A post curated by Women’s Center director, Jess Myers.

Last week, the Women’s Center celebrated our Returning Women Student Scholars + Affiliates graduating this semester at our graduation pinning ceremony for what will hopefully be our last and final totally virtual celebration. This event is a special tradition in the Women’s Center with its intentions rooted in creating celebratory space for both our continuing and graduating returning women students/adult learners who are UMBC students 25 years and older seeking their first undergraduate degree.

A group photo from the RWS End of Year and Graduation celebration.

These students are called “returning” because they often have various circumstances that have kept them from what our popular culture deems as a traditional college path and they are now “returning” to college to pursue their degree. Student scholars in this program not only receive scholarships to help financially supplement their tuition, but also benefit from tailored support and programming from Women’s Center staff through individualized meetings, programs, and events that meet the specific needs of older students on campus. Affiliate Scholars are also an important part of our program (and if you’re interested in joining, reach out to the Women’s Center!). This year we had our largest cohort of scholars + affiliates that included 32 students participating in this unique program.

In pre-pandemic times at this pinning ceremony, graduating seniors receive their Women’s Center Returning Women Student Scholars + Affiliates pin to wear at graduation along with a yellow rose. This year, we sent their pins to them via snail mail and they pinned themselves!

Upon their pinning, each scholar says a few words. Despite being in their own homes and not sharing physical space with each other, we still created a “collective assembly” in which graduates invited us to share in their joy, excitement, gratitude, and sheer relief. “I finally made it!” was heard more than once!

Anyone who has spent time in the Women’s Center knows that working with this special group of students is one of my favorite experiences in my role as director of the Women’s Center. At a university that celebrates, grit and greatness (even during non-pandemic times), no other student cohort exhibits both with such deep grace and humility. As individuals and as a community, they are brave and unstoppable. You can learn more by checking out this great Class of 2021 graduation story featuring adult learners and transfer students’ experiences. The feature includes two of our graduating seniors featured below!

So, it is with great joy that I invite you to join me in celebrating these fantastic students and their accomplishments. Below are this May’s graduating Returning Women Student Scholars who in their own words* share what they were involved in at UMBC, what’s next for them after UMBC, and advice they wanted to share with other adult learners.

Happy Graduation!!!

Charla Spano, Bryson-Neville Scholar
Major: Social Work

A self-submitted photo of Charla in her UMBC graduation stole. 

What was your experience like as an adult learner?
In the beginning, I remember feeling the need to explain to everyone why I was back or what stopped me in the first place. It was hard coming from community college where a lot of people took classes after work or were just returning. It was not out of the ordinary to be in class with a bunch of returning students. Luckily, being a social work major and being part of the RWS group I quickly realized it does not matter what stopped me or interrupted my education. The important part was that, I returned and I am working towards one of my goals.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
You can do it! and there are many of people at UMBC that want to see you do it!

The Dresher Center is pleased to announce our Summer and Fall 2021 Research Fellows:

Congratulations to the 2021
Center for Social Science Scholarship
Summer Fellows!

Camee Maddox-Wingfield

Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health

“Rhythmic Consolation:  An Ethnography of Bèlè’s Rebirth in Contemporary Martinique”

The purpose of Rhythmic Consolation is to examine the ways in which contemporary bèlè cultural activists in Martinique have shifted the perception of bèlè as a secular expression to one with significant spiritual and sacred meaning. By examining the cultural politics of spirituality and secularity at work in Martinique’s bèlè revival, the book analyzes the role that spiritual healing plays in managing emotional wellness and coping with distress among bèlè practitioners. In contemporary Martinique, bèlè is not simply the name of an ancestral dance practice; the term bèlè is used to describe “a way of life,” or a subculture that is organized around a rich complex of Afro-Creole dance traditions, all of which are performed to the island’s tambour bèlè (bèlèdrum). Although bèlè has been commonly understood as a secular, non-religious drum-dance tradition, debates have emerged among bèlè community members over its spiritual functions in the everyday lives of practitioners.

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Nianshen Song

Associate Professor, Department of History

“Neighborhood: Space, State, and Society in a Manchurian City, 1644-2019”

Neighborhood: Space, State, and Society in a Manchurian City, 1644-2019 examines how political, religious, and economic forces reshaped and remade a Chinese urban space over 370 years. Xita (West Stupa) is a thriving commercial neighborhood in Shenyang, the largest city in Northeast China. In 1644, the Qing emperor erected a Tibetan-Buddhist stupa in the western suburb, making Xita a symbol of the trans-frontier political/spiritual alliance between the Manchu, Mongols, and Tibetans. In the early twentieth century, colonial powers (first Russia then Japan) and local warlords constructed competing railways that intersected in Xita. The railway not only brought capitalist modernity to the city but also created a Korean diasporic enclave in the rapidly urbanizing and industrializing city. In the 1990s Shenyang, socialist China’s capital of heavy industry, turned into a “rust city.” But Xita, in contrast, flourished as a dynamic ethnic/international commercial district due to Korean investment. The multiple reincarnations of Xita—from a Tibetan Buddhist space, a railway capitalist space, a colonial tourist space, a socialist ethnic space, and all the way to a post-industrial consumerist space—manifests China’s dramatic modern transitions within a dynamic trans-Asian network. Employing multilingual materials and extensive interviews, this micro-history research simultaneously engages with academic conversations in many fields, including (but not exclusive to) the social history, religious study, urban study, railway capitalism, architectural history, empire and colonialism, tourism, ethnic history, and contemporary China study.

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Fernando Tormos-Aponte

Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy

“Island Strife: The Politics of Survival in Puerto Rico”

During the summer of 2019, an unprecedented number of citizens demanded the resignation of the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló. They flooded the streets to express their disdain for the governor and his top aides. Puerto Ricans had not seen this kind of popular, cross-sectoral protest since they called for ceasing US military operations in the island municipality of Vieques. What led to this outrage and how did demonstrators channel their indignation into successful mobilization? What are the long-term consequences of this protest cycle and how can it shape Puerto Rico’s relationship to the United States? This book project will examine the precursors, internal dynamics, and the political consequences of the summer 2019 protest cycle in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans channeled the trauma felt in the wake of hurricane María in various ways, seizing opportunities for critical thinking, building democratic practices, and resist their depiction as helpless victims.

• Implementation of Changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Page
• Notice Number: NOT-OD-21-110
• https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-110.html

Purpose

This notice describes implementation of the updated Other Support and Biosketch format pages and associated instructions, as outlined in NOT-OD-21-073.

To align applicant and recipient systems with NIH's longstanding policy requirements and application requirement updates, NIH expects applicants and recipients to use the updated biosketch and other support format for applications, Just-in-Time (JIT) Reports, and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) as of May 25, 2021. NIH will require the use of the updated format pages for the previously mentioned submissions for anything on and after January 25, 2022. Failure to follow the appropriate formats on or after January 25, 2022 may cause NIH to withdraw applications from or delay consideration of funding.

Please note, applicants and recipients remain responsible for disclosing all research endeavors regardless of the version of the forms used. Therefore, if applicants and recipients choose not to use the updated format pages before they are required, applicants and reecipients must still capture all the necessary information. NIH is fully committed to implementing the SciENcv template for Other Support in early FY 2022.

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.

• Expanding Requirement for eRA Commons IDs to All Senior/Key Personnel
• Notice Number: NOT-OD-21-109
• https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-109.html

Purpose

Targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2022, NIH, AHRQ, FDA, and ORD/VA will require all individuals listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form to have an eRA Commons username (Commons ID). Extension of the existing eRA Commons ID requirement to include all senior/key personnel will facilitate better data collection for individuals contributing to federally funded research as well as assist in disambiguating data on applications and facilitating the identification of conflicts of interest in peer review.

Background

eRA Commons IDs are already required as part of application submission for PD/PIs, multiple PD/PIs, sponsors on fellowship applications, component leads on multi-project applications, candidates for diversity supplement support, and the primary mentor identified on individual mentored career development applications. While it has always been strongly encouraged that all other senior/key personnel to obtain eRA Commons IDs, it has not been required. Without a unique personnel credential, it is difficult to correctly identify conflicts of interest in peer review as well as gather unambiguous data on personnel involved in federally funded research.

Implementation

Targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2022, an eRA Commons ID must be entered in the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field for all Senior/Key Personnel (as defined in NIH GPS 1.2) listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form.  An eRA system validation will be implemented to check for a valid eRA Commons ID. For multi-project applications, this requirement also applies to the individual components of the application and not to just the Overall component.

To facilitate awareness of this policy change, starting late April, applicants will encounter an eRA system validation if the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field is blank or does not contain a valid eRA Commons ID. This validation will be a warning for no less than 2 council rounds before being escalated to an error that must be corrected before the application can be submitted to the agency.

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.

• Embed in one of Urban’s policy centers and develop and execute research with colleagues in that center.
• Partner with the director of Urban’s soon to be launched Office of Race and Equity Research to support research on race and equity taking place across Urban’s policy centers and through our Racial Equity Analytics Lab.
• Work to build bodies of work on areas of specific interest.
• Write and publish scholarly papers, op-eds, Urban Wire blog posts, or other research products in collaboration with Urban colleagues.
• Organize two or more events per year for Urban colleagues and/or external audiences.

Hey Political Science Students,

I encourage you to check out Professor Sunil Dasgupta’s new podcast “I Hate Politics”! And if you like it, please share!! It’s a great source for news and commentary about today’s politics from one of our professors. The most recent episode (included as a link here on YouTube) features commentary from Professor Roy Meyers about budgeting and redistricting. You can find and subscribe to the podcast at Audible, iTunes/Apple, Spotify, Google Podcast, Pandora, iHeart Radio, YouTube, Podcast page. Podcast social media: @ihppod on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Congratulations Professor Dasgupta!