Sustainability Across the Disciplines: Faculty Curriculum Workshop (6/5-6/6)

Sustainability Across the Disciplines: Faculty Curriculum Workshop
Wednesday, June 5th and Thursday, June 6th, 2013

This event is a curriculum development workshop for faculty wishing to integrate topics of environmental sustainability into their courses. Faculty from all disciplines are welcome to apply – we encourage diverse perspectives!

The workshop will offer concepts, detailed examples, and materials useful for developing engaging new course content across the disciplines. Participants will collaborate to develop innovative course components that inspire critical thinking in students and address pressing environmental issues.

Workshop facilitators and guest presenters will share a range of models and resources for designing content that will engage students with locally relevant issues, generate innovative research, and encourage active ecological citizenship on campus and beyond. The ability to think critically and problem-solve around sustainability is an increasingly essential and sought-after skill. We can empower our students to examine and address real concerns, through every disciplinary lens.

Stipends are available. Light breakfast & lunch will be served, sustainably sourced.

To apply, please contact Tanvi Gadhia: tanvig1@umbc.edu or visit http://sustainability.umbc.edu

2013-2014 Faculty Mentor Positions Available

The 2013-2014 faculty mentor positions in the UMBC residential community are available. These positions are open to full-time UMBC faculty who are interested in interacting with students in the residential community. These are paid positions and provide an excellent opportunity to get to know and interact with students outside of the classroom.

Contact David Clurman at clurman@umbc.edu if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity.

Support URCAD by Encouraging Your Students to Attend

It’s not too late to integrate the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) experience into your classroom!

Encourage your students to take time during class to explore the world of undergraduate research and learn about all the great work their fellow students are doing. Many faculty members have already made URCAD part of their syllabus as extra credit and have reported that their students found the event interesting, engaging and educational.

Some ideas to consider are:

• Specific extra credit, such as a short essay describing the event
• Brief write-up on a student poster or oral presentation
• Q&A for a student’s research project

URCAD gives UMBC undergraduates an opportunity to share their research with colleagues, faculty and staff members and alumni. The projects feature research, scholarship and creative work shared through oral presentations, posters, artistic exhibits and performances and film.

The event will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24,
in the University Center (third floor) and Fine Arts 221 and 317. For a complete schedule of presenters, go to www.umbc.edu/urcad. For specific questions contact Janet McGlynn, Office of Undergraduate Education, at mcglynn@umbc.edu or 410-455-5754.

Campus Community Invited to Join Strategic Planning Conversation (5/1)

Provost Philip Rous invites all members of the UMBC community to a conversation about UMBC’s upcoming strategic planning process Wednesday, May 1 from noon to 1 p.m. in UC 310.

The dialogue is one of a series “planning to plan” conversations led by the Provost throughout the academic year to shape the strategic planning process set to launch this coming fall.

“Before planning, we want to think about how we are going to plan and the principles that will guide us,” says Dr. Rous. “This plan will be about the future of everyone connected to UMBC. We want to be sure we have a structure for planning that engages the entire community in addressing matters vital to our future.”

The May 1 conversation will include discussion of guiding principles for the planning process, the timeline and structure of the process, information needed for planning, and suggested areas of focus for the process.

Manil Suri, Mathematics, on BBC’s “The Forum”

Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, was recently a guest on the BBC World Service program “The Forum” to discuss “Obsessions, new and old, in literature and technology.”  Joining Suri on the show, which was hosted by Bridget Kendall, were internet analyst and cyber-sceptic Evgeny Morozo and Spanish novelist and translator Javier Marias.

Suri discussed his recent novel, “The City of Devi,” in which the main character is obsessed with bringing a pomegranate to her missing husband.

“She feels that having this symbol almost will somehow lead her to her husband. And in a way it does tell her something about her marriage, but in a very unexpected fashion,” he said.

The guests also spoke about our obsession with technology.  “There’s this belief in technology and computers – these are going to really save us from having to think,” Suri said.

Summer Session Registration is Now Open

Registration for summer session is now open!

UMBC offers courses over two summer sessions, with four, six, eight and 12 week options. Learn more about the sessions, and what courses are offered at http://www.umbc.edu/summer/

RSVP for Biotechnology Graduate Programs Info Session (4/16)

Do you see yourself managing a biotechnology-related company or agency in the future? Take your life science career to the next level with a Master’s Degree or Graduate Certificate in Biotechnology! Join us on April 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. to learn more.

RSVP for Biotechnology Graduate Programs Info Session

UMBC’s South Campus (bwtech@UMBC South), Main Seminar Room 1.007
1450 South Rolling Road
Halethorpe, MD 21227

Deadline Approaching: Scholarship Opportunities for 2013-2014 Returning Students

Scholarship applications for the Newcombe Scholarship for Mature Students and the Bryson-Neville Scholarship for Returning Women are now available.

Applications are due to the Women’s Center by Friday, April 5 at 4 p.m.

Information and application for the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation Scholarship for Mature Students – Eligible students must be at least 25 years of age, have at least 60 credits, and be seeking their first undergraduate degree.

Information and application for the Bryson Neville Scholarship – All undergraduate women over the age of 25 and with at least 60 credits may be eligible.

For additional information on eligibility, please download the applications by visiting our my.UMBC page or contact the Women’s Center at 410-455-2714 or womens.center@umbc.edu.

Manil Suri, Mathematics, on the Marc Steiner Show

Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, was a guest on the Marc Steiner show on March 14 to discuss his new book “The City of Devi.”

Steiner asked Suri how he reconciles his background in mathematics with the spiritual themes that run through his books, which feature Hindu deities.

“There’s a lot of contrast. On the one hand, I’m very enamored by these ideas from spirituality and almost mysticism,” “But on the other hand, the logical part of me says, ‘hey, wait a minute, that’s not really what’s happening.’”

The full segment can be heard here.

Manil Suri, Mathematics, on “The Daily Beast”

Manil Suri was deep into writing his latest novel, “The City of Devi,” when he realized something alarming: the novel was impossible to finish. The mathematics professor even used a mathematical construct, a possibility tree, to arrive at his conclusion.  He described the process of creating this mathematical “proof” in an essay for “The Daily Beast.”

Of course, Suri did eventually finish the novel, which was published earlier this year. Despite the fact that he disproved his own proof, Suri feels that his mathematical conclusion was a worthwhile endeavor, because it allowed him to reach the insights he needed about the story.

“My possibility tree still communicated something essential: a warning that the story could not be satisfactorily completed under the conditions I was imposing. I had been too beholden to literary orthodoxy, too insistent that the narrative obey the strictures of reality. It was time to loosen these constraints, let the plot freely borrow from whatever genre it pleased: adventure, Bollywood, fantasy,” he writes.

The full piece, “A Mathematically Impossible Novel: Manil Suri Explains ‘The City of Devi’” appeared online on March 15.