The Center for Health Program Development and Management (CHPDM), one of the largest research and policy organizations at UMBC, is heavily involved in healthcare policy in the State of Maryland. Since its inception, the Center has maintained a partnership with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygene (DHMH) to analyze and develop solutions for the Medicaid program. But in addition to working with federal agencies, private foundations and Maryland county agencies, it also provides a unique on-campus resource for students and faculty interested in policy sciences, healthcare policy, aging and long-term care issues.

John Kaelin, CHPDM executive director, is enthusiastic about the Center's collaboration with UMBC faculty and students. "We've worked diligently to connect with and advance the University's research mission," he explains. "There's a synergy between our work and the work at UMBC. We hope to add many more opportunities and build on the momentum."

For students in health policy, applied sociology and gerontology, CHPDM offers an opportunity to participate in fellowships and use data for dissertations and research. In the past year, three UMBC students have completed dissertations supported by the Center. Through the Faculty Research Fellows Program, CHPDM provides faculty the opportunity to collaborate with the Center and to acquire support in developing research initiatives. It also supports specific faculty research projects in academic departments.

In addition to supporting UMBC research, the Center employs approximately 13 UMBC alumni. Some staff members are currently enrolled in master's or Ph.D. programs or serve as adjunct faculty, such as Steve Johnson, director of research and program development (IFSM), and Ajith Silva, senior researcher (sociology/anthropology).

CHPDM also sponsors symposiums on topics such as long-term care. Last fall researchers and scholars in the Baltimore-Washington region were invited to campus to hear papers presented by UMBC faculty and CHPDM staff. A similar symposium on managed care and its affect on physicians will be held in the future. CHPDM also sponsors a national speaker on campus each year to address health care policy.

"A tremendous opportunity"

Scott Bass, vice provost for research and dean of the graduate school, says that CHPDM's expertise in long-term care and health care finance is an asset for UMBC. "It's a tremendous opportunity for our doctoral and master's students to have CHPDM's expert staff and data accessible right on campus," he says.

"I'm very excited by the original research being done by CHPDM faculty and staff and by the research that comes out of faculty collaborations with CHPDM. The Center is a big attraction for our faculty and students. It also helps us recruit new faculty, including rising stars who turn down other schools to come to UMBC. With the addition of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly known as HCFA), and Social Security nearby, Baltimore is a gold mine for researchers in health care policy, gerontology and other related areas," Bass explains.

Bass adds that because CHPDM is entirely self-funded, its impressive research and grants portfolio and work with other health care organizations provides added visibility for UMBC.

Collaboration in action

"It continues to be a fruitful relationship," says Marv Mandell, professor and director of policy sciences, about the program's work with CHPDM. "The Center has been instrumental in helping policy science students complete their dissertations by sharing and helping them to analyze important yet sometimes complicated data."

Faculty who have established relationships with the Center include Nancy Miller, assistant professor of policy sciences, who is currently examining consumer participation in nursing home decision making and conducting a state-level analysis of long-term care expenditures. In addition to being a resource for research, the Center also administers two of Miller's grants.

Mandell says that CHPDM's presence at UMBC has become a major factor in recruiting faculty. In the fall, policy sciences is bringing a new faculty member on board who will also work with the Center. Meg Brown, who will receive her Ph.D. in Health Services Research and Policy from the University of Minnesota in June, has conducted research on disadvantaged populations and their access to health services. While at the University of Minnesota, she worked at the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), an initiative funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide technical assistance to states engaged in research on the uninsured.

CHPDM has also been an important resource for students in the Master's in Applied Sociology program. Now, Kevin Eckert, co-director of the new Ph.D. in Gerontology program (with University of Maryland Baltimore), is excited about the opportunity for students in the program to work with CHPDM, and says the Center has been a plus in recruiting new faculty and several doctoral applicants. One student entering UMBC this fall was awarded a fellowship by the Center to work as a graduate research assistant on long-term care issues.

"They are a great partner," Eckert says. "CHPDM is a great asset to the State in addressing issues related to the Medicaid program and pressing health issues in general. But it is clearly an asset to UMBC for faculty and students to have the opportunity to work on pressing health and long-term care problems with the Center's experts."

Eckert adds, "Between our academic programs, the Center for Aging Studies and CHPDM we have a critical mass of resources, and UMBC will continue to make a name for itself in health policy, aging and long-term care."

For more information on CHPDM, visit http://www.umbc.edu/chpdm.

James Peach, Classified Staff

James (Jim) Peach, mechanical trade supervisor II, is the supervisor of the Plumbing Shop, which maintains the plumbing systems for approximately 3,000,000 square feet of facilities and provides services for approximately 10,000 people on a daily basis.

Joe Hill, manager of operations and maintenance, says, "Jim takes pride in the many accomplishments that he and his team of plumbers have achieved. He possesses dynamic supervisory skills that include leadership, active listening and mentoring. He ensures proper and fair allocation of the shop's duties among his workers and pursues every opportunity to lead by example.

"Through his direction, many plumbing problems have been prevented by early detection and replacement of outdated equipment. Jim is very knowledgeable of the technical specifications regarding plumbing codes, inspection ordinances, proper material usage and the maintenance required for the upkeep of our facilities," Hill adds.

Peach is currently pursuing an Associate of Science Degree in Business Administration at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Catonsville, where he maintains a 3.65 GPA and is on the Dean's List. He volunteers as an orientation leader at CCBC Catonsville and also tutors students in trigonometry at Carroll Community College.

Connie Pierson, Associate Staff

Connie Pierson is senior research analyst in the Office of Institutional Research. Her responsibilities include handling UMBC's complex annual faculty workload reporting. Brian Ault, assistant director for institutional research, says, "Connie has worked hard at making the faculty workload process as comprehensible and painless as possible for UMBC's academic departments. She has insisted on different timelines to maximize the accuracy and timeliness of faculty responses and has made guidelines as explicit as possible. She is now known around the University System of Maryland as an expert on the subject."

Ault adds, "Connie is extremely proficient with all technical matters related to her assigned duties in OIR. In fact, some of her coworkers go to her for assistance with technical issues."

Pierson is a UMBC alumna with a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's in sociology. She received the Ph.D. in sociology from UMCP. She frequently participates in community walks for various charitable organizations and helps refugees and homeless families by donating food and other important items. Pierson also contributes her cake baking and decorating talents to UMBC offices for special celebrations.

Wrapping up its busy concert season, the Department of Music presents an American Music Festival from May 3rd through May 11, featuring performances by various student ensembles. All events will be held in the Fine Arts Recital Hall and are free. Information for all events is available by calling x5-2942 or by visiting the online arts calendar. The Festival's schedule includes the following events:

May 3, 8 pm
The UMBC Opera Workshop directed by Aya Ueda. The concert will include scenes from various American operas, including Porgy and Bess, Street Scene, Telephone and Tender Land.

May 4, 7 pm
The Jubilee Singers under the direction of Janice Jackson. The program will feature spirituals and anthems from the African-American repertoire.

May 5, 3 pm
The UMBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Wayne Cameron. The program includes Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and other works.

May 5, 8 pm
The UMBC Classical Guitar Ensemble directed by William Feasley.

May 6, 8 pm
The UMBC Concert Choir directed by Aya Ueda. The program will include traditional American songs, including early hymns, Shaker songs, folksongs and spirituals.

May 7, 8 pm
The UMBC Chamber Players directed by Wayne Cameron.

May 8, 8 pm
The UMBC New Music Ensemble directed by Stuart Saunders Smith, performing new music and classics from the American avant garde.8 pm, Fine Arts Recital Hall.

May 9, 8 pm
The UMBC Percussion Ensemble directed by Tom Goldstein, performing an array of American works for percussion, including Brian Johnson's Percussion Music for Resonant Spaces.

May 10, 8 pm
The Maryland Camerata directed by Aya Ueda. The Camerata will present a varied program of American music inspired by various historical and musical events of the Twentieth Century, such as the Age of Jazz, Prohibition, the the Civil Rights Movement and Womens' Movements.

May 11, 8 pm
The UMBC Collegium Musicum under the direction of Joseph Morin, featuring music from the American colonies.

IanStucky, Valedictorian
B.A. Modern Languages and Linguistics (German/Spanish)
M.A. Intercultural Communication
William and Mary - JD/Ph.D.

Ian Stucky, a UMBC Humanities Scholar, began his studies at UMBC at age 16and is a member of the Ford Motor Company/Golden Key International HonorSociety, a USAA All-American Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar Semi-Finalist forMaryland/D.C. He is also co-founder of the Modern Languages and LinguisticsTheatre Club and a champion diver on UMBC's NCAA Division I Swimming & DivingTeam. He was recently named one of the firstJackKent Cooke Scholars, which provided him with a full scholarship for hisgraduate studies.

Nieshia Williams
B.A. Chemistry
Oxford University, Ph.D.
Ft. Washington, MD

Nieshia Williams, a Meyerhoff scholar, is headed across theAtlantic to Oxford University for graduate studies as a NationalInstitutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge scholar. She says that her timeat UMBC has made her ready for the challenge. "UMBC professors demand ahigh quality of work and ethics from all their students. I amconfident I am well prepared for any of my future endeavors."

Arthur Ault
B.S., Interdisciplinary Studies
Arbutus, MD

Arthur Ault never stopped being curious. In the early 1960's, he stoppedshort of finishing his undergraduate studies at the University ofMaryland, College Park in order to work full time and help raise hischildren. Today, his son Brian, a UMBC graduate of the class of 1980 whoalso works in the Office of Institutional Research, inspired him to finishhis degree.

"I heard about (Biology Professor) Austin Platt's expertise withbutterflies, one of my hobbies," Ault says. "UMBC has been good to my son,and as a senior citizen living close by, I felt it would be a good fit forme." Ault credits UMBC'sInterdisciplinary Studies program for helping him craft a degree trackto fit his interests. "I have been exposed to a wealth of new ideas andinteresting topics in environmental science. As I continue to study andlook for answers, I will be quite busy trying to satisfy my curiosity."

Ernesto Staroswiecki
B.S., Computer Engineering
Buenos Aries, Argentina

As he heads to Stanford University to pursue graduate studies,Ernesto Staroswiecki reflects on his time at UMBC. "UMBC offered me theideal balance of a great program within a modestly sized university.

"In my time at UMBC, I learned that hard work and dedication truly pay!Also, it gave me the possibility of enjoy lab work, and realizing howmuch I like it. I found out that what I really wanted to do wasresearch.

"I believe that I am going into grad school very well prepared."

Click here for more Class of 2002 profiles.

From June 18 through July 7, the Maryland StageCompany, the professional resident theatre company at UMBC,presents William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directedby Xerxes Mehta. Produced and presented by the Maryland Stage Company, allperformances will be held in The Pearlstone Theater at Center Stage. The production features set andcostumes by Elena Zlotescu, lighting and sound byColin Bills and William-John Tudor, voice and speech coachingby Lynn Watson, dance movement by Ken Skrzesz, and acting by MSC Associate Artist WendySalkind (chair of the Department of Theatre), Helen Hayes Awardnominee Bill Largess, and a dynamic band of professional actors from NewYork, Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

The play is "suffused with laughter, love, music, dance, song, and some of the mostincandescent verse Shakespeare ever wrote," says Artistic Director Xerxes Mehta. "It's ultimately an exorcism of suffering, a healing ritual thatcelebrates the power of the human imagination, of play, of art itself toturn nightmares into dreams, to 'soothe the savage breast' and,finally, to bring joy to our hearts."

Mehta and the Maryland Stage Company havereceived consistent acclaim for such innovative and challengingproductions as Six Degrees of Separation, The Seagull,Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, Marat/Sade, OldTimes, The Duchess of Malfi and The Winter's Tale. Ofthe Company's performance at the Beckett in Berlin 2000 Festival, theBerliner Tagesspiegelsaid: "Anyone who missed these performances and loves theatreshould consider jetting to Baltimore, Maryland, to see these astoundingtheatre artists on home turf".

Showtimes:

• Opening Night Gala, Thursday, June 20, 8 p.m.
• Friday, June 21, 8 p.m.
• Saturday, June 22, 8 p.m.
• Sunday, June 23, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, June 26, 8 p.m.
• Thursday, June 27, 8 p.m.
• Friday, June 28, 8 p.m.
• Saturday, June 29, 8 p.m.
• Sunday, June 30, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 2, 8 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 3, 8 p.m.
• Friday, July 5, 8 p.m.
• Saturday, July 6, 8 p.m.
• Sunday, July 7, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
• Previews: Tuesday and Wednesday, June 18 & 19, 8 p.m.

Ticket Prices (a service charge may be added):

• Opening Night Gala: $50 (Special performance to benefit the MarylandStage Company. Price includes ticket and post-show champagne reception.)
• Regular Admission: $20
• Previews: $18
• Groups of 10 or more: $18 per ticket
• Senior Citizens: $18
• College Students: $10
• Maryland High School Students: free admission

Reservations can be made by calling the Box Office at (410) 637-3618. Group sales information is available by calling x53529.

Patricia LaNoue has been named the new director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. LaNoue served as the interim director for the past two years and has taught at UMBC for 14 years.

The Interdisciplinary Studies program gives students an opportunity to complete a BA or BS degree by designing a unique course of study according to their specific educational and career goals. The Program emphasizes collaboration between academic departments and encourages students to work closely with faculty and staff via independent study, internships, research, study abroad, and creative work.

"The search committee's support of Patricia LaNoue's appointment as director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program acknowledges her vision for the future of INDS, her past leadership and her strong commitment over the years to UMBC students and quality academic programming," says Provost Art Johnson.

"I am honored," says LaNoue. "Since 1966 UMBC has supported students who have the interest and sense of purpose to design their own majors with the guidance of faculty mentors. I enjoy meeting with alumni and hearing about how the learning process in the Program has enriched their careers."

LaNoue says that her future goals for the Program include seeking new ways to collaborate with other UMBC departments. "I hope to involve more of the UMBC faculty with INDS, especially those in technological fields, engineering and the natural and physical sciences," says LaNoue. "I look forward to finding new ways to continue to enhance the opportunities for a rich academic experience through Interdisciplinary Studies."

While it's only May, it's the perfect time to begin planning for upcoming UMBC banner events this fall. Welcome Week, Convocation, Fall Frenzy, Family Weekend and Homecoming are all major events in the life of the campus, and program partners are needed to offer seminars, present performances and host receptions, for example.

"These banner fall events provide a great opportunity for all members of the UMBC community -- students, faculty, staff, alumni, family members and community partners -- to come together to celebrate in the UMBC experience," says Patty Perillo, director of student life. "They are festive, community-building events which help to elevate and synergize the spirited, connected and caring community we have at UMBC. They also serve as important and vibrant traditions for our campus, which will remain for years to come."

For more information or to get involved, please contact Patty Perillo at x51394 or perillo@umbc.edu

Student Involvement Council Programs for Fall 2002

Welcome Week: Saturday, August 24 to Saturday, August 31

Convocation: Tuesday, August 27

Fall Frenzy: September 1 - 30

Graduate Student Welcome Reception: TBD

Family Weekend: October 4-6

Homecoming: October 20-27 (weekend programs 25-27)

A new online tool to support academic advising is now available to faculty and other academic advisors. Degree Navigation, accessible through myUMBC (under Academics), will make advising a more efficient and effective experience for both faculty and students, says Tom Taylor, vice provost for enrollment.

Advisors can use Degree Navigation to retrieve students' academic records and transcripts, search for students by name and Social Security number. They can also create groups-such as advisees for a semester or students in one of their courses-which makes information easier to find. The system allows advisors to sort or display information in a variety of ways: by course prefix, grade level, grade and general education requirements

Taylor says upcoming Degree Navigation features include the ability to capture and store advising notes, manage groups and access information on transfer courses from other universities and the equivalents at UMBC. A schedule for new features should be released by the end of this semester.

For more information, contact Pamela McInnis at x52728 or Lydia Jackson at x53698.

After 11 years as director of UMBC's Honors College, Jay Freyman has decided to return to teaching full time. He'll end his tenure as director on July 1.

"There are three reasons I decided to step down as director," Freyman, associate professor of ancient studies, says. "One, for an operation such as the Honors College and program, there should be a healthy infusion of new ideas. Also, UMBC has come a long way since I became director, and I think it is important right now for someone with an administrative and managerial sense to lead the Honors College.

"And, there are many things I've wanted to do that I can't because being director is all-consuming. I'm going to teach English Word Roots from Latin and Greek this fall for the first time in ten years and get back to some writing projects that I want to finish," he adds.

Freyman credits the "unbelievable" Honors College staff for achievements made during his tenure. "I would say 99 percent of what the Honors College has become is because of the staff -- Lisa Whittles, Maureen McCormick, Cathy Powell, Larry Lasher -- and those who preceded them. A new outlook will utilize their tremendous talents and energies."

A member of the UMBC faculty since 1968, Freyman has been a tireless advocate for the liberal arts and a role model, personal counselor, career advisor and mentor to hundreds -- if not thousands -- of UMBC students. He visits Maryland high schools to recruit students for the Honors College and for the ancient studies program. In the past eleven years, the Honors College has increased in size and is just shy of 500 students.

His dedication has inspired a tradition of mentoring at UMBC, and he was instrumental in UMBC's successful application for Phi Beta Kappa, serving as the chapter's first president. In 1999, he received one of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents' highest honors, a Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring. In 1993, he was named Maryland Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Of Freyman's contributions, Lasher, associate director of the Honors College, says, "Working with and for Jay Freyman is an unexpected reward of life at UMBC. Jay is a nurturer for all those who come into contact with him -- students and faculty alike."

Freyman says he is proud of the personal atmosphere at the College and the staffs' investment in each student. "Each semester, students have a personal interview with the directors, coordinator and faculty member (the Honors College hired its first faculty member, Ellen Handler Spitz, last fall). I don't know of too many other programs with that kind of contact."

Under his leadership, the program also expanded its classes and seminars, as well as a variety of experiences outside the classroom, such as artistic and cultural trips in and around Baltimore and New York. There's a popular travel study program and the annual Kiplin Hall program in England, which allows participating students to spend three weeks studying various aspects of British culture, residing part of the time at Kiplin Hall, the ancestral home of the Calvert family, in northern England.

Provost Arthur Johnson says, "Jay Freyman's leadership on campus has been remarkable. Under his direction, the Honors College has doubled in size, increased the number of honors courses offered, and attracted extremely talented and energetic students to the program. Jay's personal commitment to students and to the University have been key elements in the College's success and were recognized by the Board of Regents, who honored him with a Faculty Award for Mentoring. Jay personifies the College's motto, 'Learning for Living,' and in so doing he has provided a rich legacy upon which it can build."

Taking over the role of director is James McKusick, current chair of the English department. Ramachandra Hosmane, who chaired the search committee for Freyman's replacement, says, "Contrary to how it might outwardly appear, Jim McKusick was chosen on his own merit, and not because he was our colleague. If anything, being an internal candidate was a big hurdle for both him and the committee, but he successfully crossed over that barrier with his most impressive credentials.

"He has been a productive scholar all along and has been a very successful administrator, having been the chair of UMBC's English department for several years. He has an excellent rapport and admiration from both students and faculty, and more importantly, he impressed the committee with his potentially outstanding leadership, perspectives and future direction of the Honors College," Hosmane says.

Johnson agrees. "Jim McKusick was recommended by the search committee to succeed Professor Freyman as director in recognition of his stature as an outstanding scholar in the humanities and his commitment to UMBC students. I expect his leadership of the College to help us to further define the role of the Honors College at UMBC and to continue to encourage students to push the limits of their intellectual curiosity."

McKusick, who takes over the position on July 1, says, "Jay has done a fabulous job as director, and has built something we all take great pride in at UMBC. I hope to build on the College's many strengths, offer my skills in program management, and keep a hand in teaching and advising."

His highest priority is to create a great books curriculum at UMBC. "This is a way that UMBC can do something distinctive and be a role model for what an honors university is all about. But it's about more than making a list of books, and should be a rigorous and comprehensive program. UMBC is about diversity, and we should teach to that strength." Authors he would be interested in considering include Homer, William Faulkner, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, James Joyce, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Isabel Allende and Maxine Hong Kingston. The program would not be limited to great literature, but encompass science writing and political thought as well.

McKusick looks forward to teaching a variety of subject matter. "I consider myself a generalist," he explains. "I want to teach everything. Teaching is way for me to learn."

A new English department chair will be named this summer. Watch for interviews with new UMBC department chairs and administrators in Insights this fall.

As we end the 2001-2002 academic year and begin planning for the fall semester, we'd like to know if Insights has been a useful resource for you. It would also help us to understand how you use the Internet and email as a resource for on- and off-campus news.

Faculty, staff and students have been enrolled in the Insights Community Forum. Log in at http://blackboard.umbc.edu using your user name and password (the same password you use to access your UMBC account). Once you are logged in you can access the Insights Community Forum under "My Organizations." Once you are in the Insights Community Forum, you can find the survey under "Announcements."

Or, you can fill out the print version of the survey, attached to the May Insights fliers.

Thank you for your participation!

In the wake of "Terp Mania," the national media took some time to report onMaryland's "other" national championship team--the one that has been at thetop of its game for the past six years. The UMBC Chess Team grabbed nationalheadlines in advance of its face-off with Harvard, Stanford and itsarch-rival, the University of Texas at Dallas. USA Today, the AssociatedPress, National Public Radio, The Baltimore Sun, Maryland Daily Record, Dallas Morning News, Miami Herald and others reported on the "Final Four of College Chess," held at the World Chess Hall of Fame and Sidney Samole Museum on the weekend of April 5-6.

As expected, both UMBC and UTD made quick work of the teams from Harvard and Stanford, but had a far tougher time going head-to-head. The teams ended up in a 9-9 tie for the title, with the tie-breaker going to UTD. Mathematically, the match could not have been any closer. UMBC won three of the four individual prizes with top players on Boards 1-3, and continues to hold the trophy for the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, held each December.

UMBC's Tech Bowl Team won the 2002 National Academic Tech Bowl Championship, sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). The championship was held at NSBE Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida on March 29. The team received a $1,000 prize and a plaque commemorating their victory.

Team members included senior computer engineering major Jason Dixon, senior biochemistry major Raj Stewart, senior chemical engineering major Jason Sese and senior computer engineering major Karolyn Babalola, who serves as the president of UMBC's NSBE chapter.

In its march to the title, UMBC defeated teams from Tulane, the University of Washington and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "We worked our way to the championship with strategy and knowledge of the subject matter," says Babalola. "We were just better prepared than the other teams." Teams participating in the Tech Bowl answer questions in physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and NSBE history.UMBC's NSBE chapter was founded in 1993 and has a membership of about 45 students.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship is considered by many to be one of the most prestigious in the U.S.--not too far of a reach when you consider that recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 44 Rhodes Scholarships (six of the 32 awarded in the United States in 2002), 39 Marshall Awards, and numerous other distinguished fellowships. For 2002-2003, UMBC has two undergraduate awardees, one of whom is the youngest ever in the State of Maryland.

Biochemistry/molecular biology major Dan Ilkovitch, and math/computer science major Tomasz Macura were two of only 309 students in the nation to win the award which covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, room and board. At 15 years old, Macura--who began his studies at UMBC in 2000, when he was 13 years old--is Maryland's youngest-ever recipient of the Scholarship. He plans on graduating next spring with degrees in math and computer science.

Macura is establishing something of a legacy at UMBC. His 11-year-old brother, Wiktor, will begin mathematics and geography coursework in UMBC's Honors College in the fall, making him UMBC's youngest full-time student. Both brothers are recipients of full scholarships.

The Goldwater Scholarship Program was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is considered the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. In its 14-year history, the Foundation has awarded 3,632 scholarships worth approximately 36 million dollars.

This month's column is written by Vergil Bushnell, OIT Help Desk Consultant.

Does your idea of taking work home involve emailing cumbersome attachments to yourself or stuffing a briefcase full of floppies? Fortunately, there's an easier and more elegant solution.

If you've ever surfed the Web you're probably familiar with Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a set of standardized rules for the transmission of HTML between a server and your Web browser. File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, is another important (but lesser known) Internet protocol governing file transfers. At UMBC, you can use FTP to shuttle documents from your home computer to your UMBC account, upload HTML files to your web site and remotely access campus Novell servers.

FTP Software

Because FTP is a fundamental, cross-platform protocol, it can be used successfully regardless of whether your computer's operating system is Linux, Windows XP or Mac OSX. FTP programs come in two distinct flavors. You can invoke an FTP session through the command line interface (the MS-DOS in Windows and the Unix bash shell are examples of command line environments) by typing 'ftp' at the prompt.

If you prefer spiffy visual icons and drop-down menus to the spartan, text-only utility of the command line, you're in luck -- many ftp programs use intuitive graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to simplify the process of transferring data. Free graphical FTP clients include WS-FTP (Windows), Fetch (Mac) and gFTP (Linux). Additionally, most decent web authoring programs such as Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver have built-in FTP capability.

Connecting to a FTP Server

In order to use FTP, you must know the address of the remote server you wish to connect to and have a valid username/password for said server. The logging-in process is straightforward. Let's say a Leonidas Graziano (a hypothetical UMBC student) wishes to upload a resume to his campus computing account. Leo fires up his copy of WS-FTP, enters in the address of the remote server (ftp.gl.umbc.edu), his UMBC username (grazi23) and password in the designated fields and clicks the 'Connect' button.

Connecting With Novell

Establishing a FTP connection to a campus Novell server requires a slightly different procedure. To access your personal ('H' drive) or departmental Novell space ('I' drive), you must have a valid UMBC Novell acount and context. For example, let's say Leonidas' father, Dr. Ajax Graziano (an employee of UMBC's accounting office) is attending a convention at a California college, and needs to download a PowerPoint presentation stored on his Novell departmental drive from his hotel room. The good doctor connects to the hotel's wireless LAN, starts WS-FTP on his laptop, and types in the name of the appropriate Novell server (either 'novell1.umbc.edu' or 'novell2.umbc.edu') in the program's 'Host Name/Address' field. Next, Graziano enters his Novell username and context ('graziano.accounting.administration') in the 'User ID' box, and clicks on WS-FTP's 'Startup' menu tab. The 'Initial Remote Host Directory' field of the 'Startup' menu is used to specify which Novell area (either the shared or user drive) the user wishes to access. Dr. Graziano knows that the user drive is accessed--or "mapped" by default once he connects to the Novell server. Since his document resides in a shared, departmental drive, Graziano types '/shared/dept' into the 'Initial Remote Host Directory,' connects to Novell1, enters his password and quickly downloads the needed file.

If the previous illustration seems complex, detailed step-by-step instructions(including relevant screenshots) on using FTP with Novell are available from OIT'swebsite at http://www.umbc.edu/oit/helpdesk/Novell/ftpnovel.htm

Transferring Files

FTP uses two simple--and aptly named--processes to transfer files, "PUT" and "GET." Put deposits files from a local machine to a remote server, while Get does the opposite. FTP also supports several simple Unix-based commands to navigate and manage remote files and directories.

FTP supports two modes for transmitting information, ASCII and binary. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) mode should be selected for transferring text-based files--such as documents ending in .txt or .html-- while binary mode is used for other data. Many FTP clients automatically detect which mode is appropriate.

You might find the use of compression utilities such as Stuffit Expander, gzip/tar and WinZip convenient for speeding up FTP file transfers, especially if you're using a relatively slow dial-up Internet connection.

Anonymous FTP

Many software publishers and online information providers run anonymous FTP services to distribute publicly available data. Typically, anonymous FTP servers require you to use the username 'anonymous' and a password of 'guest' (or your email address) before downloading files.

Variations on a Theme

FTP isn't the only method for moving files between terminals in a networked environment. While similar in function to FTP, SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) and SCP (Secure Copy) use SSH encryption to safeguard your information in transit. WinSCP, a freeware Windows SCP program that's included on OIT's PC lab terminals may be downloaded from http://winscp.vse.cz/eng/. NiftyTelnet is a comparable SCP-capable program from the Macintosh, available at http://www.lysator.liu.se/~jonasw/freeware/niftyssh/

More Information

To learn more about using FTP at UMBC, visit OIT's Web site at http://www.umbc.edu/oit, or call the HelpDesk at x53838. If you're curious about the nuts-and-bolts behind the FTP standard, detailed specifications are available from the World Wide Web Consortium at http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc959/

More than 1,400 undergraduate and more than 200 graduate students will receive their degrees at UMBC's undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies.

The graduate ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 22 in the Retriever Activities Center. To be honored are 27 Ph.D. students and 190 master's students. The commencement speaker will be Joseph Bordogna, deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The undergraduate ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 23 at the Baltimore Arena. More than 1,400 undergraduate degrees will be conferred. The commencement speaker will be John Erickson, president and CEO of Erickson Retirement Communities. Erickson is responsible for the four most recent on-campus housing facilities at UMBC. His gift of $2.2 million enabled the university to construct and open a new residence hall each year since 1999, making more than 1,000 new beds available to students.

UMBC's undergraduate valedictorian is Ian Stucky, who, at 19 years old, is graduating with a B.A. in Modern Languages and Linguistics (German and Spanish) and will complete a M.A. in Intercultural Communication this summer. Stucky, a Humanities Scholar has received one of the first Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarships, which will fully cover his education at the College of William and Mary (Virginia) Law School.

PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES AS OF 5/1/02

If you do not see your name here, it was not listed on the current New Hire Roster, but should appear on the next report, depending on your date of hire. Check future issues of Insights.

Center for Urban Environmental Research
Rosemary Williams, Research Assistant

Chemistry and Biochemistry
Reddy Chilakuri, Graduate Assistant

College of Engineering
Renu Nandakumar, Research Associate

Computer Science/Electrical Engineering
Ragini Yalamanchali

Education
Shane Stiefel, IT Support Assistant

Emergency Health Services
Janelle Gammon, Graduate Assistant

Financial Aid
Amy Spinnato, administrator

Financial Services
Cynthia Turgeon, Account Clerk III

GEST
Zhien Wang, Assistant Research Scientist
Sujay Kumar, Research Associate
Guojun Gu, Assistant Research Scientist
Ken-ichi Mizoguchi, Visiting Research Associate
Deborah Belvedere, Program Assistant
Cherrie Johnson, Administrative Assistant II
Hiroo Hayashi, Research Associate

JCET
Lisa LeBlanc, Research Assistant

MIPAR
Mary Allen, Program Administrator
Denise Julian-Huddleston, Specialist

Physics
David Davis, Associate Research Scientist

Professional Education and Training
Larry Williams, IT Support Assistant

Shriver Center
Katrina Gaus, Manager
Tamara Sigel, Manager
Jason Poindexter, Coordinator
Mark Goldman, Manager

Sociology
Janet Burgee, Administrative Assistant II

Theatre
Kathleen Revelle, Coordinator

Visual Arts
Gideon Webster, Program Specialist

Lynn Cazabon's Solo Exhibition
Lynn Cazabon,assistant professor of visual art, just ended a successful one-person show,Story of M, at Schroder Romero in Brooklyn, New York, which receivedpraise from Holland Cotter of The New York Times. For the summer of2002, she has been invited to participate in the Yaddo and MacDowell artistcolonies.

Andrew Colyer Climbing Mt. Everest
Andrew Colyer ('87 ECON, Cert ACCTG) is currently on a team sponsored by Mountain Madness of Seattle that is climbing Mount Everest. Andy and the team have already climbed to 7000 meters before returning to base camp for a few days rest. If everything goes well and weather permitting, the team expects to made a bid for the 29,000 ft. summit around May 10 - 12. Information updates are available under Mountain Madness on http://www.everestnews.com

Charles Fey Receives Distinguished Service Award
Charles Fey, vice president for student affairs, was honored by the American College Personnel Association, during its recent national convention in Long Beach, California. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Commission on Administrative Leadership of ACPA. This is the second time Fey has received this award from ACPA. He also received the Esther Lloyd Jones Outstanding Professional Service Award from ACPA in 1999.

Fey was the coordinating presenter at the ACPA 2002 National Convention on UMBC's Student Development Initiative. Co-presenters were Vasti Torres, assistant professor of higher education at George Washington University and Stephen Zerwas, director of student assessment, at Old Dominion University. Both Torres and Zerwas serve as consultants on the UMBC initiative. The presentation covered UMBC's project to assess and serve the developmental needs of its undergraduate students.

Fey was also a participating presenter at the convention on the topic "Recapturing Balance and Perspective: Eliminating the 50+ Workweek".

Virginia McConnell Receives Phi Kappa Phi Mentor Award
On April 14, Virginia McConnell, professor of economics, will receive a Mentor Award from the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, University of Maryland Chapter.The Executive Committee of Phi Kappa Phi established the award to recognize faculty who have been mentors to its initiates. The award is given annually to afaculty member from each USM campus who has demonstrated the following characteristics: a reputation as an outstanding classroom teacher, a willingness to work with individual students and a commitment to the University of Maryland System and to his/her specific campus.http://www.inform.umd.edu/StudentOrg/pkp/pkp.html

Jim McKusick's Green Writing Book Receives Award
Department of English Chair Jim McKusick's "Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology" (New York: Palgrave/St. Martin's Press, 2000) has been designatedin the January 2002 issue of Choice magazine as one of the Outstanding Academic Titles that were reviewed during the previous calendar year. The list is quite selective: it contains approximately ten percent of some 6,600 works reviewed in Choice each year. The editors apply several criteria to reviewed titles: overall excellence in presentation and scholarship; importance relative to other literature in the field; distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form; originality or uniqueness of treatment; value to undergraduate students; and importance in building undergraduate library collections.

Bob Nielsen Appointed to Maryland Safety Council Board
Bob Nielsen, director of environmental safety and health, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Safety Council of Maryland. An affiliate of the National Safety Council, the Maryland Safety Council serves Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Its membership includes private companies, government agencies, educational institutions and service organizations. Over 15,000 persons participated in more than 700 training programs in the past year. Nielsen will chair the Council's School and College Division.

Mike Pound Receives Certification from National Safety Council
Mike Pound, safety manager in the Environmental Safety and Health Department, has completed requirements for an Advanced Safety Certificate from the National Safety Council. He is the second member of the department to receive this certification. Director Bob Nielsen completed the 120-hour training requirements in 1999.

Alan Price and the IRC Part of a Collaborative Exhibition in Chicago
Alan Price,associate professor of visual arts, has completed one phase of an ongoingresearch project in collaboration with Anna Sofaer, Archeoastronomer andPresident of The Solstice Project, the Imaging Research Center, UMBC, and the Adler Planetarium and ScienceMuseum, Chicago, Illinois. The product of this work is an interactivereal-time computer simulation of the ancient Sun Dagger site on Fajada Buttein Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The interactive program is now part of apermanent exhibit on cultural astronomy at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.The exhibit opened on March 20, 2002.

Govind Rao Receives 2001 Gaden Award
Govind Rao received the 2001 Gaden Award for his manuscript, entitled "Low-Cost Microbioreactor for High-Throughput Bioprocessing." Biotechnology and Bioengineering Journal's annual Gaden Award honors the most influential paper published in the previous calendar year. The award includes a plaque, $1000 and acknowledgement of the recipient in the journal.

Matthew Soldner Receives Award for Outstanding Service
Matthew Soldner, assistant director of residential education, in the Residential Life Office received the President's Award from the president of the American College Personnel Association. This award recognized Soldner for his outstanding service over the past year to ACPA.

Mark Street Premieres Film in NYC
MarkStreet, an assistant professor of visual arts, received praisefor his film At Home and Asea, which will have its New York premiereon May 7th. Amy Taubin of TheVillage Voice said, "In At Home and Asea, five Baltimoreresidents grapple--no self pity allowed--with their feelings of being stuckin lives that are less than meaningful. Street's amalgam of documentary andfiction is poignant and, thanks to Guy Yarden's score, anxiety-provoking.It's also a subtly crafted portrait of an economically blighted city, pulledbetween North and South and central to neither." The film will have itsLos Angeles premiere on June 2nd. For more information on the New Yorkpremiere, visit Two Boots PioneerTheater; for the Los Angeles screening visit filmforum.

Virginia Thomas Named to AARP MD Council
Virginia Thomas, director of community and intergovernmental relations for the Center for Health Program Development and Management at UMBC, has been chosen as the Executive Volunteer for Advocacy for AARP Maryland. She will work with other council members to create policy aimed at serving the interests and needs of the group's 770,000 Maryland members. State Director Frank Bailey said, "We are very excited about the immense and diverse experience our new Executive Council members bring. Virginia Thomas possesses a drive and determination that has made her a leader in her community. Among the concerns that our members have identified, we are looking forward to leveraging the skills and knowledge of the Executive Council to help AARP Maryland defeat predatory lending practices, strengthen and reform Maryland's long term care system, and secure the addition of an affordable prescription drug benefit to Medicare. It is going to be a tough battle to win all that we advocate for, but I know that Ms. Thomas and theother new Executive Council members are absolutely committed to meeting thechallenge."

Calla Thompson's Work Exhibited
CallaThompson, a lecturer in visual arts, had artwork exhibited thisacademic year in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Quebec, and Virginia. Herwork is now on display at Maryland ArtPlace and will be shown this summer in San Antonio.

UMBC Participates in Time Forms
On April 20, UMBC participated in Time Forms, an all-night Internetstreaming event marathon. The UMBC programming was organized by Lisa Moren, assistantprofessor of visual arts, and Carol Hess, chair of the Department ofDance. Artists,dancers, and composers internationally simultaneously performed andinteracted throughout multiple locations in four time zones throughout theworld. International participation included: UMBC; the University of California, Los Angeles; theUniversity ofCalifornia Santa Barbara; [mama] NetCulture Club, Zagreb, Croatia; and Kazushi Mukaiyama, Kobe, Japan. ConcreteSTREAM produced the UMBCTime Forms program of tele-flux, dancing gestures where sculptural andreadymade interfaces edit live and recorded video. Ordinary objects such askeys, balloons, tweezers, eyelash curlers, gloves were employed asinteractive props as well as editing devices for short skits andperformances. Other performances included live processing for live dance,solar cell designed light and sound dance, as well as a terminal Princessnamed Ada with a warm, yet affectionless computer named BeatBox. Theseinteractive skits, VJ events, dances and experimental narratives includedprojects produced by students, faculty at UMBC and independent living inBaltimore.

Carl Weber Receives Volunteer Service Award
Carl Weber, assistant professor of biological sciences, received the James B. Coulter Meritorious Award for Volunteer Service, presented by Save Our Streams. The first recipient of this award, Weber has been an active volunteer leader with Save Our Streams since 1988 and has been involved with the Heartbeat Biological Monitoring program from its inception and was instrumental in helping SOS to design the technical aspects of that program. He has consistently focused on developing exacting standards and procedures designed to ensure that professional biological protocols adapted for volunteer use could be executed with a high degree of scientific specificity. His contributions have enabled thousands of volunteers around the world to learn to understand and appreciate the value of our fresh water resources by participating in scientifically valid volunteer stream monitoring programs.

David Armour, maintenance structural supervisor I, has worked for the State of Maryland for 28 years, and has spent the past 18 years serving UMBC. As Lock Shop supervisor, he is known as a positive leader and an outstanding team player.

"Under Dave Armour's leadership, the Lock Shop provides quality service to the campus in a timely manner," says Joe Hill, manager of operations and maintenance. "He has helped implement key requests and key inventory to a computerized program that improved Lock Shop functions. He often misses lunch or works overtime to accomplish tasks in order to maintain security for the campus. Dave possesses good communication skills and keeps his men up-to-date by identifying training needs and safety issues for his shop."

Armour is currently working on a bachelor's degree in information systems at UMBC.

What is your educational and professional background?

I hold a Bachelors Degree in Business Education and a Masters Degree in Administration and Supervision.

I was employed at Coppin State College from November, 1979 to February, 2002. My most recent position was director of human resources, a position I held for nine years. Prior to the appointment to director, I served as the associate director of human resources. Coppin is a small institution with a HR staff of four; therefore, it was important that the director work with the staff on many of the day-to-day operations in order to ensure a smooth operation. Both positions afforded me the opportunity to be extensively involved in policy development, employee relations, staff development, recruitment, classification/compensation, budgeting and planning, training and benefits administration.

Before joining the HR team at Coppin, I worked as the assistant to the vice president for academic affairs.

What are some of the current issues in the field of human resources andhow might they impact UMBC?

Current issues in the field of human resources include globalization, strategicpartnering, succession planning, the need for lifelong learning, work/lifebalance technology, etc. How they impact the campus is a more difficult question. I believe succession planning--all the boomers heading for retirement--will have a huge impact. Issues that must be addressed include: How do we fill all those jobs? Are we preparing current employees to fill new roles? How do we look at lifelong learning? Are we flexible enough to attract the best and brightest young people who want to balance work and family? Are we flexible enough to keep older employees working in some role past retirement age?

What do you hope to accomplish at UMBC?

My major focus over the past two months has been on the Delta Initiative, Collective Bargaining and improvement of HR customer service.

The Delta Initiative
The Delta Team and the Human Resources staff are committed to improving business processes and information access in the Human Resources area. To accomplish this goal, specific modules for Human Resources have been purchased which include: Position Management (Classification/Compensation), Base Benefits, Recruitment, Payroll and Time & Labor. The HR team will be working with the campus community to identify and streamline existing HR business processes without sacrificing personal service.

Collective Bargaining
On February 8, eligible non-exempt employees voted to have AFSCME as their exclusive representative. Negotiations between UMBC and AFSCME will be scheduled to develop a contract.

Customer Service to the UMBC Community
I believe that the mark of a good human resources department is one whose staff is willing to listen to a variety of perspectives, to listen to constituents and to synthesize the information to develop or strengthen the services offered. The HR Team at UMBC plan to spend a good deal of time listening to the employees--their ideas, their feedback and their concerns. In order to develop our message and our agenda, we have to make sure that we're on the right track, that we are creating what is best for our employees.

UMBC's Human Resources office regularly offers a variety of seminars forfaculty and staff. Why are these important to the community?

The Staff Development/Training Programs are important to the UMBC community because they offer practical solutions on a variety of topics to management, communicate changes in policies and procedures, provide refresher training in business processes, improve employee performance skills, and present a great opportunity to network.

What are your personal hobbies and interests?

Most of my spare time is spent working with young ladies in programs designed to provide them with opportunities to achieve their professional and educational goals with the assistance of monetary grants and awards.

For the past 24 years I have been actively involved with Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., a national collegiate organization that focuses on community service, leadership development and academic support for young people.

I am also the executive director of the Miss Baltimore Scholarship Pageant, one of the local competitions held in Maryland that leads to Miss America. The Miss America Program is the largest private scholarship foundation for women. Over 35 million dollars in cash and in-kind scholarships are awarded annually.

Last, but certainly not least, I spend my time nurturing my ten-year-old daughter, Morgan Christina, who can't decide if she wants to be a dancer, model, actress, violinist or the Governor of Maryland.

Professor in the Honors College and the Department of Visual Arts, Ellen Handler Spitz spoke with Tom Moore for Insights about the exhibition Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art, which is on display at the Jewish Museum in New Yorkthrough June 30, 2002. When the exhibition generated substantial negative criticism in the press, Spitz's replies were published in The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun and other publications.

Tom Moore: You've been in the news because of your connection to the exhibition Mirroring Evil, organized by the Jewish Museum in New York. Tell us about the exhibition and why it has attracted so much attention.

Ellen Handler Spitz: Well, that's a complicated question. The show has attracted attention for a host of different reasons. One of them has to do with its site. It is in The Jewish Museum in New York. However, there are thirteen artists in the show, and only four of them are Jewish. So, there were questions as to why and whether The Jewish Museum should be putting on a show in which so many of the artists are not Jewish. Furthermore, any art that deals with World War II and its atrocities, in particular, the Holocaust, attracts attention and criticism, because the topic is so fraught, so emotional and upsetting for so many people. No matter how you deal with it, there will be those who will protest and feel that it isn't, that it cannot be treated adequately or fairly. I think another reason the show became so controversial is that its timing coincided with what happened in our country--the devastation of September 11th. And our President had used the phrase "axis of evil," which is a reference to the Axis powers--the Nazi/Fascist regimes--so that there was, in the air, a subtle parallel between what happened a half century ago and something that had just happened now and directly to us. People were (and are) deeply troubled, frightened, and concerned. I think the show mobilized such feelings, and that they were then displaced onto the objects in the exhibition itself; also, we used the word "evil" in its title. These are some of the reasons why I think the show became so controversial. Also, there has been an especially great concern on the part of survivors and the second generation as they watch horrified to see the iconography of the Holocaust appropriated and trivialized by popular culture. For example, there was that movie Life Is Beautiful, by the Italian director Roberto Benigni, which used the Holocaust as a background, and the Broadway show, The Producers. And on and on. Many people are sensitive to these cultural confiscations of the Holocaust and feel that these are violations that affect them directly; I think that, similarly, they may feel that our exhibition is just another example of indignity. These are some of the reasons why people have been concerned. And some of the art in the show is very, very disturbing, raw.

TM: Tell us about your role in the exhibition.

EHS: I was invited by Norman Kleeblatt, a brilliant curator. The first show that put him on the map, so to speak, was his Dreyfus Affair: Art, Truth, and Justice (1987). Wonderful exhibit. That really established his claim to be considered an outstanding curator. And then he did another show called Too Jewish, a very controversial one that probed ethnic Jewishness. Some people felt embarrassed by it; some people felt alienated, but it was highly interesting and provocative. And then he did this one. He approached me in California (I was teaching at Stanford at the time) when Too Jewish opened in San Francisco, and he said, "Ellen, will you work with me on my next show? It's going to involve Nazi images." And I asked, "Why do you want me?" And he said, "I want you because you are really interested in children, and you've done a lot of writing about children. One thing that fascinates me is that a lot of these artists I've seen in Europe and Israel are making pieces that involve childhood and making art that references childhood, and furthermore they are too young to have been a part of this war. I thought that might interest you as well." It did. So he began to fly me east to a series of scholars' and staff meetings in New York, where we debated the complexities of the show and its themes and tried to decide which art to include. And then, the summer before last, I spent a month or so at the Museum, just holed up in a little cubicle looking at all the materials, realizing that I had to write about it, always asking myself whether I really wanted to or could write about it, finding it extremely difficult to think what I might say. Gradually, I began to find a way. And, in the end, I feel I said exactly what I wanted to say in my catalogue essay, which I called "Childhood, Art, and Evil."

TM: Are the negative comments from critics because they're offended by the exhibition, or because they've misunderstood the intent of the artists? Or a combination of the two?

EHS: There have been different kinds of critics, ranging from very naïve people--for example, there was a picket outside the Museum on opening day, an elderly gentleman who was holding up a sign that said, "Art and Genocide Don't Mix." This is extremely naive...I mean, think of Goya's great painting of the Executions of May 3rd! Think of all the representations of war and violence that have been produced by artists from ancient times until now. So you have that kind of very simplistic critic who's expressing his own strong feeling of being of being violated and who doesn't want anyone to take his anguish and put it into an exhibition. All the way to very sophisticated New York contemporary art critics, who attacked the show because, according to their tastes, the art wasn't quite up to snuff, a move which I personally read as a displacement from their inability or unwillingness to deal, as you implied, Tom, with the deeper issues the show is raising. At the end of May, I have to lead a public discussion at the Museum with a rabbi from the Upper West Side in connection with the show, and our topic is "Ambiguity in Representations of Evil." This is crucial. Part of what the show is about is the fact that all of us have the capacity to be cruel, to hate one another for no good reason, and also to be indifferent to one another. As long as we simply think of ourselves as good, and the other guys as bad, we will never be able to have a peaceful world. We'll never be able to build a lasting sense of community. It's only when we can recognize our own capacity to descend to those depths that we will be able to reach out and make some kind of rapprochement out of a deep sense of humility about the human condition, its inherent contradictions, temptations, and its possibilities for transcendence and hope. And that I think is what the show is about. It's about forcing its viewers to look at tough art and to face ourselves. The critics weren't addressing that.

TM: Going back to your comments about children--in your essay for the exhibition, "Childhood, Art and Evil," you draw a correlation between children who are the innocent victims of crime and the powerlessness of adult victims of crime. Can you speak to us more about that?

EHS: What I tried to suggest is that for a very, very long time, nobody wanted to think about what happened to the children. Nobody wrote about what happened to them. It was too awful. As adults, our first duty to children is to nurture them and protect them. They are our future. For the mother, her role is to feed the child, clothe the child, keep the child warm. The principal role of the father is to protect his child from harm. This is, at the most basic level, what parents do, what adults do. And any anger, any aggression we feel toward our children, we as adults must carefully control and suppress. Any instincts that we may have to hurt them, we as adults must master. This is the way of the world: this assures that the young will grow up and that there will be a future, a civilization. As an aside, it seems to me one of the most terrifying aspects of life in the world today is the sacrifice of children in the Middle East, where youngsters, who couldn't possibly have any formed political ideas, are being sacrificed by adults who should know better, to political ends--children. Anyway, in this situation, what I felt was happening was that the Jews were being infantilized in those camps...they were being robbed of every aspect by which they could identify as adults. They were unable to feed themselves. They were prevented from initiating actions. They were robbed of their names. They were robbed of their clothing, their possessions. They were denuded of their professional lives. They were rendered completely helpless, and then they were destroyed. This seemed to me a hideous kind of perversion. And the artists, the young European and eastern European artists who have been making this art grew up in a post-war Europe, where they--in some cases, children of perpetrators and bystanders who never spoke about their own role in the war--are suffering the toxic effects of secrets and lies about all this history. Just as there were so many things that were never able to be said in the Jewish families, so it is and was on the other side. You have Germans, Poles, Austrians, of the young generation now, people in their 30s, who were taken as children to see the sites of the concentration camps, yet were always quietly wondering in their minds, "What was my father doing?" and never being told. And being haunted by these questions. And then growing up and making art.  Why would an artist, in the year 1998 or 2000, need to be making art about something that happened back in the 1940s, way before he or she was born, unless he or she were haunted by it? This is what I wanted to explore--those aspects of the work.

TM: In your essay, you speak about artists who use our fascination and curiosity about evil to entrap us. In one of your sentences, you say, "Through our spectatorial power, to look at our powerlessness in being unable to resist their seduction, we become momentary doubles for both the perpetrators of evil and its victims." Do you think this exhibition breaks new ground in this regard, and is this issue of voyeurism part of what's making people upset with the exhibition?

EHS: That's a wonderful question. I think it might do it for some viewers. But, like everything else, experiencing art is a two-way street. You have to come to the exhibition with a desire to learn something and to open yourself up to that possibility. If you don't come with that, you won't. If you do, I think you may at certain moments feel shaken and shocked. And let me say something else, Tom. About the iconography of the Holocaust--I'm planning to teach a course here at UMBC on this material, and I've done one other course at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where I was asked three years in a row to do it and was scared but finally ended up going through with it and learning immensely with the students--the thing is that the same images of emaciated bodies, piles of shoes, eyeglasses--those images, those iconic images, after they've been seen now for decade after decade after decade, can go all too easily into a fixed category in the mind. It's not that they're not shocking, but they're filable in a category. This show, on the other hand--what I felt about this show--is that it's giving us some new images. And in that sense it does break new ground. And, also, another thing which a lot of the artists are doing is relating their themes to contemporary life. For example, take Zbigniew Libera, the artist who did the Lego piece. When you buy Legos building toys for children, the box is always decorated with suggestions, so that the child sees pictures of what he can make with those Legos.  Libera's Legos portray the possibility of making a concentration camp with a crematorium, a gas chambers and little Nazi soldiers-torturers. When somebody asked this artist "When you made this piece, did you think ever of the victims?" he reflected and then he said, "Yes. I thought of the victims. But even more, I thought of the victims of the future." So, he tried to make a piece that would force us to think about what is it that we give children to play with. What are we teaching our children with the toys we are giving them? Today, not only a half century ago. The show is very much about what we are doing today.

TM: Is there anything else you think we should know about the exhibition?

EHS: No, except I hope that people will come to the show, because I feel that--just as you suggested in your question (that wonderful question)--it is a show different spectators will get something different from. If you can go and reflect a little, I think it could be a very fruitful experience, especially perhaps for us in the US today. I will say one more thing.  It has to do with Mischa Kuball, the German artist who did the piece that's reproduced on the front of the catalog--a huge cross which is turned by light projections from above into a swastika. As an American woman, when I saw that piece, my first association was to the Ku Klux Klan and their burning crosses. When Mischa Kuball was asked, he said, "You know, I made this piece in Munich ten years ago, and it had all kinds of meanings for me as a German artist exhibiting this piece. Now, exhibiting it in the Jewish Museum in New York after the events of 9/11 and surrounded by a Jewish audience, suddenly, I see the piece take on all kinds of new meanings." So, I hope people will go to the show because I think it's taking on new meanings all the time. And that you will bring your own meanings to it.

During the more hectic times of the academic year, it's difficult for faculty to step back and assess the successes (or problems) that occur in the classroom. But as spring semester ends, now is the time to pause and reflect on a year's worth of teaching, and organize thoughts and materials in a way that identifies major issues and accomplishments. In short, it's time to develop or revisit your teaching portfolio.

What is a teaching portfolio? In essence, it's a compilation of one's work as an instructor-a kind of extended teaching curriculum vitae. It explains teaching goals and practices, and includes examples of work produced for courses and evidence of teaching success and progress.

Teaching portfolios are valuable for a number of reasons. They help document what has happened in the classroom-over months or years-and can provide valuable evidence for hiring, tenure and promotion committees. But they also help professors reflect on changes made in teaching over time, as new materials or research or technologies are incorporated into courses or as the curriculum changes. If, for example, you've included Blackboard in your courses for the first time, examining student work (and perhaps comparing it to previous years' work) can help determine if this technology accomplished what you wanted or whether you need to experiment with using it in a different way. Such year-end reflection helps an instructor evaluate whether students are learning from current teaching strategies or whether other kinds of assignments or activities could accomplish the same goals more effectively. And finally, keeping an up-to-date file of teaching practices also may come in handy when applying for specific kinds of grants or teaching awards.

The form such a portfolio can take varies tremendously, depending up on one's discipline and the kinds of courses one teaches. The important starting point is simply to gather materials-syllabi, lectures, assignments, exams, course handouts, letters from students-anything that demonstrates one's teaching work. During the year it's sometimes useful to keep a file or even a box where copies of such materials are placed until it's time to clarify how these materials help achieve established teaching goals. Since much of the content of teaching can be ephemeral or hard to document, it's important to save whatever might be useful.

Typically, a portfolio consists of variety of information, which can be broken down into three main categories.

Overview statement:
A reflective statement which explains an instructor's larger view of teaching and learning, and illustrates how this philosophy works in practice; also a reflection on the development of teaching strategies or goals over one's career.

Course materials or examples:
Descriptions of teaching responsibilities and courses taught, including detailed syllabi, examples of assignments and examples of student work with the kind of feedback given to help students learn and improve.

Evaluations or Feedback:
Evaluations of teaching that students submit, but also evaluations that might have been performed by a colleague, chair, or a faculty development evaluator; honors or awards received, or other forms of recognition; activities participated in (workshops, seminars, conferences) to improve teaching; (perhaps even service on departmental or university committees which directly deal with curricular design or program changes).

Developing a good teaching portfolio takes some time, but it is worth the effort because it produces a much richer and much more accurate picture of the work that goes into-and the student learning that results from-teaching than do hurriedly completed end-of-semester student evaluations. If you would more information on how to develop a portfolio, contact the Faculty Development Center or check some of the resources listed below. Peter Seldin's book, The Teaching Portfolio, contains sample portfolios (from across disciplines) that give one a starting point for organizing one's own information.

Books (available at the Faculty Development Center)

Peter Seldin. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions. Bolton, MA: Anker, 1997. The first two chapters of Seldin's book are available online at:http://www.lgu.ac.uk/deliberations/portfolios/ICED_workshop/seldin_book.html

Russell Edgerton, Patricia Hutchings, and Kathleen Quinlan. The Teaching Portfolio: Capturing the Scholarship in Teaching. Washington, DC: AAHE, 1991.

Online Resources:
Designing a Teaching Portfolio: Pennsylvania State University
http://www.psu.edu/celt/portfolio.htmlhttp://www.psu.edu/celt/portfoliolinks.html contains sample portfolios and links to many other university sites with information about teaching portfolios, including especially useful information at Texas, Brown, and Ohio State.

Examples of teaching portfolios in history are available at the American Historical Association website:http://www.theaha.org/teaching/aahe/aahecover.html

Rich Reis's Tomorrow's Professor Web site contains a summary (from Edgerton, Hutchings, and Quinlan) of materials that might be included in a portfolio:http://sll.stanford.edu/projects/tomprof/newtomprof/postings/13.html

University of Nebraska at Lincoln: http://www.unl.edu/teaching/tchport.html
University of Michigan: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/occ11.html

Final Four of Chess in the News
UMBC's Chess Team is headed to Miami this weekend to compete in the "Final Four of College Chess" against Harvard, Stanford and the University of Texasat Dallas--UMBC's most formidable foe. The story has been picked up by USA Today, National Public Radio, the Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News, the Maryland Daily Record, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Baltimore Sun and The Miami Herald.

UMBC Dance in Wired
Department of Dance Chair Carol Hess and dance professor Doug Hamby are featured in a Wired News story about the influence of technology on contemporary dance.http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,51957,00.html

UMBC a Treasure in Your Backyard
In a recent column, Washington Post columnist Karin Chenoweth had some good things to say about President Freeman Hrabowski and UMBC in her column. "If it stayson its current trajectory, UMBC will soon be recognized as one of the most dynamic and exciting campuses in the country. And it's right in our own backyard." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57255-2002Apr3.html

Well, if it's lacrosse season, it must be time for another "UMBC Family Lacrosse" story.

The last few years we've talked about Jeff and Josh Hahn, Dan and Steve Marohl, Jason and Justin Smith, etc., etc. But the reason we keep coming back to this theme is because of the tremendous sense of pride that these members of the lacrosse family have in the black and gold.

The 2002 version has a bit of a twist. Lee Ann and Gavin Stringer, Sr.'s eldest two children are Gavin, Jr., starting on attack on the men's squad, and younger sister Courtney, the starting netminder on the women's team. It was probably not much of a stretch to think that Gavin and Courtney would compete in the sport of lacrosse-but to wind up as starters during the same calendar year on the same field-those would have been some pretty long odds.

Gavin recalls at a very early age being introduced to lacrosse. His father lettered at the University of Maryland. His uncle, Pat, played at Johns Hopkins and his aunt Margy competed at Loyola. Their children, Megan (North Carolina), Amy (current senior at Richmond) and Dan (current sophomore at UNC) all played collegiate lacrosse. Gavin, Jr., recalls vividly that there were some old sticks lying around the house, (one purple one in particular) and he started them to use at an early age. Even though Gavin, Courtney, and younger brother Patrick (midfielder at DeSales University) were toted to many a club game that their father played, none were pressured to play the sport.

"We always had the choice to do what we wanted to or choose the sport we wanted to play," says Courtney, recalling the couple of years spent as a "ballerina" or Gavin's year away from the sport.

And, no, Courtney was not shoved into the goal by her brothers, hoping for target practice in front of the cage in the backyard. She played the field, until one year, when no one on her rec team would go into the goal.

"No one else on the team would do it and you didn't have to do any of the running," says Courtney. "Then when I tried out for the varsity (at Dulaney HS), the coach told me to stick with it." Of course, once Courtney started playing goal, Gavin and Patrick began to sharpen their shooting skills against her.

When it came time to look at colleges, UMBC was one of the only schools that Gavin considered in the fall of 1997. Ironically, another of Gavin's uncles, Tom, had been a roommate of Coach Zimmerman at Johns Hopkins. Gavin admits to making some mistakes during his first short-lived stint at UMBC, but overcame those errors and a torn anterior cruciate ligament to return to make the team again last season.

"I had never heard of UMBC until Gavin came here," said Courtney, who is two years younger than Gavin. I just loved it. It was the only place I really wanted to go. Of course, Gavin came back because he wanted to be near me," she says with a grin.

Both players have flourished this season. Gavin earned a starting spot on attack early in the season and has responded with six goals and two assists through the first seven games. "My first goal was to be able to play again," says Gavin. "But now that I am out there, I'm hungry to score and do whatever I can to help the team win."

"I am so happy for Gavin," says Courtney. "I am really proud of him and how far he has come…I cried when he scored his first goal."

After two years of playing behind starter Amy Jagoda, Courtney is the starter this season, and has become increasingly confident, as the season has progressed. Just before press time, she recorded a season-high 17 saves in a 15-11 win at American.

"Like Gavin, I just want our team to win," says Courtney. "I needed time to mature as a player and establish my role…I think I'm doing that this season."

Both are sociology majors, and as he has done in the latter stages of his collegiate career, Gavin seems prepared to meticulously plan his future. Although they relish this "shining moment" they are sharing together, both are anticipating the senior ceremony before the Maryland game.

Hopefully, many of the Stringers will be in attendance. Courtney will be there--hopefully with some games remaining in the NCAA Tournament. Yes, Gavin, Sr., and Lee Ann's eldest children have added another chapter of pride to the extended family, which is UMBC lacrosse.

An invention by UMBC mechanical engineering professor Uri Tasch that automatically detects lameness in dairy cattle has been licensed for development by a New Zealand-based firm in a deal that could save the global dairy industry millions annually.

DEC International New Zealand, Ltd., and UMBC reached a licensing agreement last month that allows for the commercialization of the device. Tasch invented the detector system during a three-year collaboration with scientists from the University of Maryland, College Park's Animal and Avian Science department.

Tasch estimates that the American dairy industry loses close to $500 million a year to livestock lameness, which is caused by infection, arthritis, or injury. There are billions of dollars a year at stake internationally. The system also saves farmers time, analyzing each cow automatically as it crosses the device platform on the way into the barn for feeding or milking.

The international dairy automation firm Bou-Matic of Madison, Wisconsin, will develop and market the product under a separate agreement with DEC International NZ.

Tasch's invention is the fourth of the year for UMBC. "It's a strong technology with great commercial potential," says Stephen Auvil, director of technology development at UMBC.

This month's column was written by Melisa Kelly, assistant director, Career Development and Placement.

Spring semester is almost over and now is the perfect time to start planning for your summer job search. Impress employers by your initiative in seeking the best job to prepare you for future career opportunities. Even if you don't need the extra money, look into volunteering your skills to help build your resume! Keep in mind that most job seekers will have a degree and many will have experience, you don't wan to be left out. In addition to being a great resume builder, a career-related summer job helps you make contacts, can lead to a full-time job, and enables you to put what you learn in the classroom to the test. The Career Development Center (CDC) has some ideas to help you find that rewarding summer job experience:

1. Begin your self assessment
What do you like to do? What are you good a doing? What do you look for in a job? Let the CDC help you determine your interests, skills, and values so you can begin identifying careers that would fit best.

2. Identify a position
Now that you know what you want to do, the next step is finding the perfect job. There are many ways to go about a job search. You might want to start in the Career Resource Center (CRC) in MP 212 with the Summer Job Binders containing up-to-date job listings. Then, from the CDC Web site at www.careers.umbc.edu, you can search job banks by clicking on "students” and then "career websites.” Internet job banks are a great resource especially if you are interested in relocating. Another tool is the newspaper, enabling you to search local want ads (don't forget about searching large city newspapers online or in the library). And finally, one of the best ways to find out about jobs is through networking with people you already know in the field.

3. Conduct thorough research
Utilize the CRC to help you research position descriptions, company information and industry news. This information can help you write a targeted resume anddemonstrate your preparedness during the interview. Job shadowing and informational interviewing are also great ways to learn about a particular work environmentand career, while building networking skills and making great contacts.

4. Develop a cover letter and resume
With your research complete you are prepared to write an outstanding cover letter and resume. Don't forget to target both documents to the specific company andposition for which you are applying. Make an appointment with a Career Specialist for your cover letter and resume critique today!

5. Apply for the job
This step is very important. Make sure you read the application thoroughly and fill out or answer every question completely, honestly, and accurately.

6. Practice for the interview
This is often one of the most intimidating phases of the job search process, but it does not have to be. Take advantage of your friends at the CDC. Let us help youfine-tune your interviewing skills. Sign up for a mock interview today and be on your way to learning how to impress recruiters.

7. Start your new job!
Congratulations! You have accepted the job and you are on your way to developing your career. Remember to honor your job commitments and enjoy your newposition!

For more information, contact the CDC at (410) 455-2216, Math/Psychology 204,careers@umbc.edu and www.careers.umbc.edu.