Live Broadcasts Begin for UMBC Basketball Home Games

UMBCRetrievers.tv has announced that all home basketball games for the 2012-13 season will be broadcast live through the website.

The first game to be broadcast will be the women’s game against Monmouth Sunday, November 11. In a statement, UMBCRetrivers.tv’s live streaming will include “live commentary … multiple camera angles, replays, and enhanced graphics.”

Prices for individual games will be $6.95, and the entire season can be seen by becoming a “Retriver Believer” with an all-access pass for $69.95. The package includes all 28 basketball games, along with other athletic events like swimming, diving, and so on. Purchases may be made at the subscription page here.

Claudio Galindo, LLC, Recognized by Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake

Claudio Galindo of UMBC’s Language, Literacy, and Culture Ph. D. program was recently recognized by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for her work within the Latino community of the city and state, according to a statement from the regional community organization CASA de Maryland.

The mayor’s statement came as part of the city’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Speaking on Dr. Galindo, Rawlings-Blake said that “when President Obama announced his program to allow immigrant students for deferred action and work authorization in the United States this past summer, Claudia was one of the first to volunteer to assist with the process. Since the first community DACA clinic at CASA de MD on August 16, Dr. Claudia Galindo has volunteered over 50 hours helping students fill out applications, and reviewing supporting documents”.

The UMBC community commends Dr. Galindo on her important work with the Latino community of Maryland, and wishes her well in her future endeavors with CASA de Maryland.

Alumnus Conor Devlin ’08, Economics, New Lease Analyst for Colliers International

Alumnus and former UMBC lacrosse attackman Conor Devlin ’08, economics, was named new lease analyst for Colliers International in Baltimore, according to an article published in The Daily Record October 1st.

The report in The Record’s “Movers & Shakers” section said Devlin’s duties at Colliers “will include lease administration, accounts receivable, account analysis and administrative tasks.” Previous experience also mentioned included stints with CoStar Group as research associate, Wells Fargo as a credit manager and STX LLC as a marketing intern.

Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education Receives Grant

The Baltimore Sun reported on August 28th the awarding of grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) totalling $9.2-million with the aim of “planting trees, restoring wetlands, installing rain gardens” and undertaking other projects to improve the condition of the Chesapeake Bay area.

Among the organizations awarded was UMBC’s Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education (CUERE). The center received $324,000 and according to reporter Tim Wheeler will collaborate with the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA) on runoff controls like pervious concrete and a practice called subsoiling, where ground soil is loosened in order to hopefully allow it to soak up more rainfall.

CUERE’s project is among 41 in located Maryland, DC, and five other bay-watershed states, with all focused on dealing with polluted runoff, which Wheeler described as “one of the most challenging and costly aspects of the bay restoration” in the article.

Jeremy Yap ’08, Biological Sciences, Wins Predoctoral Fellowship

Alumnus Jeremy “Jerry” Yap ’08, biological sciences, was recently honored as one of four national winners of a 2012-2013 American Chemical Society (ACS) Medicinal Chemistry Predoctoral Fellowship.

Yap is currently attending the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, where his work “focuses on the design and synthesis of small-molecule inhibitors (drugs) of oncogenic protein–protein interactions,” according to University of Maryland here. The story also notes that the fellowship will allow Yap to pursue his research by providing a full, year-long stipend.

“This is as an excellent example of how important collaboration is in any professional setting,” said Yap upon being named to the fellowship. “The ACS Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship is the result of the joint efforts of my mentor, Dr. [Steven] Fletcher, highly efficient University staff, and a dedicated faculty both on and off campus. All their efforts and support have allowed me the chance to apply for such a generous opportunity. Success in any field is never entirely the result of just one person’s effort, but through extensive collaboration and teamwork.

“Through this fellowship, there are many opportunities that will undoubtedly be available to me in the future. This is a very unexpected award, and I am very grateful for whatever doors it may open in my future career.”

Stephanie Archer-Smith ’85, Psychology, Named Executive Director of Local Meals on Wheels

Stephanie Archer-Smith ’85, developmental psychology, was recently named the executive director for Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland.

“We are delighted to be able to hire someone as experienced and capable as Stephanie to lead Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland,” said board president Jonathan Wachs.  “She is well-qualified for the post, and her strengths and abilities are tailor-made to lead our organization into the next phase of growth and sustainabiliy.”

Archer-Smith, who received a graduate degree at the University of Baltimore, her served as senior vice president of operations for St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore for the past eight years, where “she played a key role in securing capital expansion funding, ensuring quality operations, adding and increasing program growth as well as boosting annual revenues,” according to a press release available on Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland’s website.

You can learn about Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland and its mission in the Baltimore area here.

Dance Piece by Josephine Kalema ’13, Dance, Performed in D.C. in July

Josephine Kalema, a senior dance major, will have her piece Past, Present, and Future performed at the Washington, D.C. performance space Dance Place as part of the  annual New Release Choreographer’s Showcase this coming July.

It will feature dancers Arnesha Reives, Jonique Holcomb, Alexis Renee, Candice Grace, and Jasmynn Speight, and  mixes traditional and modern African dance. Kalema dedicates Past, Present, and Future to her Ugandan family, as well as “every culture that has gone through life changing barriers,” according to Dance Place’s website.

The dates for the New Release Choreographer’s Showcase are July 7th at 8 p.m., and July 8th at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Dance Place’s webpage for the event, located here.

Gary Kachadourian ’12, MFA in Visual Arts, to Participate in MAP’s Young Blood 2012

Gary Kachadourian ’12, imaging and digital arts, will be participating in the Maryland Art Place’s Young Blood 2012: Work by Recent MFA Graduates exhibition this summer. In addition to Kachadourian’s large-scale installation, the fifth annual exhibition will feature work by artists from the Maryland Institute College of Art, The University of Maryland-College Park and Towson University.

The exhibition runs from July 18th to August 25th, and will feature an artists’ talks and reception at 6 p.m. on the 18th. For more information, visit the Maryland Art Place’s website here.

Tim Nohe, Visual Arts, Collaborates on “My Station North” Exhibition, Interviewed on WYPR

Associate Professor Timothy Nohe, Visual Arts, and Charlotte Keniston ’14, Imaging and Digital Arts, recently collaborated with students from the Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School for a project documenting the school’s Station North neighborhood. The project My Station North: Sounds Surrounding Us involved Nohe and Keniston providing five students ages 10-11 simple point-and-shoot cameras and audio recorders to go and interact with the diverse collection of area residents, ranging from bricklayers, to bike shop collective members, to artists based in the Copycat Building. The results are to be exhibited at an installation opening in Gallery CA at the City Arts building on June 7^th at 5:00 p.m.

Speaking on June 5th with Tom Hall for WYPR’s Maryland Morning, Nohe spoke of his  and Keniston’s motivations for working with the students at Baltimore Montessori, saying, “We really wanted students to get out and walk the neighborhood and really meet people, and really see the environment. To knit the school closer into the neighborhood. That’s a neighborhood that thinks of itself as Station North, but also is Greenmount West, and we were trying to tie these two entities together.”

My Station North: Sounds Surrounding Us will be on view at the Gallery CA from June 7th to July 6th.

Christy Chapin Joins History Faculty

The Department of History is pleased to announce the addition of Christy Chapin to its faculty.

Chapin, who specializes in American political, economic, and business history, has been published in academic publications such as Studies in American Political Development
and The Journal of Policy History. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise (IAEGHSBE) at Johns Hopkins University, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia. Among the awards Chapin has received are the Miller Center for Public Affair’s Fellowship, the University of Virginia Award for Excellence, and the John E. Rovensky Fellowship in American Business and Economic History.

“One thing that attracted me to UMBC is the students. I like that the students not only appreciate learning but also are comfortable marching to the beat of a different drum,” she said.

“It will be an honor to work with such respected history scholars,” she continued. “I’m enthusiastic about teaching UMBC students because of their reputation for being earnest and hardworking.”