January 30, 2017- March 26, 2017
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“Altered State: Painting Myanmar in a Time of Transition presents paintings by 36 contemporary artists from Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma. Created following the transition period of 2011, when a military-backed civilian government replaced oppressive rule by military junta and the country once famous for its seclusion re-entered the world stage, the paintings illustrate current artistic practice in Myanmar and present a series of creative viewpoints on a rapidly changing society.”
Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, Global Studies, the Visual Arts Department, and the Social Science Forum.
February 1, 2017 4:00PM- 5:30PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“Christina Fink, a cultural anthropologist and Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at George Washington University, will discuss the profound political, economic, and social changes that the nation of Myanmar has been undergoing. Throughout this process, the military leadership and political parties have both cooperated and competed in their efforts to impose their vision for the future. Meanwhile, citizens have sought to take advantage of greater freedoms and opportunities, while also re-imagining their country's identity and place in the world. Dr. Fink’s talk accompanies the opening of the exhibition Altered State: Painting Myanmar in a Time of Transition, on display from January 30th through March 26th in UMBC’s Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. The paintings by 36 contemporary artists from Myanmar were created following the transition period of 2011, when a military-backed civilian government replaced the oppressive rule by military junta and the country once famous for its seclusion re-entered the world stage. They illustrate current artistic practice in Myanmar and present a series of creative viewpoints on a rapidly changing society. The lecture and exhibit provide a window into an important Southeast Asian nation going through a remarkable transformation.”
Sponsored by the Asian Studies Program, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, Global Studies, the Visual Arts Department, and the Social Science Forum.
February 13, 2017 Noon- 2:00PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery; 7th Floor
As part of an ongoing research project (Lancaster, 2014, 2015), this talk emphasizes the concept of political monitoring in the study of governing institutions. Building on the psychological notion that people change their behavior if someone is watching them or they think someone is, the argument will be advanced that the choice of how political monitoring is institutionalized, as a necessary element in the process of overcoming collective action problems in the provision of public goods, reflects choices in state-building, institutional engineering, and public policy. A wide range of examples will illustrate how constitutionally-based structures, operational rules, and policy design might incorporate political monitoring in order to produce specific outcomes normatively held as desirable.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, Global Studies, and Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars.
February 15, 2017 Noon- 1:00PM
FAB, Room 558
We have had a few changes in the Global Studies Program. Dr. Brigid Starkey continues her leadership role with the program returning as Associate Director, while the College (CAHSS) has appointed UMBC History professor Dr. Rebecca Boehling as Director. Dr. Boehling has recently returned to the U.S. and to campus after directing the International Tracing Service (ITS) for three years and completing a sabbatical research project in Berlin, Germany. Come meet Dr. Boehling and other Global Studies Program faculty and staff on February 15th in FAB 558 (the GLBL conference room) during free hour! Staff will be available to answer any questions you have about the major.
Light lunch and drinks will be served.
February 15, 2017 Noon- 1:00PM
The Commons, Room 331
“UMBC is one of the most diverse universities in the country. Are you interested in improving your cross-cultural competencies? This important session with Sarah Gardenghi, Director of UMBC’s English Language Institute, will highlight the importance of sensitivity and awareness in working and interacting with UMBC members of other cultures, acknowledge multiple perspectives and ways of improving communication and daily interactions. A variety of campus scenarios will be discussed and explored. ***Space is limited! Please register by Friday, February 10th.”
February 16, 2017 7:00PM- 9:00PM
Skylight Room; Commons 3rd Floor
Join UMBC graduate students for the "Art as Protest" event featuring singers, dancers, poets, musicians, and visual artists.
Sponsored by member organizations of the UMBC GSA: Baltimore Participatory Action Research, and the Language, Literacy, and Culture GSO.
February 17, 2017 Noon- 1:00PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
"Marc Hetherington is professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. He studies the American electorate, with a particular focus on the polarization of public opinion. He is the author of three scholarly books, the most recent of which, Why Washington Won’t Work, won the Alexander George Award from the International Society of Political Psychology, as the best book in the field of political psychology published in 2015. His second book, Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics, co-authored with Jonathan Weiler, won the Philip Converse Award in 2016 from the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section of the APSA. He has published more than a dozen articles in a wide range of top scholarly journals and also won several college and university teaching awards."
Sponsored by the Political Science Department.
February 22, 2017 4:00PM- 6:00PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“What happens to families in the absence of sons? What happens to land in the absence of farmers? What happens to communities in the absence of men? Sent Away Boys weaves together testaments of individual ambitions and family biographies from Punjab, India to chronicle the gradual transformation of agrarian landscape and patriarchal traditions through ongoing transnational migration. As the promise of a secure future in agriculture grows increasingly uncertain for young men across the region, escaping India to join the low-wage labor in countries like Canada and USA becomes their sole aspiration. In rural Punjab, being a successful man now entails leaving their village, traveling abroad, and sending money home. Through interviews with men preparing to undertake often risky journeys and women awaiting the return of their sons, brothers and husbands, Sent Away Boys shows how the decision to emigrate implicate the entire family and the larger community.”
Sponsored by Asian Studies, co-sponsored by the Gender and Women’s Studies Department.
March 7, 2017 4:00PM- 5:30PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“Syria and Iraq are facing the worst cultural heritage crisis since the Second World War. Michael Danti's talk will address one of the greatest challenges: the cultural cleansing perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and the work of the American Schools of Oriental Research to safeguard cultural assets. The American Schools of Oriental Research Cultural Heritage Initiatives (ASOR CHI) work with Syrians and Iraqis to safeguard cultural sites and objects from neglect, damage, destruction, and theft as part of a program developed with the U.S. Department of State. Among the many atrocities perpetrated by ISIS is the deliberate destructions of historic mosques, churches, schools, monasteries, and cemeteries, as well as numerous famous monuments at archaeological sites such as Palmyra, Nimrud, Nineveh, Hatra, and the Old City of Mosul. ISIS brazenly commits these war crimes to advance its radical ideology and gain global media exposure. At the same time, the organization funds its terrorist activities through the looting of cultural property from archaeological sites, museums, libraries, and private collections. Irreplaceable ancient and medieval heritage, embedded in the urban fabric and daily life of modern communities, is endangered as extremists erase cultural memory, manipulate cultural identity, and eliminate cultural diversity.”
Sponsored by the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Ancient Studies Department, the Visual Arts Department, and the Political Science Department.
March 15, 2017 4:00PM- 5:30PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“In this lecture, Anouar Majid expands Edward Said’s notion of Orientalism and extends it back to the Late Middle Ages, when the Andalusian order, characterized by a fragile coexistence among members of different religions, was upended by a crusading Christian spirit and the rise of a Western hegemonic worldview that allowed no room for alternatives. Such a world system forced Muslims and other non-Western traditions into a defensive mode, fighting back by deploying indigenous traditions. Even as European powers pursued their expansionist agenda in the name of freedom, Muslims fought for their independence by rallying their people against Western imperialism. As a result of this uneven struggle, Muslims found strength in orthodoxies that have only made their condition worse and continue to bedevil the world order today.”
Sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities, Global Studies, and the Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication Department.
March 16, 2017 6:00PM- 7:30PM
The Commons; Skylight Room
"Are you confused about current immigration legislation? Does it impact you, your friends, or family? Are you interested in a career in advocating for immigrant rights?
Learn about immigration legislation at the Immigration Rights Info Session hosted by the Department of American Studies, The Mosaic Center for Culture and Diversity, and Student Affairs!
Ask and send in your questions anonymously! Questions can be asked in advance here.
Time will be allotted to ask panelists questions individually at the end of the event! Panelists at the event will be:
Jessica Beaver - Immigration Attorney
Laura Brown - Immigration Services Coordinator
JoAnna Gavigan - Immigration Attorney
Michelle Massey - UMBC International Education Services
Anna Stepanova - Immigration Attorney
Sponsored by American Studies, the Mosaic Center for Culture and Diversity, and Student Affairs.
March 16, 2017 10:00AM- 2:00PM
The Commons, Main Street
Stop by and visit with representatives from the Peace Corps! Learn about opportunities as a Peace Corps volunteer and careers with the Peace Corps.
April 5, 2016 11:00AM- 2:00PM
"This is your chance to get up close and personal to recruiters from multiple employers in the Humanities and Social Sciences to learn about career opportunities.
The UMBC Connects series offers students and alumni the opportunity to meet with recruiters from companies and government agencies that are interested in recruiting UMBC talent. This is your opportunity to interact with individuals that may be able to land you that perfect internship or job.
Come when you are able, there is no need to stay for the entire event."
April 5, 2017 4:00PM- 6:00PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“Dr. Gardullo’s talk will focus on the complex ongoing vectors of collaborative international research, archaeology, and memory work in investigating the voyage of the São José. This Portuguese slave ship provides a window into bringing the massive role of the transatlantic slave trade down to a human scale to help us understand the global connections and enduring legacies of this story from Mozambique, to South Africa, Brazil, Portugal, and the United States. In so doing, it provides a new model for how museums and research institutions can operate in the 21st century.”
Low Lecture, co-sponsored by the Department of History.
April 6, 2017 6:30PM- 8:00PM
UMBC Music Box; PAHB Room 151
"Composer/pianist/public intellectual/political activist Jon Jang reflects on his early years from learning about the power of black music and black revolutionary politics during his high school years and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the 1970s to his work as a musician and activist in relationship to the Asian American Movement and other progressive political movements in the 1980s.
Performance:
How Music Got into Me and How I Got into Music
Jon Jang (composer, pianist) became the first Chinese American to compose a symphonic work, “The Chinese American Symphony,” commissioned and performed by the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and the Oakland East Bay Symphony that honors the Chinese immigrant laborers who built the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. Jang and James Newton composed “When Sorrow Turns to Joy – Songlines: The Spiritual Tributary of Paul Robeson and Mei Lanfang” - commissioned by Cal Performances and has recorded with Newton, as well as with David Murray and Max Roach. Jang toured with legendary drummer Max Roach in United States and Europe including the Royal Festival Hall in London. Jang has taught at Stanford University and was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. / Cesar Chavez / Rosa Parks Visiting Professor recognition at the University of Michigan. Recently, Jang has been touring with his presentation, The Sounds of Struggle: Music from the Black Liberation Movement of the 1960s to the Asian American Movement of the 1980s, at Columbia University, as well as other universities on the East Coast."
Sponsored by the Asian American Faculty Council; the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; American Studies; Department of Music; Program in Asian Studies; the Mosaic Center; the University of Maryland at College Park, Program in Asian American Studies.
April 11, 2017 Noon- 1:00PM
The Commons, Room 331
"In today's globalized job market, more and more employers are hiring individuals with enhanced cross-cultural and language skills. No matter what your major is, a study abroad experience can make you more marketable. Learn how a summer, semester or academic year abroad can help enhance your professional marketability and internationalize your degree."
April 17, 2017 Noon- 1:00PM
The Commons, Room 331
"If you love travel and adventure, you may be considering a far-away internship or job. Every semester, UMBC students pursue exciting career opportunities across the country and even across the globe. But how do you find these positions? How should you prepare, and what challenges might you face? Join the Career Center for a panel of students and local professionals who have been through the relocation process."
April 18, 2017 4:30PM- 6:30PM
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
“This presentation will examine histories of Latin American immigration, migration, and deportation in the United States. It locates the structural and institutional roots of today’s Mexican and Central American migration to the United States in a number of historical global processes. Thus, Chomsky explains how the cross-border movement of people emerged in the context of late twentieth century globalization as well as through a much longer global history of colonialism, displacement and removal of Indigenous peoples in both North and South America. The role of social, economic and political forces driving these processes, such as nation-state building, economic development, and labor struggles, will be addressed.”
Co-sponsored by the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy (SAHAP), Global Studies, History, Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication (MLLI), and Political Science.
April 26, 2017 9:30AM- 3:30PM
University Center Ballroom
Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) features research, scholarship, and creative work carried out by UMBC undergraduates. Student work is shared through oral presentations, posters, artistic exhibits and performances, and film.
This campus celebration of achievement affirms UMBC’s commitment to the twin goals of research and a distinctive undergraduate experience.
All current undergraduates who have conducted research, scholarship or creative work in the last year may apply to present their results at URCAD. Mentors, fellow students, friends, family members, high school teachers and students, graduate school recruiters, and the general public are invited to attend.
