This is an annual event. We have been hosting the Fall Harvest Dinner since 2003. This event is free for all graduate students and postdocs who attend an institution within the University System of Maryland (USM), and who support the mission of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP. The mission of PROMISE is to increase the numbers and diversity of STEM faculty by supporting and training underrepresented minority graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM disciplines.

We will sponsor a bus for this activity. The bus will leave from UMBC, and can make a stop at BWI airport if that is convenient. To take the bus, send email to PROMISEstaff@gmail.com with the subject “Bus to Fall Harvest 2014.” Indicate BWI or UMBC for pick-up and droffoff. Provide your name, email, and a cell number.  Details for the pick-up and drop-off times will be posted in the comments section.

Additional information for this event will be posted in the comment section below. If you have questions, please post them below.

This is an annual event. We have been hosting the Fall Harvest Dinner since 2003. This event is free for all graduate students and postdocs who attend an institution within the University System of Maryland (USM), and who support the mission of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP. The mission of PROMISE is to increase the numbers and diversity of STEM faculty by supporting and training underrepresented minority graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM disciplines.

We will sponsor a bus for this activity. The bus will leave from UMBC, and can make a stop at BWI airport if that is convenient. To take the bus, send email to PROMISEstaff@gmail.com with the subject “Bus to Fall Harvest 2014.” Indicate BWI or UMBC for pick-up and droffoff. Provide your name, email, and a cell number.  Details for the pick-up and drop-off times will be posted in the comments section.

Additional information for this event will be posted in the comment section below. If you have questions, please post them below.

Faculty who plan to use clickers for instruction during the ​​Spring 2015 semester will need to have device order(s) submitted to the Bookstore no later than Friday, October 24, 2014. This deadline allows the Bookstore to shop national wholesalers early for used books and items, prepare for buyback, avoid sending back to publishers leftover stock that will be reused next semester, and notify faculty of any availability problems.

The University’s due date for textbook and course materials information is Monday, November 24, 2014. The University has instituted this deadline so that all textbook information, including clicker requirements, may be posted on the Bookstore's website, in adherence with State Law, as students prepare for their Spring 2015 schedules.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UMBC bookstore at  textbook@umbc.edu or 410-455-2699.

To learn more about the clickers:

• visit our  Clicker FAQ page

• open an  RT Ticket  for any technical issues

• view the schedule of training workshops on the DoIT group page

• contact  the Instructional Technology Team with any questions or concerns

Explore the culture and history of East Baltimore!  See a slice of urban life from the 70’s!  Has much changed?  Take a look and see for yourself – now available online:  Elinor Cahn photographs.

UMBC students, faculty, and staff now have access to this digital collection of renowned Baltimore photographer Elinor B. Cahn (born 1925). Over eighty of Cahn’s photographic prints from the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project are currently available in UMBC's Digital Collections.  The digitized prints available online demonstrate Cahn’s thoughtful views of religious and secular ceremonial processions, residents in multigenerational family homes, and other aspects of daily life.

The East Baltimore Photography Project began as part of MICA Professor Linda Rich’s social documentary course in 1976 and expanded as a four-year grant endeavor among Rich, Cahn, and Cahn’s classmate Joan Netherwood. The photographers documented neighborhoods in transition, capturing East Baltimoreans’ pride and proactive measures to improve basic services.  The images provide insightful perspectives into East Baltimoreans’ diverse houses of worship, commemorative parades, family-owned establishments, row homes, and private lives.  The East Baltimore Photography Project produced over ten thousand images, many of which were exhibited throughout the region and published in the book, Neighborhood: A State of Mind, available in our Arnold Collection of Maryland history and in the general  Library stacks.  

In addition to the Cahn’s East Baltimore Documentary Photography project, Special Collections holds Cahn’s full archives. Cahn’s collection includes images of Baltimore’s Greek community, Asklipios, Greece, the Vietnam memorial, cemeteries, a Baltimore soup kitchen, and photographs of Maine.

UMBC's Special Collections is open to the public from Monday through Friday 1-4 pm, with extended Thursday evening hours until 8 pm. We are also open by appointment. Access the digital collection of Cahn images here.

This post was written by Jen Wachtel

Dear Graduate Students at UMBC,

As part of the National Science Foundation grant supporting PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP, University of Maryland College Park faculty members are conducting a multi-campus survey study of how graduate students are supported by their programs in pursuit of their career goals.  To participate, please go to the following website. We recommend using a stable internet connection and using the same device to begin and finish participation.

Survey Link: https://umdsurvey.umd.edu/SE/?SID=SV_0oBN4RIqKfg4K8d

Incentives: Survey completion incentives include the option to enter drawings for Amazon gift cards in several denominations (be sure to enter via a link on the final page of the survey).

·  Those who completed the survey by  October 13, 2014, had a chance to win one $500 Amazon card

·  Those who complete the survey by October 20, 2014 may enter to win one $100 Amazon card (one winner per campus; those who do not win will continue to be eligible for all subsequent drawings).

·  Those who complete the survey by October 24, 2014 may enter to win one $50 Amazon card per campus (one winner per campus; this will be the final drawing).

Participants will agree to our consent form and take an online survey that takes 20 minutes to complete. Questions will focus on the perspectives you have adopted, and the actions that you have taken to pursue your career goals. We will also ask about aspects of your department environment, and your field/discipline that influence your career choice.

The data used for this study will only be reported in aggregate, so your name and identity will never appear in any reports that result from the project. The study will, however, help our research more broadly understand how graduate students develop their career aspirations and what departments, faculty, and external agencies can do to support them.

Please contact the PROMISE: Maryland's AGEP Research Team with any questions or concerns: promisestudymd@gmail.com

Best regards,

Renetta Tull

Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Development & Postdoctoral Affairs