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January 24, 2003
UMBC Department of Music Presents Its Spring 2003 Concert Season
The UMBC Department of Music presents its spring 2003 concert season, featuring an array of contemporary classical music performances by world renowned artists. Among the major events is Music of Japan Today 2003, the largest festival and symposium of contemporary Japanese music in the United States.
The UMBC Department of Music presents its spring 2003 concert season, featuring an array of contemporary classical music performances by world renowned artists. Among the major events is Music of Japan Today 2003, the largest festival and symposium of contemporary Japanese music in the United States.
The Department of Music presentscomposer
1 pm, location to be announced.
Free admission.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
February 16
The Department of Music's FacultyRecital Series presents cellist
3 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
$7 general admission, $3 seniors, free for students, free with aUMBC ID.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
InterArts and the Department ofMusic's Contemporary Concerts Series present
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
March 2
The Department of Music's FacultyRecital Series presents flutist
3 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
$7 general admission, $3 seniors, free for students, free with aUMBC ID.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
The Department of Music'sContemporary Concerts Series presents bassist
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
The Department of Music'sContemporary Concerts series presents percussionist
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
The Department of Music presentsRuckus, the professional new musicensemble in residence at UMBC.
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
Music of Japan Today 2003 Festival and Symposium The Department of Music'sContemporary Concerts series presents April 4 April 4 April 5 April 5 April 6 Admission to all events to be announced.
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InterArts and the Department ofMusic's Contemporary Concerts series present composer
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Studio 508.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 4
The Department of Music's FacultyRecital Series presents alto saxophonist
3 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
$7 general admission, $3 seniors, free for students, free with aUMBC ID.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
InterArts presents the
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
February 7
The Department of Music presentsthe Jubilee Singers directed by
12 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
February 21
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Jazz Ensemble directed by
1 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Admission is free.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
March 8
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Gospel Choir under the directionof JaniceJackson.
Admission to be announced.
7 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
March 16
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Symphony Orchestra under thedirection of
Free admission.
3 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
April 7
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Jazz Ensemble in an improvsession under the direction of
Free admission.
1 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
April 24
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Jazz Ensemble in an big bandsession under the direction of
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
April 30
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Concert Choir under the directionof AyaUeda.
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 2
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Saxophone Quartet.
Free admission.
7 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 3
The Department of Music presentsthe Jubilee Singers under the direction ofJaniceJackson.
Free admission.
7 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 5
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Chamber Players.
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
For more information, call 410-455-MUSC.
The Department of Music presentsthe Maryland Camerata under the directionof AyaUeda.
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 11
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC Symphony under the direction ofWayneCameron.
Free admission.
3 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 12
The Department of Music presentsthe Percussion/African Drumming Ensembleunder the direction of
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
May 14
The Department of Music presentsthe UMBC New Music Emsemble.
Free admission.
8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.
Public information: 410-455-MUSC.
Telephone
Public information: (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
General Department of Music information: 410-455-2942
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370
Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC Arts News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art
Department of Music website: http://www.umbc.edu/music
Directions
From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
Evening parking is available in Lot 16, adjacent to the Fine Arts Building, for 50¢. Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near the Administration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked.
Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/
Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/ or by email or postal mail.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
Phoenix Dance Company Performs at UMBC
UMBC's Department of Dance presents the Phoenix Dance Company in concert on February 12, 13, 14, and 15, 2003. All performances will be held at 8 p.m. in the UMBC Theatre. The venerable Phoenix Dance Company, founded in 1983, has played in venues such as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore Theatre Project, Ohio State University, Judson Church, Goucher College, Western Maryland College, Salisbury University and Temple University. A professional company in residence at UMBC, Phoenix is co-directed by choreographers Carol Hess and Doug Hamby.
UMBC's Department of Dance presents the Phoenix Dance Company in concert on February 12, 13, 14, and 15, 2003. All performances will be held at 8 p.m. in the UMBC Theatre.
About the Phoenix Dance Company
The venerable Phoenix Dance Company, founded in 1983, has played in venues such as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore Theatre Project, Ohio State University, Judson Church, Goucher College, Western Maryland College, Salisbury University and Temple University. A professional company in residence at UMBC, Phoenix is co-directed by choreographers Carol Hess and Doug Hamby.
Operating at the intersection between art and technology, the Phoenix Dance Company has explored radical dance collaborations with UMBC videographers, mechanical engineers, computer programmers and visual artists, recently including Steve Bradley, an intermedia artist who has generated live computer-enhanced video images and a system for generating sounds based on dancers' movements; Tony Farquhar, a mechanical engineer who developed a spunky six-legged dancing robot (Maurice Tombé); Vin Grabill, an MIT-trained videographer; and composer Linda Dusman.
The Program
Featured on the program are the following works:
- Private Property (1995) by Carol Hess, a "duet" for dancer and cameraperson to music by Stuart Saunders Smith. The dancer's movements are captured by the camera, then manipulated and projected onto a large screen onstage. The piece, performed by Pamela Stevens and Nick Prevas, alludes to issues of privacy and surveillance.
- Bonds, an excerpt from Four Gestures by Carol Hess, which premiered in 2002. In this section, three dancers explore different interactions through inventive partnering. The dancers themselves (Mandi Brown, Evan Davidson, Eileen Mitchell) capture the piece on camera, using a variety of hand-held camera techniques. The images of the live performance are mixed (live) with an unusual combination of images of Ground Zero and nature. The music score is by composer Linda Dusman.
- A new work by Carol Hess for three dancers (Mandi Brown, Evan Davidson, Pamela Stevens) that involves intricate manipulation of sounds, as the dancers' movements interact with a "wired" setpiece to create layers of random sounds that include rings, buzzes and beeps from telephones and cellphones. Underlying these sounds is a score by Linda Dusman entitled Sorry, Your Call Did Not Go Through, a mixture of voice messages from telephone answering machines. Onstage will be an array of speakers, enabling the voice messages to come from various locations in space.
- The premiere of a new work by Doug Hamby entitled Interplay. In this quartet, the dance enlivens and intertwines the rich physical, temporal and spatial connections between the performers.
- Part One Parting, a solo choreographed by Jeanine Durning and performed by Sandra Lacy, with original electronic music by composer Chris Peck. Structured like a short story, Part One Parting follows a woman who recalls an event in her life over and over again. In this episodic solo, the dream-like sequences reflect the idea of memory and how we remember and re-experience events.
Principal Choreographers and Dancer
Choreographer and artistic director Carol Hess received a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from Columbia University. Before coming to Maryland, she danced professionally in New York City, where she performed and taught in hundreds of public schools through the Young Audiences Programs and Residencies in the Schools and the Lincoln Center Touring Program. She has performed with Hannah Kahn and Dancers, the Rondo Dance Theatre, the Janet Soares Company, and as a tap soloist she has appeared on television and in concerts in the United States and Europe. As Artistic Director of the Oregon Dance Theatre, Ms. Hess, in partnership with the Carpenter Foundation, initiated a series of program and workshops in schools, in which nearly fifty schools participated. As associate professor of dance, Ms. Hess has taught at UMBC since 1982 and is currently chair of the Department of Dance, where she also directs Project REACH, an outreach program to Baltimore City and Baltimore County elementary, middle and high schools.
Doug Hamby lives and works in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. He has extensive experience as a dancer, chroeographer, and educator. In addition to his work with the Phoenix Dance Company, he is the artistic director of Doug Hamby Dance, a professional dance company in residence at UMBC. Recent collaborators include artist Timothy Nohe, intermedia artist Steve Bradley, video artist Deborah Gorski, and mechanical engineer Tony Farquhar. Hamby has performed with Martha Graham, May O'Donnell, Rachel Lampert, Elizabeth Keen, Pearl Lang, Norman Walker, the Chicago Moving Company, Phoenix Dance Company, and Hamby and Lacy. His works have been featured at Dance Place, Washington, D.C.; Riverside Dance Festival, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and Celebrate Brooklyn, in New York City; the 1998 New York International Fringe Festival; 1997 Philadelphia Fringe Festival; and 1996 International Fringe Festivals in Edinburgh, Scotland and Vancouver, Canada. He has received choreography awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Arts Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, and the Baltimore Mayor's Advisory Committee on Art and Culture. He served as a dance advisory panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council for three years. He is an associate professor of dance at UMBC and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University and a Biology degree from Michigan State University. He has also appeared on national television as a giant slice of American cheese.
Principal dancer Sandra Lacy has been the recipient of three Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in Solo Dance Performance. She holds a B.A. in psychology and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance in London. She has performed with Maryland Ballet, Impetus Dance Company, Path Dance Company, Lacy & Shade, and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Ms. Lacy is on the faculty of UMBC and the Baltimore School for the Arts.
Admission
General admission: $15.00.
Students and seniors: $7.00.
Box Office: 410-455-6240
Telephone
Box Office: 410-455-6240
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370
Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC Arts News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art
UMBC Department of Dance website: http://www.umbc.edu/dance
Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/ or by email or postal mail.
Directions
From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near the Administration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked.
Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
January 23, 2003
Poetry by Robert Deluty
Perfectionist
Anxious when working, 77290 I remember his left arm. Name Calling Recent birth announcements Senryu goes to the market centenarian, side-by-side, carpooled
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
We regret to inform the campus that the processing of reserves (both hardcopy and e-reserves) will take slightly longer this semester than inprevious semesters. We regret to inform the campus that the processing of reserves (both hardcopy and E-reserves) will take slightly longer this semester than inprevious semesters. There are several reasons for this situation. 1. The Albin O Kuhn Library, like the rest of UMBC, has been hard hit by the current financial crisis. Several positions, essential to the timely processing of reserves are now vacant with no chance of filling them in the foreseeable future. 2. The USM has installed a new Library Information Management System (Aleph) as of January 2003. This new system necessitates the reprocessing of all reserve material carried over from previous semesters in addition to the processing of any new material for the Spring 2003 semester. We are also experiencing some technical difficulties with the new system that still need to be worked out. 3. The scanning equipment for e-reserves is also experiencing some technical problems. The Library computer staff is working to correct the problems as quickly as possible, but this has caused a delay in scanning new material. Please be aware that the Library is doing its utmost to ensure that the processing of reserves will go as smoothly and quickly as possible. We ask for your patience and understanding when the inevitable delays occur.Thank you for your consideration. Questions should be directed to Jessame Ferguson, head of circulation, at ext. 53604
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
UMBC welcomes some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government today as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research." The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) welcomes some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government today as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research." CASPR, a new center funded by a June, 2002 NASA grant, is managed under the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center's Engineering Directorate. The creation of CASPR builds upon research that has been conducted at several UMBC departments for many years. Eight research projects from UMBC's departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Mathematics/Statistics were chosen as CASPR's inaugural programs. A prestigious list of speakers is scheduled for the forum. Corvis Corp. CEO David Huber and former American Optical Society president Anthony Johnson are among those scheduled to discuss the future of research in fields such as optical communications, optical sensing, and quantum optics and how it will impact the Baltimore/Washington economy. Scheduled speakers include: "It's very important to talk about the role of photonics research in economic development and innovation in the Baltimore-Washington region," said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III. "I'm pleased to see our research strengths in optics and photonics recognized by the private and public sectors." "CASPR is an outgrowth of years of ground-breaking photonics research at UMBC that is supported by the federal government and the excellent private companies in the Baltimore-Washington corridor," says Dr. Robert Schiffer, interim administrator of CASPR. "The fact that such a prestigious group of scientists is gathering here speaks volumes about how UMBC and this region are increasingly being seen as the place to be for the future of photonics research." "Frontiers of Photonics Research" will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in UMBC's University Center Ballroom. The invited speakers, UMBC officials, and photonics faculty researchers will give talks and presentations throughout the day, which will conclude with tours of UMBC's photonics research facilities.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
A retrospective of work by Nayland Blake, whose work addresses issues of race and sexuality, opens at UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture with a public lecture by Blake (3:30 p.m.) and reception (5 p.m.) on February 7. "Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002," runs through March 22, 2003. The exhibition will combine works from the past thirteen years of Blake's performance-based installations and includes several large-scale environments, objects and videos. Historically researched and often literary-inspired, Blake explores complicated and subtly mixed concepts such as identity, race, relationships, and representation. Some of his work incorporates playful and subversive images linked to childhood. Blake, a native of New York City, received his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in 1984. He has had solo shows at the Matthew Marks Gallery in New York, the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, San Francisco Artspace, and other venues. The Center for Art and Visual Culture (formerly the Fine Arts Gallery) is located on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building. CAVC hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call (410) 455-3188. Click here for a schedule of upcoming visual arts events.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
UMBC's InterArts and the Department of Dance present choreographer and dancer Jeanine Durning in a concert of modern dance on February 5, 2003, at 8 p.m. in the UMBC Theatre. Durning and her company will present her newest work, half URGE, for five dancers to an original sound score by New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) winner Douglas Henderson. UMBC's InterArts and the Department of Dance present choreographer and dancer Jeanine Durning in a concert of modern dance on February 5, 2003, at 8 p.m. in the UMBC Theatre. In half URGE, Durning explores the human dynamic of desire and the attempts to fulfill those desires through relationships and interactions. Durning's interest in the effect that eventual instabilities in our structures of safety (whether psycho-emotional or tangible structures) have on our behavioral choices, on our relationships and the fulfillment of our desires dictated that the work be created using a less controlled choreographic structure. Improvisation was used to develop movement based around simple word ideas such as collapse or incomplete. Then, Durning allowed time for the dancers to investigate the words through movement, physical interaction and behavior. Through this process, she created a dance that amplifies our desire to control that which is inevitably beyond control. half URGE will be performed by Jean Vitrano, Steffany George, Andrea Johnston, Molly Poerstel and Durning. Costumes are designed by Naoko Nagata. Durning is dedicated to her ongoing research of movement, which has included over the years, but is not limited to, ballet, Release Technique, Alexander Technique, Pilates, Yoga and Contact Improvisation. She is interested in drawing from and bringing together those movement methodologies, as well as invited modalities in her work as a dancer/performer and in her work as a choreographer. Through her work, it is Durning's artistic mission to offer a multi-layered experience to the viewer in which boundaries of literal and linear interpretation are extended. As a performer, Durning was featured in the short film The Black Boots, written and directed by independent filmmaker Bridgit Murnane. Durning has had the pleasure of working with a number of choreographers whose work and processes have influenced her own, including Lance Gries, Roseanne Spradlin, Zvi Gotheiner, Wendy Perron, Dan Wagoner and David Dorfman (with whom she has participated in the collaborative process since 1993). Durning has taught dance nationally to dancers and non-dancers alike, of many age ranges, and is often a guest teacher at Movement Research and Dance Space in New York. She is currently Artist-in-Residence at UMBC. Originally from Cornwall, New York, Durning began her dance studies, as a teenager, in tap and jazz at the local dance studio. She attended the Boston Conservatory for two years before continuing her studies at New York University's Tisch School for the Arts, where she received her BFA. Admission Telephone Web Images for Media Directions Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture presents Nayland Blake: Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002 from February 7 through March 22, 2003. Including several large-scale environments, objects, and videos, this exhibition will combine works from the past thirteen years of Blake's performance-based installations. The artist will give a public lecture on his work on Thursday, February 6 at 3:30 p.m.; the opening reception will follow at 5 p.m. Nayland Blake, a native of New York City, received his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in 1984. He has had solo shows at the Matthew Marks Gallery in New York, the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, San Francisco Artspace, and other venues. Blake's work addresses issues of race and sexuality through playful and subversive images often linked to childhood. Including several large-scale environments, objects, and videos, this exhibition will combine works from the past thirteen years of Blake's performance-based installations. Historically researched and often literary-inspired, Blake explores complicated and subtly mixed concepts such as identity, race, relationships, and representation. David Deitcher writes in the exhibitions catalogue, "[for almost twenty years] Nayland Blake's sculptural installations and performances have revealed a wide range of interests, from popular culture to vanguard subversion; from Camp to the queer body in the age of AIDS; from Sadean and psychoanalytic texts to the toxic legacy of American racism. Like so many American artists whose work has emerged during the 1990s, Blake's projects have often dealt with identity, which they envision as a compound process rather than a fait accompli." Nayland Blake: Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002 was organized by the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, and curated by Ian Berry in collaboration with the artist. Since 1989, the CAVC has incorporated a number of public programs into its exhibition programming schedule to further impact the communities it serves. Symposia, lecture series, conferences, film series, visiting artist series, and residencies have all been fundamental in an effort to create an ongoing dialogue about contemporary art and culture. The Center has also initiated a number of projects with Baltimore and surrounding schools systems to integrate the contemporary artist and their concerns into the classroom. These projects take place on-site at both middle schools and high schools and are team taught by the instructors at these schools, professional artists, and students from the CAVC's Internship Program. Currently the Center produces one to two exhibition catalogues each year. Each document is fully illustrated and contains critical essays on the given subject by a variety of distinguished professionals in the field. With the printing of Minimal Politics: Performativity and Minimalism in Recent American Art in 1997, the CAVC inaugurated a new series of publications entitled Issues in Cultural Theory. These catalogues are published yearly and are distributed internationally through Distributed Art Publishers in New York. Since 1992, the Center for Art and Visual Culture has actively pursued the organization of exhibitions that contain the aesthetic, theoretical, and educational potential to reach both a national and international audience. Over the years, the CAVC has traveled these exhibition projects to a broad spectrum of museums, professional non-profit galleries, and universities national and internationally. These traveling exhibitions include:
Guilty if shirking.
Fearing heightened expectations
When work is commendable,
Dreading disapproving gazes
For efforts lamentable.
And should perfection be achieved,
Comfort is painfully brief,
For a fall from grace is awaited,
Stifling hope of lasting relief.
Leather-tough, lightly freckled,
Thick as a fireplace log.
Culminating in short, dense fingers
With near-perfectly round nails.
Most memorable, though, was the forearm,
Damaged by five blue numbers:
His concentration camp tattoo.
A daily/nightly reminder of
Evil and martyrdom,
Faith and resilience.
Evoke a frightening epiphany:
In 60 years, most grandmas
Will be named Ashley and Tiffany.
just to hear another voice --
paper or plastic
3-month-old great-granddaughter
exchange toothless smiles
eighth grade boys, ninth grade women
sit miles, years apartUMBC Library Announces Longer Processing Time for Reserves
January 21, 2003
UMBC Hosts Look at 'Frontiers of Photonics Research'
"Nayland Blake: Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002" at the Center for Art and Visual Culture
A retrospective of work by Nayland Blake, whose work addresses issues of race and sexuality, opens at UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture with a public lecture by Blake (3:30 p.m.) and reception (5 p.m.) on February 7. Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002, runs through March 22, 2003.
David Deitcher writes in the exhibition catalogue, "[for almost twenty years] Nayland Blake's sculptural installations and performances have revealed a wide range of interests, from popular culture to vanguard subversion; from Camp to the queer body in the age of AIDS; from Sadean and psychoanalytic texts to the toxic legacy of American racism. Like so many American artists whose work has emerged during the 1990s, Blake's projects have often dealt with identity, which they envision as a compound process rather than a fait accompli."
"Nayland Blake: Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002" was organized by the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.January 17, 2003
Choreographer Jeanine Durning in Concert
--Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
The Program
Durning and her company will present her newest work, half URGE, for five dancers to an original sound score by New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) winner Douglas Henderson. The dance was inspired by a dream in which Durning was abandoned in an unnamed, desolate city that was crumbling and collapsing. She began by writing a series of narrative passages based on typical anxiety dreams -- for example: flying that turns into falling, swimming that turns into drowning, climbing stairs that suddenly collapse, being abandoned or losing one's way. The writings all referred to structures or constructs that are created to provide a sense of comfort and freedom, a sense of safety and stability that are then shifted against the initial desire. Allowing both the unconscious and conscious realms, the inner and outer worlds to seep into the process of choreographing, Durning created her work for five dancers from these writings.
About Jeanine Durning
Jeanine Durning has been choreographing and performing solo and group work since the early 1990s, and was dubbed by Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times as "a choreographer to watch for." Durning's choreography has been presented in New York at Dance Theater Workshop, at St. Mark's Church, Movement Research at Judson Church, Central Park SummerStage, among other venues, and as part of the Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out series. Her choreography has been recognized with commissions from the Jerome Foundation through Dance Theater Workshop's Bessie Schönberg/First Light Commissioning program and Danspace Project's Commissioning Initiative. She was one of four choreographers invited this past summer to The Yard to begin a new project entitled Houdini is Free.
General admission: $15.00.
Students and seniors: $7.00.
Box Office: 410-455-6240
Box Office: 410-455-6240
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art
UMBC Department of Dance website: http://www.umbc.edu/dance
This release as a pdf file: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/releases/03spring/durning.pdf
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/ or by email or postal mail.
From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building. From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Theatre.
From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Theatre.
Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near the Administration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked.Center for Art and Visual Culture presents Nayland Blake: Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002
UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture presents Nayland Blake: Some Kind of Love: Performance Video 1989-2002 from February 7 through March 22, 2003. The artist will give a public lecture on his work on Thursday, February 6 at 3:30 p.m.; the opening reception will follow at 5 p.m.
About the Center for Art and Visual Culture
The Center for Art and Visual Culture (formerly known as the Fine Arts Gallery) is a non-profit gallery space dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary art. The CAVC serves as a unique center for students, faculty, and the general public in the visualization and discussion of important philosophical and aesthetic issues of the day. Disciplines represented include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, imaging and digital arts, video, film, installation and performance.
Beyond the scope of these traveling exhibitions, the Center for Art and Visual Culture also undertakes an exhibition schedule that includes a Faculty Biennial, and projects such as the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership. As part of the educational mission of the CAVC, one graduate thesis exhibition and one undergraduate senior exhibition are scheduled on a yearly basis.
This multi-faceted focus for presenting exhibitions, projects and scholarly research publications focused on contemporary art and cultural issues positions the Center for Art and Visual Culture in a unique position within the mid-Atlantic region.
Hours of Operation
Sunday: closed
Monday: closed
Tuesday 10 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Wednesday: 10 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Thursday: 10 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Friday: 10 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Saturday: 10 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Telephone
CAVC offices: (410) 455-3188
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): (410) 455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: (410) 455-3370
Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art
CAVC website: http://www.umbc.edu/fineartsgallery
This release as a pdf document: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/releases/03spring/blake.pdf (3.5 Mb)
Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.
Directions
From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near the Administration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked.
Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/
Photo Credits
Top: Transport #5 (function)
1990
Two Sony monitors on trolleys
Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Middle: Gorge
1998
Video transferred to DVD with sound, monitor
60 minutes
Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Bottom: Starting Over Suit
2000
Cloth with 140 pounds of beans, steel armature
Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
###
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery presents Massin in Continuo: A Dictionary
On view at UMBC's Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery from January 30 through March 9, 2003, Massin in Continuo: A Dictionary is the first United States exhibition of the French graphic design artist Robert Massin (known simply as Massin). While Massin is relatively famous in France, his originality and influence in graphic design is not as well known in the United States. Massin in Continuo: A Dictionary will give American audiences the opportunity to explore his innovative work within the context of the developing graphic design industry in France.
On view at UMBC's Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery from January 30 through March 9, Massin in Continuo: A Dictionary is the first United States exhibition of the French graphic design artist Robert Massin (known simply as Massin). The exhibition was first shown at the Cooper Union Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography.
About the Exhibition
Massin in Continuo: A Dictionary explores the work of self-taught French designer Massin and his groundbreaking career. The exhibition is curated by Laetitia Wolff, founder of the New York-based marketing/design firm futureflair and Editor-in-Chief of Graphis magazine.
While Massin is relatively famous in France, his originality and influence in graphic design is not as well known in the United States. Massin in Continuo: A Dictionary will give American audiences the opportunity to explore his innovative work within the context of the developing graphic design industry in France.
A model of creativity, Massin transcended many long-established boundaries in the field of graphic design and works within multiple disciplines with elegance, humor and diversity. His career has been groundbreaking, spanning editorial graphics, poster and logo design, art direction, typography, photography, publishing, design education, and writing.
Long before the idiosyncratic, broken type of Pentagram, Massin dared to play with letters, manipulating the alphabet, cutting titles, experimenting with forms, signs and fonts, and creating surprising three-dimensional limited-edition covers. He also created a popular series of creative book bindings.
Collaborating with playwright Eugene Ionesco and writer Raymond Queneau, Massin explored the realm of kinetic typography, making their texts come alive in what he calls "expressive typography." Massin has worked for Gallimard, publishing empire of the French literary intelligentsia, for over forty years. In Gallimard's 1964 edition of La Cantatrice chauve (The Bald Soprano) by Ionesco, Massin combined the pictorial directness of a comic book with the expressive letter forms of Futurist poetry to create a design masterpiece of "visualized literature."
futureflair has produced a poster designed by Mirko Illic, sponsored by Scheufelen Paper and Arti Grafiche, which functions as a catalog. It documents the life and work of Massin with a chronology and interpretative texts. futureflair has directed a documentary film presented within the exhibit. Interviews of Massin show him at home, in his studio at work, and discussing his career with various renowned Parisian publishers.
The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, New York; and Les Editions Gallimard, Paris. Its presentation at UMBC is supported in part by an Arts Program Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Friends of the Library & Gallery.
Gallery Information
The Albin O. Kuhn Gallery serves as one of theprincipal art galleries in the Baltimore region. Items from the SpecialCollections Department, as well as art and artifacts from all over theworld, are displayed in challenging and informative exhibitions for theUniversity community and the public. Moreover, traveling exhibitionsare occasionally presented, and the Gallery also sends some of itsexhibits throughout the state and nation. Admission to the Gallery isfree.
Hours of Operation
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 12 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday: 12 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday: 12 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Thursday: 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday: 12 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Telephone
General Gallery information: (410) 455-2270
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): (410) 455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: (410) 455-3370
Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
Gallery website: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/reference/gallery.php3
This press release as a pdf document (5.2 Mb): http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/releases/03spring/massin.pdf
Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/ or by email or postal mail.
The images in this release (and others) are available at 300 dpi on the abovewebsite.
Directions
From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 toexit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs tothe Albin O. Kuhn Library.
From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mileto the entrance of UMBC at the intersection of Wilkens Avenue andHilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Albin O. Kuhn Library.
From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B.Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Albin O.Kuhn Library.
Daytime metered visitor parking is available in Lot 10, near theAdministration Building. Visitor parking regulations are enforced onall University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadwaysrequire a parking permit unless otherwise marked.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
January 14, 2003
UMBC to Host "Frontiers of Photonics Research" Conference
UMBC will welcome some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government on Jan. 21 as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research."
UMBC will welcome some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government on Jan. 21 as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research." The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the U.C. Ballroom. Invited speakers, UMBC officials, and photonics faculty researchers will give talks and presentations throughout the day, which will conclude with tours of UMBC's photonics research facilities.
CASPR, a new center funded by a June, 2002 NASA grant, is managed under the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center's Engineering Directorate. The creation of CASPR builds upon research that has been conducted at several UMBC departments for many years. Eight research projects from UMBC's departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Mathematics/Statistics were chosen as CASPR's inaugural programs.
A prestigious list of speakers is scheduled for the forum. Corvis Corp. CEO David Huber and former American Optical Society president Anthony Johnson are among those scheduled to discuss the future of research in fields such as optical communications, optical sensing, and quantum optics and how it will impact the Baltimore/Washington economy.
Scheduled speakers include:
*Dennis Andrucyk, Program Director, Mission and Science Measurement Technologies, NASA Headquarters
*Dr. Thomas Giallorenzi, Superintendent, Optical Sciences Division, Naval Research Laboratories
*Dr. David Huber, Chairman and CEO, Corvis Corp.
*Dr. Erich Ippen, Elihu Thomson Professor Electrical Engineering and Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*Dr. Anthony M. Johnson, Foundation Professor of Optics and Photonics and Distinguished Professor of Physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology and former president, Optical Society of America
*Dr. Curtis Menyuk, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, UMBC
*Dr. Morton Rubin, Professor of Physics, UMBC
*Dr. Terrance Worchesky, Associate Professor of Physics, UMBC
"CASPR is an outgrowth of years of ground-breaking photonics research at UMBC that is being supported by the federal government and the excellent private companies in the Baltimore-Washington corridor," says Dr. Robert Schiffer, interim administrator of CASPR. "The fact that such a prestigious group of scientists is gathering here speaks volumes about how UMBC and this region are increasingly being seen as the place to be for the future of photonics research."
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
UMBC to Host "Frontiers of Photonics Research" on Jan. 21 New!
UMBC will welcome some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government on Jan. 21 as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research."
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will welcome some of the nation's top fiber optics and photonics researchers from industry, academia and government on Jan. 21 as the University's new, NASA-funded Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) hosts the conference "Frontiers of Photonics Research."
CASPR, a new center funded by a June, 2002 NASA grant, is managed under the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center's Engineering Directorate. The creation of CASPR builds upon research that has been conducted at several UMBC departments for many years. Eight research projects from UMBC's departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Physics and Mathematics/Statistics were chosen as CASPR's inaugural programs.
A prestigious list of speakers is scheduled for the forum. Corvis Corp. CEO David Huber and former American Optical Society president Anthony Johnson are among those scheduled to discuss the future of research in fields such as optical communications, optical sensing, and quantum optics and how it will impact the Baltimore/Washington economy.
Scheduled speakers include:
*Dennis Andrucyk, program director, Mission and Science Measurement Technologies, NASA Headquarters
*Dr. Thomas Giallorenzi, superintendent, Optical Sciences Division, Naval Research Laboratories
*Dr. David Huber, chairman and CEO, Corvis Corp.
*Dr. Erich Ippen, Elihu Thomson professor electrical engineering and physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*Dr. Anthony M. Johnson, foundation professor of optics and photonics and distinguished professor of physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology and former president, Optical Society of America
*Dr. Curtis Menyuk, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, UMBC
*Dr. Morton Rubin, professor of physics, UMBC
*Dr. Terrance Worchesky, associate professor of physics, UMBC
"CASPR is an outgrowth of years of ground-breaking photonics research at UMBC that is being supported by the federal government and the excellent private companies in the Baltimore-Washington corridor," says Dr. Robert Schiffer, interim administrator of CASPR. "The fact that such a prestigious group of scientists is gathering here speaks volumes about how UMBC and this region are increasingly being seen as the place to be for the future of photonics research."
"Frontiers of Photonics Research" will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in UMBC's University Center Ballroom on Tuesday, Jan. 21. The invited speakers, UMBC officials, and photonics faculty researchers will give talks and presentations throughout the day, which will conclude with tours of UMBC's photonics research facilities. For registration information, click here.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
January 06, 2003
UMBC Official to Lead International Research Park Group
Ellen Wiggins Hemmerly, Executive Director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation, has been named president of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), a non-profit group that supports over 200 university research parks and technology incubators worldwide.
Ellen Wiggins Hemmerly, Executive Director of the UMBC Research Park Corporation, has been named president of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), a non-profit group that supports over 200 university research parks and technology incubators worldwide.
"Thanks to Ellen Hemmerly's leadership, UMBC's research park and business incubator are among the nation's best," said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. "Past AURP presidents have come from such outstanding places as North Carolina's Research Triangle Park and Rensselaer's Technology Park. We are delighted that UMBC is being recognized for its contributions to economic growth through research and technology development."
Hemmerly oversees the University's bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park and works closely with the Park's developer, Grosvenor. According to Hemmerly, she hopes her appointment will help draw more high-tech businesses to Baltimore.
"AURP's mission is to help connect the innovations of academia with regional economic growth and development," Hemmerly said. "With so many excellent research universities in greater Baltimore, I look forward to helping new ideas become solid business models that add to our region's high-tech economy."
The announcement is a timely one for Baltimore, as the city prepares to host the international 2003 BioParks convention later this year. AURP and The Council of Biotechnology Centers (CBC) will co-sponsor the gathering of representatives from biotech research parks around the world on June 20 through 21. The convention is co-sponsored by a consortium of regional universities including UMBC, The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland Baltimore, the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, in partnership with city and state economic development agencies.
Hemmerly, a member of AURP for seven years, is also a Special Assistant to the Vice President for Administration and Finance at UMBC. She oversees the development of bwtech@UMBC, the University's on-campus research park that houses RWD Technologies' Applied Technology Laboratory. Hemmerly also directs techcenter@UMBC, the University's business incubator that is home to 30 start-up and emerging tech firms.
Prior to joining UMBC, Hemmerly was a Vice President at the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) serving as its Senior Lender and Director of the Enterprise Development Fund, the City's venture capital fund. While at BDC, she successfully started a business incubator as Executive Director of the Technology Development Center. Hemmerly also spent two years as a business development officer specializing in marketing Baltimore to high technology businesses.
Hemmerly's background also includes extensive real estate development, venture capital and banking experience. She has an M.B.A. from Cornell University's Johnson School of Management and a B.S. from Moravian College.
About AURP:
Founded in 1986, AURP (www.aurp.net) is a non-profit, international organization that represents over 200 research, science or technology parks. AURP's mission is to promote and support the development and operation of university research parks worldwide.
About Grosvenor:
Grosvenor (www.grosvenor.com ) is a privately owned property development and investment group that has been active in North America for almost 50 years. With a North American portfolio of approximately 9.5 million square feet, Grosvenor's properties span metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company is an integral part of Grosvenor Group Holdings Limited, an international property group with operating companies in the Americas, Britain and Ireland, Continental Europe and the Australia/Asia Pacific Region.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
Faculty Development
First Year Seminars are a valuable addition to the undergraduate curriculum because they provide new students with an intellectually challenging introduction to university academic life. UMBC faculty who taught seminars this semester discuss the benefits for students.
By Jack Prostko, Director, Faculty Development Center
For a variety of social and economic reasons, students are entering college generally unprepared for what awaits them.This fall semester UMBC's First Year Seminar Program was launched, with six new courses taught by faculty members in philosophy, economics, English, American studies, physics, and modern languages and linguistics. The program continues spring semester, and plans are in place to increase the number of offerings next year to twenty courses. Currently, the provost is circulating a request for proposals for AY 2003-04 to all tenured and tenure-track faculty, along with examples of the kinds of courses offered here and at other universities. This information is also available on the Provost's Web site. The deadline for submitting course proposals is Friday, January 31, 2003.
-- Robert Leamnson, Thinking about Teaching and Learning
First Year Seminars are a valuable addition to the undergraduate curriculum because they provide new students with an intellectually challenging introduction to university academic life. Yet despite the challenge, the atmosphere of the seminars is supportive: the classes are small, and emphasize discussion, collaboration and exploration.
Such seminars are not, of course, unique to UMBC. According to the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, more than 200 schools now offer some sort of academic seminar for incoming students, (while over 400 schools offer some sort of students success or "college survival" course). These academic seminars serve several purposes, including helping students adjust to college-level academic expectations and form valuable connections with their peers and professors. As the current request for proposals explains, "the small size and collaborative seminar structure make them ideal for encouraging critical thinking, serious intellectual inquiry, and the development of communications skills, both verbal and written."
For new students who may be enrolled in several large lecture courses, the FY Seminar offers a more personalized opportunity to learn about campus life and scholarly work. Focusing on both theoretical and local concerns, professor Jessica Berman (English and women's studies) taught What Makes a Community? this semester and found her students intrigued by the variety of communities surrounding them.
Berman notes, "I have been very pleased by the work that students have done on the issue of campus community. One said, 'I was so surprised to find out how many groups there are at UMBC -- there's no excuse not to get involved with one.' She was very skeptical at first. This kind of discovery helps them realize that research can have a direct effect on how they perceive and experience the world around them. I think this is an important experience to have early in college. I have also found that they have grown in their ability to think through a difficult issue -- they are less likely to stick to the easy, common sense responses that they would offer at the beginning of the course. Now they know I will ask them to look at both sides of the question, and to support their claims, and this too is important for success in college."
A course taught by modern languages and linguistics professor John Stolle McAllister on Seeking Truth and Justice: Human Rights Today also forced students to think more carefully about their assumptions and ideas. "I enjoyed working with the first year students because most of them seemed to bring a genuine curiosity to the material," McAllister explains. "As the semester went on, their comments and papers became noticeably more sophisticated as they were able to articulate more reasoned arguments for their beliefs. Lastly, the small class size (I had 13) let me have a more personal relationship with students, and felt like I was making some (small) difference in encouraging them to be successful at UMBC."
For instructors, the flexible nature of the seminar allows for experimentation with new teaching strategies and student assignments. Professor Ed Orser (American studies) says of his FY Seminar course, Sense of Place, "…has stimulated some of my most creative teaching, especially in devising ways for more 'active' learning contexts in seminar sessions. One of the most satisfying aspects of the experience was the way in which the seminar participants welcomed the opportunity to become an intellectual and social community -- clearly very much enjoying their experience together and providing an important support system for one another."
These seminars also offer the chance to teach a course that might not otherwise fit into a department's curriculum -- and to teach it without worrying that it serves as a prerequisite to other courses (and therefore that the schedule and agenda are rigid). Stolle McAllister notes that "For me, the FY Seminar has been a good experience in part because I got to teach a topic that is very important to me both personally and intellectually. I found the format to be particularly rewarding because, since I was not really under any pressure to get through a certain amount of material, as I would be with other types of beginning level courses, I had more flexibility to let students explore and argue about topics that weren't necessarily originally on my agenda."
Check out this opportunity to explore new topics or issues with a small group of enthusiastic students. If you have questions about the FYS program please contact Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Jill Randles(x53715).
If you would like to explore resources for teaching first year courses, contact me at the Faculty Development Center (x51829).
Other examples of First Year Seminar Programs and Classes:
University of North Carolina: www.unc.edu/fys/
Princeton University: www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/fs/booklet.htm
University of Minnesota: www.evpp.umn.edu/evpp/freshsem/
Harvard University: www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/fs/offerings.html
Stanford University: introsems.stanford.edu/
University of California, Berkeley: fsp.berkeley.edu/flist.html
Useful books on teaching first year students:
Leamnson, Robert. (1999). Thinking about Teaching and Learning: Developing Habits of Learning with First Year College and University Students. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Erickson, Bette LaSere, and Strommer, Diane Weltner. (1991). Teaching College Freshmen. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM
Tech Watch
Science 100 Instructor Karin Readel has been surveying more than 600 students about their incoming technology skills since Fall 2001. Why is technology fluency so important?
By John Fritz, Director, New Media Learning and Development
(Adapted from the Fall 2002 OIT Newsletter)
Last month, Science 100 Instructor Karin Readel gave a Brown Bag presentation on how and why she's been surveying more than 600 students about their incoming technology skills since Fall 2001. While she's found that students tend to overestimate their own technology skills, I was curious why technology fluency was so important to her.
"I recently read an article by a bio teacher who has groups do web pages," Readel wrote in an initial e-mail explaining her need for OIT support. "It was interesting to see how they split up the tasks and then how things were assessed."
In other words, technology was a means to an end. In this case, Readel wanted to try something new -- a virtual application of her belief in the pedagogical value of group learning -- and needed students who could function in that environment. But as we explored her needs further, it became apparent she was also trying to solve a resulting problem. 1
"When I've assigned group Web projects in the past, usually the job of producing them falls on the one person who has the skill and personal Web space in his or her account," says Readel, who has taught at UMBC for four years. "Apart from not being fair to that one person, I thought other students should learn these skills and how to work cooperatively in teams. They'll certainly need to do so in their jobs."
Readel is not the only one trying to assess students' technology fluency.Led by Matthias Gobbert, chair of the Faculty Senate Computer PolicyCommittee and assistant professor of mathematics, Readel, AssociateProfessor of History Kriste Lindenmeyer, Assistant Professor of SociologySheila Cotten and others have been working with OIT to develop a pilotInformation Technology Awareness Questionnaire (ITAQ) other faculty mightvoluntarily use in their classrooms. We're still working out logistics,but if you'd be interested in using the questionnaire or would like tooffer input on the draft version, send e-mail to gobbert@umbc.edu.
In addition, as I mentioned in this column last month, OIT has been developing a draft technology fluency "self-assessment" to help guide us on relevant technology training topics and delivery methods. More than 30 of UMBC's 90 departmental payroll preparers completed a pilot version that may be used more widely by faculty and staff looking to develop their own skills.
However it is eventually assessed at UMBC, defining technology fluency is the holy grail of any assessment effort. For example, is there one set of skills or conceptual understanding all students should attain, or are there differences among majors like computer science and dance? What should we require of incoming or graduating students?2 And how does the technology fluency of faculty and staff influence teaching, learning, business operations and the UMBC community? These are all tough questions the Provost's Office and IT Steering Committee have been attempting to address in UMBC's Interim Policy on Technology Fluency.
One reason I think technology fluency is hard to define and assess is because using technology effectively requires us to constantly reflect on how we do things now and how we might do them better -- in part because the technology itself changes so frequently. And how many of us wake up each morning yearning for a little "continuous improvement"? But even if technology only serves as a catalyst or lens for making us more aware of what we're trying to accomplish, I think that's being technologically fluent.
One quote I came across recently sums it up nicely: "If you never change how you do something, how do you ever expect to get different results."
1I first heard "solving problems and trying new things" used as a technology litmus test by Tom Cantu, an instructional designer formerly at Towson University and now with Eduprise.2A few years ago, the state of Virginia got a lot of attention for its use of tekxam, an online certification the state thought would help graduates and employers better demonstrate and evaluate technology fluency. To test your own fluency, try the 10-question sample exam. It's challenging, but fun.
Posted by dwinds1 at 12:00 AM