Work done by Robert Provine, professor of psychology, was recently featured in a film shown on the European television station ARTE. The film, ‘Une Histoire Naturelle du Rire’ was broadcast in both German and French on December 30. It can be viewed for a limited time here.

While a student at UMBC, Hasina Jamal Stearns ’09, computer engineering, founded the publishing company Fred & Barrel, Inc.  Now, the company’s first book, Guy, a philosophical play by Cinna, is available in the UMBC bookstore. Stearns is the editor-in-chief and illustrator.

Guy—a hybrid novel, play, and movie script—tells the story of Guy, a tall handsome tennis player who thinks deeply about mankind and life. At least, he does in the first act. He would continue to ruminate about such things if he weren’t so swamped with homework and projects. He spends most of his time in an old children’s insane asylum, which is now being used as a studio and research center by architecture students. One day, he decides not to return to campus and instead opts let his whim take him to wherever he is destined.

Other UMBC alumni contributed to the book: Truc Nguyen ’07 helped connect Stearns to its designer; Andrew Shoenfeld ’07 took the cover and illustration photos; Tim Brosius ’08 created the website and Hariklia Karagiannis ’09 edited the website.

Stearns is currently a graduate student at American University studying producing for film and video. One of her inspirations for this course of study is this book, which she hopes to turn into a movie. 

Another book that Stearns hopes to eventually publish was written Jamie C. Heard, a UMBC student who passed away in 2008. She is working with Issa Legall ’09 to make this a reality.

Steven Fischer ’98, visual and performing arts, a filmmaker profiled with several other director alumni in the September 2011 issue of UMBC Magazine, has been interviewed by the Lincolnshire Review.

Read the Q&A in the Lincolnshire Review here.

The two-time Emmy-nominated writer/producer and the creator of Steve & Bluey recently released a new documentary entitled “Old School New School” in which he interviews artists he respects about the nature of creativity and how to sustain a career in the arts.

In photo:  Fred Weil, videographer, Steve Fischer, director, Brian Cox, actor and Chris Cassey, director of photography for “Old School New School.” Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.

We thought our Phonathon students said it best:

Your support makes so much possible at UMBC. THANK YOU for your year-end gifts!

Christopher Corbett, professor of the practice of English, wrote about books and New Year’s resolutions in his latest column for Style magazine.  Corbett has not resolved to get a Kindle, nor has he resolved to thin his massive book collection.

“Kindle and e-books may be the future, but what kind of future would I have without my boon companions Eeyore and Christopher Robin and Kim and Long John Silver and Squire Trelawney? I still believe we ought to meet them in books, with actual pages,” he writes.

The essay, “One For the Books” appeared in the January 2012 issue of the magazine.

Kathleen Wilson ’03, Ph.D., policy sciences, is the new deputy director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Division of Nursing Homes. In a special profile following the appointment, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News described Wilson as a “health policy powerhouse.”

Read the full story here.

Wilson’s dissertation advisor at UMBC was Cheryl M. Miller, associate dean in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and associate professor of public policy. Miller told McKnight’s she was particularly impressed with Wilson’s ability to juggle her job, family and doctoral degree, saying, “She’s a great example of someone going back to school to become all that they can be.”

– Originally published on UMBC Insights

Kathleen Wilson ’03, Ph.D., policy sciences, is the new deputy director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Division of Nursing Homes. In a special profile following the appointment, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News described Wilson as a “health policy powerhouse.”
Read the full story here.
Wilson’s dissertation advisor at UMBC was Cheryl M. Miller, associate dean in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and associate professor of public policy. Miller told McKnight’s she was particularly impressed with Wilson’s ability to juggle her job, family and doctoral degree, saying, “She’s a great example of someone going back to school to become all that they can be.”
– Originally published on UMBC Insights

After spending most of his career working in tech management in busy New York, Eduard Berlin ’70, history, is returning to Baltimore to pursue a different path entirely — a life of books.

“We’ve always been a book family,” said Berlin, who along with his wife Ann took ownership of Baltimore’s Ivy Bookshop — an independent shop focusing on literary works and author events — at the start of the year.

“We’re really, really grateful that (bookstore founder) Darielle (Linehan) has the confidence in us to take this on,” said Berlin, noting that his wife has worked in publishing for 30 years. “We’re very, very excited.”

Read the Baltimore Sun’s report on the Berlins and the Ivy Bookshop here.

A member of UMBC’s first graduating class, Berlin is a member of the UMBC Alumni Association Board of Directors and plans to get more involved with UMBC upon his return to Baltimore, he said.

Kathleen Wilson, who received her Ph.D. in health policy from UMBC in 2003, is the new deputy director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Division of Nursing Homes. In a special profile following the appointment, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News described Wilson as a “health policy powerhouse.”

Wilson’s dissertation advisor at UMBC was Cheryl M. Miller, associate dean in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and associate professor of public policy. Miller told McKnight’s she was particularly impressed with Wilson’s ability to juggle her job, family and doctoral degree, saying, “She’s a great example of someone going back to school to become all that they can be.”

Constantine Vaporis, professor of history and director of the Asian studies program, has been invited to become an advisory panel member at the Walters Art Museum.  Vaporis is part of an international panel of humanities scholars advising the Walters Art Museum on the renovation of its Asian Art Collection. This is a two-year commitment for 2012-13. The focus of the renovation will be the Hackerman House section of the Walters. Renovations will begin in 2013, and the section is scheduled to reopen in 2015. Vaporis also works with the National Geographic Museum.