Alumni representing a multiple Greek organizations gathered last month during Homecoming to celebrate the 25th anniversary of UMBC’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. Nearly 100 SAE alumni and active members attended the event at the Sheraton in Columbia on October 13, said Jim Lotfi ’89, visual and performing arts, who advises the student fraternity.

In addition to recognizing some of the group’s founding brothers, Hugh Clifton Carr, III ’89 and Shawn Walker ’99 were presented with the “Order of the Lion” for outstanding Alumni service to the fraternity, Lotfi said.

“I was very happy to see so many Alumni attend the reunion,” he said. “Many attendees hadn’t seen each other since graduation but we had conversations as if we had seen each other yesterday. The bonds we developed in the fraternity have lasted all these years.”

SAE was granted its charter at UMBC on October 10, 1987. Currently there are 29 active members on campus. Its mission, Lotfi said, is to promote the highest standards of friendship, scholarship, and service for our members based upon the ideals set forth by our Founders and as specifically enunciated in our creed, “The True Gentleman.” Visit the SAE site.

Kimberly Moffitt, assistant professor of American studies, served as an election expert for two radio program in the days leading up to and following the November 6 election.

On Monday, November 5, Moffitt appeared on the “Marc Steiner Show” to weigh in on the final day of a tight race.  Moffitt questioned whether the race was actually as tight as the media portrayed it to be.

“I see it as the media’s role to make sure we are engaged in this way and to believe that there is something to tune into, so that we make sure to either tube into their station, or show up at the polls tomorrow.  I’m not sure it’s as neck and neck as we are positioning it to be, but I believe it is good business for it to be neck and neck,” she said.

Following the election, Moffitt appeared on “Midday with Dan Rodricks” on Thursday, November 8 to discuss the results.

“We’re now at the place where I think the GOP has often acknowledged the 80s as its heyday.  And largely that’s linked to Reagan and his time representing and serving our country. But he himself always counted the 50s as America’s heyday.  And I think where we are now, the reality is that neither of those decades mean anything significant or monumental, especially to the under 40 crowd and certainly to ethnic minorities.  And based on that, the GOP seemed to be a political party that disconnected and removed from any sense of what those two populations in this country would be able to support and endorse,” she said.

Claudio Galindo of UMBC’s Language, Literacy, and Culture Ph. D. program was recently recognized by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for her work within the Latino community of the city and state, according to a statement from the regional community organization CASA de Maryland.

The mayor’s statement came as part of the city’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Speaking on Dr. Galindo, Rawlings-Blake said that “when President Obama announced his program to allow immigrant students for deferred action and work authorization in the United States this past summer, Claudia was one of the first to volunteer to assist with the process. Since the first community DACA clinic at CASA de MD on August 16, Dr. Claudia Galindo has volunteered over 50 hours helping students fill out applications, and reviewing supporting documents”.

The UMBC community commends Dr. Galindo on her important work with the Latino community of Maryland, and wishes her well in her future endeavors with CASA de Maryland.

Throughout the year, we will be introducing you to the winners of this year’s Alumni Association Scholarships, which are supported by alumni gifts. Today, we meet information systems major Savita Moses ’13.

Name: Savita Moses ’13
Major: Information Systems
Scholarship: Alumni Association Scholarship

Q: Why did you decide to come to UMBC?
A: I was a part of a Pre-College Program offered by University of Maryland, College Park and we went on many college tours throughout the area. UMBC was one of the places we visited and toured. I fell in love with the campus as soon as I stepped onto it; I felt right at home. I had some friends that went here, so I began researching the university and talking to them about it. It seemed like everything I wanted in a college and so I made the decision to come here. I haven’t regretted my decision at all. My experience at UMBC has been outstanding.

Q: What has been the most amazing discovery you’ve made so far as a student here?
A: I have had numerous opportunities to develop and practice my leadership skills through extracurricular activities, through course team-based projects, and through internships that I have received via UMBC. Through various activities that I have participated in within those aspects, I have made the discovery of the outgoing, effective, and engaging leader I can be.

Q: Tell us about a class or club that has really opened your mind (and why).
A: Being heavily involved in the Student Government Association (SGA) during the first few years of my college experience was eye-opening. I got the first-hand opportunity to see and be a part of the impact that students can have on their campus. UMBC truly encourages civic engagement and encourages students to believe that they can make a difference. Realizing this dramatically increased my respect and involvement at UMBC.

Q: What do you hope to do after graduation, and why?
A: I hope to complete my Master’s degree in Information Systems and work full time for a well known company/agency. I want to pursue a Master’s degree because it fits my goal of being a life-long learner. I desire to build my knowledge and be the best person I can be. Pursuing a Master’s degree would help me do just that. I want to work for a well known company so that I can positively contribute to the society I live in. I’d love to use my experiences and my knowledge for the betterment of society and I’d love the opportunity to continue my growth and development in the
company that I work for.

Q: What would you say to the alumni who contributed to your scholarship?
A: I want to say THANK YOU!!!! Your financial contributions have not gone unnoticed. Paying for college can be and has been difficult, especially in the current state of the economy. I am extremely, extremely grateful for your assistance in furthering my education at this wonderful university. Again, THANK YOU! I would hug the contributors if I could.

Attending college these days is expensive. You’ve got tuition, room and board, books and computers to buy — and that’s not even counting late night pizza runs!

Even at a state school like UMBC, students find themselves struggling to keep up with bills. In Fall 2011, for example, 62% of undergraduate students applied for financial aid; 80% of those demonstrated some level of financial need. On average, the percentage of need that was met of students who were awarded any need-based aid was 60%. You don’t need to be a math genius to see that many students still need our help.

UMBC’s Office of Financial Aid provides a tool where students (and alums!) can calculate the cost of an undergraduate or graduate semester. Try it out, and you’ll see the hard numbers so many of our students face.

A couple of years ago, we made a silly video with UMBC’s Mama’s Boys to show how quickly a semester’s costs can add up! Watch below and help support our students today.

Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, discussed the young adult novel Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, byKatherine Marsh, in her latest column in the New Republic.

The historical novel follows the story of Jepp, a court dwarf in the Spanish-ruled Netherlands of the late sixteenth century. Spitz compares Jepp’s story – in whichhis destiny is defined by his body and dictated by the whims of others – to the plight of the story’s adolescent readers.

“Adolescents are newly encased—like Jepp—in bodies that seem too small (or too large) but never a match for what is inside them, which nobody else can see…. despite the plethora of insignificant choices accorded them, young people’s lives are not in their hands, and they often feel cooped up in prisons not of their making,” she writes.

“As one reads Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, present and past entangle just as childhood and adulthood spar.”

The column, “The Age of Adolescence,” appeared online on November 7.

Jesica Berman, professor of English, recently gave a talk at Vanderbilt University on entitled, “Documentary Interruptions: Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas and the Media of War.”  The talk was part of the second annual Modernist Mini Jamboree, a celebration of modernism in literature and film sponsored by the English Department and the Program in Film Studies and took place on Friday, November 2.

Berman’s Her recent book, Modernist  Commitments: Ethics, Politics and Transnational Modernism (Columbia  University Press, 2011), examines the connection between ethics and politics in  early twentieth-century writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys,  Mulk Raj Anand, Cornelia Sorabji, Max Aub and Meridel Le Sueur, and argues for  an expansive, transnational approach to the definition of literary modernism.

TO: The UMBC Community

FROM: Larrabee Strow, Research Professor of Physics, and Sergio DeSouza Machado, Research Assistant Professor of Physics

We are deeply saddened to report that Scott Hannon ’86, ’90 MS physics, passed away last Thursday night after a nearly two-year battle with cancer. Scott remained at UMBC for 22 years as a Research Assistant in the Physics Department/Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology. Scott was continuously involved with the development of new meteorological and climate satellites while at UMBC.  In particular, Scott developed radiative transfer algorithms that were highly regarded throughout the meteorological community and are in continuous, operational use at both NOAA and NASA. We have shared more about Scott’s life and legacy here.

Private services were held for Scott, and condolences may be sent to the Hannon family at 6614 Jacks Court, Mount Airy, MD 21771.

UMBC’s alumni live and travel all over the world doing fun, amazing things! And UMBC Magazine wants to showcase this.

That’s where the Roving Retriever project comes in. Next time you travel to an interesting place, take a copy of UMBC Magazine with you and snap a photo of yourself with it. Send the photo to jogrady@umbc.edu along with information about who’s in the photo and where you are, and we’ll feature you on the UMBC Magazine Facebook page!

Take a look today…we’ve already got a couple! Where will our Retrievers go next?

This essay was written by Manus O’Donnell ’72, English, who served as editor of the Retriever Weekly and as a senator in the Student Government Association.

A little over 40 years ago UMBC was embroiled in protests and occupation rumors. The Viet Nam War created a lot of controversy in that period. 8 students were killed by National Guard during the riots at Kent State University in Ohio. Colleges everywhere had spontaneous student rioting. Across the country student bodies were organizing and college administrations were scrambling. UMBC was no exception. An envoy from Rutgers University came to recruit UMBC into the national movement to shut down America’s college campuses in protest of the Viet Nam War.

The UMBC People’s Party had recently formed and was interested in promoting protests against the War and supporting Women’s liberation and in general changing how UMBC operated. The Student Government Association (SGA) officers and the People’s Party were in constant communication during the “riot preparations”. The Administration also wanted to have the SGA play a role in these turbulent times. So, here was the SGA in the middle of an Administration who wanted peace & calm and the People’s Party who wanted to disrupt the campus in order to make their political positions known to all. There were some sit-ins, but they were generally well controlled and peaceful. The UMBC SGA chose not to follow the national trend. Rather, we chose to forge our own path for involvement, yet in a peaceful way. Rioting would be a bad move for our relatively new campus.

Rumors circulated that the National Guard was preparing to use riot gas on the campus. That’s when I first got involved with the SGA. Being new to campus, I looked for a group to join. First, I went to a People’s Party meeting. They seemed too loose and anti-establishment. Then, I went to the SGA meeting where they were discussing what students should do if the campus is gassed. Being fresh out of the military, I was the only one who had experience with riot gas. They were anxious to hear what I knew. From then, I was hooked into the student government as Director of Student Activities, Junior Class president, and co-editor & writer for The Retriever.

Bill Soltesz was the Student Government (SGA) President at that time. Bill, along with Sal Maggio, Mike Runge, Mike Brushe and Manus O’Donnell were in meetings daily with Chancellor Albin O. Kuhn and Homer Schamp. Our common goal was to keep UMBC peaceful, yet active in the student movement. We also had emergency meetings with the Faculty Senate to discuss our options as a University Community.

The SGA, led by Bill Soltesz, was instrumental in being the mediator between the administration and the protestors. There were many rumors of unrest coming to UMBC. One rumor stemmed from the “Catonsville 9” who, led by the Berrigan Brothers who were Jesuit priests opposed to inhumanity of war. The “9” spilled blood over Selective Service (draft) records in the Catonsville draft office. Back then, men were recruited into the service by lottery, meaning, if you did not have an exemption, you would be drafted into the Military Service. No questions asked, you go! There were some “draft dodgers” who went to Canada to avoid the draft.

So what happened, you’re asking by now. The SGA asked Dr. Kuhn to convene an emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate to deal with the question of how to end the school year. Many students, inspired by the People’s Party, clamored for the school to shut down. No more school that year. The SGA officers took the position that it would not benefit all students to do that. Some students wanted to take finals so they could pull their grade up (have you been there?). Other students didn’t want finals to pull their grades down.

The Faculty Senate, at the urging of the SGA, came up with a compromise. This compromise settled the campus down. No more riots were imminent. The National Guard had no need to occupy the campus. Many campuses across the country were shut down. UMBC, once again, was a leader in “how to run a campus successfully with all parties involved”.

The resolution was to make final exams optional. If you wanted exams, take them; if not, then you get the grade as it stands before the exams. How many students would like to have optional exams today?

UMBC remained open. UMBC was relatively peaceful, involved in current affairs and productive for the student body. More importantly, UMBC acted as a whole community with Students, Faculty and Administration working together for the common good of OUR UMBC.