The whole world will be watching later this month as an outstanding UMBC alumna, originally from the Caribbean, competes for her native country in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Cleopatra Borel (Interdisciplinary Studies, '02) is a three-time UMBC Track and Field NCAA All American in the shot put and was UMBC's first-ever NCAA champion. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Borel will pursue the global pinnacle of her sport during Olympic track and field competition, which runs from August 18 through 29.

Borel graduated from UMBC in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies focused on health psychology, and is now a graduate student in psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Currently ranked 10th in the world in her event by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Borel is ready for the challenge at Athens.

"My goal is just to go out there and throw as far as I could possibly throw. I would love to get a PR (personal record) on that day,” Borel told The Trinidad & Tobago Express in a June interview.

"I plan to take everything step by step,” she told the Express. "The first target is getting past the qualifying round. And then, the goal is to be among the top eight. Once you're in the final, anything could happen.”

Among those cheering Borel on stateside is UMBC Track and Field Head Coach David O. Bobb. "Cleopatra Borel is the ultimate student-athlete,” says Bobb. "She excelled in both the classroom and shot put circle. She put 100 percent into everything and the results show it. Being an Olympian is a great accomplishment. She will represent her country well and I wish her the best in Athens.”

Two other international UMBC student-athletes deserve congratulations this year for coming close to qualifying for their native Olympic teams. High jumper Huguens Jean of Haiti and swimmer Carlos Canepa of Peru will be watching the games from home this year with an eye on preparing for 2008.

The games of the 28th Olympiad will be held from August 11-29 and televised internationally on the NBC family of broadcast networks. A complete guide to the 2004 Games and a TV schedule is online. The women's shot put qualifying rounds are scheduled for 1:30 a.m. (ET) on Wed. Aug 18.

UMBC's Departments of Public Policy and Information Systems will debut a new graduate certificate program in electronic government (e-gov) this fall. The program is the first in the Baltimore/Washington area focused on skills needed to increase and improve online transactions and services offered by federal, state and local government to individuals and businesses.

Professors in the program include three of the nation's top e-gov experts:

Pattee Fletcher, a professor in UMBC's Public Policy department, has extensive federal information technology (IT) experience, having worked for the General Accounting Office and consulted for the U.S. Treasury and Freddie Mac.

Stephen Holden brought 16 years of federal government IT experience to UMBC's Information Systems department after helping to develop the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) e-file system. The increasingly popular program, which enables taxpayers to securely file and pay their taxes electronically, has made the IRS a pioneer in e-government at the federal level.

Donald F. Norris, director of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research and a professor of Public Policy at UMBC, is a nationally known analyst, author and consultant on state and local government IT management. Norris and Fletcher are co-editors in chief of the International Journal of Electronic Government Research.

According to Holden, the push towards e-government comes straight from the White House, a process started under Clinton/Gore and continuing in the Bush administration. "In his February 2002 budget, President Bush outlined a management agenda for making government more focused on citizens and results, which includes expanding electronic government," Holden says.

The federal government has recognized the need for additional training in the area of e-government. A recent study by the CIO Council found that less than 5 percent of more than 19,000 federal IT workers have extensive knowledge in e-government. Private sector contractors supporting public agencies can also benefit from UMBC's graduate certificate and help to fill this knowledge gap.

Holden notes that customer satisfaction ratings in the public sector lag far behind private industry when governments continue to use paper transactions. "The payoff for e-government is significant, because customer satisfaction ratings for e-gov rival, and in some cases, beat private sector standards," says Holden.

The new certificate will bring management, policy and IT perspectives to a slate of courses aimed at mid-career professionals with technical or management backgrounds. The 15-credit program starts its first classes this fall semester.

For more information on e-gov at UMBC, please call 410-455-2336, e-mail egov@umbc.edu or visit http://www.umbc.edu/egov/.

UMBC has announced its fall 2004 arts season. Visit www.umbc.edu/arts for the latest information on upcoming exhibitions, lectures and performances.

The Division of Professional Education and Training (DPET) at UMBC is responding to the staffing needs of regional high-tech industries by offering two graduate programs in Systems Engineering (SE) this fall.

According to officials with Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Electronic Systems Sector--headquartered close to UMBC near BWI Airport and a sponsor of the new programs--the shortage of qualified systems engineers (SEs) is urgent and will grow over the next few years.

"We need 90 to 100 more systems engineers than we currently have, and when you factor in program growth and retirements, Northrop Grumman and many other similar high-technology companies across the region and the nation will continue to face a long term shortage of such specialized technical talent," says Jim Armitage, vice president of Engineering at Northrop Grumman, who played a key role in founding the SE training at UMBC.

The two new programs differ from traditional systems engineering training by offering curricula that is focused more on the technical (i.e., hands-on) side of the field instead of management. UMBC's DPET programs will offer both the masters of science in electrical engineering and the graduate certificate in systems engineering.

Systems engineers typically work on large-scale projects in high-tech industries including aerospace, information technology, defense, transportation, space exploration, manufacturing and telecommunications.

"There will be a heavy emphasis on problem solving, practical application, mentoring by experienced systems engineers and a teamwork approach," says Ted Foster, assistant dean of the college of engineering at UMBC and director of the new SE program.

Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector will select 15 employees to start the first two UMBC classes this fall. Both courses will be taught in UMBC's new, state-of-the-art Information Technology and Engineering building located on UMBC's main campus.

For more information, please visit www.csee.umbc.edu/se/ or call 410-455-1564.