Vanessa Flora-Nakoski has joined McDaniel College as the new writing center director. In this role, she manages the day-to-day operations of the writing center and oversees McDaniel students who serve as peer tutors. She also teaches as a lecturer in the English department.

Previously, Flora-Nakoski worked for the Writing, Reading, and Language Center at Montgomery College, where she recruited, trained, coached, supervised and evaluated tutors. She was also a writing coach and tutor at the University of Maryland, University College, a tutor in the composition and literature center at Howard Community College, and a teaching assistant in the UMBC honors program. She has also taught composition and rhetoric at Montgomery College, Stevenson University, Howard Community College and the University of Iowa. She also serves on the executive board of the Maryland College Learning Center Association.

A resident of Sykesville, she earned both a bachelor's degree from UMBC and a master's degree from the University of Iowa in American studies. She completed graduate certificates in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from UMBC and strategic management from the Harvard Extension School.

This year, two Political Science assistant professors—Dr. Ian Anson and Dr. William Blake—are scheduled for their mid-tenure reviews. The faculty have tasked two, two-person student committees to produce a student-led assessment report on the teaching performance of both professors. These committees need input from POLI students.

If you have completed at least one course with either Dr. Anson or Dr. Blake and would be willing to take a short, 3-minute survey about your experiences, please email one of the students listed below. If applicable, POLI students are eligible and encouraged to complete the survey for both professors. (Note: Survey results are confidential.)

Contacts for Dr. Anson’s review                 

  Tyler Lewis, tlewis5@umbc.edu      

  Nathaniel Wong, hu88697@umcb.edu  

Contacts for Dr. Blake’s review

   Summer Akhtar, aksumm1@umbc.edu

  John (“Jack”) Richards, jrich8@umbc.edu

The Anthropology and Mental Health Interest Group (AMHIG) is hosting a Knowledge Exchange Event on Wednesday, November 29, from 8:30 am-12:45 pm at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C.   

Using a roundtable format, panelists and audience members will discuss strategies for developing and initiating multidisciplinary mental health research, finding and securing appropriate research funding, navigating ethical issues in mental health research, and addressing the unique IRB issues that may emerge from such research.   

Knowledge Exchange Events like this are a new late-breaking interactive forum recently approved by the AAA.  The AMHIG Roundtable event is designed to facilitate conversation on topics pertinent to anthropology and mental health, with a focus on ethics and IRB approval and funding sources for related projects.  This half-day event will provide an opportunity for social scientists, ethicists, and funders to meet to discuss the challenges and opportunities of anthropologically-informed mental health research.  

All are welcome to attend.  Participation is free, open to the public, and does not count toward the presenter and discussant limits placed on participants attending the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.

• The Office of Research Protections and Compliance (ORPC) at UMBC will facilitate the workshop. ORPC will provide guidance to students so that they can utilize this allotted time to complete their certifications.
• The speakers from ORPC will present during the first 30 minutes of the session to discuss creating a user profile, provide instruction regarding which certification blocks need to be completed (according to the type of research being conducted), and address questions. After the first 30 minutes, all participants will work independently within the space, using their own laptops to finish the certification online.
• BRING YOUR LAPTOP AND CHARGERS/POWER CORDS. We will provide the space, electrical cords/power strips, food, and beverages to facilitate completion. We encourage students to set aside this time to complete their certifications during the session.
• CITI has retroactively updated all RCR training completion expiration dates. When faculty and students log into their individual accounts, they should now be able to see when to take the refresher course. Please let the Compliance Office know if this is not the case. Users should also receive a reminder email from CITI when the refresher training is due. RCR training information can be accessed using the following link: http://research.umbc.edu/2135-2/. Human Subjects Use Training can be accessed using the following link: http://research.umbc.edu/human-subjects-use-training-2/. Questions? Contact compliance@umbc.edu.