Craig Saper, professor and chair of Language, Literacy, and Culture (LLC), has been named the Bearman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship.

“Dr. Saper is a scholar of large achievement and great energy, whose talents and interests make him a superb choice for the Bearman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship,” said John Jeffries, dean of the college of arts, humanities, and social sciences (CAHSS).

The Bearman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship was established by The Herbert Bearman Foundation to acknowledge and honor the contributions of Dr. Arlene Bearman to the UMBC community. This chair recognizes and supports outstanding teaching skills, an interest in entrepreneurship, and a strong record of scholarship in entrepreneurial studies or a field related to entrepreneurship.

“Since arriving on campus, Dr. Saper has been a whirlwind of research and teaching activity deeply anchored in commitments to social entrepreneurship,” said Bev Bickel, associate professor and former chair of LLC.

This three-year endowed position will provide Saper with funding to integrate entrepreneurship concepts into classroom instruction, advising, and scholarship. Saper will also work with the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and Kauffman grant activities, and with the Administrative and Managerial Sciences program.

“My research is deeply anchored in commitments to social entrepreneurship that I have been studying throughout my career,” said Saper.  His recently-released book, Intimate Bureaucracies, examines social entrepreneurship during the creation of the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in the 1960s-1980s.

Saper is planning two projects during the course of his Bearman chairmanship.  The first will examine the social entrepreneurship involved in the building of shared memorials and monuments. His research will focus on the entrepreneurs who organized and made the memorials possible.

Saper’s second project will explore the possibility of establishing a digital e-press at UMBC, which is he doing in collaboration with colleagues in the Library, the English department, the media and communication studies program and LLC as part of the campus’s larger Digital Humanities efforts.

“I’m interested in being a participant-observer of this group-entrepreneurial effort that works within, and for, UMBC’s institutional structure and the larger demands of academia and legitimate scholarship,” he said.

But Saper’s objective as the Bearman Foundation Chair isn’t just to achieve his research goals – it’s to offer a new vision of what entrepreneurship can mean.

“Hopefully, at the end of my term I will have promoted a progressive model of entrepreneurship that offers an alternative to Ayn Rand’s outlaw heroes. In the new model, entrepreneurs are part of communities working cooperatively for public space, public schools and the public good not renegades and raiders,” he said.

Todd Eberly ’06, Ph.D. public policy, is living his dream, teaching political science to the students of St. Mary’s College — and acting as a “go-to-guy” for those seeking political analysis, MarylandReporter.com reports.

“Other kids liked sports or what have you. I just never did,” Eberly said. “I cared about politics. I followed that the way other folks would follow a football season or a baseball season.  … I am curious to see who’s winning, who’s losing and what strategy they are employing.”

Read the full story at MarylandReporter.com.

In addition to being quoted regularly in various local media, in 2011 Eberly was named one of the top influencers of Maryland politics by Campaigns and Elections Magazine.

Eberly got an early taste for politics while helping his uncle Robert Eberly during his campaign for court clerk in Pennsylvania, the story says. After earning his undergraduate degree from Clarion University, Eberly started working in analysis for healthcare companies in the Washington, D.C., area and wound up earning his Ph.D. at UMBC’s Hilltop Institute. He began teaching at St. Mary’s in 2007.

Isaac Kinde ’05, biological sciences, has been named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30: The Rising Stars Transforming Science And Health” list, a group of young scientists who “reflect the way that the health care landscape is transforming for the better, opening up to revolutionary new ideas and new approaches.” Kinde is currently an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at the Johns Hopkins University.

Forbes reports that: “Kinde is developing techniques to improve the accuracy of DNA sequencing technology and demonstrating that it might be used to detect cancers arising from the colon, pancreas, and ovaries in a simple, noninvasive manner. Already, several patents have been applied for and he’s been published in Science Translational Medicine, Nature and other journals.”

See the Forbes listing here.

A member of the 13th cohort of Meyerhoff Scholars and a member of the Honors College, Kinde helped conduct significant research as a student. During his time as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar, he helped conduct HIV research, which he presented at UMBC’s 2005 Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day. He contributed to two articles on his research published in the Journal of Molecular Biology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Kinde was also a researcher in one of the University of California, San Francisco’s medical laboratories. He was awarded a Pfizer Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship and received the Faculty Award of Excellence in the Biological Sciences. He was also a Minority Access to Research Careers Scholar, a member of UMBC’s Institutional Review Board and president of the Golden Key International Honor Society, as well as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Kinde received two first place awards for presentations at biomedical and chemical and biological sciences conferences. His community service activities included St. Vincent’s Children Center Reading Days and the Kaplan Test Drive.

Reprogramming Education

In high school, Blossom Metevier stuck to meat-and-potato science courses – physics, biology, chemistry and mathematics. She didn’t even consider computer science.

“It seemed to be just for the smelly gamers and geeks,” she says. “I took pottery instead.”

Now a sophomore at UMBC – majoring in computer science – Metevier captivated the crowd at a recent briefing on Capitol Hill as she talked about how she ultimately fell into the field. The Congressional Briefing, “Fueling the Future: Celebrating Computer Science Education Week and Computer Science in K-12 Classrooms and Policy,” was sponsored by Computing in the Core, a coalition of corporations, scientific societies, and associations. Metevier joined leaders from industry, education and non-profits in calling on Congress to ensure that more young Americans do more than just stumble upon computer science.

In her junior year of high school, Metevier realized she needed to get serious about figuring out what to study in college. “I couldn’t find anything I was passionate about in high school,” she says.

So, she did some research, learned that computer science involved a fair amount of math – which she liked – and thought it might be useful to learn about computers. So she declared computer science as a major, without having ever taken a class in the field. “When I got to college I found that I was really good at it,” she says. “It’s really about problem solving skills and algorithms, not computers.”

“Looking back,” says Metevier , “I find it very disturbing that no computer science courses are required for (high school) graduation.” And, she says, more women need to be encouraged to give the field a try.

Metevier’s experience isn’t unique. Only 27 percent of U.S. high schools have adopted the Computer Science Teachers Association’s recommended standards for computer science classes. And corporations like Oracle are pushing for computer science to be added to high-school curriculums as a core course.

Marie desJardins, a professor of computer science at UMBC, seconds that approach. “Every student should have a high-quality introduction to computer science that teaches them algorithmic problem solving, how a digital computer operates, and the capabilities and limitations of modern computers,” she says.

While government support may be limited, Oracle spends $2 billion a year on computer science education, and it’s not the only company that recognizes the need. Microsoft recently announced that, to date, it has invested $750 million in its Partners in Learning Project, an international program to train K-12 computing teachers. And Google’s CS4HS program funds universities around the world so that they can offer professional development workshops for high school computer science teachers.

Recent estimates from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that between 2010 and 2020, the country will have more than 1.4 million computing-related job openings. At current college graduation rates, only about 30 percent of those jobs could be filled by American computing graduates. While attracting students, in general, to computer science can be a challenge, attracting female and minority students has proved even more difficult. Women make up only 19 percent of all high school students taking Advanced Placement tests in computer science, according to analysis by the National Center for Women and Information Technology.

Some universities, including UMBC, have launched programs to tackle the pipeline challenge head on. UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) and its new Cyberscholars Program are both designed to attract female and minority students to the computer science field. The programs provide support networks, mentoring and special programming on how to study, manage time well and build a career. All of that is designed to ultimately prepare the students for the working world.

Metevier, for one, is already mapping her next steps: pursuing a master’s in computer science and, ultimately, working in industry. Metevier isn’t just talking about changing computer science. She’s doing it.

(12/18/12)

David Clurman, Assistant Director of Residential Education, was awarded the James Hurd Distinguished Service Award by the Mid-Atlantic Association of College and University Housing Officers (MACUHO).

David’s active involvement in MACUHO began in 1998 and since that time he served 10 years on the executive board, including as president in 2009 and as the host co-chair of this year’s conference that was held in downtown Baltimore.

Timothy J. Brennan, professor of public policy, has been named 2013 recipient of Public Utility Research Center (PURC) Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the understanding of regulatory economics and finance. The Award recognizes the cumulative impact of an individual’s research and policy analyses on both the academic community and regulatory policymakers. Brennan will receive the award as he speaks on utility regulation at the Annual PURC Conference on February 13, 2013 at the University of Florida.

In addition, Brennan will co-direct the spring 2013 Center for Research in Regulated Industries’ Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics in Dublin, Ireland. Topics covered will include issues facing the new generation of postal companies, such as strategy, competition, innovation, marketing, universal service, cost analysis, demand analysis and new services.

An article in today’s Gazette on what the State of Maryland can expect in Governor Martin O’ Malley’s final two years in office, prior to a possible presidential run, quotes UMBC’s Roy T. Meyers, professor of political science.

Meyers suggests that if O’Malley is interested in the presidency, he will need to commit more of his time to raising money and traveling. However, Meyers also suggests that one state issue he won’t be able to ignore in his final term as governor is overhauling Maryland’s transportation funding program, saying, “He can’t let that fester.”

Old Stories, New Media

It’s something grade school teachers know intuitively: kids like reading about other kids.

So when a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History
program brought together Anne Arundel County Public School teachers, Historic London Town and
Gardens and UMBC’s Center for History Education, the group came up with an idea: what if the teachers
researched and wrote about children who actually lived at the historic site?

The rest, literally, was history. The result: Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three
Families, a digital storybook and interactive website that is a resource for educators.

“None of us imagined that it would be what it became,” said Lisa Robbins, the director of education at
London Town. “We’re all so proud of and blown away by the finished product.”

Although the CHE has a track record of successful partnerships with teachers, this project was uniquely
ambitious. The research itself was particularly challenging; children’s history is an emerging field, and
there is still relatively little written about the lives of children.

“We decided from the beginning that we wanted to write about real kids, which was problematic
because the records are much better about white kids than they are about African American children.
We know they were there, but we have very little detail about them,” said Marjoleine Kars, chair of
history, who worked with the teachers.

With the help of Robbins and Kars, the teachers did research both on site at London Town and
elsewhere, including with original sources at the Maryland State Archives. They discovered three stories
from the colonial period: the children of the Holland Pierpoint family helped to operate the family
business in 1709; Hannah, a married 15-year-old, looked after her siblings when her parents moved to
Maderia in 1739; and Jacob was a seven-year-old slave in 1762.

While Kars and Robbins helped with the research and direction, the teachers wrote the stories,
integrating information connected to what students are learning in other subjects and making sure
they aligned with Maryland’s new Common Core Standards. They also peppered them with details
they knew would be uniquely fascinating to their fourth and fifth grade students – bedbugs make an
appearance.

“This really changes the paradigm for delivering instruction in an elementary classroom,” said Terry
Poisson, coordinator of social studies for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “It’s like a gift you didn’t
know you needed.”

The teachers’ original goal was to produce a printed book that they could keep in their classrooms,
but the Center for History Education’s partnership with UMBC’s New Media studio helped them
make the materials more widely available through an interactive website. “The website enabled us to
reach groups like families, homeschoolers, and girl and boy scouts,” said Rachel Brubaker, program
administrator for the Center for History Education. It also allowed them to add expanded content and
include interactive materials such as a glossary, map and timeline.

“Several of the teachers have taught with it, and they are so excited,” said Brubaker. “Their kids
really seem to grasp the story.” Even though it’s already being used in the classroom, the project
isn’t complete yet: an e-book and printed version are in the works, and London Town is interested in
integrating the stories into tours and field trips.

The partners are looking forward to seeing the finished product, but the project’s end is bittersweet
because the Teaching American History grant program has ended. Brubaker is hopeful that the success
of Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town, which won the 2012 Social Studies Program of Excellence
Award from the Middle States Regional Council for the Social Studies, will help the CHE to find a way to
continue working on similar projects.

“This project,” she said, “gives us a legacy and credibility that we can do this kind of work really well
with community partners.”

(12/14/12)

On Tuesday, Peter Franchot announced he will seek re-election as state comptroller rather than run for governor in 2014. Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, joined WBAL TV to discuss the impact of this news on  Maryland’s political landscape. According to Norris, Franchot’s decision “certainly makes a difference in the race.” Norris predicts potential candidates in the 2014 race include Lt. Governor Anthony Brown (D), Attorney General Doug Ganzler (D), and Harford County Executive David Craig (R).

Norris also appeared on Maryland Public Television’s “State Circle,” where he offered an outlook on current Governor Martin O’Malley’s potential presidential campaign in 2016. “Looking at it from today’s perspective one would have to say that a small state governor in a deep blue state probably doesn’t have a great chance of getting the nomination. On the other hand, people said the same that about Jimmy Carter and they said that about Bill Clinton,” Norris remarked.