When the Maryland General Assembly’s special legislative session is held on Monday to hash out remaining budget issues, will it be in violation of the Open Meetings Act? The Daily Record asked this question yesterday, responding to Gov. O’Malley’s previous statement that he would not recall lawmakers unless a compromise was reached beforehand, which has raised red flags for some observers.

Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, suggests the argument could be made, but ultimate some degree of pre-agreement is helpful to ensure that the special session is fruitful. If nothing substantive comes out of it, Norris told The Daily Record, lawmakers will have “wasted a lot of time and money.”

Robert Deluty, associate dean of the graduate school, has published a new
book of poetry, “Particles of Life.” In his review, Dr. Ronald Pies writes:

“In the Jewish mystical tradition, it is mankind’s task to release the hidden ‘sparks’ of divinity that are trapped within the material world. In his wonderful new collection of poems, Robert Deluty achieves something akin to this, by releasing the poetry within the common ‘particles of life.’ This, Dr. Deluty accomplishes with his usual blend of humor, sharp-eyed realism, and deeply humane understanding.”

Copies of “Particles of Life,” as well as of Deluty’s other books, are on sale at the UMBC Bookstore.

Christopher Corbett, professor of the practice of English, writes about Baltimore’s 32nd Street Farmers Market in Style.

Rain or shine, every Saturday morning, if I am in Baltimore, I swing by the 32nd Street Farmers Market, a habit of city life for me since I moved to Baltimore 32 years ago. Thousands of people whom I sort of know in that strange two degrees of separation that exists on the north side of the city share this ritual with me. I like ritual. And I love the farmers market.

Read the entire article here.

An alumna/student pair have launched LoveTagLA, a clothing line inspired by graffiti, the Catonsville Patch reports.

Alumna Jedda Puzon ’11, information system management, and current student Lauren Roepcke founded the company in 2011, and recently released a spring line.

Said marketing director Puzon: “We promote individuality and that can be seen with our tag line ‘Tag your own state of mind.’ We encourage self-expression through all art forms.”

Visit LoveTagLA online here.

Read the full Catonsville Patch story here.

Psychology alumna Lynn Roberson ’73 will become the first woman president of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association this June, and will become the seventh woman president of the Atlanta Bar Association this May, her law firm reports.

According to a press release issued by Roberson’s firm, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, LLP, of Atlanta:

Ms. Roberson has held many positions over the years with the Atlanta Bar Association which include serving as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Litigation Section from 1999-2006 and serving as its chair in 2004-2005, during which time the Litigation Section was awarded the bar’s Pro Bono award. Ms. Roberson served as Chair for the Atlanta Bar CLE Board of Trustees from 2005-2006. The Atlanta Bar Association presented its Pro Bono Award to Lynn M. Roberson, chair of the ACLE executive board, at its 2005-2006 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon. She served as a member at large of the Atlanta Bar Board between 2005-2009, served on its Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee from 2005-2006 and was on the Executive Transition Committee in 2007-2009. She served as Treasurer from 2009-2010, secretary from 2010-2011 and is currently serving as President Elect to the largest voluntary bar association in Georgia.

Ms. Roberson is also a member of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association. She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President and this summer will become the first female president of the organization which was established over 40 years ago.

Alumna Stephanie Hill ’86, computer science and economics, makes a strong argument in favor of educating a new generation of female engineers in a guest essay appearing today in College Inc., a Washington Post blog focusing on higher education.

In her essay, Hill — who is president of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Solutions-Civil division — discusses the impact her experience at UMBC made on her decision to pursue a career in engineering.

“Are you sure you want to be a software engineer? You are such a people person. Won’t you be stuck working alone, staring at a computer for hours on end?”

Those were the questions that my sister asked as I declared my intent to pursue a software engineering degree at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). She was right – I am a people person. In fact, in high school I intended to pursue a career in psychiatry. But a college elective course – in COBOL programming – peaked my interest like nothing before. And with wonderful mentors who provided me a glimpse into various career opportunities, I shifted gears, full speed ahead into the world of engineering.  I have not looked back since.

The essay points to a recent report by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee that says while women make up a “growing share of the college-educated workforce, only 14 percent of engineers are women, as are just 27 percent of individuals working in computer science and math positions.”

Read the full essay here.

Nearly 200 alumni and friends enjoyed a night of wine, food and an incredible view of the Baltimore skyline at the 7th Annual Wine Tasting at the Legg Mason Tower in Harbor East April 27. The Chapter of Young Alumni hosted the event.

The night — which included a silent auction, raffles, and a showing of artwork by current students — raised $3,648 for student scholarships, said Cindy Greenwood, Alumni Programming Coordinator.

“It’s so nice to be able to have such a beautiful event, and to know that you’re helping students at the same time,” she said. “We were really pleased with the whole thing.”

The silent auction brought in a wide selection of prizes, including a Charm City Cakes package, an Annapolis inn getaway and a lunch with UMBC president Freeman A. Hrabowski, III.

The evening also brought with it a spot of romance, as 2005 alumnus Dominick Campbell, computer science, proposed to his girlfriend, Allison Fisher, high above the sparkling city. (She said yes!)

View more photos of the evening here.

The UMBC community honored faculty and staff who were instrumental in the lives of UMBC’s African-American and Latino students at a Legends of Excellence Brunch and Awards ceremony held on Saturday, March 31, 2012. Congratulations to the award recipients:

• Ramona Arthur, Former Director of Off-Campus Student Services
• Norma Green, Former Coordinator of Student Activities
• Bonny Tighe, Senior Lecturer of Mathematics and Statistics
• LaMont Toliver, Director of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education (awarded posthumously)

“It was wonderful to see so many alumni, faculty, staff and friends come out to celebrate and honor members of the UMBC community who are considered to be trailblazers, mentors, role models and friends to thousands of our alumni,” said Stanyell Bruce, director of Alumni Relations. “The event is a great opportunity for alumni to pay homage to those people who’ve inspired true excellence in their lives.”

The Legends event is held once every five years. The first event, held in 2007, honored Betty Glascoe of Career Services; Dr. Daphne Harrison of Africana Studies; Cynthia Hill of Student Support Services; Dr. Acklyn Lynch of Africana Studies; and Dr. Ana Maria Schwartz of Modern Languages and Linguistics.

To read more about the 2012 award winners, click here.
To see more photos from the event, visit our Flickr page.

The Catonsville Times reports that a Baltimore County police officer who had a heart attack and collapsed while jogging at UMBC last week has been released from the hospital, thanks in part to the efforts of two UMBC students who responded to the incident.

Chris Tingley, a volunteer EMT and junior studying emergency health services, stopped at the scene and began performing CPR while student Antigone Cox called 911 and stayed on the line with a dispatcher. Both Tigley and Cox visited the police officer in the hospital during his recovery, which police Capt. John Spiroff has called “remarkable.”

Patch.com today focuses on the employment challenges facing military veterans. Highlighted in the article is UMBC financial economics major and former staff sergeant Stephanie Gilbert, who has had difficulty finding a summer internship despite a high GPA, military leadership experience and fluency in Arabic. This is not a unique experience among veterans. The article notes that Maryland’s unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was nearly 2% higher than the rate for non-veterans in 2011.

UMBC’s Fritzie Charné-Merriwether, who works on veterans’ issues in Student Affairs, says a notable challenge in matching student veterans with employers is translating their military backgrounds to non-military contexts. “They have all this great experience… [but] sometimes, it’s difficult for someone not exposed to that to understand what they bring to the table.”

Political science major Mike Ball, president of UMBC’s Student Veterans Association, has responded by focusing on networking and learning how to market his military experience. He also teaches fellow veterans on campus how to hone their resumes, highlighting how their previous work (e.g., managing expensive equipment and responding effectively to high stress situations) translates to the civilian job market. He reflects, “Army leadership—if it’s taught me anything, it’s that you’re competent, confident and agile.”