In a Q&A with City Biz List, Joseph T. Jones ’06, social work, CEO of The Center for Urban Families, shares some of the challenges of his childhood years, and some of the secrets to his success in the non-profit sector, including a mentor relationship with UMBC president Freeman A. Hrabowski, III. Jones founded CFUF, a non-profit organization that connects men and women to career paths and strengthens their families, in 1999.

As he tells City Biz List:

I met Freeman at an event that I was speaking at in 2004 about education, father absence, and my personal story. After the talk, Freeman came up to me and asked why I never went back to school. I started making excuses and I had heard about Freeman but really didn’t know much about him; just that he has a really booming voice and presence. So he said that he wanted me in his office the next day. I go to his office and this man, in about 15 minutes, completely dresses me down—the way in which a father would dress down a son when he is not realizing his potential. I had no intention of going back to school; focusing my additional years on this earth in an academic institution was the furthest thing from my mind. I really don’t even know what the hell happened but the next thing you know I’m sitting in a class. Two years later, I graduated from UMBC cum laude. I would not have done that without him.

Read the full Q&A here.

Read an interview with Jones from UMBC Magazine here.

More than a dozen members of the UMBC community — including at least eight alumni — collaborated recently to create a music video entitled “Adapt.” Performed by “Ko the Timeless” — AKA Koushik Chatterjee ’10, financial economics — the song examines the difficulties and rewards of staying true to one’s heritage.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2nQnwfzulY]

Besides Chatterjee, the video features appearances by Nimit Bhatt ’11, political science, and student Gurpreet Singh, who appeared on this season of American Idol. The video was produced by Chiet Productions, including alumnus Tony Shadman ’10, music, and former students Justin Chiet and Brittany Warrington. The song was produced by Sureet Sandhu ’99, HESP, of Digital Desi Productions, and engineered by Ray Remesch ’08, music. Also featured in the video: Ivan Beltran ’08, visual arts, Dan Toal  ’10, music, Monica Bedi ’09, political science, and Aniket Patel ’08, political science.

Making a positive mark on society is part of the lifelong drive for graduates of UMBC’s Shriver Peaceworker Fellows Program — so when we found out that the program’s 2011 cohort made (and fulfilled) a pledge for 100% giving to UMBC, we were obviously excited, but not a bit surprised!

Program director Joby Taylor ’05, Ph.D., LLC, shared news recently that the six members of the Class of 2011 achieved their participation goal, donating $650 to support the purchase of “books and resources for both the Fall and Spring Pracs this year for all 14 of our current Fellows!”

This is the second cohort to set and achieve such a goal, Taylor said, and he hopes the 2011 group’s efforts spark some similar challenges among the other 18 Peaceworker alumni cohorts. He tries to instill a “Time, Talent, and Treasure” model of philanthropy within these groups of already socially-conscious students.

“Almost all our grads go into service careers, so they are ‘giving back’ as a way of life really (and many depending on foundations and philanthropy for their own work),” he said. “They are entering important professional fields and positions, but not typically high-paying ones…Still, there is a high sense of connection to our Peaceworker Program and a desire to support it.”

Congratulations, Peaceworkers!

Members of the UMBC Alumni Association Board of Directors celebrated recipients of this year’s Alumni Association Scholarships last week at UMBC’s annual Scholarship Luncheon. The event, which drew more than 100 donors and student scholars, is often the first time donors meet their scholars, making it a truly memorable event.

Board president Bennett Moe ’88, and members Thomas Spratt ’95, Anita Jackson ’80 and Cathy Bielawski ’77 greeted two of this year’s Alumni Association Scholarship winners Kate Hunsicker ’14, English and dance, and Micaela A. Perez Ferrero ’13, political science.

Read more about the Scholarship Luncheon here.

Amy Bhatt, assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, was recently interviewed by the “International Examiner” about her new book, “Roots & Reflections: South Asians in the Pacific Northwest.”

The book traces the regional history of the South Asian community in the Northwest from the early 1900s to today. It also offers a crucial voice and perspective that’s been missing from the story of Asian migration to the greater Seattle area.

“One of the reasons this book is important is that it offers individuals who are actually part of the community the opportunity to write their own histories,” explains Bhatt. “They haven’t been able to do so in the past.”

The full story, “‘Roots & Reflections’ Adds Voices of South Asian Settlers to History of the Pacific Northwest,” appeared online on March 6.

Political science professor Thomas F. Schaller’s latest Baltimore Sun column takes a personal approach to examining the selection of Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as pope, now known as Pope Francis. After reflecting on his own Catholic upbringing and how his religious identity has changed over time, Schaller highlights Pope Francis’ reputation for humility and what it might mean for the Catholic Church.

“It’s encouraging to have a humble, fresh face from the ‘new world’ heading the Catholic Church,” writes Schaller, continuing, “What’s unclear is whether Pope Francis’ background and temperament can actually reform the Vatican and the church, and guide the planet’s 1.2 billion Catholics toward a more promising future.”

In addition to the Sun column, this week Schaller also wrote a guest column for Sabato’s Crystal Ball on multiple-member districts (MMDs), or statewide at-large U.S. House districts — their history, their decline and their possible future.

Earlier this week, Schaller also contributed to the CBS-DC news story, “Maryland Becoming More Liberal.” “This is not the Democratic Party of William Donald Schaefer anymore,” he said, referring the former Maryland governor who endorsed George H.W. Bush. Schaller added, “It’s a blue state, but the blue hue is getting darker over time because of the demographics of the state.”

Thank you to all of the wonderful donors and scholarship students who came out for last week’s 2nd annual Scholarship Luncheon, March 13. Often, this event marks the first meeting of donors and their scholars, making it a truly memorable occasion for all. The event drew more than 100 guests, and featured remarks by McCormick & Company President Alan D. Wilson and senior Nia N. Hampton ’14, media and communications studies, who is the recipient of a number of scholarships at UMBC, along with UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III.

We’ll be sharing stories of connections made at the luncheon over the course of the next couple months, but in the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy this photo slideshow!

Ryan Bloom ’03, visual and performing arts, an English lecturer at UMBC, was recently awarded a fellowship at Yaddo, an artists’ community in Saratoga Springs, New York. Yaddo’s mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.

Bloom is an internationally-recognized translator of Albert Camus. He received his MFA from The American University in Washington, D.C., where he undertook a multidisciplinary study of Literary Translation, Fiction, and Composition Education. His work-translation, fiction, poetry, and nonfiction-has appeared in places such as  The New Yorker, The Arabesques Review, The Baltimore Sun, The Current, Horizon Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, and other publications.

This post originally appeared in UMBC Insights.

Ryan Bloom ’03, visual and performing arts, and English lecturer, was recently awarded a fellowship at Yaddo, an artists’ community in Saratoga Springs, New York. Yaddo’s mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.

Bloom is an internationally-recognized translator of Albert Camus. He has written for The New Yorker, The Arabesques Review, The Baltimore Sun, The Current, Horizon Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, and other publications

Manil Suri was deep into writing his latest novel, “The City of Devi,” when he realized something alarming: the novel was impossible to finish. The mathematics professor even used a mathematical construct, a possibility tree, to arrive at his conclusion.  He described the process of creating this mathematical “proof” in an essay for “The Daily Beast.”

Of course, Suri did eventually finish the novel, which was published earlier this year. Despite the fact that he disproved his own proof, Suri feels that his mathematical conclusion was a worthwhile endeavor, because it allowed him to reach the insights he needed about the story.

“My possibility tree still communicated something essential: a warning that the story could not be satisfactorily completed under the conditions I was imposing. I had been too beholden to literary orthodoxy, too insistent that the narrative obey the strictures of reality. It was time to loosen these constraints, let the plot freely borrow from whatever genre it pleased: adventure, Bollywood, fantasy,” he writes.

The full piece, “A Mathematically Impossible Novel: Manil Suri Explains ‘The City of Devi’” appeared online on March 15.