Dr. Janet Rutledge, UMBC's Graduate Dean, talks with doctoral candidate participants at the July 2009 Summer Dissertation House on UMBC's Campus. Participants came from a variety of departments across campus including Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Information Systems, Public Policy, Mechanical Engineering, Gerontology, and Psychology.

Following a successful Dissertation House session at the University of Maryland Baltimore (Medical School, Downtown campus), we are looking forward to welcoming UMBC’s students next week. This is the first summer that we are hosting Dissertation Houses on all three of the public doctoral research campuses in Maryland and the students say that they appreciate the convenience of having local sessions.  UMBC’s DH will be held in Room 329 of the Commons. Sessions will be at 9:00 AM sharp. Breakfast, lunch, and a snack will be provided free of charge to all participants.

The Dissertation House at UMBC is sponsored by the UMBC Graduate School and PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP. The Dissertation House addresses graduate school retention, a core value of UMBC.

The Dissertation House at UMB ends today.  We thank the staff of the Writing Center (Gerry Lardner, Jane Sellman, and Almeta Sly-Thompson) and the Counseling Center (Douglas Chay.) The following photos give you a glimpse of the activities that students participated in over the past few days.

UMB Dissertation House Group June 2010

Dr. Pollack works with Almeta Sly-Thompson of the UMB Writing Center

Lunch in the DH @UMB

Jane Sellman from the UMB Writing Center brings gifts

Dr. Carter coaches a student in a one-on-one session

Dr. Pollack talks with guest speaker, Dr. Calvin Williams (UMB Alum, Former PROMISE Peer Mentor, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology)

UMB opened the summer season of the Dissertation House on Monday with several students in the on-campus session, and others joining online.  The day opened with comments by Dr. Judith Pollack (PROMISE Coordinator at UMB), Dr. Renetta Tull, Dr. Erin Golembewski, and the Dissertation House’s own Dr. Wendy Carter. UMB’s Writing Center provided the afternoon mini-lectures on “Keeping it simple” and “Overcoming Writer’s Block.”Thanks to Gerry Lardner and Jane Sellman for their time.  Sellman also provided students with gifts from the Writing Center — good old-fashioned pens and paper … in various colors to stimulate the brain.

The UMB campus is preparing for it’s first Dissertation House.  We are looking forward to welcoming participants to the SMC Campus Center, Room 353 at 9 AM. The UMB Writing Center is co-sponsoring this event with PROMISE.

UMB Dissertation House announcement

Items to bring:

• Computer
• Power Strip  for your computer (there are never enough wall outlets for everyone’s computers.)
• Casual clothing for writing
• Hard copy of the draft that you will be working on.
• Jumpdrive to transfer your files when you need to print.
• CD player/iPOD if you like to listen to music while you work with earphones
• Books and articles necessary for your writing project
• Style sheet you will be using for your project–MLA, APA, etc.
• UMB’s guidelines/templates for writing dissertations (Reference UMB’s Writing page.)

Southern Management Corporation Campus Center, 621 W. Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

The following one hour drop in sessions will be held in Engineering 025. Several DoIT staff members will be available to work one-on-one with with users who show up during the designated times.

Additional dates and times will be added in the near future.