In keeping with the zombie-fied theme of this year’s Career Week (April 1-4), dozens of alumni are coming back to their alma mater to help current students understand that finding a job doesn’t have to be scary at all.

On Tuesday alumni panelists spoke about “How to get a job in any major:”  Tyrone Spady ’99, biological sciences (Legislative Affairs Officer and Lobbyist, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology);  Chris Magaha ’03, information systems management (Operational Programs Manager – National Security Systems, Department of Defense); Maggie Lebherz ’08, modern languages and linguistics (Owner, Lebherz Oil and Vinegar Emporium); Joshua Budich ’00, visual and performing arts (Independent Illustrator); and Augustine Nwachu ’03, psychology (Senior National Recruiter, INROADS, Inc.).

Later that night, students practiced their networking skills and enjoyed time hearing about alum success stories at the annual Student Alumni Career Networking Night.

Today, alumni entrepreneurs spoke about how to “be your own boss:” Jeehye Yun ’97, computer science (CEO, Secured Sciences Group); Adrian Rosebrock ’10, computer science (Owner/Managing Partner Chic Engine LLC, ShiftyBits LLC); and Mary Slicher ’73, sociology (Co-founder and Executive Director, ProjectPLASE).

Tomorrow, don’t miss the Alumni Athlete Panel at 6 p.m. in the Skylight Room, featuring:  Steve Rice ’79, economics (Baseball); Tim O’Ferrall ’95, INDS (Men’s Lacrosse); Mary Hearin ’06, history (Women’s Soccer); Brian Hodges ’07, ’10, financial economics (Men’s Basketball); Karen Woodard ’90, English (Women’s Basketball) and Roula Adams ’05, information systems (Women’s Soccer).

Thanks to all of our amazing alums for participating!

Congratulations to the following alumni for receiving National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships:

• Anissa Alexander ’11, biochemistry and molecular biology (M19*)
• Geoffrey Clapp ’11, mathematics and computer science
• Monroe Kennedy ’12, engineering (M20)
• Aaron Pearlman ’10, physics and mathematics
• Celeste Poley ’11, mechanical engineering (M19)
• Luke Roberts ’12, mechanical engineering (M20)
• Amber Spry ’10, political science and media & communication studies

Current students Jasmine Jones (M19) and Mamikon Gulian (M22) also received awards. Recipients of NSF Graduate Research Fellowships are on track to continue their educations in graduate school. Learn more here.

*Denotes Meyerhoff Scholar cohort year

UMBC’s Department of Education joins the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) to celebrate their year long K-12 Educational Outreach Collaboration with an art exhibition by students from their partnership schools.

After experiencing the CADVC gallery and/or virtual exhibition, For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, the students were invited to create visual artwork, poetry, or prose for display at UMBC as well. Their work is a creative interpretation of the interaction between visual culture and social justice.

The exhibition is featured at the UMBC Commons Mezzanine Gallery beginning with an artist’s reception Thursday, April 11, 6 – 8 pm. It will be on display to the public through May 23, 2013.  The Commons is open Monday – Thursday 7:30am – 12pm, Friday 7:30am – 1am, Saturday 8am – 1am, and Sunday 10am – 11pm.

The installation features original artwork by three Baltimore City schools (Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts High School, Baltimore City College High School, and Digital Harbor High School), Mt. Hebron High School in Howard County, and Hugh M. Cummings High School in North Carolina. Baltimore City College High School, Digital Harbor High School, and Mt. Hebron High School are Professional Development School partners with UMBC’s Department of Education.

The Galleries at the Commons, UMBC are free and open to the public. For parking directions or maps, visit about.umbc.edu/visitors-guide.

Project supporters include USM Redesign of Teacher Education Grant Program, UMBC’s commonvision, and Maryland State Arts Council.

More information is available on the For All the World to See exhibition at foralltheworldtosee.org.

Constantine Vaporis, professor of history and director of the Asian studies program, has been invited to attend “India’s Past and the Making of the Present,” a National Endowment for the Humanities summer institute for college and university faculty sponsored by the Community College Humanities Association.

This four-week institute, which will take place in Delhi, Agra, and Varanasi  this July, is designed to be an intense, interdisciplinary engagement with Indian history and culture, providing participants with a rich interplay of resources, seminars, and site visits.  It will introduce participants to the most current scholarly perspectives on India, broadening and deepening their knowledge and understanding of Indian history and culture. The institute will also provide a solid foundation of scholarship for faculty interested in designing and teaching courses dealing with South Asia.

Vivian Ekey ’11, political science and modern languages and linguistics, was recently chosen to be a Rangel Fellow.

The Rangel Graduate Fellowship is a program that aims to attract and prepare outstanding young people for careers in the Foreign Service in which they can help formulate, represent and implement U.S. foreign policy. Each year, the Rangel Program selects 20 outstanding Rangel Fellows in a highly competitive nationwide process and helps support them through two years of graduate study, internships and professional development activities, and entry into the Foreign Service.

As a Humanities Scholar at UMBC, Ekey traveled to Argentina and worked with Dr. Sara Poggio to study the history of people of African descent in Argentina. Ekey will be earning an M.A in Latin American Studies and International Economics at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna school.

Vivian Ekey ’11, political science and modern languages and linguistics, was recently chosen to be a Rangel Fellow.

The Rangel Graduate Fellowship is a program that aims to attract and prepare outstanding young people for careers in the Foreign Service in which they can help formulate, represent and implement U.S. foreign policy. Each year, the Rangel Program selects 20 outstanding Rangel Fellows in a highly competitive nationwide process and helps support them through two years of graduate study, internships and professional development activities, and entry into the Foreign Service.

Ekey will be earning an M.A in Latin American Studies and International Economics at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna school.

In a new guest column for McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, Erickson School Dean Judah Ronch explores how technology can enhance relationships between older adults with dementia and their caregivers, and also clarifies misconceptions about technology as panacea for compassionate caregiving. He writes,

Technology is not valuable as an (expensive) electronic attendant to deterioration. It is a vehicle that can help the person restore, replace, and compensate for the assault on identity of self that is dementia through pleasurable experiences with others (remote and on site), and by experiencing the pleasure found in successfully meeting challenges through problem solving – like all people do.

Technology can be a partner in caring for the whole person by enhancing relationships that go beyond physical care giving and enabling the whole person to be present with others and experience joy, rich sensory stimulation and success. This use of technology will take us beyond caring for the person’s memory and provide care for the whole person.

Read the full McKnight’s column to learn more.

“How much do the Tampa Bay Rays boost their local economy?” asks the Tampa Bay Times. In arguments for building a new stadium, St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster estimates the team’s local economic impact at $100 million a year, but experts, including UMBC economics professor Dennis Coates, question the assumption that stadiums have a notable economic benefit to their home cities.

Coates explains that when a couple spends $100 for dinner and a movie, much of that money goes to waiters, ticket takers and other local workers and suppliers, who in turn spend their paychecks on rent and food, creating a positive ripple effect in the local economy. In contrast, argues Coates, “Spending that goes on inside a stadium tends to flow into the pockets of a relatively few, high-income individuals who live a large portion of the year outside the city,” so much of the money spent inside stadiums actually flows out of the cities where they are located.

A native of Iran, Sara Khaki ’10, visual arts, has seen the after-effects of war first-hand. Now she’s combining her passion for film making and the love of her home country into a documentary that examines how one doctor has “dedicated his life to offering hope and healing to those whose lives and bodies have been ravaged by war.”

Khaki’s film, “Facing the Mirror,” recently won the Center for Asian American Media’s “Ready, Set, Pitch” award — along with $5,000 in research and development funding to help expand the documentary to full-length. She is also currently running an indiegogo campaign to raise funds; read more about the effort here.

“This story is very close to my heart,” said Khaki, who after UMBC earned an MFA in social documentary film making from the School of Visual Arts.

“I grew up in Iran during and after the Iran-Iraq war. I remember walking in the streets and seeing men with missing limbs. It was considered normal for men to go to war and, if they survived, to return as different people — sometimes physically, sometimes psychologically, often both. I witnessed not only the visible scars, but the long term effects that war had on the people of my country.”

Students kicked off Career Week 2013 a bit more “dressed to impress” than normal this year thanks to alumni, staff and faculty donations to “Clothes The Deal,” a program through which students improved their career wardrobes (for free!) and better prepared themselves for future job searches.

See the full Career Week schedule here.

Several dozen students waited in line outside UMBC’s Women’s Center Thursday morning for the first crack at hundreds of pieces of donated business attire: skirts, blazers, ties, and suits. By the end of the event Friday afternoon, 362 students had taken at least one piece of clothing, much of which was supplied by staff and faculty, but also UMBC alumni working at T. Rowe Price — the main sponsor of this year’s Career Week — who organized a clothing drive at their offices.

“I think I’m in love,” cooed senior psychology major Comfort Oke, who had her friend, junior Regine Charlot, take a photo with her smartphone as she tried on a navy blue blazer with shiny brass buttons. “This was a fabulous idea. I think it’s an amazing thing for students, and it’s exciting that alumni helped make this possible.”

Senior theatre major Amalia Mark left “Clothes The Deal” with a cute little number she plans to wear on interviews for jobs in student engagement. “I got the best dress ever!” she exclaimed, showing off her new frock.

Special thanks to the Pikesville ZIPS for donating the cleaning of 300 items for “Clothes The Deal.” Other event sponsors were the Career Services Center, the Student Alumni Association, the Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising, UMBC Athletics, Chartwells, the Shriver Center, and the Division of Student Affairs.