After years of schooling and education, the date of graduation from college sends individuals in different directions. For some graduates it is heading off on exotic trips and vacations while others jump right into the work force, putting their education to use. For graduating senior Megan Oursler it is continuing to do what she loves--playing softball and combining it with a chance to see a new part of the world as she heads to Sweden to play softball during the summer of 2005.

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to travel over seas and to meet new people,” said Oursler. “I have never been outside the U.S., so seeing a whole new culture will be a great experience.”

Softball in Sweden is a minor sport with eight-teams divided into A and B Groups. While the season started in mid-May, Megan joined her team after graduation, playing for the Karlslund IF Eagles in the city of Örebro. Karlslund is in the three-team Group B division but will play teams from the five-team Group A division as well.

“The best part about this opportunity is that I get to keep playing softball,” said Oursler. “There is an overwhelming feeling you get when you realize that this is your last year playing softball, but knowing that I get to keep playing is a great feeling.”

Oursler, who is the first known Retriever softball player to play overseas, will not be the only Retriever heading to Sweden--Assistant Softball Coach Bill Gilbert is running clinics with various teams and programs, and is working with Oursler’s team for five or six days.

“Coach Gilbert is the one who really made the trip possible,” said Oursler. “He has helped me get everything together that would be needed to make the transfer. He has provided me with pictures, Web pages, and several notes on conversational Swedish so I can learn the language. He has been there to answer any questions about Europe and what I need to bring, or leave home. He will also be going over for a few weeks as a pitching coach, so I am relieved to know that there will be a familiar face there to help me get situated.”

Making the trip even more fulfilling, Oursler is also helping to coach a senior league and training beginners and youth. Her league plays through the end of August with playoffs in September, which gives her the opportunity to experience a different culture and put to good use her experiences as a student-athlete at UMBC.

“Megan is a class act in every sense of the way,” said UMBC Softball Head Coach Joe French. “She will represent UMBC in a very professional manner and we wish her the best of luck.”

The techcenter@UMBC and the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park in the Business Monthly Journal
The techcenter@UMBC and the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park were mentioned in several sections of the Business Monthly Journal’s June edition including, “Education for Your Growing Business at techcenter@UMBC” (page B30);
“Maryland's Top Incubator Companies Recognized” (page 40); “2005 Salute to the BWI Business District” (first page of supplement); and “Working With NSA” (page 21).

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, on News Channel 8
Thomas Schaller, assistant professor of political science, appeared live on News Channel 8’s “Newstalk” hosted by Bruce DePuyt, at 4 p.m. on June 22. News Channel 8 is televised in the Washington, DC metro area.

Erle Ellis, Geography and Environmental Systems, Letter Published in New Yorker Magazine
Erle Ellis, assistant professor in geography and environmental systems, had the lead Letter to the Editor in the June 13 and 20 issues of New Yorker. (Only three letters were published, all dealing with a three-part series on climate change.)

Ann Spence, Mechanical Engineering, Delivers STEM Coalition TestimonyAnn Spence, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and American Society of Mechanical Engineering member, testified before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce in early May. Her testimony centered on President Bush’s budget request for science, technology, engineering, and math initiatives. Her testimony can be found at http://www.asme.org/gric/ps/2005/05-08.pdf.

Renee van der Stelt, CAVC Projects Coordinator, Works Displayed at the Baltimore Museum of Art
The contemporary works of Renee van der Stelt, CAVC projects coordinator, can be seen at Artscape at the BMA Observation Deck through July 31. Renowned artist Gary Simmons selected the artists whose works examine the theme of vantage point.

UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture (CAVC) and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center have published Museums of Tomorrow: A Virtual Discussion, edited by Maurice Berger, CAVC curator. It is based on the proceedings of an online symposium, “Museums of Tomorrow: An Internet Conference of Art Historians, Artists, Critics, Curators, and Directors," moderated by Berger and held on the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Web site in October 2003.

A publication party for the book will be held on Wednesday, June 22 at Metro Pictures Gallery in New York City.

Museums of Tomorrow includes an introduction by Berger and a preface by Barbara Lynnes and UMBC Distinguished Professor of Visual Arts and CAVC Executive Director David Yager. It is distributed by Distributed Art Publishers (DAP) in New York.

Contributors include Mark Alice Durant, UMBC visual arts professor, as well as Alexander Alberro, Bruce Altshuler, Maxwell Anderson, George Baker, Stefano Basilico, Jonathan Binstock, Dan Cameron, Karen Mary Davalos, Donna De Salvo, Carol Duncan, Jennifer Gonzalez, Mary Kelly, George King, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblet, Miwon Kwon, Raina Lampkins-Fielder, Simon Leung, Barbara Buhler Lynes, Olu Oguibe, Joan Rosenbaum, David Ross, Edward Rothstein, Irving Sander, Michelle Wallace, Alan Wallach, and Sylvia Yount.

The book is the second in a series of publication partnerships between the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and the Center for Art and Visual Culture. The first, Postmodernism: A Virtual Discussion was published in 2003 and received 2nd Prize in the category of Scholarly Journals from the American Association of Museums (AAM) in 2004.

Other recent CAVC publications include Paul Rand: Modernist Design (2003) and White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art (2004). Paul Rand: Modernist Design received First Prize in the category of Books from the American Association of Museums (AAM) in 2004 and White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art in the category of Exhibition Catalogues from the AAM in 2005.

bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park and Ellen Hemmerly in the News
The bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park was highlighted in the Baltimore Business Journal on June 14 for receiving a $2 million investment from the state’s Sunny Day Fund, also known as the Economic Development Opportunities Fund in “UMBC's tech park to Receive $2M.” Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of UMBC Research Park Corp., said the fund is necessary for Maryland’s growth.
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2005/06/13/daily12.html?f=et52

This news also appeared in the Baltimore Sun on June 15 in “UMBC Gets $2 Million Grant for Research, Technology Park.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-bz.umbc15jun15,1,7756403.story?coll=bal-education-top

Lee Boot, Imaging Research Center, in the Baltimore Sun
Lee Boot, visiting professor and artist at the Imaging Research Center, was in “Finding 'Euphoria,'” a June 12 Baltimore Sun article about “Euphoria,” Boot’s film about substance abuse.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/home/bal-findingeuphoria612,1,2612572.story

Christopher Corbett, English, in the Baltimore Sun
Christopher Corbett, English lecturer, wrote a book review in the June 11 Baltimore Sun, “Superstardom was Born in the West,” about The Colonel and Little Missie: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and the Beginnings of Superstardom in America, by Larry McMurtry.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/booksmags/bal-bk.buffalo12jun11,1,270527.story?coll=bal-artslife-books

Center for Women in Technology in the Baltimore Sun
The Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) was mentioned in the Baltimore Sun on June 14 about CWIT’s International Symposium held in Baltimore June 12-14 in “Making IT-Women Friendly.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-bz.women14jun14,1,4710649.story?coll=bal-business-headlines

Rachael Franklin, Music, in the Baltimore Sun
Rachel Franklin, adjunct instructor of music, was profiled on June 12 in the Baltimore Sun’s “Enriching Audiences Through Pre-Lecture Concerts,” discussing her involvement with musical organization and mentioning her achievements in music. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-ar.mary10jun10,1,6338846.story

Alumnus Lafayette Gilchrist in the Baltimore Sun
Lafayette Gilchrist, ’92 African American studies and adjunct instructor of music, was featured in “Jazz Messenger” in the Baltimore Sun on June 12, chronicling his music career.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/arts/bal-as.gilchrist12jun12,1,3195464.story?page=2

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Baltimore Sun
Thomas Schaller, assistant professor of political science, was quoted in “Van Hollen Will Decide on Senate Bid Next Month,” in the Baltimore Sun on June 11.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.vanhollen11jun11,1,7946145.story

Schaller also appeared in the Baltimore Sun on June 16 about Lt. Gov. Steele’s potential senate candidacy in “Steele Tests Waters for Possible Senate Bid.” http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.steele16jun16,1,6007619.story

He will provide political commentary on Maryland Public Television’s “State Circle” with Jeff Salkin on June 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Mark Bulmer, JCET, and Alumna Brandy Zimmerman published in the American Geophysical Union Journal
The research of Mark Bulmer, assistant research professor of JCET and director of the Landslide Observatory, and Brandy Zimmerman, ’03 geography, was published and appeared on the front cover of the American Geophysical Union Journal. The research, funded through the NASA Mars Data Analysis Program, provides a new perspective on Martian landslides. The cover can be seen at http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/grlbackiss05.shtml
vol. 32 no. 6

By Chip Rose

bwtech@UMBC, UMBC's on-campus research and technology park, has announced that two new corporate tenants will relocate to the park’s second building, 5523 Research Park Drive.

The new tenants are the healthcare communications and technology firm Physicians Practice, Inc., formerly of Glen Burnie, and the engineering/design firm Edwards and Kelcey, which moves its Baltimore office to UMBC from Caton Avenue.

Physicians Practice is publisher of Physicians Practice: The Business Journal for Physicians, the most widely circulated practice management journal for physicians in the country. The firm is also known for its award-winning Web site, www.PhysiciansPractice.com, and a weekly e-mail newsletter, Physicians Practice Pearls.

Physicians Practice comes to UMBC thanks in part to the close ties to the University by president, co-founder and UMBC alumnus Scott Weber, who graduated in 1985 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. Weber, a former president of the UMBC Alumni Association, continues to advise students in UMBC's Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship on starting up and running a successful business. The company, which will occupy most of the second floor, currently employs 45 people.

"UMBC offers an excellent strategic location for us to grow our business, with its thriving technology environment, wealth of intellectual capital, and convenient proximity to transportation," said Gerry Hartung, chief executive officer and co-founder of Physicians Practice. "We look forward to partnering with UMBC as our business continues to grow throughout the region and country."

Edwards and Kelcey is a nationally recognized engineering, design, planning and construction management firm which has been in business since 1946. Headquartered in Morristown, NJ, Edwards and Kelcey has 900 employees, 23 regional offices and is ranked 68th among the Top 500 U.S. Design Firms by Engineering News-Record (ENR). Edwards and Kelcey employs 25 transportation engineers and planners locally, and is currently providing services to the Maryland Aviation Administration, Maryland State Highway Administration, City of Baltimore, and other local DOTs.

K.R. Marshall, EK's Baltimore office manager said, "Our new location at UMBC will allow us to optimally service our transportation clients in the Baltimore region. With convenient access to BWI and downtown Baltimore, coupled with partnership opportunities with the UMBC engineering department, Edwards and Kelcey looks forward to continued success in the Maryland market."

bwtech@UMBC's first two buildings were developed by Grosvenor, one of the largest private real estate companies in the world with a global property portfolio of $7 billion. The park's 62,000 square-foot first building has been leased by the information technology firm RWD Technologies since 2001.

RWD Technologies, a bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park company, in the Baltimore Business Journal
Dennis A. Pick, RWD’s chief financial officer, has been named senior vice president as announced in the Baltimore Business Journal’s, “RWD's CFO to Lead M&A Activity,” on June 8.

Thomas Schaller, Political Science, in the Washington Times
Thomas Schaller, assistant professor of political science, said the Maryland legislature could gain more Republicans depending on Ehrlich’s success as governor, in a June 6, Washington Times article, “GOP Predicts Gains in Assembly.”

Schaller was also quoted in the Baltimore Sun’s June 7 piece, “No, Ehrlich Doesn't Covet a Senate Seat, Says Staffer.”

Finally, in a June 9 Washington Post story, “Baltimore Mayor's Attempt to Rewrite Election History,” Schaller discussed Mayor Martin O’Malley’s chances of becoming governor.

UMBC Sailing Club Ready to Take Sail in the Annapolis to Newport Race
The UMBC offshore/keelboat sailing team and faculty advisor, Marc Zupan, assistant professor in mechanical engineering, will compete in the 480NM Annapolis to Newport Race on a Wassa 51 racing yacht SIRENA US 43990 starting Friday, June 10. The Annapolis-to-Newport race, one of the most historic East Coast blue water races, links the two seaports dating from our nation's birth and provides a contrast between the country's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. This year’s race is unique: Each boat will carry a GPS tracking device where spectators can track the yacht progress in real-time on the web. Information on the race and online tracking can be found online. Participants from the team include students Jon Curtis, Rick Dunn and Holly Bennett. The owners of Sirena are Ron and Karen Wilson.

Date: June 9, 2005

To: UMBC Community

From: Arthur T. Johnson, Provost

We have successfully concluded the searches for deans of our two newly reorganized colleges. I am pleased to announce the appointment of Professor John Jeffries as Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and Professor Geoffrey Summers as Dean of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences.

I look forward to working with Dean Jeffries and Dean Summers in pursuit of our goals of providing a distinguished undergraduate program and continuing to develop our research and graduate education activities as we address the challenges that a tight fiscal environment present.

Professor Jeffries joined the UMBC faculty in 1973. Among his service contributions to UMBC, he served nine years as chair of the History Department and four years as President of the Faculty Senate. His research and publications focus primarily on the political and policy history of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency and on the World War II American home front.

In recognition of his work, he recently was named Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer. For his excellence in the classroom he has been named a UMBC Presidential Teaching Professor and has received the USM Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Jeffries received his B.A. from Harvard and Master of Philosophy & Ph.D. from Yale University.

Professor Summers joined the UMBC faculty in 1988 as Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics. Among his service contributions to UMBC, he served on the Academic Planning & Budget Committee for five years, including 18 months as chair. His research has been funded by the Office of Naval Research, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Department of Energy among other agencies. He has authored or co-authored over 135 refereed scientific journal articles and over 70 conference proceedings.

In the last two years he has won the Best Paper Award at two international conferences and received the Irving Weinberg award of the Space Photovoltaics Research and Technology Conference. Professor Summers received his B.A., M.A., and Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University.

I thank each of the candidates for their willingness to serve UMBC. Their candidacies made the two searches strong ones and provided the campus with an excellent discussion of the future of our two new colleges. I especially want to express my appreciation to Dean Welch for his nine years of service as Dean of Arts and Sciences and for his
support during this transition.

Also, I thank Vice Provost Lynn Zimmerman for chairing the search for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and Vice Provost Scott Bass for chairing the search for the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. I am also grateful to the members of the search committees for taking the time and effort to serve during one of the busiest times of the year. I also appreciate the interest demonstrated in the searches by our faculty and staff who took the time to attend the public sessions and provide the committees with their views.

We will provide regular updates about the reorganization of Arts and Sciences as it progresses over the next several weeks.

The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery presents "Albert Einstein Photographed by Lotte Jacobi", on view through September 30 in the Library Rotunda, an exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of Einstein’s death, selected from the Library’s Photography Collections in Special Collections.

Almost 100 years ago, Albert Einstein wrote the two papers on relativity that secured his place among humanity’s greatest thinkers. His discovery of relativity in 1905 dramatically changed the centuries-old conception of time and space. In 2005, as the world marks the 50th anniversary of Einstein’s death, the impact of his “miracle year” is still being felt.

Lotte Jacobi first met Einstein in 1927 when she photographed him at Gatow, Germany, where he and his wife Elsa were spending the summer by the river. Previously, Einstein had been photographed several times at the fashionable Jacobi Studio in Berlin by Lotte’s father and sister. Jacobi Studio was much more than a photography business—it was a meeting place for the luminaries of Berlin. Among the people that Lotte Jacobi photographed in addition to Einstein were Emil Jannings, László Moholy Nagy, Käthe Kollwitz, Lion Feuchtwangler, Max Lieberman, and Max Planck.

Einstein was one of the most frequently photographed people of his era. In fact, his name and face were so well known that he typically traveled to lectures by train in coach class to avoid attracting attention. In 1935, while on vacation in Connecticut, a man stopped him on the street because Einstein’s face looked familiar. Einstein replied: “I’m a photographer’s model.” Jacobi photographed Einstein on five separate occasions in Germany and the U.S., and the two became good acquaintances. For example, Life magazine asked Jacobi to photograph Einstein in 1938, so she visited him at his Princeton, New Jersey, home. Later that year The New York Times wanted photographs of Einstein and Thomas Mann together (Mann was also living in Princeton), and Jacobi returned to Princeton. Jacobi visited Einstein twice in the 1950s before he died, but these visits were not for photographs, just friendship.

The Library is open Monday through Thursday from 8 am until midnight; on Friday from 8 am until 6 pm; on Saturday from 10 am until 6 pm; and Sunday from 12 noon until midnight. For more information, call 410-455-3827.

"Faculty Development" by Jack Prostko, director of UMBC's Faculty Development Center, will return in September 2005.

UMBC junior Adam Grossman was selected to the 2005 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country University All-District II team, becoming the only junior out of 10 spots to earn the accolades. Grossman, who joined nine seniors on the all-district team from the Mid-Atlantic corridor, earned the honors after winning four conference championships during the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons this past year while holding a 3.80 cumulative GPA in environmental sciences.

Grossman became a back-to-back conference champion in the indoor 55m dash and captured three events at the outdoor America East Conference championships, winning the 100m dash, 200m dash and anchoring the winning 4x100m relay team. Grossman’s time in the 200m dash shattered the conference record, while his time in the 100m dash was 0.01 seconds off the conference mark. He was honored with the Most Outstanding Male Performer of the Meet and the Coaches Award for scoring the most individual points at the conference championships.

He also placed ninth in the 100m dash open at the highly competitive Penn Relays and finished second in the 100m dash at the IC4A/ECAC outdoor meet and compete at the NCAA East Regionals.

Grossman was named America East Track Scholar Athlete for the 2003-04 Indoor and 2004 Outdoor season last year. He holds two 4.0 semesters, four dean’s list semesters and five semester accolades during his three-year career and was named UMBC Male Scholar Athlete of the year in 2005.

UMBC Undergraduate Commencement
May 26, 2005

Aaron Ralby, B.A., Modern Languages & Linguistics and English
Valedictorian

On the Meaning of “Mon”

Hello everyone. I’d like to start just by thanking Dr. Hrabowski, and all my professors, especially Doctors Falco and Irmscher in English, Doctors Field, May, and McCray in MLL–-you guys have been awesome. I’d also just quickly like to send a thanks to my family and friends, and especially my mom. I’m sure we all have people to whom we’d like to express our gratitude, and today’s a good day for that.

What I’m going to talk to you about is something that’s been in my head since freshman year. A couple of weeks into my first semester here, I met with Dr. Hrabowski, and he asked me to think about a question: “What does it mean to be a man?” He said, “Don’t give me the answer now. I want you to think about it, and give it to me later.” Dr. Hrabowski, now is later, and I have thought about it, and I would like to give you, and share with all of you here, my answer.

“What does it mean to be a man?” The word “man” begs definition. Since I’ll be going on to study Old English in grad school, which I think most of us would agree is not exactly practical, I like to put it to use whenever I can, like right now. So, I’m going to use the archaic definition of “man,” or “mon,” which referred to a person or human being, who could be either male or female. So what does it mean to be a mon, human being, an adult as opposed to a child? I would say the answer lies in mastery, and the search for mastery. One who has committed him or herself completely to that search for mastery is a mon.

But now we’ve got a new question: what makes a master? A master is not simply someone who is skillful, nor one who does something exceptionally well. Masters are first and foremost masters of themselves, possessing self-knowledge, reflection, restraint, discipline. They internalize a practice to the point where perfection appears effortless. There is in seeking mastery a twofold process of perfecting a tangible or visible skill and perfecting one's own instruments, such as the mind and intellect. Through this process we reveal our true Selves, and find out who we really are, as opposed to who we choose to believe we are. Einstein once said, “The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.” In other words, the master transcends the limitations of identity, no longer looking at anything through the distorting lens of ego.

The famous Japanese swordsmith Masamune was a master. One time, a few great lords decided to test a blade of one of his students, Muramasa. They obtained a blade of Muramasa’s and went out to a nearby stream, where they stuck the sword in the sand with its edge against the current. The blade was so sharp that when leaves came floating down against its edge, they were cut in two by the mere weight of the stream. All of the lords proclaimed this was a magnificent weapon. But then one of them had the idea of testing one of Muramasa’s master’s swords. So they got a blade of Masamune’s, and returned to the stream, and performed the same test. But this time, when leaves came floating down directly in the path of the sword’s edge, they diverted, and went around the steel, resuming their course downstream. As they continued to watch, all the leaves that were about to strike the edge diverted–-at the last second–-and went around Masamune’s sword. After they had seen this happen over and over again, the lords pulled the sword from the stream and proclaimed that this was the far greater blade, for it had no need to cut. It had nothing to prove.

Like good swords, we can also reach a state in which we have no need to cut. This does not mean that we are passive or weak. A master discerns carefully when it is appropriate to cut, or to do anything for that matter. Masamune had achieved self-mastery, and was so at peace with himself and the world that he was able to impart that peace into his own creations, his own swords.

No matter what we are going on to do, whether we’re going to grad school, getting a job, or taking time off, and no matter what we’re studying or what line of work we’re entering–even something as seemingly useless as Old English and Old Norse–we can all seek mastery of ourselves and our craft. The road to mastery is internal, and because of that, it’s not dependent on any particular external practice. Wherever we find our calling, we can use that activity in the pursuit of our true Selves, our core, and its voice of discernment. As the master poet Basho once said, “Do not try to imitate the old masters. Seek what they sought.” But seeking what they sought is hard. It’s really hard. I’ve been working on that search for years, and haven’t made much progress. But I’ve seen it done, and I’ve seen people find what they sought, so I know it’s an attainable goal. And if you think about it, that’s one area–-maybe the only area-–in which all of us are truly equal. We all have the capability to reflect on ourselves, to revise ourselves, to realize perfection. That is the search: to find our true voice that sounds in the depth of our hearts and to follow its direction. Whereas our egos never tell the truth, the voice of our hearts is never wrong. And it only gets clearer the more we listen to it. But we have to dig down to that voice. As Seamus Heaney writes in his poem “Bogland,”

Our pioneers keep striking
Inwards and downwards,
We can also strike inwards and downwards in the excavation of our true Selves.

Today we as UMBC celebrate the life of the mind. Our intellects are our instruments; they belong to us, and like blades, we have been forging them over the last several years at UMBC. But precisely because our minds are just tools, because they belong to us and we can see them as separate from us, they cannot be who we are. So let’s all strike inwards and downwards to find in our hearts the richness of who we really are: that is where true mastery lies. To do that, to seek the true Self within our hearts, and have the courage to listen to its voice at all costs, is what it means to seek mastery, and what it means to be a mon.

Dr. Hrabowski, I hope you’ve found my answer satisfactory. And everyone else, I hope the same. Congratulations everyone. Thank you.