” (It turns out hotdog carts do not come pre-assembled). The food cart debuted in spring 2014, selling the partners’ innovative take on Asian street fare at local festivals and farmers’ markets.

“The cart wasn’t our original vision,” says Yesupriya. “But it forced us to be creative and allowed us to be responsive.”

Step 3: Forge Strong Relationships

The trio bonded during their Habitat for Humanity days – and found they shared a work ethic as well as a taste for adventurous food.

The bonds they formed at UMBC also helped: “Our UMBC friends knew our food from all those cook nights, and they showed up. And told their own friends, who came out and brought more friends,” says Chu. “Those relationships were a huge part of our early success.”

Ekiben’s enthusiastic customer service is also about relationships: “We want to feed people and make them happy, not just take their money and hand them their order,” says Yesupriya. “That means getting to know who is on the other side of the counter and listening to their ideas and opinions – about the food, the space, anything.”

Step 4: Go All In

The Ekiben team says they have put family and social lives on hold to focus solely on the business. In less than two years, they built a successful mobile food business, and now have that storefront restaurant they wanted. Their reputation for offerings including righteous bao (steamed buns stuffed with delectable fillings like Thai chicken meatballs or lusciously spice-infused braised pork) now lures diners from as far as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

“We are in our early twenties,” says Yesupriya. “People we know are like: ‘Oh, we want to travel! We want to buy a cool car.’ We are putting all our resources and assets into this business.”

Ebebe says the sacrifice is worth it. “This is how we have been able to go so far in such a short time,” he observes.

Step 5: Don’t Give Up

The Ekiben team says tenacity and focus can help solve the unexpected problems and setbacks.

“Our first farmers market, we had exactly two customers who were friends from UMBC who came out to support us,” says Chu. “That was it. It was super hot. Nobody wanted steamed buns. Nobody knew who we were.”

But Chu, Yesupriya, and Ebebe kept plugging away, talking to customers and offering samples. Persistence paid off. Within weeks, the Ekiben cart was in the black.

— Michelle Gienow

(Ekiben is located at 1622 Eastern Avenue. ekibenbaltimore.com)

By the Numbers

Current number of Ekiben menu items: 7 (5 entrees plus 2 side dishes)
Number of meatballs sold during Artscape 2015: 3,600
Number of hours it takes to slow-cook a batch of Ekiben’s “melts in yo mouth, sticks to yo fingers” Char Siu ribs: 48

Magic Beans

Like many students before him who have studied in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, Joseph Hyman ‘11, mechanical engineering, found himself craving a fresh, hot cup of coffee to help the pages fly by.

Hyman pondered how to satisfy that immediate need for caffeine: Wouldn’t it be great if a travel mug could brew its own coffee? So he set out on a search for this mug of his dreams.

When he discovered that that no one was manufacturing that mug of his dreams, he decided to create it himself – along with a talented team of UMBC engineering students and alumni.

Fast forward more than four years, and the combined travel mug and coffee brewer that Hyman envisioned is now the first product of the MoJoe Brewing Co., backed by more than 700 supporters of an associated Kickstarter campaign. The team sought $20,000 through crowdfunding to jump-start production and ended up with more than $85,000 in pledges.

Hyman collaborated with fellow UMBC graduates Ezekial Kolajo ‘11, mechanical engineering and Jingrui Wang ‘16, Ph.D., mechanical engineering, as well as felleo developer Alexandre Wing, to develop the personal mobile brewer.

The MoJoe technology emphasizes convenience and craft. Users can put water of any temperature into the mug, which will then heat it to the 200 degrees Fahrenheit necessary to make great coffee or tea. The mug also has a reusable filter – and is powered by a variety of adapters or a rechargeable battery. Yet it is not a glorified instant coffee machine; coffee and water stay separate until the brewing process to ensure the best taste.

The MoJoe team faced the challenge of developing and launching the company’s first product while maintaining full-time jobs. “It’s exciting that after years of building a product, people actually want it. And that there’s a demand for it,” Hyman said. “It makes the sleepless nights worth it.”

Kolajo, co-founder and engineer for MoJoe, says self-belief and perseverance helped Hyman’s dream become a reality. “It’s been rather surreal to find ourselves in a position where an idea has come to life and is getting a lot of positive attention,” he says. “I never imagined I would find myself in a position like this.”

UMBC didn’t just provide the engineering training to create a mug that doubles as a brewer. Hyman and Kolajo credit their experience in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program with honing their collaboration skills and tenacity to succeed. Hyman adds that the help of the university’s Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship gave him the confidence to create his own business.

“When it comes to entrepreneurship, it really can be you [who succeeds]. There is no special person who that can happen to. You just need to know the steps you need to take,” says Hyman.

–Megan Hanks

Power and Perception

The opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing lasted several hours, showcased thousands of performers, and featured an elaborate fireworks ceremony, wowing the many spectators who viewed it in person and on high-definition television. But what the viewers saw was not entirely real.

The song that accompanied the entrance of the Chinese national flag was lip-synched. The impressive fireworks display was pre-recorded. For one emerging cultural and media studies scholar watching on television, the ceremony helped illuminate a powerful research question. Fan Yang, an assistant professor of media and communication studies, was already exploring the complex struggle of fake versus real taking place within China’s economy. The Olympic spectacle brought that tension to a broader public.

Yang’s new book Faked in China: Nation Branding, Counterfeit Culture, and Globalization (Indiana University Press) closely examines China’s cultural dilemma as it deals with the competing visions for the nation’s economy that have battled since the country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 and signed the international Intellectual Property Rights Regime (IPR).

Faked in China traces the cultural interactions between Chinese government policies meant to enforce the idea that China should have a unified national culture and economy (including making its own goods to comply with the IPR) and a pervasive “counterfeit culture” of making, buying, and selling unauthorized products.

After living in several regions of the country and experiencing its vastly diverse landscape, Yang began to think critically about the idea of national culture as a unified notion. She started to push back against dominant Western perceptions of the Chinese economy as simply “fake.”

“That kind of discussion of culture to me is not the most helpful,” explains Yang. “Not only because it understands culture as a fixated idea that never changes, but also that it doesn’t take into account the fact that many other places in the world have had this reputation of faking.”

Throughout the book, Yang cites examples that contradict this contested duality: Beijing’s Silk Street Market (a popular tourist destination); the cultural formation of the term “Shanzhai” (which refers to imitation and counterfeit brands and goods); and the larger concept of the Chinese Dream. Each of these phenomena illustrates the depths of the cultural dilemmas China is now experiencing as it weaves itself into the global economy.

“There is a need to think about what China really means not just for China, but for the world. China is a way for us to broaden the scope of cultural studies in the West,” Yang says.

In an increasingly globalized world, Yang hopes Faked in China will invigorate discussions about how China is viewed by Western nations.

“The imagined contention between superpowers of China and America is overly simplistic and doesn’t account for a lot of complexities,” she says. “This kind of analysis that I performed I hope will reorient our thinking of China as more of a third world problem versus this superpower discourse.”

–Max Cole

Interdisciplinarity has always been part of the UMBC landscape. But where is it headed? UMBC Magazine asked Carole McCann – special assistant to the provost for interdisciplinary activities and a professor and chair of gender and women’s studies – and Stephen Freeland, director of UMBC’s interdisciplinary studies program, to address interdisciplinary work at UMBC today.

UMBC Magazine: UMBC seems to have interdisciplinarity in its bloodstream.

Carole McCann: I actually would say “and in its bones.” A number of units at our founding were structured to be interdisciplinary. As just one of many examples, American studies was one of UMBC’s foundational departments. It is also a department which nurtured gender and women’s studies, media and communications, and some aspects of global studies. We also have interdisciplinary studies – and before that, Option II – which offers students the opportunity to create their own majors. We’ve had multiple ways in which our campus has been able to identify and nurture emerging and interdisciplinary fields.

Stephen Freeland: The world is changing at such a rate that no matter what we carve out into a new program, there will always be students who are telling us what’s next. We embrace this idea of the individualized major, where the students sometimes tell us what’s out there next in terms of careers and graduate programs. And if you can design a degree that makes you competitive for that, we’ll buy into it.

UMBC Magazine: Are interdisciplinary collaborations pushing into the curriculum?

McCann: Oh, absolutely. We have students saying: “This is a thing and I need to do it.” And we also have faculty saying: “Hey, this is a thing and I want to do it.” One example is [associate professor of American studies] Nicole King and [associate professor of visual arts] Steve Bradley and their Mapping Baybrook project, where students in an American studies class do the work of cultural mapping and understanding the neighborhood, and students in a visual arts class do the graphic design work to create visual representation.

Freeland: You can also look at the work that biology is partnering with mathematics right now.

McCann: We all bring our work in because it’s what excites us. So we talk about it – and it does get into the curriculum. The gender and women’s studies department is built out of a faculty initiative to bring into the curriculum things that weren’t there before.

That is the exciting thing about interdisciplinarity. Working together – across ways of seeing the world – produces a new frame for understanding.

UMBC Magazine: Does having interdisciplinarity in our bones help us?

McCann: The thing about bones is they’re kind of hard. So, figuring out how to take a physical campus designed for the mid-20th century and turn it into a campus that has the flexibility to offer different configurations, both in terms of classrooms, but also in terms of course scheduling and credit bearing activities, that’s a challenge. One of the things that the Provost’s Task Force on Interdisciplinary Activities has focused on is: How do we do that?

Interdisciplinarity is the ground of innovation. To identify and solve real world problems, we need to have places that incubate innovative thinking, right? That’s what’s going on with interdisciplinary activities. We need to strengthen that across college divides.

Freeland: I also see a really deep, meaningful bridge here between interdisciplinarity and applied learning. Any real world problem is inherently interdisciplinary. It’s myopic to think: “Oh, that’s a biological question.” It’s got a sociological dimension, a philosophical dimension, an artistic dimension. Interdisciplinarity is a place where we’ll be able to meet employers and graduate schools more effectively. Professional organizations now want students to do projects, where you actually see a task through. You learn project management. You learn the sociology of teamwork. The MCAT has just changed to demand sociology. And they don’t mean just learn the right answers to sociology. They mean think about your patient as a person, not just a chemical system that needs fixing.

We also find that the employers of the biologists and the computer scientists who come to do a “safe degree” that leads to a job that their parents like are saying: “We wish they could write better, think critically better…. “

McCann: And read.

Freeland: Everything the humanities is trying to teach. This is, really, I think, nothing short of the 21st century educational mode. It has to be.

—Richard Byrne ’86

Family Guy

Don Zimmerman coached championship men’s lacrosse teams at Johns Hopkins University, and his arrival at UMBC in 1994 took the program to new levels of success. But as he retired from the head coaching position on July 1, Zimmerman said the relationships built inside and outside the lines – with those he worked with and coached – are what he’ll miss more than anything else.

“When I look back at my career, it has really been all about the people,” says Zimmerman. “The players, their families, my assistants. You really become a family where everybody is working together.”

Zimmerman will continue to work in the university’s Athletics department, where he will teach physical education and continue to mentoring current students and former players.

The record Zimmerman compiled is impressive. He won 237 games as a head coach at Johns Hopkins and UMBC. His Johns Hopkins teams won three national titles, and Zimmerman led the Retrievers to six NCAA tournament appearances.

The task of continuing UMBC’s tradition falls to Ryan Moran – a rising star in men’s lacrosse coaching who was offensive coordinator and assistant coach for Loyola University Maryland’s NCAA semifinal squad in 2016. Moran also spent six seasons at University of Maryland, College Park, rising to the rank of associate head coach in his final two years.

“I am truly excited and truly honored for this opportunity to lead this great program,” says Moran.

– Jeff Seidel ’85

Well Traveled

Faisal Khan ’99, social work was studying law at the University of Baltimore 15 years ago when his passion for basketball led him down a different path. He took an assistant coaching job for the women’s team at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Khan’s journey in women’s hoops has led him to the position of associate head coach at Hofstra University. But it hasn’t been a quick and narrow path. He has worked in South Africa and Scotland, and even departed Hofstra in 2010 to make a sojourn to his father’s hometown in India, before returning to the school in 2012.

“You have to find through all of these experiences who you are as a human being,” says the peripatetic Khan. “If you are not comfortable in your own skin, and can’t find comfort in your own skin, you have problems. I am a firm believer in that.”

Khan, who was born in Libya and moved to the United States when he was 11 years old, has also worked at Shepherd University and UNC-Asheville with head coach Betsy Blose.

In his second stint at Hofstra, Khan has helped head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey guide the women’s team to its first Colonial Athletic Association title game and a bid to the women’s NIT.

Off the court, Khan leads efforts for Hofstra student-athletes to give back through work with groups including the Interfaith Nutrition Network – a Long Island-based food pantry – and Special Olympics.

– David Driver

Wedding Belle

Jen Dress, UMBC’s assistant director of student life, has extended her close working relationship with students to officiating at their weddings as alumni. She tells UMBC Magazine how it came about.

“I started creating wedded bliss a little bit by chance.  I had a former student and a student-turned-staff-member from some pretty different family and religious backgrounds who said, Hey we got engaged, so can you marry us?  And the internet said I could. Basically you can go online and submit your name to be able to file paperwork for folks and become an officiant.  My first wedding was Sameeha Azeez Bricklemyer ’09, visual arts and Ryan Bricklemyer ’04, information systems, and M.S. ’06, information systems.

“I also officiated for Jay Lagorio ’08, computer science, and Cassie Surber Lagorio ’09, political science and psychology; Beth and Simon Reilly; and Morgan Simonds ’12, psychology, and John Privot ’12, psychology and environmental studies. I officiated for former staff member Stephanie Hemling and her husband Steven Palinkas as well. To be able to tell their stories in front of their families and friends really brings things full circle for me.

“The weddings are such a stumble down memory lane.  I meet them when they are 18 and now they are headed down this path of marriage and family and all that goes with it. To see how their lives have unfolded and the UMBC friendships they have maintained speaks to the power of this place. They make friends here and sometimes meet their person here!”

– Julia Celtnieks ’13

Endurance Test

Matt Frazier ’07, M.S., applied mathematics, ran marathons as a hobby. Eating right was a key element.

“I didn’t want to eat animals,” Frazier recalls. “But as an athlete, I was worried about getting enough calories and protein.”

Seeing a flier with graphic images of chickens being slaughtered pushed him to embrace vegetarianism. But could he keep running with the new lifestyle?

In 2009, Frazier started a blog to find some answers about being an endurance athlete on a vegetarian diet. He’s been blogging for a growing audience as the “No Meat Athlete” ever since.

“It turned out to be a good name,” says Frazier. Readers started asking for t-shirts – and for training advice. Within six months of giving up meat, Frazier accomplished his long-held goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon by shaving 10 minutes off his finishing time.

The blog has blossomed into a website stocked with training tips, recipes, and podcasts. Frazier’s first published book, No Meat Athlete: Run on Plants and Discover Your Fittest, Fastest, Happiest Self (co-authored by Matthew Ruscigno) has sold 25,000 copies. A vegan cookbook – with chef Stepfanie Romine – will be published next year.

Cities including London, Moscow, and Tokyo now boast “No Meat Athlete” running groups. “It makes me feel good to see that take off,” says Frazier.

Frazier says his training in applied mathematics at UMBC taught him “a logical and analytical way of thinking that has been really valuable,” especially as an entrepreneur.

“There’s no map – especially with the blog and podcasts,” he adds. “It’s a new frontier.”

– Caitlin James ’01

Check out Frazier’s site at nomeatathlete.com

UMBC proudly announced the establishment of the School of Public Policy in 2014, on the 40th anniversary of the university’s public policy program. As UMBC approaches its 50th anniversary celebration in September, many public policy alumni are now moving into prominent positions in education and public health with several high-level appointments announced in the past few months alone.

Keith Elder ’02 Ph.D., public policy, was named dean of Samford University’s School of Public Health earlier this year and started in that position in July. He was previously professor and chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy in the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University. Before that, he was a faculty member in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management in Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina and the Department of Health Services Administration in the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Elder’s research interests include health policy, healthcare delivery and healthcare processes.

“We have worked together as colleagues since Keith graduated, publishing several articles together,” shares Nancy Miller, professor of public policy, who served as Elder’s advisor for his doctoral work at UMBC. “Keith’s passion for minority men’s health has informed some of my own recent research directions, and it has been exciting to see Keith develop as a leader in public health and policy.”

“Our country and world continue to face numerous health-care challenges that are best addressed by a comprehensive approach that includes effective partnerships with communities, public health organizations, health systems and academic institutions, and a well-trained public health workforce,” said Elder in a news release announcing his new position.

Samuel Brown ’97 Ph.D., public policy, was recently appointed director of the Wichita State University (WSU) Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs. He was previously a professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore and associate professor of public administration at the University of Nebraska. Brown also served in positions in the private sector and state and federal government prior to his academic career.

“I believe his leadership will make a distinct contribution to WSU’s commitment of service to the community and region,” said WSU President John Bardo in a news release announcing the appointment. “He is a passionate public servant committed to cultivating people and organizations…his visionary leadership style will advance the school’s mission of integrating teaching, research and applied projects.”

Rear Admiral (RADM) Sylvia Trent-Adams ’06 Ph.D., public policy, was recently named to serve as deputy surgeon general and began that role in October 2015. In her new position, Trent-Adams is senior advisor to the surgeon general. She provides advisement and support regarding U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps operations and communicates the best available scientific information to advance the health of the country.

RADM Trent-Adams previously served as deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and assisted in managing a multi-billion dollar program that serves people living with HIV.

In recognition of alumni’s significant contributions to public policy over the years, during UMBC’s 50th anniversary weekend the School of Public Policy will host the alumni panel “We can work it out: Reflections on how public policy impacts our lives.” Elder and Trent-Adams will speak at the event, along with Renny DiPentima ’84, Ph.D.; Laura Bruner ’14, M.P.P.; and Robert Cenname ’08, M.P.P.

The event will be held Friday, September 16, 4-6 p.m. in the Skylight Room of The Commons, and registration is required. For more information, visit the School of Public Policy website.

Images: (Top) UMBC Public Policy Building, photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. Keith Elder, photo courtesy Samford University. Samuel Brown, photo courtesy Wichita State University.