As part of Earth Week at UMBC, Dr. Robert K. Musil will present a talk on his book Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment  (Rutgers University Press, 2014). Dr. Musil is president of the Rachel Carson Council, senior fellow at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, American University, and former CEO of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

In the book, Dr. Musil tells the story of Rachel Carson, who is credited with advancing the global environment movement. The following description of the book is posted on its website: “In Rachel Carson and Her Sisters, Robert K. Musil redefines the achievements and legacy of environmental pioneer and scientist Rachel Carson, linking her work to a wide network of American women activists and writers and introducing her to a new, contemporary audience. Rachel Carson was the first American to combine two longstanding, but separate strands of American environmentalism—the love of nature and a concern for human health. Widely known for her 1962 best-seller, Silent Spring, Carson is today often perceived as a solitary ‘great woman,’ whose work single-handedly launched a modern environmental movement.”

The event is sponsored by several groups on campus, including The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, The College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Biological Sciences Department, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, Education Department, Gender and Women’s Studies Department, Geography and Environmental Systems Department, History Department, Honors College, Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Sustainability Matters, and Women in Science and Engineering Group.

On April 16, Anna Shields, associate professor of Chinese, will present a talk on her new book One Who Knows Me: Friendship and Literary Culture in Mid-Tang China  (Harvard University Press, 2015). In the book, Shields shares her research on the friendship among writers in the mid-Tang era (780s-820s). According to the book’s website, Shields found that “their texts reveal the ways that friendship intersected the public and private realms of experience and, in the process, reshaped both.”

Professor Shields is the author of another book on medieval Chinese literature: Crafting a Collection: The Cultural Contexts and Poetic Practice of the Collection from among the Flowers (Huajian ji) (Harvard University Asia Center, 2006). She has also written several articles on Tang and Five Dynasties literary writing. She is currently working on a new book project on Five Dynasties and Northern Song representations of Tang dynasty literary culture.

The talk is scheduled for Thursday, April 16 from 12 -1 p.m. in the LC Asian Division Reading Room Foyer – LJ 150. For more information on the book, click here.

Andres Camacho and Jack Neumeier, Poster Presentation
True Greens: Creating a Community-Based Food System

Kelsey Donnellan, Poster Presentation
Eating Habits of College Students at UMBC

Chana Honick, Poster Presentation
Art Installations as a Means of Increasing Scientific Awareness: The Haber Process” “A Portable Detection Platform for Hypochlorite via Chemiluminescence

 Maniraj Jeyaraju, Poster Presentation    
Physician-Patient Relationships: Understanding Physicians' Perspectives

Yoo-Jin Kang, Oral Presentation
East-Asian-American Student Perspectives on Romantic Relationships and Violence

Kinetic Sculpture Race Team: Jack Neumeier, Stephen Moore, Jasper Dudley, Mai Huynh, Andres Camacho, Andrew Starck, Heather Mortimer, Nandit Shah, Gabriel Margarida, Markus Proctor, Rob Ford, Kirby Kelbaugh, Vijay Raju

Himadri Patel, Poster Presentation
Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Anxiety and the Function of Endogenous Pain  Inhibitory Systems

Publications

Conference Presentations

A Free Multifaith Peace, Justice and Earthcare Program for Young Adults

June 1 – July 23, 2015

Includes the celebration of Ramadan

The Stony Point Summer Institute is seeking Jewish, Christian and Muslim young adults, ages 19-29, who are grounded in their religious traditions, serious about spirituality and the state of the planet, excited by social activism in a multi-religious context, and open to living and learning in an intentional community setting.

Rolling admissions. For more information, or to apply online, visit:

www.stonypointcenter.org/SummerInstitute

Call for Proposals for Spring 2016 Residential Faculty Research Fellowships

Application Deadline is May 1, 2015

The Dresher Center for the Humanities invites applications for two Residential Faculty Research Fellowships for spring 2016. Funding is intended to support and promote significant humanities research at UMBC. Dresher Center Residential Research Fellows will reside at least one day a week in the Dresher Center and receive release from teaching (up to two course releases) in order to work on a significant humanities research project or the training necessary to embark on such a project. Faculty wishing to develop expertise in a new field or discipline towards a future project are also encouraged to apply. Each fellow will have the use of a private office in the Dresher Center and will be awarded $500 to hire an undergraduate research assistant (junior or senior) for the semester.

Fellows will conduct two research works-in-progress sessions during the semester. The first will be a Fellows and Others session on their research methods held toward the beginning of the semester. The second will be a session in the CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now series on the work that has been accomplished during the semester. The CURRENTS session should take place by late April. Fellows will also participate actively in Dresher Center programs, including attendance at Fellows and Others and CURRENTS sessions, and at least two Humanities Forum events. A short report on fellowship activity will be due to the director within 3 months of completion of the fellowship. Residential faculty fellows will be considered fellows of the Dresher Center for as long as they are on the faculty of UMBC. After their semester in residence they will be expected to serve for a two-year term on the Dresher Center Advisory Board and remain active participants in Dresher Center programs.

The Dresher Center welcomes proposals from all full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty members pursuing humanities research in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.  Applications are especially encouraged from, but not limited to, full-time faculty with appointments in departments and programs with a humanities focus. Two fellowships are available. Proposals will be reviewed by the Dresher Center Advisory Board, with decisions by mid-July 2014.

Click the link below for a fillable PDF application. Download the application and attach it in an email, along with your proposal, to dreshercenter@umbc.edu.

Dresher Center Faculty Research Fellows Application